It's a New Year

We're into January and in Wheaton that means winter cold. Snow is optional.

What do we do in the winter? That varies. Boards generally don't have too much to worry about. Yes, there will be rules violations, and there may be breakdowns to deal with. However, for many of us the real issue is simply to keep warm and avoid automobile or other accidents. 

But accidents do happen. Of course, the consequences of speeding in unsafe conditions isn't an accident is it? A slip and a fall may be an accident, or blacking out may result in a fall. Health isn't something to be taken for granted. Even a simple break can require eight weeks of convalescence. 

Meanwhile, the budget has been completed and put into motion. What will happen this year? In the "planning and preparation" department there will be surveys to do when the weather improves. There will be some project work and there will be the usual exterior repairs and painting of 1/6 of the buildings on the property. Other repairs will be done, the gazebo is looking a bit shabby, and the deck behind Thames isn't there, yet. There are a few driveways which require attention (we have a total of 84). 

Some street repaving will be a necessity. Optional items for 2017 include that deck behind Thames, certain stream repairs, limestone sills to replace some 40 year old brick sills, adding protection to the newest streets, and so on. Scarifying of some walks is a possibility, as is some tuckpointing. Other items will only occur after the surveys. Surveys too are "optional" and so it is to be determined if garage floors will be surveyed, or even the driveways. Of course, the landscaping improvements which are really repairs created by dead and dying trees will continue in 2017.

What is important to point out is what specifically happens will be determined by the board. Our board is understaffed and there is the usual disparity of duties. In fact, board members ultimately decide what they should do or what they could do. There will be opposing views about nearly everything, and "doing" requires spending money. It would be easier to talk and do nothing. Which has been the modus operandi of some earlier boards. 

What should occur in 2017? In addition to working on any breakdowns which occur, the board should conduct a Reserve Study update; work for this purpose was completed by three board members in 2015 and presented to the entire board. We can look into long term water main replacement planning and so on. This is all in addition to the items in the previous paragraphs. However, boards are comprised of volunteers. Those volunteers determine what will be done and what won't. It will be easier, less work and less time consuming to do nothing. Of course, there will be budget concerns and that too will be a reason to tread carefully when spending association money. 

To anyone who will listen I have stated repeatedly that boards will spend every dollar they collect. Our association has nearly 40 years of financial history to substantiate my opinion. The board has a great deal of discretion about how soon and how magnificent certain projects are to be. While it can always be argued that the owners benefit from all projects and maintenance, it can also be argued that benefits are sometimes in the eyes of the beholder. 

Of course, it is necessary to avoid kicking the can down the road. Our HOA has been here for nearly 40 years and owners have seen it all. I've kept this blog as a means of documenting the recent history of this association. It may help to avoid repeating past mistakes. The substantially expanded newsletter is also a resource. But of course, that is like saying we have rules, regulations and bylaws to help our community. Some past and current board members have argued no one reads them. If so, why should I ever expect anyone will read this blog? 

Nevertheless this blog is here. What people do is their personal decision and their responsibility. 

2017 will be an interesting year, there will be ups and downs, some owners will be unhappy for a variety of reasons and in the fall there will be an election. Will I be here? Who knows. According to the SS Administration mortality tables for anyone of the age of 70 there is a 2% chance of dying in the year. Women have a better life expectancy than men. 

Budget Realities and Priorities

I've posted several times about budgeting in our HOA. This post focuses on solutions to some of the problems our boards have faced when trying to construct a budget. Budgeting has consequences, both short- and long-term. A variety of boards have struggled for decades with our HOA budgets.

So what can be learned from these struggles? What has worked and what hasn't?

1. Setting priorities.
2. Acknowledging reality.
3. Don't let things get out of control.
4. Balancing reserves and operations & maintenance budgets.
5. Communicating with owners.
6. Avoiding pitfalls.
7. Avoiding panic.
8. Acknowledging what worked and what did't.

Our budgets have had some interesting setbacks and a variety of approaches. One recurring failure has been a past lack of communications. I am convinced some boards really didn't know what they were doing, or if they did, they were unwilling to communicate the problems to the owners.

There has also been a lot of focus on minutiae in the past. That can occupy all board time, but may not be effective. Minutiae can lead to a failure to prioritize, can divert resources and can obfuscate the really important things. Running in place doesn't accomplish anything.

