Cancelling Plans

I too am just a "tourist" who has worked all year many hours a day to be able to come to a place that myself and my family consider to be the most beautiful place in the world. I can only dream of being able to afford my own home there. My children and my grandchildren look forward to this time every year and have for the last 13 years. I hope and pray that this storm does absolutely no damage to anyone's home or any of the area. I have been a little surprised that the home owners and locals hold such disdain for the people that can only afford to rent a place there for a week a year. It seems to me that we are the one's that partly fund through our rent money other people's ability to own and maintain a home there. I still love the area and I will continue to vacation there but I will be a little more aware of the way that people think of me.
I really hope that everyone is safe and that Dennis goes away.

Hopefully, my comments may help take the sting out of what was said previously. Our experience is that people generally treat our home as well or better than their own. We love our renters and want them to come back year after year. The comments I receive in our guestbook make all of this worth it for me. It took years for me to find my dream home, and now that I have it, I love sharing the peace and beauty of the area with my guests.

We also STRONGLY recommend that all our renters purchase trip insurance (especially during hurricane season) to cover losses due to cancelling their vacations. However, the insurance must be purchased before there is a hurricane approaching!

Janet :wub:

I am fairly new to this wonderful website, and I want to say first of all that I am so thankful to have run across it! I have learned so much, and although we own a condo in Seagrove, we are not yet positioned to be able to move down here permanently. It is so wonderful to be able to hear about what's going on in the area during the times when we can't be there! Having said that, I have to say that I'm shocked at the irritation expressed by Phdphay! We also have worked our tails off to be able to finally afford a modest place across the street from one of the the most beautiful beaches in the world. We too have experienced many difficult life experiences, some even more stressful than what Phyphay describes! But we consider ourselves so very lucky to be able to finally have a small "piece of the pie". We are happy to open our homes to folks who are willing to pay with their hard-earned $$$ for just one or two weeks of our paradise, just like we did a few years ago before we were able to afford a place of our own. We purchased fully knowing that hurricanes were a strong possibility. We have worked our tails off fixing up our place and making it a cozy comfortable place where we, our family and our guests (yes, renters!) can enjoy these beautiful surroundings. And I am so greatful to have what we have, that I wouldn't even consider complaining or being jealous of vacationers enjoying themselves! I'm sure we've all experienced one or two renters who didn't turn out to be what we expected, but the majority of folks who visit our condo treat it with respect, and many are return visitors! If Phyphay is so unhappy, perhaps it's time to sell out and move further north where you won't have to stress so much over your place and our visitors who are enjoying what you are taking for granted! :shock:

I was just trying to put missing a week's vacation into perspective as compared to a longer-term loss. Not to mention being exhausted after boarding up and driving 7-hours (for a normal 4-1/4 hour drive). Sorry, kathydwells and anyone else whose feelings I inadvertently hurt.

After Ivan, we decided to make the investment to put up the accordion hurricane shutters. Our neighbor down there has the key, and it takes her only a few minutes to close and lock them. They were not as expensive as I thought they would be. Considering the cost of replacing property and the high hurricane deductibles, I think they are a great investment, and it saves me a drive from Atlanta to board up.

If anyone is interested, I can recommend a reliable installer in the area.

Janet

I am fairly new to this wonderful website, and I want to say first of all that I am so thankful to have run across it! I have learned so much, and although we own a condo in Seagrove, we are not yet positioned to be able to move down here permanently. It is so wonderful to be able to hear about what's going on in the area during the times when we can't be there! Having said that, I have to say that I'm shocked at the irritation expressed by Phdphay! We also have worked our tails off to be able to finally afford a modest place across the street from one of the the most beautiful beaches in the world. We too have experienced many difficult life experiences, some even more stressful than what Phyphay describes! But we consider ourselves so very lucky to be able to finally have a small "piece of the pie". We are happy to open our homes to folks who are willing to pay with their hard-earned $$$ for just one or two weeks of our paradise, just like we did a few years ago before we were able to afford a place of our own. We purchased fully knowing that hurricanes were a strong possibility. We have worked our tails off fixing up our place and making it a cozy comfortable place where we, our family and our guests (yes, renters!) can enjoy these beautiful surroundings. And I am so greatful to have what we have, that I wouldn't even consider complaining or being jealous of vacationers enjoying themselves! I'm sure we've all experienced one or two renters who didn't turn out to be what we expected, but the majority of folks who visit our condo treat it with respect, and many are return visitors! If Phyphay is so unhappy, perhaps it's time to sell out and move further north where you won't have to stress so much over your place and our visitors who are enjoying what you are taking for granted! :shock:

