Re: Roofing Inspection

[Michele Bergh]

I am not able to attend the HOA meeting, however, I would like to express that I firmly disagree with a special loss assessment of $36,610.  I have loss assessment coverage at what was the HOA  recommended amount of $10,000 after the last hail storm where we replaced roofs. 

In speaking with my State Farm Insurance, my agent has never heard of anything like this in their entire career. The most they have ever seen in a special loss assessment is $5000. $36,610 is many times over the cost of a new or replacement roof on my home. 

On Jun 26, 2023, at 12:04 PM, Advance HOA Management <no-r...@eunify.net> wrote:

Hello Windemere Community,

 

Premier Roofing, our trusted vendor who completed roof repairs in the past, will evaluate roofs in the Windemere community for potential hail damage on June 27, 2023, starting at 2:30 PM.

 

This proactive approach will help us maintain the quality and integrity of our community's roofs, ensuring the long-term well-being of our properties. To ensure homeowners are aware of their presence, Premier Roofing representatives will knock on doors before accessing roofs.

 

If wind/hail damage occurs, Windemere will cover the repair cost from reserves or a special assessment. Homeowners are responsible for making up the difference if an insurance claim or repair is more than Windemere's reserve account can cover. Depending on the repair cost, a special assessment of up to $36,610 could be assessed for each home.

 

Please get in touch with your insurance provider and discuss Loss Assessment Insurance. Including "Loss Assessment Insurance" coverage with your homeowner’s policy can help you avoid paying out-of-pocket costs in the event of a special assessment.

 

We kindly request your cooperation. Should you have any questions or concerns regarding this roof evaluation, please do not hesitate to contact Advance HOA at clients...@advancehoa.com.

 

We appreciate your cooperation and understanding in this matter. 

 

Sincerely,

 

Sydney Upson

Community Association Manager

303-482-2213 x277

 

Sincerely,

Advance HOA Management
on behalf of the Board of Directors

303-482-2213
303-495-5895 fax
clients...@advancehoa.com
www.advancehoa.com

[Sandra Mikesell]

Michelle, 

I am sure the board will communicate the choices at the upcoming meeting, but your post is misleading. I was one of the homeowners that attended the meeting last week in which Advance Management and the board reviewed the roofing reports and options. 

To clear up the record: 

The board emailed all homeowners via Hammersmith on March 29 recommending $50,000 in HO6 coverage. This was likely sent out right after the insurance renewal so it was updated with the current deductible. See attached screenshot and the letter that was sent to all homeowners explaining our insurance! 

https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/s/?view=att&th=18720325a4095dd1&attid=0.1&disp=attd&realattid=187203039cb6463d4741&safe=1&zw&saddbat=ANGjdJ_B21zAIyvU5XXldwkQnw-IoLu5m636hvAh5vOVFIfZcBIdndKAPy_7It7Tfw3pdUvng9uCuGCtLUU_b5U1XRJL1Ujmz5p4kWGtDXOGsXP-ioe2V-GRHeSAszXl0QAOH9vscV3lE5o7KZFfVMfaJLbrx_al1aT5ZvSAEmsUN7bTYpmcO3u4BIQSVIoYeIsrT25PbAg06_CaI08BJZaB7Jrswhkq5Mz_UlQDeTsgb8XwGOxEw2yUvMCwN-Y61Gh_VKMWPbeFRePUgPfuYw4eziy0JiuAUVeQcsW4uG3YSvmYMStyhT7tGm9kJQi_upRieCWcLCnzddcdRvMSiJS4o_6yIxo6zpnTC5I5OW7pjyVVZ3r1kburdJNUYxKTUdbxPlpPzwNXWTvucbXWeo73DGXUUqmqoMudUkwOKvTKOlxtc2UCVML4sSuoSH7oufKI7_df01V8yXRo6dnXzDn4hvToqASHwibxliYpIP6Uw84OMsh-WQ1OhCgBA01n1R6cIJH7zr5YLqvKKWZBKoAHfleOyhv_ZR0wXUpUP0p84jG8R9iwRkcti25OZWFkA1UtlqHOqy08zMi2URiOXKcXi-YWkIJLmNCRQ3M9nHiYJsoVObLeOQaGa1mR1LK2qt5HXfd4SyvDWdpkCX9u-PE1FVXvBfaRcfljiPfURZwYcr7_5GQJu8p26Ltx77iMUQlGAPQS4_ZBbBFuAJKckuuevTjp9H5hQ91sSrRxteU2_cH4OcxG0ESP6SOSrpaYtVX9nmiMQPEBsErhSc9ynOdE7kjqunCJ-oERKe7q_eLGj8-QQ37IgIcR3KUfg3K9QQ-3lw0QswMz6faUshs8Vt71jlyHgFjyMdbYDB2grrP8wcvykIIdDIaWfFA3UFF5f8f1z5_jt11m2kSUXBqxodBjDYdVg8YOjiX4ca0IhH55snsiMsS8kWR2j-55ijZ5Yb0eb8ylbShPMX8TKLjOG-tT3mhXzaP2O7Ba7pHiJNJTlNof3z3yv7h82AQ89kUAaZLn3vQFw7zy5t0mUiFm_MST5ud2d_aVtPeDQ0nGSmKkPUaWqU9gS1kieGM4ZbNjqw3-nLM1Y-mf9aiD6MbvwZP1vUfa_g4WvTQhCZ7_40zfK1wuI0oNw30iYNyzDi_8f9Kxk_J1t5hN3hP3mRoD

