Look Ma! No Hands!

Sorry I didn't make it to the meeting. I decided to watch my son pitch strikes to everyone in the game tonight. Not many human beings take time out to better themselves or try to figure out how to make things better. My boy has a passion for his sport and excels at it. I think we may have a few board members pondering the idea that things could be better.

The reason that this is entitled "Look Ma! No Hands" is because of the notion that there may be a better way to ride a bike or run an association. I have posted the July newsletter for download from this website. Click here >>> July newsletter

About one trillion people can access this for free. We decide however to print it and mail it.
Just think, for a small investment, Riverview third could install both cable and internet with a deal from Comcast which would create a very positive thumbs up from the worn out residents. The internet can be used for everything that the management is currently doing. Mind you, only forward looking people with insight could agree. Instead, the nay sayers will talk about people who don't have internet. The same nay sayers that decided that more police calls were to rentals. I wonder how many people at Riverview really have internet? Certainly the complaints regarding this blog came from internet users.

I'm convinced that the reason we die is to prevent the old habits lingering on. We need to get the old habits on the board to move aside and let the fresh new thinkers move the association ahead. The old habits are costing us money. It's also about time that management companies looked outside the box and started to think internet. If Wells Fargo can do it, so can we. If your mortgage company can do it, so can we. When newer management companies come knocking with new technology, the lower level management companies will be forced to move aside. Not to worry though old habits die hard and before we know it, we will have 2 board members who have served for over 15 years. They should keep the lower quality management companies thriving.

Happy Global Warming

What a breath of fresh air!

I've never really wanted to look at the newsletter in the past. Really, it just depressed me because of the consequential fines information and general oppressive print.
I just read the News letter dated July2006. Nice job, well written and quite frankly, a document that will allow people to sleep with a smile on their face. This is perfect. Allowing people to plant flower beds and take care of a trophy asset gives way to pride and ownership.

We can all learn lessons from this class communications vehicle......

It's about 4:30 p.m. right now and I will pinch myself around 6:00 p.m. just in case I'm dreaming. I might even frame the newsletter.

Being a board member pays big dividends

Per communications with Mnagement:

Regarding Carol's $250 for court. This is what Carol felt her time in court was worth and the Board agreed. As the management company we could have charged $120 an hour for my presence as it is outside the management contract. I however did not charge the association for this one court appearance.

So it would seem that the figure of $250 was what Carol "felt" her time was worth. This still rubs against the grain since according to the rules, members are not compensated. At least they quit arguing, they finally answered the question. I wonder how much money was given to Carol in 2005 for her time spent on Riverview Third? We will have to find out if there were any other payments made to Carol for her time.

I hope you all feel good that money you pay for association fees are used for what someone thinks they are worth. This is terrible.

So they charge unreasonable fees outside of covenant rule, they make up their own rules regarding charges for specific groups and finally, they have nothing to worry about since any court action will give them a bonus of whatever they feel like.

Something stinks and I'm going to sniff it out.

AS far as the management charging $120 per hour. I understand the rate, but why would they volunteer to appear at court since they are not lawyers and according to the last court visit, they knew not how to handle rental policies nor did they know how to pick lawyers who could write legal documentation that can hold up in court.

I also understand according to St. Paul Pioneer Express, that New Concepts Management have written some articles for magazines, and I have studied the New Concepts Web Site. Apparently, rental management is a core competance. Oops!

The busy world of management

Here we are into week three after asking the question "please provide me with justification for paying $250 for Carol's time. The management company has explained to me that they are too busy to deal with this and have other important issues to deal with. I kinda wonder about that when I find out that the management company are spending time sending emails to other members and asking them to contact me because I'm getting out of line. The suggestion was that this blog has half truthes. Interesting that they send emails behind my back but don't bother to point out any half truthes to me so they can be fixed. The fact is. All items on this blog are the truth. Any opinions are mine built with input from Meetings with the board, neighbor discussions and experiences.

I have a great idea: Why not simply answer the question and then you won't have to spend any more time on this.

I can help. There are only 3 answers to the question. Any one will work for me. Here they are:

1. We don't have an answer really. The board just picked a number out of the air and there it was.
2. We do have an answer. Carols time off work cost her about $230.00 for the day and the rest is for expenses such as mileage etc.
3. We are not going to answer the question.

Above all, the management company needs to understand that a members questions are supposed to be answered. That happens to be state law. These questions are taking the same path as last time. In that case, it took about 4 months to get answers. The answers were really not satisfactory. Of course when one is trying to dodge an issue, one tends to dodge the questions. I understand that.

Regarding time spend on associations, maybe our management company has too many accounts. I wonder if anyone on the board ever asked the question: "how many accounts do you take care of?", or "how many hours do you spend on our account?".

The management suggests that in order to make change, one should run for a position on the board. Oh really, That seems to suggest that while the current members are on the board, there will be no change. I do tend to agree with that but the problem with working for the "board" is that one puts oneself in a poison pot. Who would want to do that. I would suggest that the board members who have served too long remove themselves from the positions and open up the seats. People will be more inclined to volunteer when that happens. These particular incumbent board members are the cause of lost law suits, arguments, yelling matches and general unrest in the community.
A quick chat with a previous board member said it all "I had to get out. It was driving me nuts"

Fix the half truthes in this blog.

