Community of Los Olivos

Hi All,
Has anyone else received an email this evening from a Sandra Rodríguez of Administración Marinasol  asking for your telephone and fax "in case we need to contact you for any community matter" ?

Or is it spam ? ....

Dave & Ailsa, 2A

We have not completed yet, so we have not received the e mail BUT Marinasol is the company running a lot of the communities around Almeria, and if you look at the various discussion boards on Viva-almeria - there has been a lot of unhappiness with them.  Most communities are glad to get rid of them as soon as they legally can!!!!

Best wishes,

Linda 

Hi I have not received any contact and we completed nearly 2 weeks ago

 

Regards

Drew. 10 Alto

Hi, re e-mail from Sandra Rodriguez.  Spoke with Jackie (JackieandMalc) and she said they'd not received anything from Marinasol.  I wondered whether BMS have given out e-mail addresses??  Jackie said BMS do not have their e-mail address, but BMS have ours!  Just a thought!  Still not completed yet!!!!!!!!  At least we don't have to worry about missing out on the sunshine - it's sunny in Blighty at least until Sunday (so the weathermen have said!)

Hope to see you all soon!

Loraine

Does anyone know anyone living in the Jacarandas on Huerta Nueva (or any other part) ?  Maybe they could shed some light on involvement of Marinasol ? If you find anything out, let us all know.
Looking at the viva-almeria forum it certainly seems nobody has a good word to say about them and are glad to be rid of their involvement !
I won't be replying to Marinasol until we know all the facts about their involvement - their email was quite terse and made no mention of their official position.

Dave   2A

This is the reply I got from the costaalmeria site moderator.   He gave me permission to forward this to everyone, and he also sent me a copy of his own communities rules.  It might be worth taking the name out and then printing off for us to have a look at when we are more organised.

Best wishes,

Linda

I don't know Marinsol   the whole topic of Communidads is quite a subject in its own right but they are hugely important to the way your own Los Olivios Development will work .what is OK and what is not Ok and all that kind of thing .   As a large development you don't have a chioce , you have to have a Spanish Administrator which , unless you guys band together very quickly and influence things , will be appointed by BMS as soon as there are sufficient people who have taken possession. For instance you can't open your pool until you have a Commuinda set up.   The Communidad and its appointed administrator ( and you can always change your administrator if you don't like 'em, but its messy and takes time - better to start with agood one ) basically decided , as democratically as possible what the monthly admin charges will be for all apartment owners     This monthly charge will cover   gardening , pool maintainance and any other joint services that you decide to use.   the Communidad also is responsible for setting up the "guidelines" or rules , ie what you can or can't do, colour of awnings if fitted, pool hours , whether you allow washing lines and all sorts of other , seemingly trivial things, but when you have 96 paratments being clear on what is OK and what is not is incredibly important as you'll always find someone wanting to to "Do their own thing" and sod everyone else ....like mounting aircon to external walls or erecting satellite dishes in very odd places       My suggestion , for what its worth is that someone ( a resident or two)  needs to start to get things going and befin to think about residents commitees to decide on blinds abd guidleines etc   Wh might be approprtaite to be the Communidad President and who might be good to be on a Commitee     if you don't do it as residents it will kinda get done for you and you'll have to live with it whatever happens.   Also the sooner you get started the easier it is , leave it too long and people will start to do their own thing ..in fact on Los Olivios they already have to some extent as people are already installing the inron window bars for security     That is fine unless you wanted to offer a guidline as to what style should be used for all reja's .oir will you allow fuelle's or some other stryle     If you have too many styles it will just end up looking like a dogs breakfast and you'll note that evenin your ensciptura you sign that you accept that the apartments will be kept "uniform"     I could go on , but I think its best if you have a chat with other Los Olivios and have some initial thoughhts on what you want to do or need to know     then I or any of the other Communidads can offer insights into how they have gone about it     Our Agministrators as "Alhambra" who also do Los Naranja's and Los Cerezos - they are OK But the administrtators only do the administering or the collecting and paying of monies in and out     You, the Comminidad need to decide on what needs to be collected and what services you want to engagae     Good Luck !! with 96 apartments its will be quite a job , but the sooner you get strated the better it will be in the long run     that's enough for now !!

Salutations

Very good info.

I think we should get started before BMS do the deed for us.

I also think our representatives should be residents of Los Olivos rather than holday users of people letting.

Perhaps as a starting point we should start a thread detailing what everybody would like to see and what not. so everybody can have an input

 

Regards

Drew 10a

Hi all Los O's,

I agree with Drew the represenative should be someone who is resident on Los O, and the  sooner residents take action/control the less chance that it would be done for us.

I am completing on the 18th May, but will only be onsite for 2 days. I will be back on the 7th June for a week.

Best to all Don. 19a.