Eloquently said!!!
I couldn't agree more. We work our tails off just to be able to fly down, rent a car, buy groceries, and stay for only 4 or 5 days, maybe once every 4 - 5 YEARS!!! We only dream of being so lucky to one day be able to retire to the area. And we don't consider ourselves "tourists." We've worked hard, too, to get where we are. Fortunately, everybody on this board seem to be wonderful, generous people.

After Ivan, we decided to make the investment to put up the accordion hurricane shutters. Our neighbor down there has the key, and it takes her only a few minutes to close and lock them. They were not as expensive as I thought they would be. Considering the cost of replacing property and the high hurricane deductibles, I think they are a great investment, and it saves me a drive from Atlanta to board up.

If anyone is interested, I can recommend a reliable installer in the area.

Janet

Please email me. Thanks.

To luvthebeach:
Okay. This is just too cruel! You shouldn't personally attack someone on a message board whose circumstances you don't know. You can't understand how I was a little flipped out when someone complained about losing a week's vacation when we were facing a major financial loss from which at our age we might not totally recover? You can't understand how I was a little upset when I saw my husband with a sawed-open chest picking up 50-pound pieces of plywood when people were sunning next door? I haven't enumerated a fraction of what has happened in my life recently because it's nobody's business. Trust me, I don't take owning a place at this gorgeous paradise for granted. I thank God every day for my blessings, despite the bad things that have happened. I always say that you can't appreciate the good if you don't have something bad come your way.

You owe me an apology. And Kurt, you really need to remove posts that include personal attacks by name against individuals who post.

Okay, I just want to say to everybody posting on this thread ---- Take a deep Breath! This has become a major divide of the "owners" and the "renters". I do not feel it was ever meant to take that air. Every one of you must understand the frustration phdphay was feeling after coming back from boarding up her house - not knowing if their hard earned investment was going to be there whenever she was able to make it back. If not, she maybe had 1/3 of its worth in insurance $$ and the rest would be ??? hopefully salvaged in property -- if there was anything left. I think some think that the ones who own property came by it easily. Well, in many cases, mine included, we came by with the hair of our chin-n-chin-chin. It is blood, sweat and many tears (especially when there is a hurricane threatening your investment) and a big leap of faith. We are thankful for renters who love 30A and help us pay our mortgage, but please understand after such a stressful week, there are a lot of emotions still raw.

Please explain more about the insurance. Are you saying you can not get insurance for the full value of the house and contents in the Panhandle beach area?

You insure the house and contents, not the land. The land (hopefully) holds it owns value. A 1200 square foot house may only have $400,000 on the house, plus contents, but is valued at over $1,000,000 according to the market. You just have to hope that land is worth something if a hurricane blows the house away. :blink:

All homeowner's/property insurance policies here have a different deductable set-up for hurricanes. Instead of, say, a $500 deductable for damage, hurricane deductables are a percentage of value. 2-3% of insured value is typical for that sort of deductable, but some policies may be 5% or 10% instead.

Which, considering the value of a lot of beach homes/condos these days, ends up being a good chunk of change.

There are also things you need to do for storms that aren't covered by your policy. After Ivan, we spent $2,000 on tree removal, but only about $200 of that counted toward the deductable (removing the tree that actually fell on our garage) and the rest of that was whacking some pine trees that were damaged but still standing, and really needed to be taken down for safety reasons. But preventitive measures don't count toward deductables.

Please explain more about the insurance. Are you saying you can not get insurance for the full value of the house and contents in the Panhandle beach area?

For wind damage, some houses simply are uninsurable, depending on age (pre-Andrew building codes) & location (gulf front, yards from gulf). Some houses are insurable, but you have to shop around. Some houses the insurance cost is so high as to make buying insurance impossible.

