Elin Woods is building almost the same house she had torn down


When we covered the news that Tiger Woods’ ex had torn down a 1932 waterfront home that she had purchased for $12 million, your responses were mixed. Some of you thought that it was incredibly wasteful to demolish an historical home that surely included irreplaceable features, especially to build what is likely to be a mcmansion. Others of you noted that she attempted to renovate at first before deciding to wreck the place and start over. It’s possible that some damage was discovered that couldn’t be worked around. Plus she’s stimulating the local economy by hiring so many people. However you feel about it, it’s very common for the obscenely rich to demolish perfectly good homes and rebuild to their exact specifications.

Well TMZ has the news from Elin’s builder that the old home had termites and wasn’t built to withstand hurricanes, which are a definite concern in South Florida. That makes her decision a little more understandable to me, but I’m still leaning in the “wasteful” direction. It’s easy enough to say it wasn’t up to code or that it had termites. Plus the home she’s building in its place looks a lot like the original if you just go by the blueprints that were submitted. Here’s more:

Elin Nordegren is SO rich — she’s basically building a replica of the multimillion dollar estate she knocked down.

TMZ has obtained renderings Elin submitted to the Palm Beach County Dept. of Planning, Zoning & Building. Compare the exterior elevation drawing with the pic of the house that was on the $12 million property before Elin razed it. Both are traditional/colonial homes with a very similar shape. The drawing looks similar to the 9,000 square foot house that was demolished.

Elin’s builder told PEOPLE the house Elin 86’d was 90 years old, didn’t meet code provisions to withstand hurricanes, and was infested with termites.

Of course, the house Elin builds will be a brand spanking new. The supporting documents describe the house in detail.

— 9 bedrooms
— 2 large living rooms
— huge formal dining room
— 2 kitchens
— large pool
— GROTTO!!!
— pool cabana with HUGE living room
— 2 jacuzzis
— detached guest house with 3 bedrooms
— 3 guest bungalows
— wine cellar
— ginormous master wing with crazy big walk in closet
— basement that runs the entire length of the house

There’s 120 feet of retaining walls, and they are bringing in 4100 cubic yards of soil — which is an enormous amount.

County officials have sent the architect back to the drawing board for some changes before the plans will be approved.

[From TMZ]

This news didn’t change my opinion of her, which is basically that she’s got a ton of money now so she’s spending it like a Kardashian. It’s one thing to be well off and to comfortably enjoy it. It’s quite another to spend millions on a huge home like that, just because you can. How much do you really need? I know that’s a slippery slope argument, like “why have anything nice when we can get by with the basics?” but when we’re talking about this level of consumption it just seems so ridiculous to me.

Update: Thanks to those of you that pointed out that Elin donated materials from the demolished house, about $300,000 worth, to Habitat for Humanity. The Orlando Sun Sentinel reports that “Nordegren gave the deconstruction crew plenty of time, about six weeks, to remove items from the house. That allowed the crew to work at a pace that maximized the value — he estimated it at more than $300,000 — of what was removed.” Good for her, I’m definitely changing my opinion with that news.

The house before it was torn down:

After it was torn down:

These photos of Elin are from 2010. Credit: Fame. Other photos credit: Pacific Coast News

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94 Responses to “Elin Woods is building almost the same house she had torn down”

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  1. Kimlee says:

    If your going to throw away money like that why not give it away to people who really need it.

    • NYC_girl says:

      I was reading about this and I thought she let Habitat for Humanity take salvageable portions?

      • Karen says:

        It’s cheaper to have Habitat remove than to pay workers to do it. Hardly charitable. We may love how she divorced the cheater, but that doesn’t give her to right to be wasteful. Didn’t she build a hugh estate in her homeland?What happened to that?

      • Ally says:

        I guess the poor don’t mind termites?

    • spicy bacon says:

      Because Tiger Woods and Elin worked extremely hard for this. Its their money Not Yours-GET IT Otherwise Why don’t you give money to other people-do you really do that-I would say No you don’t so STHU

  2. arock says:

    completely off topic but she should spend that extra cash on some foils, her roots look awful in that last pic.

    • SoCalGal in FL says:

      JINX to you arock!!

