Perky

A solution for our cash woes has been found.

By now, you sharp cookies have noticed the CondoPerks logo on the left sidebar.

It’s not there by accident.

Not only am I a huge fan but I think so highly of the program that I want everyone to know about it as well.

CondoPerks allows condominium associations to earn money the easy way----by online shopping.

You go to the website, choose the building of your choice (cough**The Blackstone Condo Assoc.**cough) and start online shopping.

You can surf via the category bar on the left or you can scroll through all of the participating stores in the drop down above the category bar.

Can you believe that our condo association can make money every time I Peapod myself?

I know, it sounds dirty.

The founder of the service Blagica Stefanovski has found a practical, yet painless way for associations to supplement and potentially increase their reserves while complementing their existing fiscal measures.

In short, it’s brilliance.

So if your association could use a few more buck in the till, click on the link to the left and get the ball rolling.

At this point new building registration is free but that could change at any time.

But I have a better way for those of you who rent or own your own home to help out.

When you do your online shopping, help a sister and her hard working neighbors out----go to the CondoPerks website, find The Blackstone Condo Assoc. and shop with a purpose.

As previously mentioned., we have a potentially expensive capital project coming up later this year. We don’t wanna get caught with our financial pants down.

Frankly the thought of having to levy another special assessment makes my unemployed stomach lurch.

Now you don’t have to do it, but it’d be nice.

And there are 180 retailers of all stripes that I know you all use anyway.

Plus I’m not out on the street shaking the proverbial cup full of change in your face. I’m just gently doing it online.

It’s less noisy and I don’t have to give you the puppy dog eyes.

Whatever you want to do---Online shop with the Blackstone in mind, sign your building up or just cruise through to see what all the hubbub is about, all are welcome.

For all of you that needed a new excuse to cyber shop---here it is.

Brickbats

Like the swallows coming back to Capistrano, our association has yet another capital project to tackle.

Some might say that our latest undertaking is a result of the high quality conversion the building went through in 2000-2001.

Others might say that because of the building’s age (100 + years) that this may be a part of regular maintenance.

At this point, only the professional opinion of our vendor(s) will decide which of the two theories is correct.

In the meantime we have to figure out how to finance the tuck pointing of our façade and the possible rebuilding of our front porches.

Jesus take the wheel.

While we’re almost done paying off the back porches, we have to turn our efforts to the next project.

After all we don’t want anymore bricks falling off of our building.

At our first 2008 association meeting, the subject was broached and based on preliminary estimates we can afford to get one side of our façade tuck pointed without raising assessments.

That’s preliminary good news.

I’m worried about if the estimate was wrong or costs spiral out of control. Then what are we going to do?

We’ve worked hard to get our shit together.

Between the self management, self lawn care and careful attention to the bottom line, we’ve made the magic happen.

Naturally we had to crack the whip about the lifeblood of any association---assessments.

Now we’ve got to worry about how to pay for possible latent defects as a result of our developer.

But as I said, only the vendors will be able to pinpoint the true cause of the façade issue.

Don’t think I won’t give you the 411 when the information is available.

I can only assume that I’ll be dreaming of masonry for the remainder of 2008.

The Enemy Within

If you’ve been a loyal and regular reader of this blog, you already know that I have little love for “investors” who buy into our happy home.

Plus it just burns my biscuits that someone makes our home their commercial enterprise.

As an association we’ve had trouble with “investors” before and we’ve luckily got those past issues under control.

Yet there’s always one pain in the ass. One person who has to keep it interesting and not make any attempt to be neighborly or abide by the minimal rules we have around this joint.

Ms. Realtor is that person.

Ms. Realtor is an owner of a unit that she rented out in the past and now has placed on the market

From what I understand she owes the association in excess of $1,000 in back assessments.

I get being a couple months behind---hey, we’ve all been there---but over $1,000?

