August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004 | December
6 7 26 |
January 2005
February/March 2005 |April/May
2005
======== <December 6, 2004> ==========
Dear Mr. Burruano,
My wife and I own two units at Casa Ybel for two weeks each in
November. My sympathies to you and your fellow board members regarding
the enormous additional responsibility and work all of you are burdened
with in the wake of Charlie. I am sure, however, that you and the board
are up to the tasks ahead.
I have reviewed the proposed budget that accompanied my 2005 assessment
and, as I suspected, the housekeeping costs, and water, and waste
charges have dropped substantially. What I didn't expect, however, was
that the maintenance and supplies cost would be $125,000 over budget
for 2004. Wouldn't many of these additional expenses be as a result of
the hurricane and thus be covered by insurance?
Thanks for your help on my question.
Keep up the good work.
Cordially,
Jim and Susan Wade
=============
Hi Carl,
Just having received and paid the annual maintenance fee
for this year, it raised a question about the effects that Hurricane
Charley might have had on such. Our units have or will be out of
service for a period of 6 months or more. Are we still paying fees for
use of the pool, tennis courts, etc. ? What about fees that are
allocated for utilities, housekeeping, landscape maintenance and so
forth? Surely we can anticipate a cost savings of several tens of
thousands of dollars as a result. What will be done with this money?
Will it be held in escrow for future maintenance and repair? Will it be
used to offset future maintenance fees? Your take on this situation
would be appreciated. Thanks for your service to our association.
Bob Wehmueller, owner week 14
=============
Dear Carl
I don't know whether or not the Board authorized the Resort Staff to
send certifed letters to all owners at a cost of $4.42 each. Since the
letter contained no new information, it seems to be a collossal waste of
our funds. I hope the remaining monies are being better managed. Have
our "maintenance" costs been suspended until repairs are completed? What
is the status of our insurance settlement? These are questions which
should have been answered in the letter.
Carl, I'd appreciate it if you would forward this email to the other
Board members, since I do not have addresses for them.
Regards
Ed Sealy
=============
Carl,
I am wondering you opinion about a budget issue. The housekeeping
expense will be under budget by about $54,000. Why should this not be
used as a credit to owners who could not use our property? This would be
a fine gesture for those of us whose units cannot be used in 2004. My
family and I have five weeks in December so the amount is significant to
us. $94.49 x 5= $472.45. Was this even considered by the Board of
Directors?
Ray Vold
=============
Hi Carl,
IN light of the other listings would you please change the price for
unit 178H week 16 to $3,000 from $3,100 which we received last year. Do
ou think the resort will be ready by then realistically?
Thanks for the great job you do!
SUsan Stone
======== <December 7, 2004> ==========
Carl,
I just received my statement for 2005 maintenance fees and have the
obvious question/concern. As the owner of weeks 51 and 52, we will not
be able to use our unit (187H) because the resort is closed (projected
reopening in February or Marc). However, we paid our maintenance fees,
including a cleaning charge for week 53, in advance (last January).
Since a significant portion of the fees (not the real estate taxes),
such as laundry, operations expense, utilities, maintenance, etc go
towards expenses which are not incurred when the resort is closed, I was
expecting a credit to be identified in my statement. There was no
mention of a credit, however. Clearly, in my view, all incremental
charges which are not incurred unless the units are occupied (laundry,
telephone, cable TV, maintenance, etc) should be returned to the owners
who were unable to use their units.
I would like to find out if a credit is forthcoming, and, if not, pursue
it. Can you help steer me in the appropriate direction?
George C. Earl
6720 Scio Church Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
gearlmi@earthlink.net
===============
I have the same question, was this not brought up at the latest board meeting?
Have not seen the minutes yet from this meeting.
Carl Appelberg
======== <December 26, 2004> ==========
December, 2004
Dear Sanibel Friends,
We hope this holiday greeting finds you and your family happy and
healthy, as we extend our best wishes to our Sanibel friends, guests and
guests-to-be. We are thankful everyday for the wonderful people we have
met personally or via phone & e-mail since we discovered Sanibel.