      • arock says:

        hahahaa…by a minute! great blondes think alike.
        you know what they say- if you cant say something nice, come sit by me.

    • Kelly says:

      Holy crap! That was my very first thought, besides – wow, Elin is the most boring person on the face of the earth.

      How can you possibly have that much money and have ORANGE roots? With that much money, you could have a live-in colorist who touches up your roots with a q-tip once a week, like Jean Harlow. Girlfriend looks like she picked up a box of L’Oreal Feria at CVS (don’t touch it!) and tried to lift her roots more than two shades.

  3. Bubbling says:

    Is it just me, or that’s extremely bad taste given the economy we are in?

    • DCJ says:

      What is in bad taste? EMPLOYING contractors and skilled laborers who otherwise have no work?

      • Bubbling says:

        I was thinking more along the lines throwing away dollars while regular people struggle on daily bases, but if she had azbest, terminators and what not…

      • Original Chloe says:

        @Bubbling – I know, terminators infestations are the WORST!

    • barb333 says:

      I have to say, I get tired of people complaining about others spending money in the bad economy. Sorry, but it’s HER money to do as she pleads. She is hiring, I’m sure, locals and I’m sure she gives to charities. None of our business how people spend their money. Just saying.

      • Bubbling says:

        I completely see that, it’s just something I’ve been dwelling on lately…ever since that Russian girl bought apartment for 88 mil…
        had to edit to add this- I’m not jugging her, my first comment was more of a question, tho I admit it doesn’t come across that way looking at it now. It’s just that I don’t know what to make out of it. Is it wrong, or is it plain and simple-her money to spend?

      • leetruth says:

        She did not work for the money; that’s why she is spending the money frivously. Gold digger!

    • barb333 says:

      It is a slippery slope, as they say. haha. I just think she should, and everyone else should beable to spend their money how they want. I do have to agree that she probably doesn’t need anything that extravagant, and the money could be spent better, and smarter. I think it’s a status thing. I didn’t me to come off snotty.

      • barb333 says:

        Seriously? Gold digger? Sorry, after what he did to her and his kids he’s lucky he left with his balls. He pursued her, not the other way around. She turned him down many times. I am not defending her for spending her money, but get your head out of your ass and get the facts straight. You can be jealous when you know what you’re talking about.

  4. SoCalGal in FL says:

    She needs to spend some money on her hair color. YIKES!

    Plus I don’t think you can have a basement when you’re that close to the water.

    • Shannon says:

      I think that must be why they’re bringing in so much soil? I assume they plan to raise the foundations of the house so that the basement will be at the level that is currently ground level, it’ll just be covered in 6 ft of dirt with retaining walls, and the ground level of the house will be set on a hill or slope. My parents did that with our house, but in their case it was because the hill was already here and they wanted to work with the natural slope. They actually built the house into the hill, so the ground level is visible in the front of the house, but not the basement, whereas in the back the basement is the ground level because it’s the low part of the hill. It’s still a risky proposition for her though, any time rainfall increases a lot (like during a hurricane) she’s going to be biting her nails worrying about flooding unless that basement is watertight.

  5. fabgrrl says:

    If I could afford to rebuild my old house exactly as it is, but without the lead paint, asbestos insulation, old pipes and ungrounded outlets I would tear it down tomorrow.

    • bettyrose says:

      @fabgrrl – Those are totally legit, non wasteful reasons to tear down a house. If Elin’s house has asbestos and/or lead paint, I sign off on on her not moving the kids in there. Otherwise, I guess we can be glad she’s creating jobs, right?

      • hoax30 says:

        Being that the house was 90years old.. Lead paint, asbestos insulation, old pipes and ungrounded outlets are more than likely a valid concern!

      • Obvious says:

        TMZ or some other outlet reported extensive termites and the fact it isn’t up to hurricane code. Probably cheaper to rebuild than get it up to code in that area, because the entire structure would need reinforcements.

        Look at it this way ladies, by rebuilding she is providing months and months of work for people who may not otherwise be working, which in turns stimulates the economy which may mean more jobs for more people.

      • bluhare says:

        Why would she have bought it in the first place? Wouldn’t she have had an inspection that would have indicated all this?

        It’s good that she let people salvage the interior, though.

