Grayton Interest

Donna, If you had to choose again, wouldn't you end up in the same place? Grayton is the heart and soul of 30A.

Some places have very low homeowner fees. If that's a concern, you can find such places. The fewer extras a place has and the less fancy landscaping that needs to be tended (the natural flora and fauna are quite nice), the lower the home owner fees. So, if you just want a place to live and a pool, you don't need to pay high homeowners fees. For someone who lives far away from their place, I find it nice to have a homeowner association (which also means that many people in the community are looking out for each other and the community) to keep an eye on things.

Good point, Paula. And your cottages have great amenities, also close to the beaches. The Bainbridge Island place has a HOA because there are nine acres of landscaped area and a walkable waterfront, pavilion with outdoor kitchen, boat storage facilities, its own water company and septic system for the 18 places. It's awfully nice to know that other homeowners are looking out for everything. In fact, my nextdoor neighbor just e-mailed to say they are having their skylights cleaned and the guy offered to discount both of us 20% if he did mine, too. Easy as pie.

Our rental company also does many management functions (at a price) and on the whole, I'm not unhappy with those services. The time when one is really on the rack is when a storm is possibly moving in. To board or not to board? And you hate to fly down there and possibly get trapped somewhere due to weather conditions. But I have decided that this is what frequent flyer miles are for. Of course, I am hoping for a normal storm season instead of a repeat of the unheard of 2005 year.

And if there are storms this year, Donna, then at least we'll probably get a chance to see each other and other SoWallers as we check on our places.

Homeowners' fees aren't for everyone, but they are good for whoever feels they are getting services that are important to them. They've been worth it to me for peace of mind and also for building a community in SoWal with people who have relatively similar goals/interests for their properties/lives in SoWal. When something goes wrong or well in the "neighborhood" it's good to know we'll all hear about it quickly and have a say in what happens next.

The $2544 home insurance (fire and wind I suspect) is DEAD CHEAP for a $900K home.

That certainly shouldn't be holding anyone back who's looking in that price range.



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No doubt! We live north of 98 in Point Washington - our home is only about 1,600 sqft. and not in a flood zone, and we pay $1950+/year. Our neighbors across the street are with State Farm (but just got notice of cancellation) and they told me yesterday their insurance jumped from $2300 to over $4000!

Current Insurance and Tax info for 78 Garfield St :

Property Tax - $4,206
Home Insurance - $2,544
Flood Insurance - $264

Our wind insurance is totally separate from our homeowners. Does this home insurance figure include the wind? Our wind insurance alone is $2500. Something does not compute here.

We have a number of different forms of insurance:
Liability (fire, etc.)
Umbrella from primary residence that covers the second home
Wind (always a separate policy)
Flood (FEMA)
Lost rental revenue policy

Ours runs $4,617 per year on a three-story house in the coastal area, in a flood zone.

So I never understand people saying their insurance was ramped up to double digits. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the game.

Our wind insurance is totally separate from our homeowners. Does this home insurance figure include the wind? Our wind insurance alone is $2500. Something does not compute here.

There are still a few companies that have "all inclusive" policies. The wind deductible is just higher. I pay $1,800 a year for one of these type policies on a cottage in the Seacrest area....a pretty good deal by most standards.
I was required to put the 3M protective film on the windows in order to qualify for the policy. That cost was about another $1,800, but it was worth it to avoid the separate wind with Citizen's at $2,500.

I'll check with the Grayton owner and find out if her policy includes wind.

Donna, that is surprising very inexpensive sounding for your house. Are you sure that you didn't move the decimal over one place? I would have thought insurance for your home would be at least double that. Who is your insurer?

Donna, that is surprising very inexpensive sounding for your house. Are you sure that you didn't move the decimal over one place? I would have thought insurance for your home would be at least double that. Who is your insurer?

And deductible...


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