Here is an example of a failure to set priorities. In 1999 this HOA saved $20,000 in the annual budget toward the "replacement fund" which was the description for this HOA's reserves. The common elements of this HOA are valued for insurance purposes at about $90 million. In other words, in 1999 the board put aside about 0.02% of the value of this HOA for capital improvements and maintenance. This was an inadequate amount for such a large HOA that was more than 20 years old. If this were a $100,000 home, it is like saying the owner decided to put aside $22 annually for long term upkeep. Woefully inadequate.  Last year the board budgeted $433,789 toward reserves, or about 25 times as much. This was not a one year phenomenon and boards have put more than $300,000 toward reserves each and every year since 2008. The average including 2008 has been $391,046 per year.

How did this happen? Several things:

1. Separate the budget into two components; Operations & Maintenance and Reserve contributions. 
2. Create equal focus for short term issues (next year's budget) and long term capital maintenance. 
3. Shift from annual budgets which focused on "reasonable" annual fee increases. These budgets collected enough for the next year to the detriment of long term maintenance.
4. Revitalize maintenance efforts with an emphasis on avoiding procrastination. 
5. Make the commitment to get frequent reserve studies by unbiased outside consultants. 
6. Study those reserve studies, discuss them with management and trusted contractors and compare the data to the various site surveys conducted by the board. 
7. Keep accurate records of infrastructure repairs. 

Reality can be difficult to acknowledge. Boards will do their best but some times thing don't work as planned. We can't know the condition of hidden infrastructure, nor can we predict with absolute certainty how much water we'll use next year, or how much snow will fall. Nor can we predict the extent of foreclosures or delinquencies. It is prudent to be humble and acknowledge our shortcomings. In doing so, we can build financial structures which allow us to deal with most issues. 

1. Closely monitor delinquencies, and build charts to trend these. Review this monthly. I create a monthly chart which provides 50 months of historical data for the board.  
2. Put in place and use systems to enforce fee collections. There are no exceptions. 
3. Know the laws of your state and use them to enforce collections. Each owner is an equal; in other words, living is an HOA is a benefit, not a right and there are costs for this. 
4. Monitor the state of the infrastructure. Do annual "condition surveys" for everything from walks to driveways to roofs to garage floors. 
5. Keep good records of the infrastructure, including dates and locations of repairs or replacements of driveways, garage floors, roofs, decks, patios and so on.
6. Don't allow maintenance to fall behind. It is almost impossible to catch up. Remember that boards are volunteers. Some volunteers may not understand that a HOA is a business and that board members are supposed to work. 

To avoid allowing things to get out of control is simple: 

1. Keep your eye on the ball. Don't look the other way.
2. Don't allow maintenance to fall behind. 
3. Don't allow reserves to fall behind. 
4. Don't run the HOA as a social club. 
5. Treat all owners fairly and equally. No special favors!
6. Don't operate the board as a popularity contest. 
7. Put in place communications systems for owners. Explain everything to everyone. 
8. Perform diligence in monitoring delinquencies. 
9. Don't pay undue attention to naysayers. This isn't a popularity contest and former board members may tell you "That won't work." Don't simply acquiesce to their negativity; determine why "it won't work" and then come up with creative solutions. 

Balance reserve and operations & maintenance budgets:

1. Don't make overly tight or restrictive O&M budgets. Remember that we can't predict the future with absolute certainty. 
2. Do your due diligence when constructing O&M budgets. Review contracts, determine scheduled utility increases and so on. Look at what worked last year and why. If it didn't then determine "why not" and make a financial adjustment for the next year.
3. Review reserve studies. Remember these may be "worst case scenarios" and are a guide for boards and a tool. Boards ultimately determine the schedules and scope of capital projects. 
4. Don't spend money you don't have. In other words, don't "mortgage the future" of owners and boards and don't promote grandiose projects or schemes. 
5. Avoid "kicking the can down the road" and setting financial traps for future boards. If there are long term budget issues, it is best to communicate them to the owners. It is also best to determine how to solve these issues. Remember, losses can accrue and can become unmanageable very quickly.  
6. Avoid short shrift for reserves. All owners, both present and future are to be treated equally. That means that current owners as well as future owners need to contribute equally to long term projects. 
7. Design budgets which provide some financial latitude. It is easy to move annual O&M surpluses into reserves. If there is an O&M budget shortfall, it can only be solved by borrowing from reserves or special assessment. 
8. If there are O&M surpluses, don't forget to count them as reserve contributions and then adjust the budget accordingly. 
9. If capital project maintenance is delayed, then that unspent money in the reserve account isn't a surplus. It is simply unspent, and delaying creates maintenance backlogs. Acknowledge any backlog and inform owners and the board. 
10. If O&M maintenance is delayed, communicate to the next year's board the issues so that budgets can be constructed which identify these delays. To do otherwise is to set maintenance "land mines" for future boards. Would some board members torpedo future boards? Or throw them "under the bus?" Yes, they might. 