      • Heine says:

        Bluhare: She was really buying the land-location is key especially when you are that rich and can do whatever you please. If the house had that many problems but she bought it anyway, she was thinking ‘location of the land’ not ‘beauty and stability of the house’.

      • eileen says:

        Agreed-with so many ways to build ahome safe from hurricane’s today, it makes sense to rebuild using the latest technology.

      • Jon says:

        House was 90 years old so it likely had all of those concerns. Also, from what I read the house was also infested with termites. In my opinion if you’ve got the money why not? It’s the ultra rich that don’t spend any money and create jobs that piss me off.

  6. Wendy says:

    I’ve renovated two houses and in both cases the architect said it would actually be cheaper to tear them down and build from scratch. But if she’s building almost the exact same house, that would lend credence to her builder’s story about termites and hurricanes.

    • Hautie says:

      Oh yea, termites are a deal breaker for me. It is stunning to me how much damage termites can do to a home.

      I have been looking at homes for myself… and I told my agent there were two things that were complete deal breakers for me. Foundation issues (cracked) and termites. And I am only looking at homes that are no older than 20 years. It is startling how many of them have both.

      I wonder how Elin inspector missed a severe termite infestation.

      • bluhare says:

        Should have read one more comment before I made mine! I would have thought an inspector would have caught that. She mustn’t have had a mortgage either, as I don’t know a lender who’d let a loan go through on a termite infested house.

      • Mairead says:

        That’s a bloody good question, and I would suggest that they didn’t miss it. She wanted that location and the house was to be demolished anyway.

        On the issue of termites – can I give you a bit of advice? Fungal and insect infestations thrive in damp conditions, which is why ventilation, especially of timber members, is VITAL. Anyone I catch blocking vents gets the mother of all lectures from me, as I’ve seen first hand in my parents’ house what cutting off ventilation does. I wouldn’t mind, but my father was a builder!

        Just on the mortgage question. Since she got at least $110million in the divorce settlement (possibly more), something tells me that she didn’t have to beg the local bank manager for the lend of a few shekels 😉

    • Mairead says:

      That would depend on whether your architect was experienced in building conservation. For architects, engineers (who always get the collywobbles if a line isn’t absolutely plumb – bless ’em) and contractors that aren’t used to older structures it’s a standard knee-jerk reaction, but isn’t necessarily always borne out in reality.

      I was involved in the repair of an 18th century bridge where the first engineers report scared the bejeebus out of us and recommended immediate demolition and replacement with a boring concrete jobby.
      Estimated cost €1.5million – minimum.

      A second opinion came up with a localised repair and repointing plan.
      Final cost €110,000.

      That’s some saving!

      • Wendy says:

        The guy we ended up using was, in fact he pretty much specialized in it. But this was not a restoration, this was a renovation and in the first case, adding on as well. No mean feat when you’re dealing with an old stone house with meter thick walls and all of the structural issues you end up with when you start piercing openings into supporting walls. We completely gutted it, changed the floor levels (and so obviously all of the door and window openings had to be modified) raised the roof height etc. In the end, it most certainly would have been cheaper to tear it down and rebuild, using the existing stone as siding for the whole thing, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that.

  7. WOM says:

    I agree with fabgrrl (#4) — in small part because I’m dealing with the joy that is asbestos tiles! Also, I’m not keen to piss of Elin, she wields a mean golf club.

    According to People magazine, she gave Habitat for Humanity four weeks to methodically go through the building and salvage things for use on their projects or to sell in their charity shops.

    • bluhare says:

      We tried to buy a house built in 1924 a couple of years ago (unrealistic seller KO’d the deal), and it had asbestos siding plus an oil tank that needed to be decommissioned. The advice we got on the asbestos? Leave it. We were told we would create more problems trying to remove it than just leaving it alone. The seller wasn’t realistic about the work needed on the place, so it wasn’t our problem. The people who finally did buy just painted it.

    • Mairead says:

      Oh you have my sympathy. That stuff was thrown around like confetti in the mid-20th century because it was cheap and for dubious “fire proof” reasons. It’s lethal; as it ages it becomes as brittle as glass as well as leeching out asbestos dander when it breaks or is cut.

