Maintenance Fees Out-Of-Sight

Looks like Hurricane Katrina hurt a whole bunch of people who haven't been counted. My maintenance fee at the Sands Beach Club in Myrtle Beach has increased from $462 annually to around $650 for 2007 to cover wind damage caused by hurricances. That's a roughly forty-five percent increase all at one time and without much notice. This dramatically increased maintenance fee is no doubt legal, but may drive some of us out of waterfront timeshare or interval ownership. Does anyone know whether this is a pattern up and down the east coast and whether the fees will be reduced after the insurance companies recoup their money? (HA)

maltman wrote:

Looks like Hurricane Katrina hurt a whole bunch of people who haven't been counted. My maintenance fee at the Sands Beach Club in Myrtle Beach has increased from $462 annually to around $650 for 2007 to cover wind damage caused by hurricances. That's a roughly forty-five percent increase all at one time and without much notice. This dramatically increased maintenance fee is no doubt legal, but may drive some of us out of waterfront timeshare or interval ownership. Does anyone know whether this is a pattern up and down the east coast and whether the fees will be reduced after the insurance companies recoup their money? (HA)

If you look in the statement timeshares send owners every year there is always expenses for insurance.

So why aren't these problems being paid for by the insurance company.

Sounds like owners paying for insurance and the damage too!

Many resort maintenance fees have risen tremendously due to hurricane damage and astronomical increases in insurance along the coast and in Florida. I think it will be an ongoing issue because of the continuing rise in insurance rates.

I guess it's all relative. Ours on Florida's gulf cost have risen to almost $1200!

phill12 wrote:

If you look in the statement timeshares send owners every year there is always expenses for insurance.

Insurance rates in the coastal southern US may have increased in a post-Katrina actuarial reassessment. Some residential insurance carriers are withdrawing from certain US markets entirely. Even with insurance, there may be deductibles to pay, and some losses not covered by insurance (lost use of a unit during repairs, etc.)

rarghr wrote:

phill12 wrote:

If you look in the statement timeshares send owners every year there is always expenses for insurance.

Insurance rates in the coastal southern US may have increased in a post-Katrina actuarial reassessment. Some residential insurance carriers are withdrawing from certain US markets entirely. Even with insurance, there may be deductibles to pay, and some losses not covered by insurance (lost use of a unit during repairs, etc.)

These Scumbag Resorts are GOUGING us again! There is NO WAY it should increase that much for each and every week owner! I can see the rate going up 2-300 per condo in the building, but not 2-300 x 52 weeks!

Once again, they are RIPPING US OFF!

joel382 wrote:

rarghr wrote:

phill12 wrote:

If you look in the statement timeshares send owners every year there is always expenses for insurance.

Insurance rates in the coastal southern US may have increased in a post-Katrina actuarial reassessment. Some residential insurance carriers are withdrawing from certain US markets entirely. Even with insurance, there may be deductibles to pay, and some losses not covered by insurance (lost use of a unit during repairs, etc.)

These Scumbag Resorts are GOUGING us again! There is NO WAY it should increase that much for each and every week owner! I can see the rate going up 2-300 per condo in the building, but not 2-300 x 52 weeks!

Once again, they are RIPPING US OFF!

I have a feeling you hit the nail on the head! How easy is it going to be to sell these things some day, when the M fee is higher than the cost of a week elsewhere in the location? We are now 'upside down' as they say in the real estate biz!

KNOW THE FACTS....................

It is NOT the resort ripping you off. Insurance rates have been raised SKY HIGH for commercial properties. This doesn't even matter whether a claim has been filed or not. Also, usually a high deductible must be met before the insurance company will pay a claim. So if there isn't enough damage to meet the deductible, someone has to pay. Blaim the rip-off insurance companies!

It's possible that both points of view are correct: insurance rates went up, *and* some businesses are increasing fees substantially beyond the increased insurance costs.

