[Jammie]

Originally Posted by hereinfla

You don't need hurricane insurance as a unit owner in a condo. In a townhouse, however, individual insurance is needed.

For example, in a condo, if the roof needs replacing, the association is responsible for replacing it. In a townhouse, the owner of that unit is responsible. That is why condo association fees are so much more than townhome fees. In all cases, insurance is needed for liablity and contents.

When you have a condo, wouldn't you still need hurricane insurance? If the winds from a cane took the roof off, wouldn't you need insurance for the damage that would be done in the interior of the condo? Or what part of your policy would be responsible for that?

[cmj_fla]

Originally Posted by Jammie

When you have a condo, wouldn't you still need hurricane insurance? If the winds from a cane took the roof off, wouldn't you need insurance for the damage that would be done in the interior of the condo? Or what part of your policy would be responsible for that?

There is separate coverage for the interior belongings in most insurance policies.

[BikeChick]

My condo association fees are $390 a month. In the last two years it's gone up $240. This year we were told it was because of insurance. My building suffered quite a bit of damage in 2005 with Wilma. We also get it with assessments for additional work that needs to be done and the monthly assessment fees don't cover. Last year I paid close to $3500 in assessment fees for work done to repair the hurricane damage.

[cmj_fla]

That is what happened to us when we lived in a condo. We were charged assessment fees for EVERYTHING on top of the $200 a month (which doesn't seem too much but it was for a $40,000 condo). We were charged for basic things like repair of the pool to redoing all the parking lots which we were charged like $2000 - we had absolutely no say in the matter. I hated living in a condo. They could say what we could do to the outside and inside of our condo. We felt like we were in a communist community. I was so happy to get out of there. Is it like that for everyone or did we just have a bad association board? *average age was 75 for the board BTW and we were in our early 20's

[BikeChick]

My experience with assessment fees are the same as yours. Owners are basically told what needs to be done and here's how much you have to pay. With the hurricane damage in 2005 they gave us 3 months to pay almost $3500 in assessments. It was an extra $900 a month, which just about killed me. Thank God for tax refunds!

My condo board is the exact opposite of yours. They are so lackadaisical (sp?). They don't enforce any rules other than telling people not to put a mat at your front door. I have unruly neighbors (who are renters) and even when residents complain, nothing gets done. I'd like to move to a house, but I can't afford anything bigger or as nice as I have now so I'm kind of stuck.

[cmj_fla]

Sorry to hear that BikeChick. We had it so bad with harassment from the board because of silly things like having ONE broken blind in our mini-blinds to putting a welcome sign on our front step and being threatened with a lean. We had to pay for pest control and still got bugs and when we asked them to fix it they said it was our fault and made us pay even more and told it was because we were dirty!!! It came to a head when we put in a wash machine (one made to hook up to the sink) and even though there was no rule against it we were threatened with a law suit. So we sold the place and had to rent for the past few years until we FINALLY saved enough money to buy a house (we close tomorrow YEAH!!!). Needless to say we have a very bad opinion of condo associations. It always seems like its one extreme or the other - they do nothing or do way too much!

[BikeChick]

Congratulations on buying a house! I'd like to get one so I can get away from a condo, but with the rising prices I can no longer afford one.

[Jannie]

Compared to everyone else it seems my association fees are not that bad. We have 200 units in the association and when hurricane Wilma hit they took out a loan to cover the costs. We were charged a one time fee of $650 to help pay off the loan. The association notified us in letter that they were raising the monthly fee to cover future costs but also they were dropped by their insurance company due to the hurricanes and had to get a more expensive insurance company.
Is there a cap as to how high fees can go? If they go too high you can't sell.
Who wants to buy a condo and then have to pay association fees that may go to $1000 or more a month. Are we all stuck?

[remanager]

Liens can not be put on condos for fines. Only unpaid dues and assessments.

[john1963]

this is why i'll never buy a condo...it's a shame cause i would like to.