Might I add she owes us this money AND she had the place rented out for a while. There was no good reason why she couldn’t of paid her assessments.

Moreover getting any type of meaningful communication out of her is like hitting your head against a brick wall.

So if her financial shit was hitting the fan, she at least could of given us a “heads up” on the assessment tip.

We understand that people have drama in the money department from time to time. No one is immune from that.

But from what I understand we couldn’t even get an odd e-mail much less the money that we’re legally owed.

So now it gets ugly.

If there’s not a lien on the property one will placed on it soon enough.

And in the interest of disclosure, one association member even threatened to go to one of the owner’s open houses and let her potential clients know about her deadbeat ways.
I personally think that’s going too far---but she already put it out there.

Why waste your time threatening someone and have a potential trespassing beef to deal with when there are so many other effective ways to get your point across?

I’m sure there’s some type of ethical violation that I’m sure the state real estate licensing board would be interested in hearing about.

But then again, maybe not; who knows? I’m sure someone is investigating that angle.

You see our bills can’t wait until the property sells in order to collect our money.

I can’t speak to Ms. Realtor’s motivation for not paying her assessments but in the past, when we’ve found ourselves in this same situation we’d often get the “We’ll pay when the property sells” line.

Well that’s all fine and well until no one has any hot water to shower with because People’s Energy hasn’t been paid.

But investor’s don’t worry about that because they don’t live here.

Past experience has also taught me that the people who try to take advantage of us usually tend to look like us.

Or at the very least they’re people of color.

Our developer, the deadbeats, Maurice Cousin---all the people who broke dirty with this association happened to be black.

Sorry to get all Bill Cosby and air out our laundry but---if you’ll excuse the pun---let’s call a spade a spade.

While I could go on forever about black on black relations, it’s easier to compare it to Don Imus getting fired for calling the Rutgers women’s basketball team a bunch of nappy headed ho’s and Isaiah Thomas explaining in a deposition when a black man refers to a black woman as a bitch it may be less offensive than a white man referring to a black woman as a bitch.

We’ve swatted down a whole bunch of Isaiah’s in the past, I hope Ms. Realtor doesn’t turn out to be another.

I have seen the enemy and it is us.

Nearing The Finish Line

In July of 2005 our association leveled a special to pay for the construction of our new back porches.

Each two bedroom in the association was responsible for a $3,976.00 assessment.

Some people paid in chunks, some paid monthly---I'm in the later group.

After 28 months of payments I'm thrilled to report that I have paid $3,108.00 of my total special assessment. That leaves $868 left to pay.

I'm tempted to pay it off in one fell swoop but since I don't know when I'm going to get a job, perhaps it's just best for me to continue paying it off in addition to my monthly assessment.

I'm under $1,000. This milestone has been a long time coming.

On The Right Road

Per our monthly association meeting last week, it seems that the green grass is now on our side of the fence.

For the first time in our history all eighteen units will be paying assessments.

We’ve paid off over $14,000 of our loan for the back porches.

We’ve fixed the façade, patched the holes in the roof and finally got the lights up.

It appears that the much needed assessment hike will pad us (*fingers crossed*) from any future special assessments. Moreover, the money will be there for us to embark upon capital improvements and maintenance.

In short, the outlook is sunny.

For the first time in a long time people weren’t on edge or snapping at each other at a meeting. It’s nice to enjoy your neighbor’s company from time to time

More importantly, the meeting was under two hours. An hour and a half if memory serves me correctly.

We even started planning our association cookout. We’re even going to try and invite other condo owners in the immediate area.

Things are going well.

It makes me think that a big cosmic kick in the ass may be coming somewhere down the line.

Sorry guys, I’m trying to control the pessimist in me but it’s so hard.
I’ll try to enjoy our vastly improved fortunes.

Falling On My Sword

Outright lying was the last fucking straw.

Our current treasurer sending a second fraudulent and misleading invoice to the mortgage company unit owners was wrong. More importantly it’s against the Illinois Condominium Act.

