DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. – It’s been over a year since hurricanes Nicole and Ian devastated the coast of Volusia County and still, many homes and condos are being rebuilt.
Now, the owners are taking a major blow again, this time by property insurance hikes.
“If the insurance keeps going up, the condo market is going to collapse,” Jeff Sussman said.
Sussman is the treasurer of the Grand Coquina condo complex in Daytona Beach Shores.
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He said they have a brand-new seawall and drainage system after last year’s hurricane damage and so far, less than 10% of these fixes have been covered by insurance.
“It’s like a bad slot machine. You keep feeding it money and it never pays off,” he said.
Despite not getting any help so far, Sussman said their property insurance rates are up 209%, jumping from $207,000 per year to $680,000.
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“We had to do an assessment for the shortfall of about $2,300 per owner and then they told us for next year we could be seeing another large increase which would mean a $5,000 to $6,000 assessment,” he said.
That’s on top of each owner’s personal insurance policies and it’s forcing people out. Sussman said so far, 14 of their 109 units have hit the market.
“Most people have this misconception that everybody who lives on the beach is a rich millionaire and most of the people who live here are elderly on fixed income,” Sussman said.
It’s happening up and down the coast. Just next door, the Marbella Condo Association saw a major jump, too.
“It was in excess of 500%,” said Marbella’s condo association president, Jim Smith.
Smith said they’ve never made an insurance claim since the condos were built and rates still jumped. Now, their $ 25,000-a-month bill is split between the 24 condo owners.
Increased lawsuits and storm damage are among the reasons many insurance companies have left Florida over the last year causing the spike, according to their adjusters.
Smith said they are shopping around and their owners are writing to all Florida legislators for help.
“Two words: common sense,” he said, “Because it doesn’t seem like anybody is exhibiting common sense.”
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