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PROPERTY INSURANCE: A SERIOUS NECESSITY!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published May 11, 2018
Florida,
nicely called the Sunshine State, but what about all the hurricanes? We have
been hit by many “infamous” hurricanes over the years – just
remember the names “Wilma” and “Irma”?
Insurance
premiums are very expensive, especially for high-rise
condominiums.
And many
board members, in order to prevent increases of the maintenance
fees, chose high deductibles in order to keep the premiums as
low as possible. But that means, in case of more hurricane
damage in the coming years, that the association has to be
prepared to pay a big amount of money to cover the deductible.
Especially Wilma in 2005 taught us that many associations are
ill prepared for paying the deductible.
Huge
special assessments had to be levied after Wilma to pay for the
deductibles – and families lost their homes because they didn’t
have the money to pay for the special assessment.
If boards
chose big deductibles they better have well-stocked reserve
funds to cover the amounts needed for the deductibles. Does your
association have well-funded reserves.
Is your
association well prepared for another hurricane disaster?
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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