I could not sanction lying and what amounted to stealing by my presence on the board. I chucked the whole kit and caboodle and wished them well.

We have come a long way in a short period of time. To engage in this bullshit reeked of our developer.

Now I can stomach a lot of things but I was in not was ready to sell my soul on this one.

There are certain things that shouldn’t ever be done. Number one is share a toothbrush with someone, number two is certain “private acts” should remain private and not be transferred to any recordable medium and number three is you shouldn’t lie and cheat your neighbors.

Make sure you write those down as those are pearls of wisdom I’m giving away for free.

I know all three happen (*shudder*) but they shouldn’t.

Especially the third.

Then of course let’s set aside the legality and morality of this tawdry little tale. I’m ignoring what I believe to be an important part of the story.

Me.

I can be a ball breaking, self righteous, judgmental pain in the ass. On the other hand I can be overly generous (to a fault), compassionate and loyal---whether it be to a person or a cause.

Let’s put it out there. Self realization is important.

Nonetheless, I would ask no less of anyone that I would demand of myself.

If you’ve been reading this blog, you know about the exploits of the past year and a half and how I’ve played a part in this whole little melodrama.

Let me correct myself and shed my modesty by revealing my large part in turning this ship around.

To date my suggestions and recommendations have saved or netted the association over $15,000 in line item costs, project costs & “found money” from the city.

Let’s count the ways, shall we?

2003 & 2004 Refuse Rebates from the city totaling approximately $2,700.00 of found money---I researched and applied for the program.

The $3,500 & $2,500 dollars in savings in 2005 and 2006 by doing our own yard work and maintenance---my idea. I developed the first maintenance schedules from May 2005 until the end of that year.

Who found a costly $3,300 overcharge on the porch contract? Yours truly.

Who had the bright idea to leverage a look at other insurance agencies into a $3,000 savings on our annual premiums? D’oh! It looks like it was Woody to the rescue again.

Despite that fact that I’m a human being who falls short of God’s grace, I can---if given half a chance---make a discernable difference.

I wonder how I can sneak all of this in on my resume?

Let’s not even talk about who found the reliable porch contractor whose bid came in a full $20,000 under the competition or who found the financing for the porch project in the first place.

Guilty as charged.

Believe it or not, I managed to do this with a (somewhat) active social life AND two jobs. Most of these little tasks were done over numerous lunch hours.

Who says sixty minutes can’t make a difference?

I’m in it to win it folks. This is my home.

So when I point out mistakes or inconsistencies, it’s never about me lording over someone, it’s about what’s legal and what’s right.

The current language of the Illinois Condominium Property Act clearly states that when a unit is bought out of foreclosure, the new owner is not liable for any old debts or prior special assessments.

It’s pretty freaking clear on that point.

So despite my many e-mails and verbal explanations, our treasurer still went ahead and charged the mortgage company unit owners for debts that they didn’t legally owe.

What makes it even worse is that we have a judgment against the person who is legally responsible for that debt.

In effect, we’re double dipping. We’re charging two different people for the same thing.

That’s like selling a cold bottle of beer to two different people.

What a crock of shit.

That type of slimy, duplicitous behavior is disgusting.

And to further add insult to injury, I get the not so subtle rebuke about the definition of board duties.

Excuse me?

I didn’t hear anything about board duties when I was doing the grunt work researching and contacting the mortgage companies to find out where we should be sending the invoice.

After all, that should have been the treasurer’s job, right?

I didn’t hear anything about board duties when I caught the $3,300 overage on the porch contract.

We all should have been going over it with a fine tooth comb, right?

So it strikes me as odd that chests want to get poked out about who is doing what in the association.

You want my help and dedication when it’s beneficial but shun it at will?

Screw that. I hit the door.

Let’s see if this dog can hunt without its sense of smell.