      Bluehare is right. Asbestos is a potential problem for any building over 30 or so years old, but doesn’t become a problem unless you’re doing major renovation, or actually demolishing the building.
      And I’ve never heard of a building being condemned because of it’s pipework – the pipework itself sure, but the actual structure? But then again, you guys have more timber buildings than in Ireland, so it might be the case there.

      My advice is stick with quality natural materials where you can (e.g. choose low-moisture Canadian slate over the cheaper but high-moisture, and DEFINITELY choose natural insulation, like hemp fibre over synthetic. Somewhat more outlay, but the synthetic could be anything up to half the thickness in 10 years, while the hemp will be solid, if not thicker due to moisture absorption. Also it won’t support a flame, so is fundamentally fireproof, and bugs and rodents don’t like it either. )

  8. DorothyZbornak says:

    She did allow Habitat for Humanity to come in and salvage a lot of stuff from the old home–cabinetry, fixtures, etc. My initial reaction was WTF to this story, but after hearing about all the problems and the fact that she did donate a lot of the materials, I feel less annoyed at her.

  9. Insertrandomname says:

    this is silly… I’ve seen celebrities spending money on much more stupid things like super expensive cars and private jets. if the house isn’t safe and she owns it then it’s her’s to do what she wants with.

    • Kimbob says:

      I agree. She wants a house that she doesn’t have to worry about. What previous bloggers have mentioned (ungrounded outlets, termites…and termites in Florida are quite aggressive..more so than in states to the north of Florida).

      Plus, it’s mentioned she let Habitat for Humanity come in & salvage many fixtures & whatnot. So what is the problem here? She wants a quality house & she’s not building on land that was previously unoccupied (i.e…natural habitat for animals), so in my opinion…kudos to her!!!

      I am in real estate (not much of a business now w/this economy), but the problem I always had was people wanting a new house that was built on previously unoccupied land that WAS a natural habitat for deer, rabbits, bobcats, foxes…whatever. All the poor wild animals that are indigenous to lands are literally BEING RUN OFF…just so people can live in “new” homes…as opposed to demolishing & building what they want on previously occupied land (land a house was already on).

  10. No Sensei says:

    I’m sure it had period features, but it looked pretty McMansion before…

    • NancyMan says:

      I think you are essentially correct. You can see the original house in the middle. As an Architect, to me it looks like someone added those large wings sometime in the last 20 years. What she tore down was a McMansion that had a historical house as the core.

  11. marie says:

    Do your homework…she LEGALLY DROPPED the last name of Woods for her maiden name Nordegren a few months after the divorce was finalized. As for the house, so what? Nothing more or less that many other Americans who can afford to do all the time (and man who cant afford it). Her money. Her life. I wish her and the kids the best.

  12. Annie says:

    Apparently the house had termites and wasn’t up to code for extreme weather conditions like hurricanes, that’s why she tore it down. And she left Habitat for Humanity take stuff.

  13. the original bellaluna says:

    I can honestly say that if I could afford and earthquake-proof home, I’d build it.

    And if I had 2 kitchens, one would be mine, and one would be hubs, because he makes a mess of a clean kitchen in no time flat!

  14. lucy2 says:

    Very glad to hear so much was donated to HfH.
    Termite damage is terrible, plus the hurricane codes in that area are pretty extensive, so for insurance and safety purposes, it makes sense to start from scratch. And is probably cheaper than trying to fix and upgrade what’s there.

  15. Bermuda Blues says:

    As someone who lives far away from my own family, I understand her desire to have a place big enough for relatives to visit, and stay with her. Her whole family lives in Sweden. When the Tiger Woods affairs came to light, her mother was apparently staying with them. She also has a twin sister, who is married, and has children. Elin lives in Florida, so I am sure her Swedish family would be happy to visit during the cold, dark winter months.

    Yes, this is out of the price range that I could ever consider. But Tiger Woods is building an even larger home…. He doesn’t have a big family, he only has his mother now…. So… Why all this negative press for Elin, but none for Tiger???

  16. Jacq says:

    I would be more pissed off that I bought a $12M house with termites that isn’t hurricane-ready. Even though those things can pass an inspection and you don’t have to be to code if no renovations have or are being done. But, still…

    • lucy2 says:

      The value is all in the land. I’m sure she knew the house was in bad shape when she bought it.