Communicating with owners is paramount. Some owners will complain, but most assume all is well unless told otherwise. 

1. Communicate where possible in writing. Newsletters are a great way to inform owners of plans and issues.
2. Avoid painting rosy pictures. Many boards are inclined to sweep problems under the rug and avoid informing owners. That is a huge mistake. 
3. Don't under inform owners and don't torpedo future boards. Yes, some boards or board members are insecure and will do this!
4. Avoid pretending owners don't care. In fact, for most owners their HOA purchase is one of the largest financial decisions they will make. 
5. It is arrogant to assume owners aren't concerned simply because they aren't involved. Yes, we do need to communicate and re-communicate. In our HOA nearly 33% of our owners purchased their units since 2009. Yet, we've had members of the board state "I already explained that," or "No one reads the newsletter." This has been an excuse for not putting things in the newsletter in recent years. Yet, the same board member(s) will say "We need to publish the Winter Tips this month." These are the same winter tips we have published with few changes for decades. Obviously, there is a personal agenda in these matters.

Avoid pitfalls, or clean them up as soon as they occur:

1. Communicate regularly with owners.
2. Do background work for reserves each year and regularly update reserve studies.
3. Adjust future reserve requirements to reflect any inability to do capital projects during the stated timeline. For example, our HOA doesn't always do or complete certain projects in lock step with the reserve studies. That results in reserve balances which might become larger than expected. It also creates future financial requirements for this work. A failure to recognize how those balances grew as they have, or to recognize those future requirements can lead to future financial surprises. 
4. Don't plan projects which don't exist in the reserve study.
5. Don't spend money you don't have. 
6. Use the reserve study as the tool it is intended to be. Review funding plans, annual fees collected for reserves and the status of all reserve projects. Adjust the spreadsheets annually. 
7. Update infrastructure surveys each year. 
8. Don't allow maintenance backlogs to occur. 
9. Forcefully manage delinquencies. 
10. Use engineers and architects where prudent. 
11. Don't overestimate the skill of contractors or management. They aren't engineers or accountants. 
12. Hire project managers for really large and critical infrastructure projects. 
13. Don't become over involved with minutiae. 
14. Don't micromanage contractors.
15. Don't send management on wild goose chases.
16. Don't occupy a board position too long and do train your replacement. 
17. Do long term research each and every year. 
18. Boards should be able to communicate using email and create spreadsheets, etc. 

Avoid panic. Things can and do go wrong. Sometimes, we can do everything properly but things will go wrong. That is normal. However, sometimes we fail to plan and then there will be surprises. It is nearly impossible to get a budget for a large or aging HOA to the penny. Yet, some board members will try to do this and then if reality doesn't match their delusion, they will panic or will say "You made a mistake." What a diversion! Here's a more empowering view of budgets:

1. Budgets are tools for determining annual fees. Nothing more and nothing less. 
2. Budgets will always be imperfect. Boards can't predict annual snowfall or delinquencies.
3. Accept imperfection and build fault tolerant budgets.If you don't know how, then learn.
4. Learn to use spreadsheets if you don't know how. Most community colleges have adult education classes at reasonable costs for everything from spreadsheets to word processors. 
5. Establish priorities. If some costs increase, a well constructed budget can fund the increase with little difficulty.
6. If a board takes a long term view, then it becomes possible to see budgeting as a long term event. Fees can be adjusted and reserve contributions allocated to smooth the annual fees and accomplish all financial and maintenance goals. That is the real challenge of budgeting and many boards may not be up to it. 
7. Avoid punishing all owners if there are foreclosures or delinquencies. Yes, it may be difficult for boards to deal with these, but there are methods by which the financial pain can be reduced or avoided.  If a board finds this difficult, well, that's all a part of the job. 
8. Avoid emotional entanglements. This is about running a business. It is possible to deal with foreclosures, delinquencies, unforeseen maintenance problems and so on, and yet arrive at annual fee increases of less than 2%. And, it is also possible to meet maintenance objectives within those fee constraints. I know, because we do this. 
9. There is no substitute for planning and preparation. 
10. There is no substitute for a long term view. Construct budgets in tiers with 5-year, 10-year and 20-year plans. Most reserve studies have a 30 year horizon. The further out we go, the more imprecise the budgets become.
11. I suggest focusing on the 5-year plan and allowing for the creation of the longer term plans while recognizing how imprecise a 30-year plan really is. 