Cough and Turn Your Head

Apparently the mortgage company owner of one of our foreclosed upon units finally understands that we mean business.

The arrival of a lien against their property has loosened the proverbial purse strings and a check for the full amount is forthcoming.

Our association lawyer just called me and broke the good news.

So much for the property manager's explanation of this type of thing is usually handled at the closing table.

Our bills can't wait until the closing table.

Why do they make us pull out the legal bitch slap? Why do they make us become unpleasant to defend our financial interests?

We try to play nice but then they don't take us seriously.

Methinks they'll be taking us seriously from this point on.

Activity

Some wise old person used to say, "A hard head makes a soft ass."

Their obvious meaning was that stubbornness and stupidity will continue to bring trouble your way; hence a "soft ass" from it getting kicked so many times.

Apparently one of the mortgage company owners doesn’t believe that we mean what we say.

They'll be believers when they receive notice of the lien our lawyer is placing on their property.

Then of course they're shooting themselves in the foot by not paying in a timely fashion. Not only are they getting socked with late, legal and filing fees but they contribute to the assessment delinquency rate.

Any knowledgeable potential buyer will be asking about the assessment delinquency rate as well as other business based "hard questions."

We tried being cordial yet firm. Now the time for talking is done.

Pay What You Owe

Through the course of this blog I’ve documented my feelings about non-resident owners.

In the scant time I’ve lived in this association we’ve gone through foreclosures, deadbeats and a variety or renters.

Even though I can’t get into specific details, let’s suffice it to say that matters are being handled and old business is being taken care of.

But that leaves us with the current crop of newly minted pain in the ass owners who purchased the foreclosures.

They’re otherwise known as mortgage companies. Their local minions are known as property managers.

So now we’re doing the “pay your assessment” dance with the property managers.

Dig this---we’ve now got one of the mortgage company owned units that now owes over $2,200 in back assessments and late fees.

Trust me, my jaw was on the ground when this little bombshell was dropped.

Seeing that I thought we had a strict 45 day delinquency policy regarding assessments I wasn’t quite sure how the total got to be so sizeable.

The ball got completely dropped on this one.

Naturally, I informed the property manager about this arrearage and forwarded them an e-mail detailing the breakdown. When I called to follow up on when we would be receiving payment, I received a non-committal “I don’t know.”

I wanted to make sure that the person I was talking to and her boss understood that if a check for the full amount isn’t received by April 5th that a lien would be placed on the property.

Not only did she tell me that she understood but proceeded to tell me that “usually these things” get settled at the closing table.

I explained to her that our bills aren’t on Litton’s (the mortgage company owner of the unit) time table. They are quite real and have to be paid in a timely manner by or before their due date.

The only response I received was, “We can only pay what the client authorizes us to pay.”

Whatever, sister.

I promise you good folks this, if our association treasurer doesn’t see a check for the full amount on or before April 5th, this matter will be referred out to our attorney.

Once it’s referred out---it’s a done deal. You’re getting a lien slapped on your place.

And that bad boy ain’t coming off until someone coughs up some cash.

Caustic’s Folly

As if acting like a shrill toddler at the community meeting weren’t enough, Caustic pulled out a whopper at one of our monthly association meetings.

In the first two years of the association the general association meetings were few and far in between. Communication between the board and the general membership was virtually non-existent.

Last year in 2005 the new board decided that since we had so much facing the association it would be in our best interest to have a general meeting every month. In both theory and practice it was a great idea so we could get together and brain storm as well as be informed about the multitude of issues facing the association.

While I’ve been giving you kind people the blow by blow about the porches, it isn’t the only maintenance/capital improvement issue facing our association. Quite frankly it was simply the one that needed the greatest attention at the time.

Anyone who lives in a vintage building will tell you that these old girls require a great deal of time and commitment to keep them looking their best.

The buildings that comprise our association are no different.

