Filmmaker warns home buyers to beware after a storm

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The creators of a new documentary say that people can have what they call “hurricane amnesia” when they think about buying a new home in the Tampa Bay Area.

When it comes to storm damage, that can be dangerous for homebuyers and those thinking of buying homes.

Filmmaker George Siegal said he hopes that more people consider previous storm damage, as well as building materials and future flood risks when they are considering a home purchase.

Siegal said most people walking down Bayshore Boulevard are focused on the view, but he has his eye on something else.

“Where we’re standing would’ve been under 26 feet of water. That beautiful trauma center there would be out of business, and that bridge would be gone,” he said.

The former weatherman turned documentary filmmaker said the doomsday scenario in Tampa Bay should be in the back of everyone’s mind.

“I think people here live with a false sense of security,” he said. “They think it’s not gonna happen to them because it hasn’t happened to them. Tampa always seems to dodge the bullet.”

That was until last year. Last year’s storms are also why Siegal says he made the documentary Built to Last, Buyer Beware.

“I want homeowners to start asking more questions. Become your own detective. Learn what the risks are with your house. How was that house built? If the builder is aggravated and doesn’t want to answer your questions, he’s doing you a favor. Run,” he said.

Siegal’s partner in the film, Aris Papadopoulos said when making the documentary, he noticed some trends that needed to be studied in Shore Acres in St. Pete where flooding has become the norm.

“We were in Shore Acres before last year’s storms, and I had seen what happened to people there in previous years in filming families. And then when the storms came this past season, I decided to do a study on house values and how they faired after the storm,” Papadopoulos said.

Papadopoulos is the chair of the Resilience Action Fund. They looked at Shore Acres and the Disston Heights neighborhood. In the report, they identified 36 single-family homes in the Shore Acres neighborhood that were purchased between 2000 and 2024 and sold for less than $400,000 in the five months after Hurricane Milton. Compared to what they bought their homes for, those owners lost 35% on average or about $140,000.

“We were astounded by what numbers we saw because we saw from the information that on average the people who bought in shore acres and sold right after Milton and we know they flooded there, they lost an average 35% of what they paid for,” Papadopoulos said.

Both Papadopoulos and Siegal are hoping homeowners and soon to be homeowners will use the information in this documentary and this report as a tool when it comes to buying, building and preparing for a hurricane.