  17. Luise says:

    Forget her hair color everybody……..what’s up with her neck in the first photo?

    • Tazina says:

      I wonder if those are shadows because in futher photos, you don’t see all that which looks like wrinkles. I hope it’s not wrinkles. She is only 32.

    • Mitch Buchanan Rocks says:

      I noticed that before the roots lol.

  18. kate says:

    if the house had termites, asphestos lead, or mould, or was not hurricane safe, i can see the rationale. who wouldnt want to protect their children from hurricanes? would you really make the choice not to, because its too ‘wasteful’? just because the house is old does not mean it was well designed, built, or maintained, and as mentionned, sometimes fixing things is more costly then just redoing the whole thing. sure, its a big house, but it is just one house. as a european she probably has good enough taste to do the new house in natural materials and it wont be some plastic mcmansion giving off toxic fumes to her kids either. too bad we probably wont ever get to see the finished new house inside because im very curious!

  19. Justaposter says:

    I don’t see the big deal and it was a nice thing to donate a lot of things to Habitat for Humanity. Many people just bulldoze.

    And to be honest, it is her money, she can do what she pleases.

  20. I believe she should do exactly what makes her happy. If that includes building her dream house then go for it. She has the money, she is contributing to the economy by hiring workers, she is not hurting anyone or building on wetlands or whatever. Seriously, she should just get her hair done and build her house. Rock on.

  21. cr says:

    “bluhare says:
    January 9, 2012 at 12:31 pm

    Why would she have bought it in the first place? Wouldn’t she have had an inspection that would have indicated all this?

    It’s good that she let people salvage the interior, though.”

    It’s possible they still thought it could be saved.
    Also, location, location, location.

  22. DarkEmpress says:

    Even if she hadnt donated the salvagable cupboards etc to Habitat for Humanity, termites is a legitimate reason to tear down your house. If they were really bad, they might have eventually torn down the house for her. Also, I wouldnt live in a hurricane prone area, especially with my kids that in a home which was not built to withstand hurricanes.

    • gg says:

      That’s the bottom line. Nobody’s going to lend you money if you have termites, and nobody wants to fight termites, even in a small house, forever, when the termites were already winning the battle. Just not a wise move to keep the house as it was.

  23. Tweakspotter says:

    NOT that it’s anybody’s business how she spends her money…

    But, I wish I could have got some of those windows for my house!

  24. Lauren says:

    She looks rough, for a wealthy ex-wife. Oh well, she is building a Goldiggers Palace Museum. Tiger never seemed upset about his divorce..strange indeed.

  25. Photo Jojo says:

    Basements are almost unheard of in Florida. Why she’s building a basement there baffles me. But good for her on th Habitat part, that’s a great organization .

    • Kimbob says:

      I know, I know! Isn’t that weird? Florida is not a state known for basements in homes. In my state, SC, not many basements here, either. We do have some, but not many.

      A home inspector I used a good deal told me basements aren’t popular in our area due to the fact that the water tables are located higher up on land, and building such in our area is just begging for water infiltration. Farther north basements are very common.

    • Mairead says:

      A basement next to the beach, which is in turn next to Atlantic Ocean is likely to be the height of idiocy. Whatever about hurricanes, bad weather is going to bring it even closer on regular occassions.

      Areas of high water flow are notoriously difficult to tank, especially in this case where you have a sand surround, which by its nature can shift. Or as more hard surfaces and possible erosion/flooding defences are built in the area, the beach could disappear altogether.

      And designing suitable tanking is one thing – getting it built is another. The director Jim Sheridan had this problem, and his house was built on the side of a cliff!
      http://www.herald.ie/news/courts/sheridan-locked-in-euro4m-fight-over-his-leaky-home-2366955.html

      • lucy2 says:

        Yeah, we’re on the Atlantic too, and we can’t do any basements or anything like that. There’s a few old houses here that still have some, but anything new has to be built above the flood level. If she’s right on the ocean like that, they likely need a DEP permit and flood certificate. I can’t see the basement happening.