Our lives this year have been filled with hobbies, friends and family,
and travel between Illinois and Sanibel. We continue to enjoy
summertime camping with friends at our camping retreat in Marseilles,
IL, our computer hobbies, Sanibel visits, Sue's part time "home" job as
a vacation rental consultant (renting property on Sanibel Island, ours
and others), and our playful toy poodle pup "Holly" (now 4 years old but
still acts like a pup!). Our Holly is a good little traveler. She flies
on the plane with us whenever we travel (since she is so small she can
fly in the cabin with us under the seat); she loves everyone and
everyone she meets loves her - she is always quite a hit as she romps
along the beach with us on Sanibel
In October of 2003 we sold our Sundial C408 condo and bought a house on
Sanibel, so we could spend more time here ourselves now that we are
retired. We spent Oct 2003 - Jan 2004 at the house, adding our own
decorating touches and doing some remodeling, such as a new kitchen,
bath updates, new patio pavers along the pool, some tropical
landscaping, and adding a beautiful new screen enclosure for our pool.
Our home is in a beautiful and quiet Sanibel neighborhood and just a
short 5-minute walk to the beach. We have the best of both worlds with
our own pool, close beach access and we can hear the surf from our
backyard here too, just as we can from our condo! We have met most of
our neighbors here and enjoy them all very much.
We hopped back to Sanibel for a few weeks in March and again April/May,
and planned to spend the month of August on the island also. We arrived
early in the month and soon afterwards starting hearing rumblings of a
hurricane that might threaten Florida's Gulf coast. Reports got more
serious and on Aug 12 we had to evacuate Sanibel so we headed to Sue's
brother's condo on the river in Fort Myers. Hurricane Charley was
predicted to be a Category 1 or 2 storm and seemed to be headed north of
us towards Tampa. But then on the morning of August 13, it strengthened
rapidly to a Category 4 and was headed straight for us! As it turned
out, the eye of the storm hit Punta Gorda, which is just 25 miles north
Sue's brother's condo where we were staying, and it skirted Sanibel
before it crossed over Captiva and North Captiva. While we had some
hair-raising moments in Fort Myers while we rode out the storm, we ended
up with minimal damage there, lots of trees down and no electricity for
days.
It was five days later that we were able to return to Sanibel. It took
that long for the city to clear the roads and inspect every building on
the island for structural damage. We have to congratulate the city
fathers for getting this done so quickly, and they kept us informed in
the days after the hurricane with meetings off island, for Sanibel
residents and property owners. When we did return, we drove to our
house first, and were happy to see our new pool screen enclosure still
standing and minimal damage to the home itself. Then we drove to
Sundial and the news there wasn't as good. 10 of 11 roofs were damaged
in Sundial West, our sliding door in B407 had blown in, and lots of
other damage to the buildings and grounds, but luckily no structural
damage. We are still dealing with the repairs to Sundial and our
condos, but when all is done, everything in B407 will be brand new once
again! We hope to be up and running in early February, barring any
additional unforeseen delays (there have been several!).
The recovery to Sanibel itself has been amazing! When we arrived, we
were saddened by the loss of so much foliage and damage to buildings.
But just 4 months later, the foliage has bounced back and is blooming
again like crazy, that's the advantage of a tropical climate! Most of
the other condo complexes are up and running again and accepting
visitors. And our beaches and shelling are better than ever, Sanibel
actually gained beach in most areas.
We hope this holiday greeting finds you and your family happy, healthy
and dreaming of a tropical interlude on Sanibel. We'd enjoy keeping in
touch via phone or email throughout the year, so give us a jingle or a
"click" anytime. And please accept our best wishes for a joyful and
prosperous 2003.
Sincerely,
Sue, Carl & Holly Webster
Sundial B407 & Beach Retreat Home
Sanibelweb Vacation Rentals
=================
Carl, I am not sure if you can help me or not but I found your site on
the internet. First off, our thoughs and prayers have gone out to those
of you affected by Hurricane Charley.
My best friend hopes to be married at Casa Ybel next year and her
fiances family has a time share there. We and some others were hoping
to stay near them so we can celebrate with them! Could you please let
me know if you know of folks who would rent thier time shares? The date
they are looking at is after Christmas, most likely over New Years (Dec
28th or 29th - Jan 1st or 2nd)...I know that is probably a busy date but
any info you have would be greatly appreciated! I apologize that I do
not know how your units work. I do see on your site, it appears the
time we'd need the unit spans two of your weeks. With airfare, we
cannot afford two weeks rental and really only need it for about 5 days
- any suggestions??
Thanks you so much in advance for any information you can provide!
Jennifer <jennifer.leslie@sbcglobal.net>
E-Mail: Carl@CasaYbel.com
Carl Appelberg
2213 Colefax Court
Westminster C.C.
Lehigh Acres FL 33971
239-368-6354
Back to Casa Ybel Home Page.
