Sinkholes,Yikes...

[Villagevip]

How about a VILLAGE CO-OP SINKHOLE FUND? Every Villager that desires to be covered in the SINKHOLE CO-OP deposit $200.00 (?) annually into a bank controlled escrow.. Discover a sinkhole on your property, owners will be fully financially covered for all the work to be done, no ifs, maybes, or buts..This program, would have to have a lot of interest, and participation of concerned Villagers. :wave: Sinkhole insurance policies have caveats, large deductibles..Some say, not worth it..

P.S. Regulations? Just go into the participating (developers?) bank, deposit your money..Get on the list, and sleep at night...If not feasible, plan B... Village home owners "donate" $10.00 into a banks Sinkhole Escrow Fund,..Like a local "Go Fund Me" automatic activation, no asking...The Villages "YOU ARE NOT ALONE" program..This program, would cover EVERY VILLAGE HOME OWNER, wealthy or not...

[Chellybean]

sound like you have the wrong carrier, you can get low deductible from state farm Thomas agency on 301 talk to Debbie she is the mother of the son Nathan Thomas State Farm® Insurance Agent that owns it.
Smart and nice lady.352) 748-5272
She also lives in the villages

[Doro22]

How about a VILLAGE CO-OP SINKHOLE FUND? Every Villager that desires to be covered in the SINKHOLE CO-OP deposit $200.00 (?) annually into a bank controlled escrow.. Discover a sinkhole on your property, owners will be fully financially covered for all the work to be done, no ifs, maybes, or buts..This program, would have to have a lot of interest, and participation of concerned Villagers. :wave: Sinkhole insurance policies have caveats, large deductibles..Some say, not worth it..

P.S. Regulations? Just go into the participating (developers?) bank, deposit your money..Get on the list, and sleep at night...If not feasible, plan B... Villagers donate $10.00 into a banks Sinkhole Escrow Fund, to make the sinkhole victim villager whole again..Like a local "Go Fund Me"...The Villages "YOU ARE NOT ALONE" program...

Good idea. I would do it.

[Lottoguy]

Sounds good on paper but, I would think you would need many people to put into the fund. Maybe some kind of "promise policy" would work. You sign a paper with the promise if somebody on this list has a sinkhole and needs help you will promise to make a donation of $100.00.

[JoMar]

I have insurance....also not sure how you would handle the broken promises.

[golfing eagles]

Agree---sounds good in theory. But remember, the reason insurance companies either dropped sinkhole coverage or made the deductible 10% was the overwhelming number of fraudulent claims. People would claim that some cracks in their stucco that were 10 years old were caused by a 2 foot sinkhole 1/4 mile from their house. Even if they denied the claim, it cost a fortune just to send an adjuster. Do you really think it would be any different here?

[Villagevip]

Agree---sounds good in theory. But remember, the reason insurance companies either dropped sinkhole coverage or made the deductible 10% was the overwhelming number of fraudulent claims. People would claim that some cracks in their stucco that were 10 years old were caused by a 2 foot sinkhole 1/4 mile from their house. Even if they denied the claim, it cost a fortune just to send an adjuster. Do you really think it would be any different here?

Private account would have sufficient funds available, to fix cracks, in stuco walls or floors.. Why let homes deteriorate and detrimentally affect the neighborhood and your homes value..The Villages, self contained and easily regulated against fraud.. We all have to get along, with peer pressures, TOTV, and of course, community standards...

[Carla B]

I believe self-insurance was looked into in depth a few years ago by POA and even by District Gov. I think the hurdle was the way insurance is regulated.

[Retiring]

How about a VILLAGE CO-OP SINKHOLE FUND? Every Villager that desires to be covered in the SINKHOLE CO-OP deposit $200.00 (?) annually into a bank controlled escrow.. Discover a sinkhole on your property, owners will be fully financially covered for all the work to be done, no ifs, maybes, or buts..This program, would have to have a lot of interest, and participation of concerned Villagers. :wave: Sinkhole insurance policies have caveats, large deductibles..Some say, not worth it..

P.S. Regulations? Just go into the participating (developers?) bank, deposit your money..Get on the list, and sleep at night...If not feasible, plan B... Village home owners "donate" $10.00 into a banks Sinkhole Escrow Fund,..Like a local "Go Fund Me" automatic activation, no asking...The Villages "YOU ARE NOT ALONE" program..This program, would cover EVERY VILLAGE HOME OWNER, wealthy or not...


Not sure there would be enough participants in the program to make it viable. The sister of a friend had a sinkhole in the backyard (Orlando). The house was not declared unsafe so her insurance would not cover the cost. To repair the relatively small hole was $79k and all came out of her pocket. I have some short-term experience with behind the scenes HOA business. When asking for small assessments to repair infrastructure, in an affluent country club community, I learned a valuable lesson. Most people are just plain cheap.

[billybye]

I think State Farm has highest rates in Florida. At least it did when I used them a few years ago.