However, after a major hurricane, insurance rate increases often exceed 100% throughout affected regions. Myrtle Beach, mentioned in the initial post, has far exceeded that. The article at http://www.topix.net/content/kri/3775430556269411968333389293290507744366 describes increases as high as 700% for condominiums and homeowner associations in the area.

rarghr wrote:

It's possible that both points of view are correct: insurance rates went up, *and* some businesses are increasing fees substantially beyond the increased insurance costs.

However, after a major hurricane, insurance rate increases often exceed 100% throughout affected regions. Myrtle Beach, mentioned in the initial post, has far exceeded that. The article at http://www.topix.net/content/kri/3775430556269411968333389293290507744366 describes increases as high as 700% for condominiums and homeowner associations in the area.

Well, I can speak for South Florida where I have witnessed 4 hurricanes pass through here. Numerous insurance policies have been dropped. Nobody is writing new policies. The largest insurer or last resort is called Citizens - which is the state insurance co. Those who are lucky enough to have private insurance policies have seen increases from 500% - 600%. Yes, that is correct. There is an insurance crisis here. I know many people who had policies of only 2,500 to see it increase to 17,000 per year. The insurance payment alone is raised even more than the mortgage itself. Insurance is unaffordable! Now that everybodies policies have been raised so high, no hurricanes last year. The insurance companies pocketed all that money and passed it on to their shareholders. Oh..and by the way, anything on the water or east of I-95...SKY HIGH. I would not doubt for even a second, that the amounts passed on is due to the insurance and the taxes in Florida. Resorts in Florida are going to have to increase their M fees......they have no choice. By the way, taxes are out of control for businesses and commercial property in South Florida also. There is a proposal on the table to eliminate property taxes for homesteaded homeowner's and to raise the sales tax to 8.5% for all.

melanieb44 wrote:

rarghr wrote:

It's possible that both points of view are correct: insurance rates went up, *and* some businesses are increasing fees substantially beyond the increased insurance costs.

However, after a major hurricane, insurance rate increases often exceed 100% throughout affected regions. Myrtle Beach, mentioned in the initial post, has far exceeded that. The article at http://www.topix.net/content/kri/3775430556269411968333389293290507744366 describes increases as high as 700% for condominiums and homeowner associations in the area.

Well, I can speak for South Florida where I have witnessed 4 hurricanes pass through here. Numerous insurance policies have been dropped. Nobody is writing new policies. The largest insurer or last resort is called Citizens - which is the state insurance co. Those who are lucky enough to have private insurance policies have seen increases from 500% - 600%. Yes, that is correct. There is an insurance crisis here. I know many people who had policies of only 2,500 to see it increase to 17,000 per year. The insurance payment alone is raised even more than the mortgage itself. Insurance is unaffordable! Now that everybodies policies have been raised so high, no hurricanes last year. The insurance companies pocketed all that money and passed it on to their shareholders. Oh..and by the way, anything on the water or east of I-95...SKY HIGH. I would not doubt for even a second, that the amounts passed on is due to the insurance and the taxes in Florida. Resorts in Florida are going to have to increase their M fees......they have no choice. By the way, taxes are out of control for businesses and commercial property in South Florida also. There is a proposal on the table to eliminate property taxes for homesteaded homeowner's and to raise the sales tax to 8.5% for all.

Amen! You left out the bed tax increased last year to 5%, which now adds a total of 11% to the cost of renting a condo. With an average cost of approximately $3500/month in Fort Myetrs/Sanibel this adds almost $400 to stick to the snowbird who doesn't vote in the area, so he has no choice at all. It won't be long before people simply stop visiting 'paradise' due to the high costs. I canceled our fall trip due to medical reasons, but honestly, I also looked forward to saving the expense. Turns out we had very mild weather in the north, so I couldn't have picked a better time bail on the trip.

Also, with all those huge increases in insurance wouldn't you think there would be all kinds of people bailing out of the area? Real estate figures don't show it yet, just a slight flattening of sales....go figure! :)

From what I've read there are thousands of people that have yet to receive insurance reimbursements from the hurricanes of 2005. Without insurance payments to repair their homes, it would be almost impossible to sell and/or get a proper house inspection to sell. And, many people have been dropped from their insurance companies altogether, so they are having to do the repairs on their own. All of this takes time.

