Although we have seen no formal announcement other than the proposed 2019 budget, it appear that homeowners assessments are set to increase by approximately 15% effective January 1. Proposed budgets were sent to all homeowners by mail. It would have been helpful to see a side by side comparison of actual 2018 expenditures to help see where the money is going. We are confident the Board will provide more details in the coming weeks.
Any reason why comments are being deleted? Curious why the censorship.
The blog will post all comments except those containing defamatory language and/or personal attacks.
Moderator
To be fair, apply those “rules” to the owners/operators of the GC and everyone else. Attacks on the Morgan Creek LLC and its parties seem to be A OK here. Not saying I am pro GC but fair is fair. HOA board members, such as John Carey, do deserve our commentary no differently than the opposition.
It sounds like the Mafia is at work here! Golf course wants more money, but nobody can know what the expenses are and why. The HOA fees are going up by 30%, but nobody is saying why and there is no side by side budget with which to compare. And comments are deleted????
There was a posting error. The increase is approximately 15%, not 30%.
Thank you! EXACTLY!!!!!!!
Can’t increase by more than 20% without HOA vote and approval
Thank you for the information. The actual increase on January 1, 2019 will be 17%. So, since a vote is not needed if the increase is not over 20%, I guess we should expect from now on increases of nearly 20%, but not over. In the last 2 years we experienced a 30% cummulative increase. It is disappointing that in our last meeting in November this was never discussed or brought up for discussion.
HOA Dues were not raised one penny in 2018 from 2017, this is the first increase since Jan 2017.
This increase is ridiculous considering there is no explanation of why, and the actual savings we are realizing for the reduction in force of the Greeters makes this particularly frustrating. An explanation and justification is certainly due to the homeowners.
It’s to pay for the attorney. The whole process was nothing but shenanigans. I was at the meeting when Sheila stated that the gates would be put in with or without the homeowner majority vote. She said the board could pass it without the vote. It was also promised that there would be 2 greeters 24 hours. That obviously isn’t happening.
15% is more than what the GC proposed and now we can lose the course AND pay the extra fees? Brilliant (if you have ESQ in your title).
You are wrong about what the golf course wanted per household! It was significant.
Well, I will take 15% over 30% anytime, but homeowners still need to see budget items side by side.
We can’t just let them raise our fees (AGAIN) without a vote, without a heads up and think its ok. Is there an attorney who can look into this please? I watched on American Greed an HOA embezzling money for their own gain in a similar community. When we have this may houses paying over what other way more luxurious communities are paying THERE IS FUNNY BUSINESS GOING ON
I have been working in commercial real estate for 27 years. It is extremely common for “funny business” to be happening. I know it because I speak with commercial property managers regularly. Vendors increase prices and “pass on” some of the increases to the people who help them get the increases in the form of all sorts of “rebates” that involve cash or goods and services. It is an abhorrent practice, unfortunately, but widely accepted and nobody talks about it. I had a meeting about a year ago with the most well known and largest commercial / residential owner of a property management company prior to the mid 1990’s. He told me during our meeting that gifts, rebates, bribes and kickbacks were standard practices on the residential side of management. I personally can’t speak to the residential side as I have only been on the commercial side.
It is both the gorilla and elephant in the room. I speak out against it all the time and of course I am the successful bad guy for wanting to not cheat everyone. In my business this year, vendors are increasing an average of 4.5% – 8.5% from what I am hearing in the commercial community. I believe inflation is not more than 3% or less so why are we at 17% when we are saving so much money on not having the greeters? Again, when there is no transparency, that is not a good thing and in fact it is a sign of something not good. We need to start counting the money comparing line items from budgets and checking out and comparing increases on each line item.
In the commercial sector we usually go off CPI.. http://cpiinflationcalculator.com/2018-cpi-and-inflation-rate-for-the-united-states/
Thank you for your comments. Agree! If not careful, people are going to start moving out, especially retired people on a budget. We just need the basics from the HOA, this is getting out of hand.