Acknowledge what works and what doesn't:

1. First and foremost, be honest. Don't pretend that what you are doing is working. Get the data to determine what works and what doesn't. 
2. Second, put your personal agenda aside.
3. Third, do the numbers. If you don't do a good budget, or determine what things cost, then you must simply accept whatever shows up. When it does, don't be surprised.
4. Fourth, do the work. Do those infrastructure condition surveys. Do develop annual maintenance plans. Do communicate effectively with owners. 
5. Fifth, don't undermine others. We may each think we are God's gift to the universe, but we aren't.  
6. Sixth, know when you have done what you can and then move one.
7. Seventh. Nature abhors a vacuum. In other words. no one will miss me and I will be replaced shortly after I am gone. Someone will get the job done. No kidding!

Let's party like it is 1999 - Another Mud Pit Eliminated

One step at a time, slogging through one mud pit at a time. "Mud pit" is a metaphor for the problems dumped by previous owners and boards, upon me and the boards from September 2010 to the present.  It is also a description for a real situation.

1999
I recently reviewed my documentation for the association. Back in 1999 this association allocated $20,000 to reserves, or slightly more than $59 per owner, per year. That was about 2.25% of the annual budget. This information was provided to me after a conversation with management and my attorney.

Wow. At that rate, this association would collect sufficient funds in 85 years to do the roofing project the board of 2002-2003 decided upon. Don't misunderstand me. This association would have collected nothing for streets, driveways or any of the common elements. In far fewer than 85 years this place would have been beyond a dump. It had only taken 24 years to run it into the ground.

Recently, a former board member expressed his concern. We are currently allocating about 33% of our annual budget to reserves. Where was he in 1999, when boards allocated a little more than 2%?

In a recent post about the situation in 2001, which is the year I considered purchasing here I said this: "Back then, we were experiencing "entropy." In science, "entropy always increases and available energy diminishes." In other words, back in 2001 this association was dying."

Yes, those boards and the owners at BLMH apparently did decide to do their best to kill the association. No wonder that a few years later a long term board member stated to me "You can slap some paint on a pig, but it is still a pig." Back in the "good old days" this association spent money on utilities, painting 1/5 of the buildings each year, the janitorial contract and on the landscaping. If there was any money left over, it was then spent on other maintenance. So I guess that board member was really telling the truth.

Back in 2001, the budget was $280,063 for utilities, snow removal, janitorial, grounds maintenance, and utilities. Back then this association budgeted $5,000 for water and $60,000 for electric. Our maintenance and grounds (that's maintenance and landscaping) was budgeted at $135,000 for the year and there was nothing spent on tree maintenance or drainage. The budget for total common area maintenance which includes these items was $191,000. For the next year, the board cut the budget for these items to $154,536.

The  can was apparently being kicked down the road.

Return to the current Reality, 2016
However, that was then and this is now.  Recent boards have spent nearly seven years dealing with and addressing long term issues, including a failure to fund reserves and perform some essential maintenance. Here's an example from what should have been a simple problem. A nearby owner said this about our efforts to deal with the "Mosquito Glade" which formed during every significant rainfall on the walks and grounds behind two buildings:

"I would like to THANK the board of Briarcliffe Lakes for the wonderful green grass outside my patio door. My patience has finally paid off after at least ten years of crabbing. So once again, THANK YOU!"

I appreciate that owner's sentiments, but I do get a lot more damning emails than empowering ones.

The above photo is a cut from my YouTube video of that location on August 3, 2010. That's normally the dry season here. So that view of walks and lawns is something typical of what occurred in spring, and early summer as well, or during any significant summer rainfall. Notice all of the trees which provided the shade? Those were planted by the developer because this location was one of the first built and they wanted to show some foliage. After 30 years the area was overgrown, trees were intertwined and the place was a mud pit. Three walks were underwater. This was exacerbated when boards in 2002-2007 decided to add additional gutters on the buildings along the garage side, as part of our HOA roofing project. Those gutters directed water into concentrated areas. In the photo above, the downspout added after 2010 funneled even more rainwater into the area in this photo.

