Can anyone tell me anything about Twelve Centennial? (sales, HOA)

[Rama767]

Originally Posted by OO7

I'd like to add a caveat for anyone looking to buy into TWELVE Centennial Park, which I'm a resident of. I don't know this is normal behavior for HOA boards still under developer control, but the HOA board has been unresponsive in open record requests for meeting minutes, budget information, etc. And we STILL have utility metering inaccuracies.

If the Board is still under the control of the Developer then this wouldn't surprise me. Also, I think in the Condominium Docs it states that they don't have to turn the Association over at 80% if they still have purchase rights on additional phases.

With regards to utility metering, I believe the Management Company is doing it themselves. We had the same issues in my building and found a number of discrepancies. Once we finally got the utility records none of the calculations made any sense at all. Hiring a new management company with a third party utility billing vendor was the route we took to solve the problem and we no longer have to pay that stupid billing fee either.

[OO7]

Thanks for your insight, Rama. It's very discouraging to see that us condo owners don't have much impact under developer control. Maybe we should all ask our state legislators to pass a Condo Owner's Bill of Rights...

Originally Posted by Rama767

If the Board is still under the control of the Developer then this wouldn't surprise me. Also, I think in the Condominium Docs it states that they don't have to turn the Association over at 80% if they still have purchase rights on additional phases.

With regards to utility metering, I believe the Management Company is doing it themselves. We had the same issues in my building and found a number of discrepancies. Once we finally got the utility records none of the calculations made any sense at all. Hiring a new management company with a third party utility billing vendor was the route we took to solve the problem and we no longer have to pay that stupid billing fee either.

[LiveMike78]

Originally Posted by OO7

We (TWELVE Centennial Park) had to raise our HOA fees by 4% since first opening. This includes accounting for the reserve fund. Because of our sheer scale and volume, we still only pay about 31 cents per sq. ft. which is much more efficient than most of the condo buildings in the city.

Has the HOA budget been turned over to the residents and to the HOA association? This would imply that it has and that you feel confident that the current levels of .31 per sq. ft. will remain relatively stable?

Thanks.

[OO7]

Hi Mike. Actually, the HOA is not yet turned over. Furthermore, the HOA board
*increased* our budget for the 2nd year in a row in order to increase the line item for bad debt by $100k, apparently. How do you other HOAs budget for bad debt?

Originally Posted by LiveMike78

Has the HOA budget been turned over to the residents and to the HOA association? This would imply that it has and that you feel confident that the current levels of .31 per sq. ft. will remain relatively stable?

Thanks.

[TimelessClassic]

Originally Posted by noah

Great point. This is a major point of concern I believe in buying a new condo as opposed to an established one. Of course the developer is going to push the limit to keep the dues # as low as possible so they can sell and its hard to really determine if the dues are set high enough when you don't have history of the building etc to go by not to mention the learning curve for a new HOA. Even with boards turning over every few years at least you should have some precedent on how things are run and how the management does in established buildings.

Yes an increase in HOA fees, often substantial, is quite common once the developer leaves.

[TimelessClassic]

Originally Posted by OO7

Thanks for your insight, Rama. It's very discouraging to see that us condo owners don't have much impact under developer control. Maybe we should all ask our state legislators to pass a Condo Owner's Bill of Rights...

The only way to have control is to live in a single-family home with no HOA. In condos, HOAs pretty much run your life. They decide how many units can be rented out, whether you can rent yours out, what repairs/upgrades they want to do and make you pay, etc. Its like living under another government. I understand some authority is needed, bt the wrong HOA can make life difficult.

[noah]

Another reason to seek out the older well established, well managed buildings. Having a mix of long term owners really will cut down on the number of foreclosures and non payers of HOA dues. The new buildings just don't have this and if many buyers bought with little down during the peak and are now under water and perhaps can't afford the payments it makes it hard for the HOA as a whole to thrive.

Originally Posted by TimelessClassic

Yes an increase in HOA fees, often substantial, is quite common once the developer leaves.

[TimelessClassic]

Originally Posted by noah

Another reason to seek out the older well established, well managed buildings. Having a mix of long term owners really will cut down on the number of foreclosures and non payers of HOA dues. The new buildings just don't have this and if many buyers bought with little down during the peak and are now under water and perhaps can't afford the payments it makes it hard for the HOA as a whole to thrive.

Exactly the reasons I didn't buy a condo unit when I was out looking 4-5 years ago - many (mostly very young and clueless) people buying with zero down and low, teaser rates leading to future foreclosures (Fulton had the highest or second-highest number or percentage of zero down home purchases in the country - big red flag for me), unproven HOA managements, no telling how much HOA fees would be once the developer was gone, developer potentially building a competing building right across the street once all units were sold in that building, too many restrictions on what you can and cannot do with your unit, frequently-changing neighbors, no control over who your neighbors will be, etc.

[Rama767]

Our monthly Association dues are calculated per square foot. Hence, our bad debt assumption is calculated by taking an expected delinquency rate (e.g. 15%) and multiplying that rate by the $/SqFt/Month (e.g. $0.365) and then multiplying that by the total residential square footage of the building (e.g. 250,000 sqft) = $10,783.59.

Be sure to adjust the assumptions depending on the trends of the building. For example, although you may have a 15% delinquency rate according to the monthly financial statements, less than 15% of the building may actually have stopped paying their bills.

Originally Posted by OO7

Hi Mike. Actually, the HOA is not yet turned over. Furthermore, the HOA board
*increased* our budget for the 2nd year in a row in order to increase the line item for bad debt by $100k, apparently. How do you other HOAs budget for bad debt?

[mike7586]

They need to do something with the streetscape in front of the building. I think they used to have grass in between the sidewalk and the road, and now they just put a bunch of ugly brown mulch. Why not plant some grass again or bushes, flowers, something? Even brick pavers would look better.