I believe the domino effect will prevail in the years to come. I see an exoudus out of Florida, especially for retirees, moving to less volatile areas (weatherwise) iin this country where there are mild winters but no hurricanes.

We've already seen an exodus of Florida reitrees to the area where we live.

jgira12 wrote:

Also, with all those huge increases in insurance wouldn't you think there would be all kinds of people bailing out of the area? Real estate figures don't show it yet, just a slight flattening of sales....go figure! :)

jayjay wrote:

From what I've read there are thousands of people that have yet to receive insurance reimbursements from the hurricanes of 2005. Without insurance payments to repair their homes, it would be almost impossible to sell and/or get a proper house inspection to sell. And, many people have been dropped from their insurance companies altogether, so they are having to do the repairs on their own. All of this takes time.

I believe the domino effect will prevail in the years to come. I see an exoudus out of Florida, especially for retirees, moving to less volatile areas (weatherwise) iin this country where there are mild winters but no hurricanes.

We've already seen an exodus of Florida reitrees to the area where we live.

jgira12 wrote:

Also, with all those huge increases in insurance wouldn't you think there would be all kinds of people bailing out of the area? Real estate figures don't show it yet, just a slight flattening of sales....go figure! :)

You are correct on many points. Did you see today's news? CNBC just reported the big drop in real estate sales for January. This is going to continue for quite a while. We are headed to Fort Myers for a month in a couple of weeks...I plan to do some comparison shopping. Already the developments are offering enticements to buy; and condo flipping is a thing of the past again. Sad thing is, none of this will lower my maintenance fee on Sanibel:(

jgira12 wrote:

melanieb44 wrote:

rarghr wrote:

It's possible that both points of view are correct: insurance rates went up, *and* some businesses are increasing fees substantially beyond the increased insurance costs.

However, after a major hurricane, insurance rate increases often exceed 100% throughout affected regions. Myrtle Beach, mentioned in the initial post, has far exceeded that. The article at http://www.topix.net/content/kri/3775430556269411968333389293290507744366 describes increases as high as 700% for condominiums and homeowner associations in the area.

Well, I can speak for South Florida where I have witnessed 4 hurricanes pass through here. Numerous insurance policies have been dropped. Nobody is writing new policies. The largest insurer or last resort is called Citizens - which is the state insurance co. Those who are lucky enough to have private insurance policies have seen increases from 500% - 600%. Yes, that is correct. There is an insurance crisis here. I know many people who had policies of only 2,500 to see it increase to 17,000 per year. The insurance payment alone is raised even more than the mortgage itself. Insurance is unaffordable! Now that everybodies policies have been raised so high, no hurricanes last year. The insurance companies pocketed all that money and passed it on to their shareholders. Oh..and by the way, anything on the water or east of I-95...SKY HIGH. I would not doubt for even a second, that the amounts passed on is due to the insurance and the taxes in Florida. Resorts in Florida are going to have to increase their M fees......they have no choice. By the way, taxes are out of control for businesses and commercial property in South Florida also. There is a proposal on the table to eliminate property taxes for homesteaded homeowner's and to raise the sales tax to 8.5% for all.

Amen! You left out the bed tax increased last year to 5%, which now adds a total of 11% to the cost of renting a condo. With an average cost of approximately $3500/month in Fort Myetrs/Sanibel this adds almost $400 to stick to the snowbird who doesn't vote in the area, so he has no choice at all. It won't be long before people simply stop visiting 'paradise' due to the high costs. I canceled our fall trip due to medical reasons, but honestly, I also looked forward to saving the expense. Turns out we had very mild weather in the north, so I couldn't have picked a better time bail on the trip.

Also, with all those huge increases in insurance wouldn't you think there would be all kinds of people bailing out of the area? Real estate figures don't show it yet, just a slight flattening of sales....go figure! :)

Hi...snowbirds and commercial properties in FL are not protected by the Save Our Homes amendment. (Only homesteaded homes.) Foreclosures in FL are at record highes. Insurance is unobtainable, and IF you get it, it is sky high. Property taxes are sky high if you are not homesteaded. (Homesteaded people are protected at a 3% cap per year.)

