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Post by Admin on Aug 30, 2014 9:58:50 GMT -5
Reposted from a message from cemm to the admin:
57 minutes ago cemm said:
A plan of action is what is needed, and a unity of homeowners is essential. The meetings become too personal, the management company is a business, it is a service that needs to be rectified for a proper return for the maintenance payments, allowing homeowners the peace of mind their home equity and value is being maintained. Why should people tolerate paying a maintenance fee monthly, and having a job done that is inadequate. To generalize, whether the maintenance is done inside or out, it is of poor quality.
If "maintenance" were performed, and repairs made in a timely manner, and not on an emergent basis, the costs would not incur the additional monies of fixing the outside and the inside.
There are many reasons people do not show up at the meetings.
The meetings are in the middle of the winter, not in our community, not much notice of the date, and an open forum is prohibited regarding individual issues, and communication is stonewalled, hence the lack of attendance. As stated, this is not personal, this is home value.
The quality of work is the same on the inside and outside. The onus is on the company that receives the maintenance fees.
I am in hopes more people join, and we can meet as a group of homeowners who can pool their resources and knowledge and better the community, and improve the value of their individual homes. Something has to be done. People may be away for the holiday weekend. Were these flyers distributed to every unit in BTM and Twin Lakes? I 100% agree about the power of numbers. We should all plan to meet in a public location.
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Post by Admin on Aug 30, 2014 10:07:11 GMT -5
Reposted from a message reply to cemm from the admin:
I couldn't agree with you more. A plan of action is the eventual course. The management company, like any vendor for hire, needs correcting or replaced. You are exactly right on the timing of repairs. Waiting until exterior repairs become an interior repair is bad financial management. To have a crew come out and cost thousands when the initial repair could have been a few hundred is incompetence and poor judgement. I've heard a number of times how run down the place looks. Referring to the condition of the buildings.
I've totally noticed the same observations of the timing and conditions of the annual meetings. Almost as if it was skillfully planned to reduce the number of attendees. That of course is my personal opinion. Since we have a community center, I'm too confused why the meetings are held elsewhere. Some neighbors I've talked to claimed they didn't remember every getting notices of meetings, some years. As notices are received, I will be forwarding to all members of this site.
Only about half of the properties received flyers on Friday. I hope to have the rest out this weekend. It's hoped that enough members join and develop enough drive to meet regularly as a group as you mention. I'm fairly certain, that as the owners, we would be able to freely use the community center at no charges, provided we were unified. Maybe an oversight committee may be needed.
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midge
New Member
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Post by midge on Aug 30, 2014 10:52:47 GMT -5
First, I would like to meet the "administrator" of this site!  I am all for meeting in a public place - the Brick Dinner has a side room that would be perfect for that. I suggest a date and time be set up soon. Secondly, I agree with EVERYTHING posted. I have lived here a very long time and have tried from time to time, with other homeowners who were concerned and willing, to stir the pot, so to speak. We have talked with the board - to no avail, about changing the meeting place and date, about having the meeting in the spring, about creating more of a "community" feel and many other things that are important to maintaining the value of our properties. Everyone who has a copy of their Master Deed and Bylaws handy should take them out and read them over a few times. You will see that we are to hold elections each year - that the 5 member board is "elected by the unit owners from among the unit owners" at a meeting and that 3 members are elected for a one year term and two members for a two year term. "At each annual meeting members of the Board shall be elected by ballot of the unit owners in accordance with these bylaws." As far as the meetings - Article V Sec.2 - according to this section, the meeting should be held at a suitable place convenient to the unit owners AS MAY BE DESIGNATED BY THE BOARD. That's where they get us! I have always thought that the timing and place for our meetings is a direct attempt to limit attendance. As most of us realize, the major obstacle here is lack of attendance at the annual meeting. We have a lot of renters and a lot of homeowners who are not eligible to vote because they are behind in their maintainence. This is a huge problem! I have been talking and meeting with a few homeowners in the past couple of weeks about approaching the board with questions about this assessment recently received. I was advised by my insurance company to get an itemized list of repairs warranting an assessment. This new website comes at a great time!! Thank you! We need to meet as soon as possible and get things rolling. |
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cemm
New Member
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Post by cemm on Aug 30, 2014 17:24:18 GMT -5
Admin,
Please notify all members to post on the general forum, so we can all see what everyone is writing, and have a group effort here. Thank you.
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Post by rycapa on Sept 6, 2014 19:50:01 GMT -5
First of all, I would like to thank the administrator of this site for creating this forum. Secondly, the association and the board of directors is a joke. Whenever I have called about an issue it never gets resolved. I always get the run around and it's never their fault or responsibility when I have a concern. The buildings look like shanties, the "playground" is to be desired and the tennis courts are nasty. The fence around the dumpster by my building is falling apart and because the garbage is picked up once a week, most of the time the dumpster is overflowing. Now let's talk snow removal. Or should I say "lack of" snow removal. Do you know how many times I have fallen because of the icy sidewalks (while pregnant!) and how we are the ones shoveling the walkways? I could go on and on about this awful place and how many times I have called to complain. I even asked for financial statements to see where our money is going. I'm so glad that others feel the same way. I am more than happy to meet and discuss these issues with other homeowners and come up with a plan to get things done correctly around here.