This is similar to communication that has gone out twice a year and in new homeowner packets for the last decade. 

For several years insurance companies have been pulling out of large communities like ours and Colorado due to the hail risk. Rates have gone up accordingly. When I was president, there were times we only had 1-2 insurance company plans to review with the broker, because most insurance companies did not want the risk of insuring a neighborhood of our size and value. 

We have had essentially a “high deductible” insurance policy for several years now -because it is the only choice offered. It sets the deductible at 10% of the value of all the properties in the neighborhood, and our total property value has increased substantially in the last few years to 43 million dollars. Thus, the deductible for the neighborhood is 4.3 million. With a deductible this high, our insurance protects us from significant large hail events where we have roof damage, window, stucco, siding, gutters, etc. Just like with medical insurance, for smaller events where the loss/ damage is less than 4.3 million we will have to self pay. 

This was a small hail storm, with hail about 3/4 to one inch. It damaged the roof, but did not cause catastrophic damage to the entire building exterior. 

The board has a couple of choices: 

1. File an insurance claim, which and adjuster would assess the neighborhood. They can still choose to self pay, creating a zero dollar loss claim if the damages/ cost to repair is under the deductible, which hopefully would not affect the future rates (which are expected to increase significantly across Colorado anyway after this year). 

If the cost is above the deductible ( unlikely as new roofs for all 40 buildings is about 2 million), the board would likely be levying a special assessment for the deductible. This assessment would be $36,000 per household WHICH IS WHY THE BOARD RECOMMENDED $50,000 HO6 COVERAGE! 

2. The board self pays for the roof repairs, which will cost approximately $2 million. They will likely levy a special assessment to do so, but this would be much lower, around $17,000 dollars. In my opinion this is the more likely scenario. 

Hopefully most homeowners have the recommended HO6 coverage and thus will not have to pay any of the assessment costs out of pocket! 

Here are the questions I asked my agent for those who want to check and see if they are insured properly: 

Date of loss May 10, 2023.

1. How much HO6 coverage do I have for that claim date? 

2. Is my coverage per event or per year in case there is another loss? 

3. Is my coverage effective even if the HOA does not file an insurance claim and elects to self pay / repair? In other words, if the HOA issues a special assessment for roofs due to hail damage am I covered? 

If you are a homeowner that is underinsured with less than $50,000 in HO6 coverage, you cannot retroactively fix it for this event but I would strongly encourage you to up your coverage immediately for the future. 

I hope this helps… it is my interpretation/ notes from the community informational meeting they had a few days ago. 

Respectfully, 

Sandy Mikesell

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[kyungk...@gmail.com]

Thanks, Sandy. This really helps as I was not able to joint the meeting last week.  I spoke with my insurance agent and they have never heard of <$36K loss assessment.

Kyung

[valvano]

I appreciate the information. However, one email from a management company is hardly great communication. It would have been nice to see the board ensure that all homeowners were aware of changes to insurance policies through a newsletter, flyer or other mean of communication as email is notoriously unreliable. 

I was also not able to attend due to work and have had trouble attending board meetings due to my work schedule. With that, I understand the information from roofing companies was gathered, but no independent assessment was made, only some roofs were inspected, etc. Roofing companies have a vested interest in maximizing the money they make and it doesn't seem appropriate to be having a discussion on replacement without an independent assessment. Have we looked a repairs instead of replacement? Have all roofs been inspected? Who did the inspection and what will they get out of it if roofs are replaced/repaired?

Finally, I am dismayed at the prospect of this association passing through so much of the cost via an assessment of the homeowners given the amount of money being squirreled away, the recent reductions of services in the neighborhood, etc.  It seems that all the saving over recent years should be for event such as a hail storm. The HOA has the option to cover the deductible and/or part of it. This should be considered as part of any situation where a homeowner assessment is being discussed. 