So we had a small pond forming with each and every rainfall of more than 1/3 inch. This carried soil onto the walks, and the deep shade prevented grass from growing. Boards failed to put in ground cover. So our HOA had our own little swamp. BTW, some couldn't figure out why property values were falling. A lack of reserves, a scarcity of maintenance solutions, and unhappy owners.

That doesn't sound like a formula for fulfillment or success to me.

This was indicative of the mess I inherited in September, 2010. Our major street had failed 8 years after replacement, there were water mains bursting, garage floors failing, about half our roofs were 18 years old (or older), about a third of our driveways crumbling. streams failing, a building settling, patio replacements incomplete, multiple drainage problems, etc., etc. ,etc. And then there was the reserve study which indicated a need for multiple 10% fee increases and a $1.5 million panel and trim replacement project. Oh, yes. That was a banner year. While we can argue about the individual issues, it is the cumulative effects that are more important.

The above photo is the same area of the "Mosquito Glade" today. You can see the new downspout which added rainwater to the area. Not visible in the photo is the incredible, but subtle work done to create a shallow swale and carry the runoff to the walk, and from there into the street and to a nearby storm sewer entry. To accomplish this we had to lower that walk about 18 inches, and put in a retaining wall. "Another simple problem as determined by our uninvolved owners."  This is indicative of the approach I have taken for each and every project here.

Here is a longer view of the same area; this was once deep shade, overgrown with intertwined trees and mud, and frequently underwater:

Why did it take so long?
No excuses, but when boards decided in 2002-3 to embarked on a really expensive program for fancy roofs, added gutters and downspouts but made no allowance financially or otherwise to deal with the consequences, well, it takes time and money to change the course. I appreciate that those in our
"instant gratification" or "entitlement" society might have some difficulty grasping the magnitude of the problem and the fact that something that takes 20 years to create could take a few years to correct.

After attempting to figure it out, four members of a board after 2008 simply walked. They realized a "neighbors club" wasn't going to get the job done.

I do understand. This is a mostly thankless job that requires determination and financial acumen. It requires a really long term perspective. Certainly not a job for the "hip shooters" or politicians in society. For every email I get thanking me for whatever it is I did, I get many more cursing me. A few years ago I even got nails driven into the tires of my car, and more than once.

How to shift a HOA?
I decided to tackle the problems directly and do what I could to convince the boards to deal with the issues. I also decided to open up the Newsletter and expand it into a really informative, but possibly boring fact sheet about this association.  Interestingly, some were resistant and some were so resigned that they refused to believe that change was possible. Today, a few prefer to pretend the problems remain insurmountable, the water mains will fail and that how this has been achieved was simple luck. Hogwash! On the other hand, that makes the naysayers invaluable, as the seers of failure.

This specific project, which is really a small one, took more than a few conversations with the contractor, management and me to figure out the best way to do this. It took some surveying to determine the actual change in elevation to the east and to the west, to see which was the better approach. It took some discussion about where best to simply send the water. It took further measurements after JULIE told us where the natural gas, phone, cable and power lines were. We needed to determine just how deep those power conductors were, before I could commit to a plan and place it before the board.

Then I got a budgetary number for the approximately 75 feet of replaced walkway, and grounds work to accomplish this. As a maintenance/project item we prefer to use sod for large areas, and that was the approach. We can't wait for grass to grow to keep the soil in our sculpted swales in place. Nor do we have "an army of handymen" to pluck the weeds.

Even after all of this planning, it was determined a small tree tucked into the corner of a building should be replaced, so we can properly grade the area. That tree, because it was planted immediately adjacent to the building has been hacked and trimmed many times. It was one I decided not to remove in the first stage of the project. This is consistent with multiple board decisions to "save our trees". But dealing with water runoff from board dictated roofing projects is also a requirement. You will note that downspout. It didn't exist prior to the time the roof was replaced. Prior to this, water could flow to the front of the building. Now it is directed to the rear. Multiply this problem by 84 and you get some idea of the magnitude of the the problem we've been facing with the new roofing project. Ditto for the problem at 84 entrances.

You will notice another one of those 84 new downspouts in the photo below. That water flowed into the "Mosquito Glade." The hacked tree is still waiting to be removed, so we can properly do the required drainage work. Multiply this by 168. 84 entrances and 84 building rears.

