Cancelling Plans

[KyGeologist]

What a gem! We should have a clean up day and give out Bloody Marys to everyone pitching in. I can bring the supplies and bartend. Pick a morning. (hmm, I wonder if I need a liqour license???)

I have a feeling that we may have more Bloody Mary Mournings on the way this year.

As another pending vacationer waiting in a holding pattern to see if we'll be able to visit on June 16-23... I would be very interested in hearing about any clean-up projects next week in the area we'll be staying: Eastern Lake Road, beachfront. We have 11 members of the extended family planning to visit.

What items would folks suggest we bring along to be ready for cleaning up around the house and beach where we're renting, assuming we get to visit? Gloves? Trash bags? Tools? more? less? We don't have hurricanes in Kentucky so I'm a beach-cleanup novice; we only have tornados, landslides, and floods... Dennis is supposedly going to work on the latter for us later this week.

Emailed suggestions are welcome.

KyGeologist

 

[sunsetdunes]

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

 

[ktmeadows]

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:

 

[sunsetdunes]

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

 

[Rudyjohn]

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.

 

[phdphay]

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.

 

[phdphay]

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.

 

[lollygal]

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.

 

[dusty]

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?

 

[lollygal]

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.