Being solidly middle class wage earners, the totality of saying to your general membership that a huge special assessment needed to be levied didn’t leave anyone jumping for joy.

After all, we belong to the association and pay assessments as well.

The special assessment we levied for the porches was bad enough. I can’t even begin to imagine if we totaled up all of the work that needed to be done and levied a special assessment based on that.

They would be coming for us with pitchforks and knives.

Caustic’s issue happened to coincide with the old homestead hitting the market.

At one of our monthly meetings, Caustic had the gall to suggest that the association file a claim with our insurance company to fix a plumbing problem in the basement.

Now I’m sure Caustic meant to have that money cover all of the plumbing issues in all of the basements, not just the one that affected Caustic’s potential home sale---but who knows a person’s true intent?

I was dumbfounded. I lost the power of speech.

At the time we just---and I mean just---renegotiated a significant reduction in our insurance rates.

Why in God’s name would we want to file a claim to have them skyrocket up again? And all for a cost that more than likely could be covered out of our (meager) reserve fund.

Let me not mince words here, it was the way it was demanded and the tone it was demanded in that struck me dumb.

Mind you the board wasn’t asked how this latest wrinkle could fit into the budget or Caustic take the onus to find estimates and work up a presentation at a future meeting.

It was just the attitude of “I’ve graced you dumbasses with my presence. Note that my concerns are far more important than the overall good of the association.”

Are you fucking kidding me?

Could Caustic’s sudden concern for the building’s plumbing problems and the home sale be any more transparent? Not to me it wasn’t.

I love the type of people who don’t give a flying fuck about something until it affects them directly.

Blinded by the tunnel vision of the goal, Caustic continued to rant about filing an insurance claim until someone, I can’t remember who, thankfully put the kibosh on that crazy talk.

I’m not against self interest but not at the expense of fiscal fitness of the association.

Back on Track---Fight The Power, Part II

Our association budget seemed like the pretty standard condo budget. Water bills here, gas bill there---that type of thing. Yet upon closer inspection it seemed like a few line items were out of hand.

The number one item that caught my attention was the fact that we were paying over $5,000 a year in lawn and building maintenance.

Yowsa!

Quite frankly when we have able bodied people living on the premises, why would we pay over $400 a month for someone to come in and cut the lawn, shovel the snow and clean the hallways? That’s just throwing money away.

I took the responsibility to draw up a workable maintenance plan starting with the month of May.

Trust me, our membership was not exactly happy with the prospect of having to get out and perform the sweat equity home ownership requires. After all when most people think of condominium living they don’t think of having to mop the hallways and cut the grass. Unfortunately we didn’t have room for such luxuries with operating margins running so thin.

Only about half of the unit owners responded to the call, the other half---had, oh how shall I put this, “other commitments?”

Next up on the budget hit parade was the cost of insurance.

Our rates had risen sharply since the 9/11 tragedy and were now topping out at around $12,000 a year. Our policy was up for renewal July 1st and I suggested that we start shopping around for a better rate. I mean, how will we know if we’re getting the best price if we’re not shopping around. Just so you know this is the insurance our association has had since before the first elected board took over in 2002. In short, this is the insurance company that our evil developer initially purchased. Naturally we had reason to be suspicious of this setup.

The minute our insurance company got wind that we were looking around, they came back with a quote $3,000 less than last year’s rate. That would firmly put us below the $10,000 mark with our insurance which was a significant savings.

We also applied for a refuse rebate program run by the city that would reimburse us up to $75 per unit or the cost of an entire year’s trash bill, whichever one was lower.

By now you’re getting my drift, we cut the fat were we could and tried to find “hidden revenue” such as the refuse rebate. I knew and subsequently told everyone that 2005 and 2006 were going to be the “tough” years. The years where we would find out how bad it truly was, find a way to fix whatever the problems were and get back on track. People didn’t quite seem to understand the consequences of those words until we attempted to tackle our first capital project---our crumbling back porches.