A multi-step solution
First, I had to get the trees thinned out. In a HOA where everyone "loves the trees" this can be an issue, and was. I mean, we all love our trees and grounds, but when push comes to shove, a lot of owners simply don't want to spend any money to maintain them. Ergo the $0 tree maintenance budget for 2001. In 2002 a board relinquished and budgeted $15,000 for that purpose. In fact, even the Landscaping Director in 2009, when confronted with the condition of our ornamentals and their age, stated to me "They live a long time" in response to my concern as an owner about the fact that most ornamentals only thrive for 25-35 years, and we really needed to budget for the failure of hundreds of trees. In 2008 this HOA was 30 years of age, as were most of the trees. Some, including the weeping willows on the property were even older.

After thinning out the trees in the "Mosquito Glade", this permitted additional sunlight to dry out the mud pit. This was not a real solution, simply a stop-gap measure.

It took another few years to get this to the top of the queue. In the mean time I, as Architecture and Maintenance Director had to replace 70% of the roofs on the property (about 30), replace our failed major street, replace about 300 feet of water mains, do stream maintenance (significant concrete repairs), replace about six garage floors, about 30 driveways, provide drainage improvements to deal with the rainwater and spring melt runoff of the extended, relocated roof gutters at about 50 entrances, replace a failing bridge and the sinking common area patio it led to, complete the concrete patio project suspended about a decade earlier, and of course, figure out how to prioritize this, present it to boards over a span of six years and determine how to pay for all of this.

During the same time, our boards also spent tens of thousands of dollars on tree removal (old willows, dying ash, etc.) and so on.

My point is, there are a lot of plates to keep suspended here. And that included the fireplace fiasco.

So it is finally, in the fall of 2016 that I am able to complete this project. It is typical of hundreds of projects in the HOA. That's what I mean when I say to owners "We are catching up on a maintenance backlog."

It is also why boards in HOAs such as this really need a long term perspective. We've had boards which survived only 2 years. On the other hand, becoming a boat anchor isn't all that empowering or effective, either. We've had a few of those, too.

This is typical
This project, which in the scheme of things cost this association little money, as compared to the roofs, driveways and Lakecliffe street replacement, is in fact typical of the problems larger HOAs face. We all have limited budgets and we do need to prioritize projects.

Some boards prefer to kick the can down the road, and some like the power, forcing owners to come and beg, so the "squeaky wheels get the grease." What a terrible way to run a HOA!

It really isn't 2001 - Shift from Breakdowns to Preventative, or from Entropy to Momentum

In recent  blog posts I've emphasized how really different it is here at BLMH as compared to a few years ago. I've conveyed similar information in our HOA newsletter.

The Naysayers take the position "This is an expensive association to maintain." Yes, we do have incredible grounds, streams and so on. But here is one thing to consider. Today, we have about the same infrastructure we had when I purchased here in 2001 (closing early 2002). In fact, the infrastructure is the same as it was in 1978 when this unique association was built.

Little has been added and little has been removed from our infrastructure. In other words, little has changed since 1978 regarding our infrastructure.

Our recent battle with aging trees is being addressed by a program I would call "Landscaping Restoration" and the association is spending a significant amount of money for this, more than $80,000 in 2016, and that is actually the first pass, as we continue to remove trees, deal with the scars left behind and address myriad issues. Compared to the funds expended for the roofing project, replacement of Lakecliffe and pro-active water main replacements, this is actually a pittance.

Let's look at 2001

What follows is the 2001 year end information for this association. Our owners can compare this to the published budget for 2016:

1. Collections in 2001 = $899,374
2. Expenses for Operations & Maintenance (including management, etc.)= $834,344
3. Contributions for Reserves= $108,000
4. Reserve balances as of 12/31/2001= $295,451

[Note: I recently reviewed my notes per discussion with my attorney and management prior to purchase in 2002. In 1999 this association allocated via the budget $20,000 to reserves; that's $59.52 per owner.]

I recently pointed out to our board and to any owners who were willing to attend the recent HOA meeting, we are now collecting about 4 times the amount this association collected for reserves in 2001. In fact, it is probable that we'll contribute even more this year because any O&M budget surplus is saved and applied to Reserves.

I'd also like to point out that in 2001 this association was facing a major roofing project, which it began in 2002-3 and which, based on reasonable cost estimates for the first roof, it was projected to cost about $1,680,000 at that time. The association also replaced all of the streets in 2002 or so. There were no special assessments to collect the money to do this, simply a never ending series of fee increases.