  26. Cathy says:

    Whatever floats her boat. I personally could never see myself living in that kind of place even if i had money. Why does anybody need a place that big? The upkeep and stuff is going to cost a fortune.

  27. trillian says:

    I don’t really care how much she spends, but how many people are going to live in that house? Even if I had her money I would never build a place that huge. How are you going to feel comfy and at home in such an enormous place?

  28. Romia says:

    What a complete and utter skank. An absolute zero, a whole BFGD of nothing, a self-pedigreed bag of diddly squat.

    I am not at all surprised by the shitstorm of waste, destruction, and entitlement this ***** leaves behind her, or the support her behavior receives under the bloated and worn excuse of “empowerment.” Is this some sort of disease particular only to women?

    **** her and her supporters.

  29. Granger says:

    Okay, I clearly don’t think at all like a rich person, because I cannot fathom why she needs nine bedrooms in the main house, a three-bedroom guest house, and three more guest bungalows. She must get a lot of visitors. At the same time, I mean. I don’t get that many visitors in one year.

  30. Sumodo1 says:

    Believe this! Some people wanting to buy older homes are not getting mortgages because the banks don’t want to back them. So, people are tearing them down for the value of the land.My mother-in-law’s house needs a ton of improvements and it cannot be sold for habitation unless the expensive improvements are made. And, it’s in a super-desirable section of Connecticut.

  31. hillbilly in the corner says:

    I’m know exactly what she had to face old house was build in 32 and though beautiful enough for me to fall in love wit it and buy it ..it turned into a money pit of never ending problems old wiring ,old pipes, wood beetles which are as bad a termites. etc…after years of fixin this and that we descide to take it down and build higher up on the mountain side….best thing we ever did…

  32. Snowflake says:

    If you’re going to judge somebody for how they spend their money, why don’t all you people who spend $4 a day on Starbucks donate that money to charity instead?

    $4 x 5 day workweek =20/wk
    $20/wk x 52 weeks = $1040/yr
    $1040 x 31 commenters so far = $32240 that could have gone to charity instead. So there ya go, you could be doing your part too ! : ) lol

  33. spiffypaws says:

    I live in the same town as this house. I heard that the house was so damaged that you could push your finger through the wood. It is probable that the condition of the house was fully disclosed and that the price paid was reflective of that. Sellers have to disclose all known defects. Also, she is a private citizen and has a right to spend her money as she wishes; who are we to judge????

  34. Mairead says:

    Ok. So the building had weevils, termites, damp problems, structural problems (fancy that on sandy soil next to the sea), it looked like a white christmas from the asbestos fibres, they couldn’t get a phone signal through the lead paint and while we’re at it: probably wet rot, dry rot, lumbago, the lurgy and a death threat from a hurricane.

    Forgive my scepticism, but that’s the usual guff given by people who want to demolish a building which isn’t always as bad as they suggest. But perhaps in this case, it really was. But it’s something that should have been picked up by her surveyor (and what an idiot if she didn’t have one). I suspect that it was and the plan was to demolish all along, and capitalise on a serviced brownfield site on the sea.

    Necessary demolitions aren’t a bad thing, but the replacement should be of equal if not greater architectural quality. I’m more alarmed at the fact that the plan is to stick a pastiche in there instead. I bloody hope not. There’s nothing wrong with building in an historic style, so long as the designer knows enough to interpret the rules and proportions properly.

    But why not just embrace an exciting modern design- allow the architect a chance to stretch their talents? Who knows, we might even end up with the next “Falling Water”?

  35. Lola says:

    ObvIously a lot of you have never actually dealt with home ownership issues. If her house did not meet code (ie, termites or hurricane prevention) she would not be legally allowed renovate or add on to the home without remedying those issues. If termites were extreme the only option may have been demolition.

  36. katoato says:

    What I don’t understand is. . .if the house TRULY had termites. . .why would ANYTHING be donated to Habitat? The last time I checked, we weren’t building houses out of termite-impervious materials like reinforced steel beams. . .

    I don’t buy her story, just another load of crock from another load of crock. Story of Hollywood.

