Condo insurance increases...

Some costs a person can't help, but when you choose to live in an HOA and complain about $52 a month when other parts of the country it averages out to be about $400, I'd say you need to play a very tiny violin

In your overzealous attempt to whack me (again) you missed the 2 significant points of the blog. Some condo owners in Florida were hit with a 563% increase and some long-time residents in my community are forced to sell because they no longer to afford the increases.

It's all in perspective and I'm sorry your lung cancer is more painful than my skin cancer!

I am surprised people can still afford homeowner and commercial insurance in Florida considering incidences of wind damage. How does anyone in Florida afford to build coastal properties considering the doomsayers still predict climate change is going to move coast lines in.

I'll give my opinion to your question to gonelikethewimd.
These are skyrocketing rates to existing structures.

Not anytime soon. Your governor is busy running for the Republican nomination.

Wow Chat! Insinuating someone has lung cancer when they don't. Kinda sick!

Hey !! It got your attention. Good.

I predicted you would run crying to Blue's blog... and it looks like I'm right.
Quoting comedienne Joan Rivers "Oh, grow up!"

I had been interested in retiring to FL but the hurricanes and rising HOAs have me re-thinking that.

Not all of Florida has HOA's
Miami has lots of older houses in neighborhoods without.
Suggestion is to get a single family house outside a major city, half-way up the state so you're not in a flood zone and away for the hurricane corridor.

Fiberglass shingles are much cheaper (than tiles) when re-roofing, but they have less insulating value are only rated for 10 to 15 years and rarely can withstand more that 65mph winds.

I redid a roof with barrel tiles and paid extra for a 3rd layer of tar paper that added 5 more years to the lifespan.

Keep in mind, buying a 30 year old house with the original roof puts you in the zone for roof replacement.

At the time, my neighbor used fiberglass shingles. After a hurricane, I went outside to inspect the damage only to find lots of triangular shaped brown things that looked like brown tortilla chips in my front yard. I turned to his side and realized they were pieces of shingles that had snapped off in what was probably a twister scattering them around the area.

On the subject of tiny violins, I just got the condo insurance renewal.
This year I paid $1,054.
Next year is going to be $1,927 and that includes discounts for not filing a claim and paying up front.

News out of Daytona Beach, some condo owners are facing a 500% insurance rate hike.


Link:

When I was a condo owner in the 80s it always bugged me when the HOA went up at a higher rate than inflation. According to google "On average, owners in Florida can expect to pay between $100-$500/month in association dues." $100 sounds like a bargain, in any state.

Requirement now. I have a mortgage. I'm not sure what changes, if any if I paid off the loan.

The condo association insurance covers the roof and structure. If a hurricane blows the windows in, it's my responsibility. Something like, the windows are mine although they are attached to their building. Lots of residents have impact windows and upgrade at their expense. A smaller percentage have the metal accordion shutters for hurricanes.
I wouldn't mind getting Bahama shutters as part of my unit gets the evening sun.

Roof & structural is covered in the HOA insurance, not homeowners. My association president already shopped that one. Out of my control.

Hurricanes pass within a day. Having windows boarded up isn't an issue.
There are other condos surrounding me, so I'm not subjected to the same direct wind forces as the units on the southeast part of the complex. My windows face west, away from 98% of the path of hurricanes that hit this area.


I've been insurance shopping. Citizens is around $3,000 making renewal for $2,000 with Allstate sound like a good deal.

Haven't you heard? Life is a gift and that gift comes with a lifetime plan of weekly, monthly and yearly ever-increasing installments, just to keep you bare foot and working.
Thanks Mom, thanks Dad.
No wonder all good christians accept they only get one life. Who in their right mind would want to do this life after life after life? W.

I'm writing a check this morning for my HOA... $694.

Yes, the $694 per month is ONLY my HOA for 2024.
This year, I pulled property taxes and insurance from my mortgage escrow and paying directly. Around $1,000 for tax and $2,000 for insurance. My mortgage is $286 per month.

I have a friend in an upscale community a half mile from me and his house now valued at $1.75 million. I shocked him when I told the amount of my HOA this year.

Interesting discussion on rising HOAs and condo association boards.

John D McDonald wrote a good novel called Condominium a half century or so ago. It served as a good warning. All of the risks of apartment house dwelling as a tenant renting space exist times 10 in a Condo or Co-op structure. I watched NYC tear down Freedom Land amusement park and put up their Co-op city. For the first decade it seemed okay, until people realized building a high rise on a land fill was probably not the smartest thing as the buildings sinking became noticeable. Then of course the fees are properly tied to the inflation index. Seemed reasonable, until the Jimmy Carter years when the rate hit 22%. Ouch. Regan came and the rates went down, but the fees did not and continued to rise. By then most people had figured out a mortgage tied to a floating interest rate was a bad thing. Crime came to Co-Op city. It got so bad NYC had to authorize and approve a special Co-Op City Police force. Yes, there are insurance fees there too. Also evictions for those not paying. A difference between a Co-Op and a Condominium is Eviction vs. Foreclosure. Both have the same result although the paperwork process is different. Some states have non-judicial foreclosure in which there is no day in court, just letters in the mail until the day the sheriff or marshal shows up to throw you out or take you to jail for trespass. Your choice. Most people who fall into the condo / co-op trap fall into one of two categories, very young and inexperienced in the ways of Real Estate, or in their 80s with no expectation of living long enough to worry about a decade down the road.
Buy your own place, with the largest down payment you can make at a fixed rate of interest and pay the insurance so you or your heirs can repair from fires, etc., or sell it in 40 years after you are gone. Also check out foreclosure auctions. There are some fantastic buys out there.

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