David and others, there are seats on the budget committee that provide an opportunity for any of you to help review and shape the budget on behalf of all the residents. If you have the tools and knowledge to help us, then please do so and quit complaining. We could all benefit from someone with appropriate skills and good intentions.
What is the process to change the HOA fee rate increase to require a majority homeowner vote? Anything higher than CPI plus 3% is an unbelievable high rate increase to not require a vote. Frankly anything over 5% should require homeowner approval.
Right on
This is NOT the commercial sector………………………join the budget committee, educate yourself and help us out!
Why can’t the members of the community just get a clear explanation of why we are increasing 15%. It would be easier to send out an explanation than to get hundreds of people to sit on a budget community. A 15% increase on its face does not make sense. They need to make it make sense.
Nobody likes to see increases in the HOA fees. But we should not take it out on the board members, or accuse them of taking bribes. This is a thankless job. They worked very hard to keep our community in shape. What will happen to our community if nobody is interested to be on the board?
There was no increase last year. If you do not agree with the 15% increase, please join the budget committee or the board so you can see clearly what is going on there. I am sure the board can supply a budget comparison between 2018 and 2019, and will explain why there is a 15% increase.
During the GATE meetings, it was stated the HOA took out a loan to build the gate, it takes 3 years to repay the loan. So we’ll not see any decrease of HOA dues from not using the greeters for 3 years. If you did not attend those meetings, don’t complain because you did not care enough to attend those meetings.
The golf course owner threatened to close the golf course and/or develop new homes on the course unless homeowners subsidise him. I personally do not want to subsidise anybody that did not tell us how he will spend the subsidy. It takes money to hire legal council to fight the golf course owner. I rather pay the attorneys and hope we’ll win the battle instead of subsidising him for 10 years. BTW, he is opening a sports complex in Roseville, I hope the residents will boycott him and not join that sports complex.
You all need to google “golf course/HOA disputes and read about who usually wins the legal battle and statistics on your property value should Charlie close the course. There are professional consultants that can assist an HOA in coming up with a solution. There is even an article about a 500 plus home HOA in dispute with an owner that will not open his books.. hopefully the Board and your future Board members will be very pro active and not reactive in solving this with Charlie… we’re not moved into the community as yet but certainly support an effort to save this golf course..
Just curious what is the projected cost annually with what he is asking for vs. the expected increase home values vs. the expected decrease in home value should the golf course close. Without spending hours doing research, there should be some expected rough numbers, averages, etc.
The other thing to weigh out besides the decrease in home values is the who-wants-to-be-married-to-this-guy-for-the-rest-of-their-home- ownership-life-factor And who wants to be married to whomever this guy sells to during the rest of their home ownership life? Sometimes being held hostage forever to such negative energy is not worth the perceived increase in home value. Sometimes peace is more important. Being tied in with that type of energy will always, always, always carry negative vibes. How much dollars is that worth and how do we measure it? I am not an expert, but the history I am hearing about Charlie is not one of happiness. Maybe it is freak chance that all I have heard is negativity. But this would be an interesting subject to hear discussed. I do know there may be some people who choose to reside in an HOA community more for peace, quiet and security and not as much for drama and hostage holding. There is hardly a thing that appears functional with the relationship as a whole. That has to be weighed into the equation too. Taking a hit in home value vs. peace and future hostage holding may be something to market to prospective future residents. “People used to come here and get drama and hostage holding, but now people come to the new and improved Morgan Creek for peace and quiet.” The other thing is this: Why would people pay for drama, hostage holding and a history of negative energy candy coated and decorated with the hype of a golf course when if someone really wants all those things in life, there are so many other ways than Charlie to get them.
Well stated. Take the loss up as an experience. Experience is a tuition. We all just went to school for the mistakes made in historical decisions involving the golf course. We shouldn’t as homeowners have to pay the price for this. WE ALREADY HAVE. It is what it is, learn from it, move on. If we can’t have the golf course, realize—we can’t have it all. In the big picture, some people just cannot afford any more than they are paying. LEARN FROM IT.