I can understand why some really long term owners and board members have had some difficulty accepting the current reality. But that was then and this is now. Management stated to any owner who attended a HOA meeting in 2009 that it was reasonable to expect that fee increases required for reserves (infrastructure)  would taper off as the HOA addressed a maintenance backlog and caught up and built those reserves. That is exactly what has happened.

Back in 2001 it would have required 41 years to accumulate the reserves this association is currently accumulating in 10 years, and is applying to the infrastructure of our association. Let's put that into perspective. Our current owners can expect to see results in less than 10 years, whereas owners in 2001 would have had to wait up to 40 years to see the same results.

There is a single word we can use to describe this situation, and it is "momentum." Yes, we are in momentum! What does that word mean? "In physics, the property or tendency of a moving object to continue moving."

This is exactly the opposite of where this association was in 2001. Back then, we were experiencing "entropy." In science, "entropy always increases and available energy diminishes." In other words, back in 2001 this association was dying.

It is useful to realize that this association will collect nearly 5 times the amount for reserves in 2016 as compared to 2001. Since 2009 it has spent a substantial amount of money each and every year on infrastructure improvements and dealing with absolutely necessary maintenance.

If it didn't, we would have no streams and have more than 100 scars throughout our landscaping, the roofs would be languishing, we'd be driving over potholes, driveways would be ruts, and so on.

However, as we close out 2016 we are also addressing one of our "mudholes" on our grounds, and after nearly 6 years this is the final, major one. Back in 2010 I filmed the "mosquito glade" in our association. It took a few years to deal with this affirmatively, in two large steps. The first reduced the amount of standing water, and the project this year should eliminate it. But we had many, many other issues including rainwater handling problems at many other locations, and some of those resulted in ice on driving surfaces. And, of course, there was the problem with our major arterial street Lakecliffe.

 Here's my August 2010 video about the problem behind Harrow and Lakecliffe:

----> Mosquito Glade at BLMH

As I stated in the video "Where there is a will, there is a way." However, that "will" must include realistic financial planning. Only after we set in place the financial planning can we prioritize the problems, develop solutions,  and then, as the funds are accumulated we can look at our "problem list" and put these plans into motion.

This is precisely what I've been doing for six years. Yes, Virginia, it really isn't rocket science.

Cubstock, 2016

Sometimes, one or two photos do say it all. 

According to UPI: "The parade 108 years in the making captivated Chicago on Friday as an estimated 5 million fans turned out during a celebration ceremony for the Cubs' World Series triumph over the Cleveland Indians."  Here's a link to the original UPI article:

November 4, 2016 Cubs-Parade-5-million-celebrate-Cubstock-2016

Time to do a little cookin'

We're well into fall and the colors are gorgeous. With cooler evenings we are provided with the opportunity to cook a bit more hearty than we do in the summer. So, it is time for meals made from homemade chicken soup. Here's the finished product with egg noodles. One can also use rice in place of the noodles. We cook a soup base and add the noodles or rice just before eating.

Here's how we prepare the soup base. 

Step One. Prepare onion, carrots and celery. Cut the fryer up, removing breast meat from the bone, and separating the small parts (breastbones, rib cage, back and wings).

Step two, Cook the small parts in olive oil with turmeric and paprika. Remove and set aside to cool slightly. .

Step three. Separate the legs from the thighs. Then cook the breasts, thighs, legs in olive oil with turmeric and paprika. 

Step four. Add two cans of chicken broth (about 30 ounces) of stock, and two cans of water. Add the carrots and celery, salt, parsley and celery seed. Note: season to taste. 

Then add the cheesecloth bag of small parts. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Add additional liquid if necessary to cover all the ingredients. Allow to simmer at a low boil for an hour. 

Step six. Remove the bag of small parts and allow to cool. . 

Step 7. Allow the chicken to cook until is falls from the bones. Remove from heat and then debone the chicken and remove any bones and any skin from the soup. Take the contents of the cheesecloth bag and remove any meat from the bones and add the meat to the crock pot. Discard any bones, skin and the cheese cloth. 

Step 8. Put the crock pot on high and allow to cook for another hour, It should look like this. Take a taste and add seasoning if desired. \

Step 9. Prepare egg noodles or rice. Place in individual bowls and ladle the soup over the noodles or rice. Add parseley and serve.