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Post by dawnster on Sept 7, 2014 21:11:22 GMT -5
They're a bunch of do-nothings, yet want to find new ways to charge us money.
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cemm
New Member
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Post by cemm on Sept 9, 2014 9:27:20 GMT -5
I too, would like to thank and acknowledge the administrator of this site for taking the initiative and time to start this forum. Our homes are our responsibility, and while the maintenance company should be responsible for the upkeep, that is not being accomplished, so it is imperative we take the course of correcting it.
I suggest we cummulatively provide suggestions for agenda items.
Administrator, do you want to take this role? I suggest the main focus should be the goal of having a proper management company and exactly how to go about that.
This meeting has to result in an action plan. I know we all would like to complain, and vent, but this meeting should have some topics to achieve the goal, and that is improving the community, and allocating our maintenance fees appropriately, cost-effective and efficiently.
Has anyone seen a breakdown of the monies spent warranting the "special assessment"?
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Post by Admin on Sept 9, 2014 16:12:52 GMT -5
I too, would like to thank and acknowledge the administrator of this site for taking the initiative and time to start this forum. Our homes are our responsibility, and while the maintenance company should be responsible for the upkeep, that is not being accomplished, so it is imperative we take the course of correcting it. I suggest we cummulatively provide suggestions for agenda items. Administrator, do you want to take this role? I suggest the main focus should be the goal of having a proper management company and exactly how to go about that. This meeting has to result in an action plan. I know we all would like to complain, and vent, but this meeting should have some topics to achieve the goal, and that is improving the community, and allocating our maintenance fees appropriately, cost-effective and efficiently. Has anyone seen a breakdown of the monies spent warranting the "special assessment"? I am currently in talks with another company, familiar with our situation, and hope to have some solid information as to some continuing steps to fix many of the problems that exist. **I have not seen any breakdown of the "special assessment". |
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cemm
New Member
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Post by cemm on Sept 10, 2014 8:58:10 GMT -5
Agenda topics
1. Is the special assessment an appropriate charge? What are the ramifications if not paid.
2. The process of changing management companies.
3. Home inspections due to lack of maintenance over the years.
4. Action, timeline and responsible parties for achieving goals.
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Post by Admin on Sept 11, 2014 14:05:51 GMT -5
Agenda topics 1. Is the special assessment an appropriate charge? What are the ramifications if not paid. 2. The process of changing management companies. 3. Home inspections due to lack of maintenance over the years. 4. Action, timeline and responsible parties for achieving goals. I will add these to the agenda for Tuesday. Excellent list of questions. I hope to have an outside party give us answers on many of these points. |
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Post by walker on Sept 13, 2014 13:04:59 GMT -5
I don't know if this fits as an agenda topic or just a question.
I'd like to see an explanation of what seems like an exorbitant amount of fees paid to the property management. The financial statement seems to say Metro Associates was paid $89,616 last year and we still owe them $73,649. Is this all for 2013???
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cemm
New Member
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Post by cemm on Sept 13, 2014 18:29:48 GMT -5
Walker, I think this is an agenda item. The core of our issues with the Metro Associates is we are paying fees and the maintenance is either nill, or not equal to the paymnent. For those in townhomes, we pay $4,620 annually, that is a lot of money for mowing the grass. While I certainly think a company should be paid for their services, I also think they need to be accountable, and perform the services, and and as most of us know that is not the case. Our monies are going somewhere, and obviously not in our homes.
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brian
New Member
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Post by brian on Sept 14, 2014 10:29:54 GMT -5
town home owners pay 385/month? are you kidding me? for what? thats ridiculous. I have a condo here and mines 190 and I thought that was too high for the "services" we get.
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Post by Admin on Sept 15, 2014 14:10:32 GMT -5
town home owners pay 385/month? are you kidding me? for what? thats ridiculous. I have a condo here and mines 190 and I thought that was too high for the "services" we get. Possibly a typo. Townhouses are assessed at $210/month or $2,520/year. A lot of investment for so little return, especially when accounting for depreciation of property value based on declining condition. |
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Post by homeowner on Sept 28, 2014 16:49:15 GMT -5
So excited for the upcoming meeting!
After reading some comments on here I'm glad to see that there are other homeowners who feel the same. Only change will come if we all stick together and become a united front here to fix these issues...
I will say that I am cautiously optimistic because my husband and I have attended the annual meeting in the past. In fact we sat in the front waiting patiently for our opportunity to speak openly to the board about any questions we may have had. We were shocked and disappointed when our appropriately asked questions were met with inappropriate answers and even personal insults! Several weeks after the meeting we received a letter..sent directly to us from the board, stating that if we continued to ask such "questions" that we would be sued and have to "pay" just like the last homeowner who asked questions. ( we saved the letter just in case:) )
again so glad that there is going to be a group of us getting together rather than individuals trying to make positive change!
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I am all for meeting in a public place - the Brick Dinner has a side room that would be perfect for that. I suggest a date and time be set up soon.