There is a state program for "uninsurable" properties but I am not in the wind pool.

In any case, there is a hurricane deductible that is quite substantial.

Wind insurance won't cover flooding.

Then, of course, even if you get insurance any day you can get a letter cancelling it. Just happened to my brother in Orlando.

I have 2 modest houses in 2 hurricane states. You would not believe my insurance costs. You also wouldn't believe the annual premium rises.

Please explain more about the insurance. Are you saying you can not get insurance for the full value of the house and contents in the Panhandle beach area?

Well, first of all my previous insurance company went bankrupt after Ivan to avoid paying claims. Thank goodness we had no damage. The coverage with the new company wasn't great, but every insurance agent we talked to said to take what we could get. Some agencies weren't even accepting new customers after Ivan. And secondly, the word from my insurance agent is that it will be next to impossible to insure a new construction south of 30-A after these storms. Thirdly, there are so many loopholes in the insurance policies that the insurance company can challenge, for example, the source of water damage, and depending on what it decides, you might not be covered. Thus, insurance coverage here is tenuous at best.

Janet.
Would like to hear more about the shutters. Thanks!

Does that mean that the first 2-3 percent of any damage in a hurricane is your deductible? Or is there one threshold for the building and another one for the contents?

If it is all in one, I can understand that looking at $8000-12,000 out of pocket for the deductible is stressful...the tree removal you could have most anywhere, like here in the midwest with heavy storms and tornados.

I have been trying to figure out what you need if you own a property down there--because I have toying with the idea for several years of buying down there -- seems like you need:

1) hurricane insurance
2) deductible $$ kitty (the $8-12k)
3) another $$ kitty for general maintenance including boarding the house and removing the boards
4) $$ kitty for interior maintenance and furnishings if you are renting
5) For renting: rental web site, cleaning agency, and property manangement
6) a plan for what you are going to do in case of a hurricane--how does the home get boarded up, who puts the patio furniture away, who unboards the house, etc.

With price escalation the last two years it seems like rents do not cover enough expenses.

I just looked at my insurance policy for non-FL house, and the hurricane deductible is 2% of the coverage limit. That is the insured's part of loss, and dwelling and personal property are aggregated. So, let's say you have a 400k coverage amount (a modest amount not covering rebuilding costs for many houses), with $50k damage to roof/windows and 10k in personal dwelling loss. That's 60k in total loss. Your deductible is 8k (2% of coverage).

2% is pretty darn good.

Try and get that 52k out of some insurance companies. I hear people in Pensacola still haven't been paid. Lots of em.

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Try and get that 52k out of some insurance companies. I hear people in Pensacola still haven't been paid. Lots of em.

That is shocking, just shocking. And you know the insurance company is making $$ with the money they collected from the people who are waiting. Grrr. Did you know that insurance companies also buy insurance on the policies they write? It is called reinsurance. Insurance. Don't know whether it is a racket or whether I should buy stock in the companies since they obviously know how to make $$!

Rent doesn't cover expenses. The rental season starts Memorial Day and ends in early August, thanks to schools starting in early August instead of after Labor Day like in the old days (which has really hurt the tourism industry). We get a few weeks of rentals during spring break. So basically we figure 10 weeks in the summer (minus what we use) plus a couple of weeks during spring break. We save money because we live close enough to do our own landscape maintenance, and my husband has a Ph.D. in engineering, so he is very adept at doing repair work, saving a boatload of money not being at the mercy of others.

We own because we hope that the increase in property values will help us in the long term and, more importantly, WE LOVE THIS PLACE! We are blessed.

P.S. Thanks, everyone for the insurance education.

That is shocking, just shocking. And you know the insurance company is making $$ with the money they collected from the people who are waiting. Grrr. Did you know that insurance companies also buy insurance on the policies they write? It is called reinsurance. Insurance. Don't know whether it is a racket or whether I should buy stock in the companies since they obviously know how to make $$!

Last week I read in one of the SoWal papers that Allstate declared a record year for profits last year (despite the four hurricanes in FL), had cancelled many thousands of policies in FL, and jacked up premiums 28% on many others.

FL actually is better than other hurricane states as far as insurance regulation goes. I fear the day I get my insurance bills.