2-7-2025. Very Important!
Receiving our annual Condo insurance renewal each year is always a stressful time, and this year is no different. While I’m going to share with you some of the highlights, I’ll have a lot more to say at our next Board meeting which will be held on Wednesday, March 5th beginning at 2:00pm. This will also be listed on our website.
This policy is a dramatic change from passed policies and while I don’t want to alarm anyone, I do want you to be aware of the facts. Below, you will see excerpts from my conversations with our insurance agent.
Question: What forced these changes to occur?
Answer: Wind and Hail events are not unusual for Ohio. However, since 2019, the frequency of these events has increased at an alarming rate. In fact, damage caused by wind and hail has forced several insurers to exit the condo market altogether.
Question: This is a dramatic change from our policy last year, what happened?
Answer: Yes, all insurance companies have adopted per-building wind hail deductibles for condo associations.
Question: What is the biggest change that will affect our budget this coming year? (I‘ve edited this to make it a Villa Run example)
Answer: Deductible applies to a single occurrence but on a Per Building basis. Example: assume wind damages 10 homes in Villa Run and the association has a $25,000 Deductible. The association would owe a $25,000 deductible for each Building with damage. In this example, the Association would pay $250,000! The insurer pays the remaining damage.
Question: What do you suggest that our residents do?
Answer: Ask your agent about Loss Assessment Coverage. Loss Assessment Coverage helps prevent a Unit Owner from paying out of pocket if their condo association issues a special assessment for expenses related to an insurance claim. Wind and Hail Deductibles have increased dramatically due to claim history and poor weather. The Association carries a $25,000 Per Building (Unit) Deductible for Wind / Hail damage. Your agent can add/increase the Loss Assessment Coverage in your policy to make sure you are protected in the event of an assessment due to wind or hail. I recommend a minimum limit of $25,000. The annual cost to add Loss Assessment coverage should be less than $10 per year.
Question: What’s the bottom line?
Answer: Summary
The property insurance market is volatile due to labor shortages, increased costs of building materials, adverse weather conditions, and significant catastrophic losses. These issues, along with rising reinsurance costs, are forcing insurers to make substantial changes and increase premiums. As a result, several insurers, including Middle Oak, Great American, Nationwide, IHG, LIO, Pekin, Celina, Donegal, and American Family have exited the condo market. Unfortunately, this list continues to expand. Despite these challenges, the good news is that Arden remains a stable option for condo associations.
Don’t worry if some of this doesn’t make sense to you because I’ll be explaining it again in greater detail at our next meeting on March 5th. See more details on our website.
In closing, thank you to the person who found and returned the flag ornament found on Armsgate Rd which is a reminder to us all. This website is your website and one of its uses is to display messages, requests, etc. that you want everyone to know about.
I hope to see you on March 5th.
Important phone number
1-29-2025. My cell phone number is 937-561-4969 and while I hope that you would call your area manager first, I’m giving you this phone number for a couple of reasons.
One, I try to separate my Villa Run business from my personal life and two, we’re planning a few trips this spring and without a Vice-President (which frustrates the hell out of me) if you call our home phone, you won’t get a return call until we return. This number will be on our website as well.
1-26-2025. Imagine walking out of your house and when you return, there’s nothing left!
​
With the fires and hurricanes going on, I thought that some people may find this suggestion helpful. I know that here in Ohio, we don’t worry much about fires and certainly not hurricanes BUT we do have tornados.
​
Years ago, when I sold home and auto insurance, I used to set Friday afternoons aside to go to my customer’s home and take a video of the contents in their home and garage. Luckily, we no longer must use a camera the size of a small suitcase, but rather almost everyone has a cellphone with a camera and most have the capability to take videos.
​
My suggestion is this. Using your camera’s video or still pictures, I suggest taking a picture of everything in your house and either transferring it to a computer file or better yet, transferring it to a thumb drive. Be sure to have a date on it and store it somewhere safe. By doing this, you’ll always have evidence of what was destroyed (God forbid) if your home is destroyed.
​
1-8-2025.
By now, I'm sure some people are tired of getting all of these emails but it's my best way to keep people informed. The other day, I mistakenly sent out a robocall asking people who have their cars parked outside to park on the sidewalk side so Paul's crew could clean at least 1/2 of your driveway. It turns out that apparently Paul bought some new equipment and with a 9 foot blade is unable to safely clean only one half of your driveway. So...
If you park your car outside during any time we plow, ONLY the back portion of your driveway toward the street will be cleared.
On another note, those who check our website regularly will notice a lot of past notes have disappeared. That's because, by mistake, I hit the wrong key and wiped everything out. It's happened before and the usual ways to reconstruct just don't work. I do, however, try to post everything that I write here onto our website as well.
Now, let's get ready for our next snowfall on Friday.
1-4-2025. We have 3 more people (so far) that will shovel your sidewalk and driveway. Their names are: Austin Cooper, phone number: 937-398-9279; Damon Greentree whose phone number is 937-215-3284 and Thomas Mollett, phone number: 937-926-5856
1-3-2025.
Looking at the weather this weekend, I think we're looking at a very interesting weekend ahead. Not only do we have a chance for accumulating snow, we also are looking at sub-freezing cold all next week. We will be working closely with Paul Gamble, who does our snow plowing, and I will try my best to alert everyone if we'll be plowing driveways as well.
We've been so lucky the last few years but we're ready for whatever this winter brings us. My goal is to please 51% of our residents! Lol...