Thanks, 

Pam

[Sandra Mikesell]

Pam, 

I would not be in favor of using our reserves / capital project funds to pay for the deductible for several reasons: 

1. Our dues are set to systematically budget and pay for our long term fixed capital expenses in the neighborhood. Depleting this would make our reserves substantially underfunded, lower the resale value of our houses and push costs off on future owners. The reserves are money we are saving towards the brick wall restoration, future street repaving, as well as many other significant and needed projects to maintain the value of this neighborhood. 

2. Homeowners that followed the board's recommendations would be subsidizing homeowners that are underinsured if the money to pay for this came out of the reserves, as that would necessitate a future monthly dues increase. This is why loss assessments are used, the cost is passed to the current owners. Owners with proper HO6 coverage will have no costs to pay for this assessment, aside from the insurance payment they made for their HO6 coverage when they purchased it. 

Essentially, insurance companies using the large hail / wind deductible are trying to spread out their losses with these catastrophic events. When a neighborhood of single family homes is hit by hail, the homes are all insured by many diverse insurance companies. When an HOA community, insured by a single vendor is hit by the same storm, a single insurance company has an enormous loss. Putting in the wind / hail deductible in place with loss assessment coverage essentially pushes the insurance back on a diverse group of insurance companies through private HO6 coverage, allowing insurance companies to manage their losses. I do not like the model, but I understand it.

I will note the board provided multiple forms of communication. This was discussed at at least two monthly board meetings, which homeowners could attend on zoom at the time. Homeowners can review the meeting minutes from the property management portal if they miss the meeting. It was also sent as a direct email to all homeowners from Hammersmith on March 24th, with the insurance letter attached. Finally, it was sent out in a newsletter on March 29th. I believe that it is included in the new homeowners packet that goes out after a house sale as well. I think we all have to take responsibility for reading communication from the HOA - who are a group of volunteer homeowners using their personal time to manage the community!

I will note when John and I moved into this community, we were caught unaware as well. Our house in Lakewood was hit with hail between the offer and closing, so our insurance company was paying for the repairs and we had to pay the deductible. About a week after we moved into this community, our new house was hit with a large hailstorm. We had two simultaneous hail claims going for two different houses with our insurance!!!! You as the board president sent out the loss assessment letter. We were panicked, as we had no idea if we had HO6 coverage. Luckily, we called our insurance agent, who promptly informed us that we were fully covered as he reached out to the property management company for Windemere, reviewed the exterior HOA insurance, and then built our insurance coverage around it. If you have a good insurance agent, they should be doing that for you to make sure that you are adequately covered and then they or you should check yearly and update as needed. Our insurance agent comes out to our house once a year to review all of our coverage and discuss levels / choices. I would never use a budget insurance company that does not provide an agent for this reason, as you need a knowledgeable person to review your coverages and guide you as a professional! When I received the updated HOA insurance letter and coverage on March 24th, I promptly forwarded it to our insurance agent to update our coverage levels. I learned to pay attention to that after the panic I felt after the 2014 hail storm!

Two agent recommendations for those who are looking to change: 

Luke Ortgessen Country Companies 303-933-5333    (John and I's agent - HIGHLY recommend and great HO6 coverage)

Jerry Silverhart   Farmers Insurance 303-814-2292   (Agent that was at the HOA meeting, great HO6 coverage)

Respectfully, 

Sandy

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[valvano]

Thanks, Sandy. I remember your circumstances and felt bad about all that happened to you you and John at the time. At the time, our HOA insurance was quite different and the coverage was better in that the portion of the deductible handled by homeowners was not a percent of the value, it was a set amount that was significantly less at about $5000. That being said, insurance has changed and funding by the HOA should potentially be changed along with that. I certainly understand the use of reserves and yet, I think there is room for a more creative approach as this amount could be quite large for people. Even with the lower amount we proposed options for people to make payments, look for loans, etc., in case they did not have an HO6 policy. I'm hoping the HOA assists and looks at what is possible to at least offer some coverage for this deductible - possibly with a dues increase to restore reserves over time or maybe another option to lessen the burden on homeowners. Don't forget that HO6 claims will also affect people's individual insurance rates if claims are made.  Some consideration all around for all the affects of this would be great to see. 

I would still have liked to see more proactive communication that is not just email - still not as reliable as distribution of newsletters, letters, etc., which was done when this happened in the past. 

My bigger concern is that any damage has not been inspected on each roof by an independent inspector. Again, roofing companies have a vested interest in replacing an entire roof. Before things go too far down the road, the need should be verified by a professional inspector

Respectfully,

Pam