    • Shannon says:

      That was my initital thought too, but then I realized there were all kinds of things she could have donated besides the wood. If the house was that old, there were probably all kinds of antique lighting fixtures, windows, faucets, sinks and bath tubs, and some furniture that the termites hadn’t gotten to that are perfectly useable (they made all of these things to last forever back then) and even stylish. Plus it looks like there was some brick involved, and antique bricks are quite popular.

      • TheCassinator says:

        I was wondering the same thing about donating shoddy materials to habitat. Load of crock indeed.

        But, maybe some of the non-wood materials…

        Oh really, who cares?? 🙂

  37. samira677 says:

    I don’t know why people are claiming Elin is a rich bitch who is spending money like water. If that was true then we probably would have heard about it. Since she’s building the same house, I think it’s obvious she liked it but was forced to tear it down. Also she didn’t tear down a $12 million home. It was the land that was worth that much.

  38. Frosty says:

    Not up to hurricane standards and the place was built in 1932? Bitch please!

    • lucy2 says:

      It surely has survived many hurricanes, but any kind of substantial renovation or new construction in that area has very strict building codes to meet – windows, strapping, roofing, etc all has to meet the hurricane code now.

  39. JudyK says:

    The place had MOLD..you tear down and start over with that. It is cheaper for hjer to tear it down and rebuild. It also helps the economy and thing are bad in FL. Also since it is her money it n is no one elses business how she spends it. I get so sick of other people telling people how to spend their money, how to help the homeless who have been homeless for years and dont want help. Use your own moneyto do as you please and let others spend thiers. It sounds so stupid when people say that stuff.

  40. londonparis says:

    It’s her money, and she can do whatever she likes with it. It’s not like she bought a fully inhabited apartment building, then tore THAT down.
    It has NOTHING to do with anyone who has commented, including me.

  41. Bambi says:

    I don’t know if anyone mentioned this in the other thread, but back in the Eighties, Pia Zadora demolished the historic Pickfair mansion in Beverly Hills so that she could build something splashier. After a huge public outcry ensued, Zadora gave the same excuse: “termites.”

  42. Embee says:

    So the facts we know are:

    1. She bought and planned renovate

    2. She decided to demolish on account of safety issues and

    3. She donated what she could to Habitat.

    What about this makes her a bitch?

  43. Shannon says:

    Hmmm…I do remember reading she tore down what some consider a perfectly okay house, but then I remember I don’t care because she can afford to do what she wants.

  44. Belle Epoch says:

    Wow! Imagine starting as the nanny.

  45. Ravensdaughter says:

    But-with all the modern amenities!

    I will say-if she didn’t have AC and had to replace plumbing from galvanized to copper, the contractors would basically have to gut the insides. Then there’s an updated kitchen and bathrooms, which aren’t cheap or easy to renovate, either. Building a new house is probably faster and easier.

    Maybe she just wants to get on with her life, and, lucky girl, she has the money to do it!

    Did the bathroom/kitchen/pipes remodel on a 1930’s house with my ex husband, the architect. Hmmm, wonder if that stressed us, and our marriage just a bit?

  46. Mom says:

    Elin would have to love Florida, as she lived there with her young family. Besides her well-invested divorce settlement, she runs with a man with a lot more money than Tiger Woods even. Let her do what she wants.

  47. Frank says:

    She deserves that money and can do with it what she likes. Think about it – she had her vag and rectum stretched out by Tiger’s hugeness, almost no man she is with will be able to satisfy himself with those flapping/gaping orifices. Plus she got humiliated when it came out that he was with dozens of women on a regular basis. None of the friends she made during their marriage will side with her, they will all go with Tiger. She has nothing left but money, she should be able to do whatever she wants!

  48. Holly says:

    This is crazy so if it gets too bad then i quess you are just out of luck inless you call a exterminator.

  49. Moontreeranch, your right I do call it a saw table.I do need to clarify that I strictly use the Side Track for all my cuts. I usually cut all the siding and soffit for a 24 to 30 sq. house in 2 days. I use it on the ground and up on my pump jacks. The Side Track won’t rip lumber but then it’s not practical to use a table saw to cut a 4/12 angle on 24 sq of siding. Some of the houses I side have 3 angles. It takes only seconds to change angles with the Side Track. I use 2 saws one with a plywood blade and one with a carbide blade and cut just about anything 1 1/2 thick.