Hi all,

We agree that the sooner a Committee is formed the better. We only intend to be out in Spain about 5 months a year and are happy for the permanent residents to take the lead. I am told that Alhambra do a reasonable job as Administrators. Never heard of Marinasol. Incidentally we have ordered extra gates and grilles but the style will be the same as the one's already installed.

Eddie and Su

20b

Hi all,

Totally agree that we need to do something ourselves now rather than have BMS impose an administrator.  It is clearly sensible to have the permanent residents take a lead as it is now their "home".  As a holiday owner I am more than happy to support this approach and chip in as and when required.  Also like Bri's idea of looking at an existing set of rules - ok, will need fine tuning and updating to meet everyone's tastes, but why re-invent the wheel if it's working now.

Looks like we are on the last leg now as we've been contacted by Solicitors and Medsea to arrange trips for completion.  We are coming out on the 19th May until 27th so hopefully we will meet up with a good number of you then.  Can't wait!!!

Lewis & Karen

Hi All,
I have been in touch with someone called Barry via a different forum who is on the Los Alzahares unit in Huerta Nueva.
He has sent a whole load of stuff about setting up a communidad to Lin who is a resident on Los Olivos (but I don't think appears on our Who's Where chart - so maybe someone knows who she is ?  If so hopefully she can share some of the information with us on this forum).
Anyway, he also says that he doesn't know Marinasol as administrators at all, and that they are with Alhambra Holdings, who have worked well with them ( and also look after Los Naranja's the 48's and Los Cerezos the bungalows)  He is very happy with their services. However administrators are just administrators, so we need to talk to each other and decide on what kind of community we want to be. (I have seen positive references to Alhambra Holdings elsewhere - they speak English which has to be an advantage !)
 
Looks like Marinsol are just canvassing for business right now.  
He says that BMS will appoint a Communidad Adminstrator for us (maybe that is Marinasol ?), however that does not mean to say that we cannot influence BMS to appoint a particular administrator if we have a preference.  
 
He also suggests that we might want to ask about a bit and find out from Los Rosales, The Jacaranda's and Residential Aitana , who they are with and how they feel about their administrators. Maybe some of the resident Los Olivos people can do some enquiring ?

I have also got some notes about possible rules we should consider for our communidad - I'll post those on another thread.

Dave ( & Ailsa) - 2A

 

Hi All,

Thanks for the information regarding setting up the communidad.  Dave - I think Barry's "Lin" is Linda from "Linda and Brian" (see information 5th May below).  I have a couple of contacts on Los Rosales so will make some enquires tomorrow - or later today as it is now after 1am!!

As far as we are concerned, we agree with everyone else regarding setting up the "Committee" and leaving major decisions to the residents.  This obviously needs to be done ASAP to ensure that the pool is filled and fully operational soon for the forthcoming summer!!

John and I returned last night having completed on Thursday and are highly delighted with the apartment.  We also met quite a few of our neighbours and it was great to finally put faces to names who have regularly appeared on this site - I think there is already a great community spirit emerging and we are looking forward to meeting everyone else.  A personnal thanks to Ali and Ken who shared their dinner, wine and pringles with us on Friday night - we only popped out for a little wander round the site and returned to our abode hours later................

We are returning at the end of May for a week and hopefully it will be more of a holiday than a shopping and snagging trip this time!!

Good luck to everyone completing soon and hope to meet you all eventually.

Pam, John and Amy (13b)

 

 

 

 

Just to confirm, the Lin is me (Linda of Brian and Linda) and I contacted Barry directly.  It is Barry who does the updates every now and again on the costaalmeria site, and I thought he would be helpful, which he has been.

He also directed me to a discussion about communidads on the costaalmeria site - so it you go into the Huerta Nueva bit, trawl down - you will find plenty of discussion there.  May be a bit out of date now of course as things move on and communities do seem to change administrators, but still worth a look.

I don't really know how I am Lin on that site - It was not intentional, so I am sorry it caused some confusion!!!  I will see if I can edit it.

Best wishes,

Lin or Linda

and p.s. - agree with all the posings re the residents taking the lead.  Happy of course to help, but happy to take a back seat to those actually living there. 

Hi to everyone,  I've just been reading in the General Discussions - message thread "Running a Community".  In one post someone called Roberto (21.02.07) wrote in saying !It is not in the best interest of any community to have the developer as President (only possible if he still actually owns any units) OR an administrator appointed by the developer.  Something we're agreed on I think judging from the responses so far.  The message thread is quite informative, but it would seem that the "in-situ" residents will be the front-liners for us all.  We will have to rely upon their good natures & hope that they would be willing to take up the reins on everyones behalf.

Does anyone know anything about the other residents in the community - are they Spanish, German, French etc?  What have their reactions been?

On a lighter note: hope you all like the picture of me at the computer!!!! Dave says it's a good likeness! "Cheeky!"

