Some owners have spoken out about how the building is being maintained by making posts to this blog and by posting on a new website. I saw the flier in the mail room today. I completely agree that our building needs a some TLC. You tell us what should be upgraded, fixed or replaced and we’ll add it to the budget for 2009.
Attendance at our HOA meetings
Each month we have an HOA meeting where we discuss these issues. Each year we create a budget for capital improvements, maintenance, etc. Let us know what enhancements you recommend we make to Park North and we will add it to the budget. However, we have had limited to no attendance at these meetings so it’s challenging to make decisions which will affect all of you without your input.
Do you Think Carpets Need to be Replaced?
We received a couple of different proposals to pull up the carpet and stain the concrete. If we remove the carpets all together this will save us money in the long run. By removing the carpets, we will no longer have to carpet clean and vacuum. The building staff will need to sweep and every six months the floors will need to be treated. This style looks very sophisticated; the Portfolio Hotel floors are stained. This process will take about four weeks while the floors are being replaced and treated. The cost is about $235,000. We will be able to use a small portion of the reserve funds for this capital enhancement. The rest will be special assessed and added to next year’s budget. This means our HOA fees will increase. We also have the option of replacing the carpet for carpet. The expense will be less initially, but we run the risk of having our carpets look the same way they do now in less than two years. Uptown next door to us has exposed concrete floors. I have asked number of tenants if they hear anything in the hallways and they said it was minimal noise. Go visit and see for yourself and then let us know which you prefer.
Painting the Interior Hallways
It’s challenging to move forward with painting the interior when we have not made a decision about the floors. Once the floors are redone then we can repaint the interior of the building. The color will be decided later. Please attend our HOA meetings to share your opinion on what color palette we use and when we should paint. We have not received a proposal for this yet so I have no costs to share with you.
Other Enhancements
Without anyone’s input, the Board is running blind. We are unable to take your opinions into account since no one attends the HOA meetings. Personally, I do not feel comfortable making capital enhancements to the property which will increase everyone’s HOA fees without the input of other owners.
HOA Fees
Last year we were told that our owners needed the HOA fees to go down. The only reason they were lowered is because our insurance went down. When we purchased our condo units from the developer in 2004 the property insurance was $140,000. In less than a year our insurance was raised to over $380,000- this happened to everyone in Florida. We were not able to budget large capital maintenance improvements because of this property insurance increase. Our insurance has gone down which is why our HOA fees were lowered. However, we did not go back down to $140k. We broke the middle.
Your Recommendations…?
What improvements should we make? Is there a limit on how much we should spend in one year? Should we prioritize the improvements? How would you prioritize the improvements?
A side note, Property Values
Some of you have stated that our property values have gone down because of the maintenance issues. Even though I do agree our building needs some TLC, I do not think it is the reason that property values have gone down. I snagged a few paragraphs from an Orlando Business Journal article that mentions the real estate market sentiment. Having lower HOA fees then most condos downtown is a selling point! If we drastically increase our HOA fees then we might force some people into foreclosure which will cause our values to continue to go down. Also, if we increase our fees then buyers might not want buy in Park North. We need to think of all of this when deciding what to do for next year.
Market Sentiment
Orlando Business Journal article June’s edition
The Florida Association of Realtors on Thursday reported its first jump in sales in Orlando-area monthly home sales since late 2005.
Association members in the Orlando metropolitan statistical area reported a total of 1,641 homes sold in June, a nearly 3 percent increase when compared with 1,595 homes sales in the same month a year prior.
The existing median sales price was $219,500 in June, a 15 percent decrease from $258,100 in June 2007.
The existing condo market, however, continued to see sales decline. June condo sales totaled 172 in the Orlando MSA, an 8.5 percent drop from the 188 that sold in the same month in 2007. The condo median price was $132,900 last month, a 15 percent drop from June 2007’s price of $156,900.
The declines we are seeing Park North are happening everywhere. So no amount of paint will fix these declines. The overall condo market will need to improve before we see our prices go back up.
Snippet take from the Orlando Sentinel
Statewide, Realtors sold 11,700 homes in June, off 5 percent from a year earlier, and the median was down 16 percent to $205,500. That means about $2.4 billion worth of single-family homes were sold in Florida during the month, down from $3 billion in June 2007.
Another 3,628 condominium units were sold statewide in June, down 6 percent from a year earlier, with a median price of $183,700 — off 14 percent. Metro Orlando’s condo market was fifth-best in terms of sales: 172 units, down 9 percent, with a median price of $132,900, off 15 percent. Fort Lauderdale recorded the most condo sales in June — 591 — down 1 percent, though the median price was down a sizable 20 percent to $156,200.