It has been pointed out to me that the monthly fee of $149 I site is a half truth. The real number should be $159.54 to be precise. This also affects the rate at which River view charges. Since the $20 fee's are charged ($240/year), that does not equate to 165 percent as I have half truthed. It turns out that the rate is 150.43 percent. I was apparently off by 14 percent and some change. I would hope that the focus should be on the huge rate that is charged by RV3.

In terms of half truth, really it was 85 percent truth since I was off by about 15 percent. The numbers were approximate and served to highlight extortion. I have now clarified that the extortion remains and the numbers are correct to within 2 decimal places.

Another half truth to clear up. The next meeting is on the 24th of this month. NOT the last Monday of the month.

Keep me posted with incorrect items on the blog. In want to make sure that everything is correct.

St Paul Pioneer Express reports "Battle Lines Drawn

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/14990811.htm

They don't know what we know. Soon They will be aware of the law.

The Abusive Power Continues

When you don't pay your association fees, there needs to be a consequence. If you read the covenants,

Declaration of Covenants.pdf (CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD)

the consequence is that you are charged 6 percent per year. That turns out to be 1/2 of a percent per month. In our case, since we pay $149, you should be charged about 74 cents per month. Our association charges you $20 per month. This is 165 percent per year. People have gone to jail for less extortion than that. In fact, I think Wells Fargo would be shut down for those rates. The reason they [Banks] don't charge those rates is because of the law.
Why would Wells charge you 6% for $150,000 loan and Riverview charge 165% for 150 bucks? No one has ever explained to the board that this is wrong. Excuse me, if they did, the board took no notice.

The practice of charging you a fee for [say driveway] problems, and not performing the repairs is illegal and against the covenants. Don't pay them. The worst that can happen is that you have to spend $60 to file suit in Anoka. You will get your money back and then some.

It's time for some board members to take a rest from their duties and let some fresh open minded people take over the privileged duties of serving. We have people on the board that have served through almost 12 years. One in particular has been there since Moby Dick was a minnow.

I know how I'm viewed. I'm "lawsuit" guy but I was correct and the abuse has to stop. In fact you would all be well served if I was on the board. Honesty, Integrity and concern for the rules would be the focal points. I don't like to see people abused. I spent my time and effort for a $210 court case. I don't need the money. I wanted the abuse to stop. This has been instrumental in making the board sit up and think. They still don't know what to do and they simply wish I would go away so they could be comfortable again.
I'm not going away and while I have 2 eyes, at least one of them will be focused on Riverview.

I will report on the next meeting which will be held on Monday July 31st. At least the knowledge of my reporting will enable the members to think before getting into a whip cracking session.

The British are coming, the British are coming

This 4th of July, I will probably celebrate independence from the British more that anyone else. It's good to be in a country where you are free from excessive taxes, rationed health care (1 million on the waiting list to get into hospital), and general oppressive government. It was pure chance when I called the Coon Rapids Herald that I spoke with a chap by the name of Peter Bogley. Peter is an English guy who takes care of stories in the Herald. He understands the court case and will publish the story. He will talk to the president of Riverview Third to get that side of the story.
I'm thinking that the president will think it's a joke. Just imagine, she answers the phone and an English guy starts talking to her. She might think it's me or she might think it's a joke. If not, the chances are the president will have no comment or have some kind of foot in mouth disease. It's sad really. The board would spend way less time on this stuff by having a helping attitude. Instead, they hide, fight and tell you to quit sending emails.

There have been 38 downloads of the Conclusion.pdf This is the court legal analysis, and there have been 96 server requests from http://www.rv3.blogspot.com/

I talked to the Herald becauseI think I would like all town home associations to be aware that they are operating outside of the law if they are charging extra fees to a specific group of people. They all need a uniform playing field.

Here is a daring challenge to the board: Come to the table and let me know what you are trying to achieve. I'm still confused and don't know. My assumption has been that you were trying to limit rental properties all together. If that's the case, I can't help, it's illegal.
If you had something else in mind, feel free to post a note on this site so everyone can understand what you are up to. I know that you had discussions regarding getting a group of people together to take care of rentals but when it comes down to it, what you really need is a group of people who can take care of the association since more police calls are reported for owner occupied buildings than rentals. This makes sense since there are 136 owner occupied properties and 12 rentals. The police report we presented to you last year clearly indicates this.

I do believe however, that there is a method for control of rental property. That involves cooperation by all landlords. Here are the items that should be common for all landlords:

1. screening process. Yes there is a method to make sure that your tenant is going to be a good tenant. Which landlord would not like that?
2. Lease format. They should all be the same. This is a contract and it needs to protect the tenant AND the landlord AND the association. The standard MN lease is not enough.
3. Procedure to deal with issues. This would have management involvement and would be required. Its way easier for a landlord to approach a tenant and let them know that they are forced into dealing with this and warn since the management requires action.
4. Rent increases. These are discussed up front and expose the required association increases. This alerts the tenant that there are other people with common interests in the community.

In order to achieve these (and some others), the covenants would need to be changed with a majority vote since the covenants do not tie landlords together. Each landlord has his own rights which equal everyone else’s rights.

Happy July 4th