Condominium, Villa, or Home Owner

I am on he board of a small development (22 single family detached homes, classified as condominiums) in Florida. We have an exceptionally high maintenance fee due to insurance premiums. Since we are classified as a condominium, we have to pay commercial rates for our insurance. At the present time we are considering an amendment which would eliminate the association covering the individual homes and make the unit owner responsible for their own insurance. The association would still cover the pool and common ground. As we see it, this should result in a significant reduction in insurance costs, thus reducing our assessment. At the same time, consideration is being given to changing from a condominium to individual homes or villas and have a simple homeowners association, yet maintaining all the rules and regulations presently in our declarations. This makes me ask a couple of questions and I solicit your input on any or all.
1. How do homeowners associations compare to codominium associations? Pros and cons of each would be appreciated.
2. By making the homeowner responsible for their own insurance can we assure that everybondy does take out some insurance?
3. We are at a total loss as to what a Vill Association is, Any
help here would be great.

I will have a lot more to say in future postings, but this is enough to get me started.

Thanks to all who contribute. We really need help!!

Roger,

When this devleopment was established it was incorporated as a condominium with 22 phases. Each phase consists of a unit which
sits on a footprint. All of the ground outside of the footprint is considered common ground. Some homes have virtully nothing behind them, others have quite a bit of land. You are correct in that we only own the air space inside of the Unit; however, changes being considered make the homeowner responsible for outside maintenance and roof repair. The association is looking at everything possible to reduce the assessment. One last thing, we are also covered by the "master" association which consists of 44 homes in the original development. All 22 of our homes reside on one street. Thus we pay assessments to the Master and to our own Association. It is a positive fact that we have to do something to reduce these costs.

Any attempt to convert your condominiums into single family lots and the corresponding revisions to deeds, maps as well as your governing documents will likely be an expensive and time intensive process. You should start by understanding the legal requirements to modify your existing documents, transfer common elements (which you will be doing when you make individual lots) and the process to replat the community into lots.

Roger,
You stated that you were able to reduce Insurance costs by 56%.
Would you mind telling me how you accomplished this? Insurance
is one of our highest expenses and we are looking in every direction to cut costs here. We recognize that should we make
each homeowner responsible for their own insurance, the Association would see significant savings; however, the homeowners would have to pay more. Would the difference resulting from a reduction in the assessment be adequate to offset the additional charges to the
homeowners?

Florida Condo Insurance.

Our insurance will be discontinued in a couple of months. Does anyone know of an insurance company who will cover condominiums?

I am a volunteer for Park Lake Townhouses Phase II, Inc. in Maitland, Florida (between Winter Park and Altamonte Springs) and all of our phases (5 in all) are faced with this problem. We are required by law to maintain insurance coverage for common property.

Please help Cheryl 321-228-5849
Park Lake Townhouses Phase II, Inc.
Maitland, Florida
http://myparklake.com