There is both an insurance and tax crisis here. The statistics already show that people are having a hard time selling homes here because 1) nobody could afford the taxes appraised at the new value of the home and 2) insurance is way too high. So, homesteaded owners are stuck in their current homes because they can't afford to lose their homestead on the current home. Also, buyers get scared away because of the amount of the taxes and insurance.

The ones really screwed are the renters. Landlords can not file for homestead on rental properties. The landlords have to pass on the higher taxes and insurance to the renters. The working class can't afford to live here, and people are moving out of FL to places more affordable. The working class new people wanting to move to here can't afford it. Only established people can afford to stay as long as they remain in the home they own.

Our new governer is working on all these issues. If you want to learn more about it, you can read our local papers at www.sunsentinel.com or www.palmbeachpost.com. There are plenty of articles on there.

Insurance is definitely the reason why all the resort in Florida will have to charge more M. It is also the main reason why I bought my resort in Aruba - out of the hurricane zone, and no insurance issue like Florida. I pay low M. Thanks.

Florida isn't the only place that maint. fees have skyrocketed. My timeshare in St. Thomas went up 200 and some odd dollars this year. What is up with these outrageous rises in fees?

I would imagine the high rise in maintenance fees are due to skyrocketing insurance costs, especially in hurricane prone areas such as St. Thomas.

andreal wrote:

Florida isn't the only place that maint. fees have skyrocketed. My timeshare in St. Thomas went up 200 and some odd dollars this year. What is up with these outrageous rises in fees?

First of all, I don't like it either.

But, as in any and all situations, a Company or even an individual has to somehow cover not only their losses, but anticipated losses. In the insurance industry, anticipated losses are known as risk, also known as "chances", as in "what are the chances of.....".

If you buy and sell corn/flowers/paint, etc., and know that the cost of those items will probably rise for whatever reason, you build that price increase into your cost. Therefore your selling price will also rise.

Same logic with insurance, with a simple detour. For years, insurance companies were able to keep their costs low, simply because they were making their profits in the stock market. EVERYBODY was paying less for insurance than what the risk factors indicated. But since Insurance Co.'s were making so much in the stock markets, they overlooked the risk factors.

Starting with 9/11, which brought huge losses (property, life, stocks) and continuing through all of the natural disasters since, insurance companies have decided to price insurance according to the risk's indicated and not rely on the stock market. Therefore all of us are now paying a fair share of the perceived risk involved. We, as consumers, do not share that feeling, but only because we liked the prices that we formerly paid, not the new prices. Just like gas prices.

Those who own properties in known hurricane, flood, tornado, earthquake or forest fire areas, are now paying for the actual risk involved. Just like life insurance rates for smokers and non-smokers. Risk costs money. Remember the "Dares" that we used to make, and still do. I will pay you $10 to jump off the roof. You won't do it for $10, but you will for $100. That's known as "perceived RISK", your perception of the risk, based on your knowledge of the event.

Having said all that, while the new insurance costs do not surprise me, I agree with a previous post that I am not sure of the increases on our Maintainance invoices and whether they are fairly applied as to number of units.

Bottom line; I don't like it either, but I do understand it.

"Having said all that, while the new insurance costs do not surprise me, I agree with a previous post that I am not sure of the increases on our Maintainance invoices and whether they are fairly applied as to number of units."

Ah yes, but this is the internet age. There now is power among the little people...the timeshare owners. We now have a medium to reveal heretofore unknown facts about our timeshares, that only board members were privy to in the past. The clandestine nature of the board is a thing of the past. We need representation that will reveal the behind the scenes discussions to all the owners. This can be accomplished on the internet forums such as the one here. Just keep reading the forums...we will find out a lot as time goes on...trust me!

I would find it interesting to know how much it is that people pay for maintenance fees! And if they are the same amount.

What I meant was do they differ at the same location.