[ColdNoMore]

How about a VILLAGE CO-OP SINKHOLE FUND? Every Villager that desires to be covered in the SINKHOLE CO-OP deposit $200.00 (?) annually into a bank controlled escrow.. Discover a sinkhole on your property, owners will be fully financially covered for all the work to be done, no ifs, maybes, or buts..This program, would have to have a lot of interest, and participation of concerned Villagers. :wave: Sinkhole insurance policies have caveats, large deductibles..Some say, not worth it..

P.S. Regulations? Just go into the participating (developers?) bank, deposit your money..Get on the list, and sleep at night...If not feasible, plan B... Village home owners "donate" $10.00 into a banks Sinkhole Escrow Fund,..Like a local "Go Fund Me" automatic activation, no asking...The Villages "YOU ARE NOT ALONE" program..This program, would cover EVERY VILLAGE HOME OWNER, wealthy or not...
I hate to be the one throwing cold water on this idea...but I can't imagine how this might even work.

Will there be a board of some type that will make the determination...on who will get reimbursed for a claim?

And don't forget to ask for funds for a legal team also...including personal coverage for those who will be responsible for determining claims.

At some point, when someone is denied a claim (by whomever)...I'm pretty sure that they won't be happy.

IMHO, I don't see it as having a chance in heck of working. :shrug:

[spuds51]

You're probably right but it sure sounded good. If only 10% of the people in TV got in it it would have about 2 million. Based on 100,000 houses and $200.00 per house. The money could be put in some interest-bearing account and of course, someone would have to manage it. There would also have to be stipulations like to be used for repair of sinkholes only. Not for repairing cracks in stucco.
I have no idea how you would go about it but it's not the craziest idea I have ever heard.






I hate to be the one throwing cold water on this idea...but I can't imagine how this might even work.

Will there be a board of some type that will make the determination...on who will get reimbursed for a claim?

And don't forget to ask for funds for a legal team also...including personal coverage for those who will be responsible for determining claims.

At some point, when someone is denied a claim (by whomever)...I'm pretty sure that they won't be happy.

IMHO, I don't see it as having a chance in heck of working. :shrug:

[Villagevip]

Not sure there would be enough participants in the program to make it viable. The sister of a friend had a sinkhole in the backyard (Orlando). The house was not declared unsafe so her insurance would not cover the cost. To repair the relatively small hole was $79k and all came out of her pocket. I have some short-term experience with behind the scenes HOA business. When asking for small assessments to repair infrastructure, in an affluent country club community, I learned a valuable lesson. Most people are just plain cheap.

The VILLAGE SINKHOLE FUND would not be for profit, only to help villagers out of a sinkhole financial disaster.. With a village population over 100K, should not be that hard to place a million dollars annually into the fund.. More than enough to fix anything related to sinkholes..I would have no problem at all throwing in twenty dollars, or more, annually to be protected..Maybe a villager, with web experience can design a petition(villagers to sign) for the powers that be, to institutionalize the fund...Pie in the sky, IDK...

[graciegirl]

I am very grateful that day to day decisions in The Villages are made by the District. If this were changed so that things affecting all of us were decided by a homeowners board of directors than many people who have not run things before would allow ideas to be used that might not work and probably cause inconvenience at the least and a lot of money wasted at the worst.

[aaffmom]

There are companies writing sinkhole with some offering deductible as low as $500

[tuccillo]

I believe you are spot on in your assessment. I think a "crowd funded approach" for individual cases could work - people donate money to help out on a case by case basis via a web interface.

I hate to be the one throwing cold water on this idea...but I can't imagine how this might even work.

Will there be a board of some type that will make the determination...on who will get reimbursed for a claim?

And don't forget to ask for funds for a legal team also...including personal coverage for those who will be responsible for determining claims.

At some point, when someone is denied a claim (by whomever)...I'm pretty sure that they won't be happy.

IMHO, I don't see it as having a chance in heck of working. :shrug:

[mgcsooner]

In principle the idea might work, but I believe have to be on a much much larger scale with risk mitigation of the "insured pool". For example if all members are in TV, they all share geographical proximity which does not help to mitigate risk. It might be possible to mitigate somewhat while still staying within Florida, however a single pool with four homes within 250 feet of each other or within 100 feet of a prior sinkhole might be considered a higher risk than four random homes not within 500 feet of each other. The problem you face probably needs actuaries to set risk probability levels, and insurance companies most likely to provide ranges of cost repair ranges and minimum amounts required to set aside, coverage options, fees, premiums and pool size minimums.

All in all, not something a few guys get together to put a little something in place for.

[Villageswimmer]

There are companies writing sinkhole with some offering deductible as low as $500


Could you please tell us which companies?

[aaffmom]

Tower Hill, Safe Harbor and Allstate

[rubicon]

the logistic in starting a self funded insurance plan are enormous and complex requiring an understanding of the subject matter of coverage (actuarial stats as to frequency cost, etc) the legal ramifications, the adjusting the money management. Essentially you would have to write a policy more likely a comprehensive policy that had named exclusions. then you need a team of experts to adjudicate
etc etc etc

I have $200 ded sink hole coverage> It of course excludes he ubiquitous natural settling cracks. I am confident my insurer will with due diligence and dispatch adjust my claim honestly