PRE-LUDE TO COMMUNITY BUDGET : COMMENTS PLEASE !!
This is going to be a very long post, so if ya need a cup of coffee, grab it now.
I had posted a few days ago asking what people would like to see in the Development but there wasn't much response so I've been autocratic and went ahead anyway based on what I want to see.
I should add these are not necessarily the views of The Management .
This is just meant to be an initial feeler - please by all means add your tuppence worth if you agree or disagree, especially if you have solid facts and figures to contribute as some of mine are pure guesstimates.
What I will do is then is update the figures and we will keep it as a running current balance.
Sorry for this preamble but I think we need some sort of end objective, the vision thing.
We have all bought into the Development for different reasons but the common denominator is that we all want our apartments to increase in value and to be easily sold or rented, and to achieve this certain things must happen, and more important, continue to happen 24/7.
I'll give you a couple of extremes. We first bought into Costa Del Sol when American Express were doing a joint marketing programme with Marriots Beach Resort at Elvira. This was about 12 years ago, and when we first went it seemed a good hoot - a 3 or 4 day jaunt away at a brilliant price. We didn't have any burning desire to actually buy.
Anyway, from the moment you enter Marriotts you know your into something special, even before you get out of the car.
Imposing entrance, security guards all over the place, spotless roads and terraces, fantastic staff, very very impressive.
You take all this in with no more than one glance but you just know it's "right" from that very moment, and everything else is just confirmation that you made the right decision. (Even if you haven't made the decision !)
I have a habit of getting up in the middle of the night and making coffee, and on our first night there I of course did the same, sitting out on our terrace with that heat you still get at that time.
I noticed, and this would have been about 3.00am, one of the pool boys working away tidying up the sun loungers around the pool, and as I watched he was straightening all the loungers.
As he was doing so, I then noticed he had a measuring device, which he then used to make sure each lounger was exactly the same distance from each other, and then exactly the same distance from the pool edge.
I thought, b****y h*ll, I want some of this. A picture paints a thousand words.
If they go to that trouble on an item like this, they'll do all right. And they did.
We bought what was called a Platinum Week at a price that made our eyes water at the time but the quality made up for it.
The staff were thrashed (trained) to an inch of their lives - not just bi-lingual but multi-lingual, smart, dedicated, it wouldn't have suprised me in the least if the pool boy had a university degree in quantum physics. Honest.
On another occasion I had forgot my mobile phone charger and went to Reception to ask for help.
Now, get this - the receptionist showed me into a back room where they had a special desk with all the phone chargers, from all the manufacturers, for all the phones worldwide. Hundreds of them. And they keep them up to date. No problem, no fuss, just part of a brilliant service. 24/7
We kept that until a couple of years ago and knew we had to sell it as we had bought into our Prienesur Duquesa Development. We really were sad at selling Marriotts.
We were worried about the re-sale as you hear lots of stories, but with Marriotts I shouldn't have worried. They bought it back after a few legalities and I think we had the money in 10 days. No problem, no fuss.
I think from memory our last Community Charge with them was €700pa, and yes, that was just for a week.
(If you multiply that by 52 weeks, now that's what I call a Community Charge)
Now, I'm not saying that we can get near Marriotts, but that's the standard we are competing with for future purchasers and renters.
The other extreme. When we were over in May, we had looked at seven possible beach developments for when we retire in 6/7 years time. They are not that far from Prienesur Duquesa.
We spent a couple of days doing this, all very nice etc.etc.
We were over again in Sept and decided to follow up on one we had missed, plus another for a second look.
This development is close to Duquesa, on paper the price was right (truthfully a wee bit on the low side), the size was more than enough, and you couldn't get a better view of the Med. That is, you are basically on the beach.
As you approach it, it looks spot on. Parked the car and took a walk round.
Then you realise why it's priced on the low side - the upkeep and maintenance was very very poor. No paint had seen this development probably since it was built 20 or 30 odd years ago, just a feeling of despair about it, yet at some time it would have been a fabulous site. Not any more.
We walked straight out again and I don't think The Mangement ever mentioned it again.
What I want to see is our Development looking fantastic all the time, 24/7.
Just like having your house for sale when it's all hands to the pump to make it look good for prospective buyers, we need that constantly for our Development 365 days of the year, because make no mistake there will be prospective buyers and renters visiting every single day.
That's not going to be cheap, but I would rather price up to a standard, rather than down to a cost.
If we spend extra, it will come back to us with quicker sales.
We have 464 apartments in Phase 1. That's too big in a way. Most Communities are less than a 100, so I think it would be a good idea to have 4 "pool" communities making up the whole, each one centred to their common pool.
So we take Blocks 3, 4, 11and 10, they all face onto a common pool. Likewise Blocks 2,9,16 and 1 all face to a common pool, and likewise for the remaing Blocks.
This then creates a much more manageable situation. I would go further and suggest that each seperate Pool Community has it's own distinctive sun lounger cushion colour, eg. blue, lemon, green, orange, or whatever.
That would give each Pool Community a slightly different character, plus a bit easier for new visitors/renters/buyers to at least get into the right area of the Development. It's big ya know, and I wouldn't fancy arriving in the middle of the night looking for Block X
It follows then that there should be one representitive for each Pool Community on the Management Committee.
Anyway, 464 apartments, divided into four Commnities of 96 each.
70% will pay on the dot, 20% will be a bit late, and 10% will never pay a single cento until Daddy takes the T Bird away.
That's expensive, and I would like to see every single € added to these accounts including all administration and legal costs. Interest at 2% per month plus monthly legal/administrative letters at €50 per pop will do nicely. It may take a few years through the Courts but think of that money as eventually ending up in the Reserve Savings Account at some stage.
Now, before I seperately post the actual Budget, I'm going for a coffee now myself (don't forget you already had yours), so if anyone wants to add in things they want to see, now's the time.....
This message was last edited by wflem007 on 10/13/2007.