Hi just wondering if anyone has any further thoughts on the communidad.  Some people who have asked around have confirmed that Marinsol are not well liked in the region. (doesn't mean we wont like them, but probably means we might want to look elsewhere).  Has anyone had any more e mails from BMS or Marinsol?????  

We need to think in terms of getting the pool up and running, and I understand that this cannot be done before everything is set up, so it becomes a matter of some urgency.  

I was also wondering if any of the residents or visiting owners have an update on the communal areas????   We are out later this month, but we would like to know what to expect in terms of readiness!!!!

Hasta Luego

Linda

Hi Bri, we have just returned from our 1st stay in our apt. I've posted a few piccies of our apt, as they are all v similar you can pretend it's yours!

The communal area looks v nice, but not seeded yet (although with the rain we had at the weekend it would probably have been washed away!) They have dug some more holes near the palm trees and by the toilet block. These are too close together to be more palm trees so presumably will be shrubs, it will look great when it's done. There is also a channel inside the chain fence which I understand is to be planted with climbers so the fence will soon be covered in flowers. The central area is very neat & tidy, but still rubbish in the pools. On Weds they had started to clear up a bit across the road from the low numbers - not sure how much they will do, but they were at it when we left.

We have heard nothing from any management company and are happy to go along with the majority. The permanent residents we met were fine upstanding citizens  so I am sure they will lead us all well!

A few tips for when you arrive:

Gas, water & electricity - ask any workman for Antonio (site manager?) as soon as you arrive, if he is not there tell the workman you want gas etc & they can arrange in his absence. The gas is a bottle and the pressure may have to be adjusted. Also, the water supply is a bit haphazard. However, cold showers are very bracing! (and the water is not as cold as UK cold!).

Phone BMS when you get in and they will send round your pack of utensils etc.

Use your phrase book to write your snagging list then give to Antonio. He will be pleased you have tried and will point out what you have got wrong! Some of our things were done immediately, some are still outstanding, but we are generally very pleased with the apartment.

One of the workmen, Gregorio, offered to fit all our lights for €120. Challenging, as he doesn't speak English - he tells you to ring him when you have bought them all, give him your address in Spanish (he'll teach you it!), then he'll come round at 8pm with his 'helper'. He fitted 17, including 2 mirror/lights in bathrooms, over 2 evenings and we were very pleased.

Final tip - Linda, when Bri goes for a stroll he will probably be gone for several hours!!!

Thanks to all we met out there for their friendliness, advice, practical help, screws and Pringles! There is a lovely community spirit already and we can't wait to return.

Hasta luego!

Ali & Ken, 11a

 

 

 

 

 

This message was last edited by Getting Older on 5/10/2007.

This message was last edited by Getting Older on 5/10/2007.

Hi All

I returned last week from signing for 19b but have left Terry out there doing all the bits & pieces!  We were very happy with the apartment and only a few snags which we gave to Antonio.

Just a few tips. 

Grills - We are on the ground floor and have gone for grills we have a guy called Gary doing them and when they are finished will give a report.  If you are having them you need to mindful that the front patio need to double back on themselves.  A little tip on the back is to have them nearer the front of the patio so you have some locked storage space.

Security man - there is a guy called Ramon who is employed by BMS to take care of the site.  Some people are also paying him 15euro a month on top for security. We have heard varying reports and you need to make your own minds up on this until we have the community meeting and agree security issues.  I had a very scary expereince with him. I stayed in the apartment on my own the first night and was in bed when I heard lots of sound and after scrabbling round in the dark for clothes ran out the room shouting(never had any weapons!) and found him in our apartment.  he said the kitchen shutters and window were unlocked (99% sure not true) and he was there because he thought there were bandits in the apartment. Very frightening.  The point of the story is to be very careful about your kitchen window and now you know why we are getting grills!

Pool - We were told it will not be finished until June, hopefully no later.

Other residnets - Met lots of lovely and helpful people all willing to pass opn any lessons so looking forward to meeting with the restof you.

Janice

Again, using Barry's thoughts on what we should be getting:  
 
pool maintenance and water testing   
Water charges for pool and garden .-high in first year as gardens establish  
 Garden Maintenance and any additional cleaning you get done such as the walkways.
 
Electricity charges – Lighting and pool pumps and the most important of all  
 
Insurance to cover the whole site and the pool for any kind of third party accident   
Community purchases of extra flowers, a few sun loungers.   

I am hoping then that the initial payment is a setting up charge, and higher than the monthly.

Linda

Have most people had some contact from Marinsol now?  I have still not heard a dicky bird from them but I do check our bank account regularly to make sure they have not magiced any money away.  100€ a month doesn't sound massive until you realise that would be 96,000€ a year from all 80 apartments.  I do think we need to know exactly what this is buying us.

Terry 19b