This HOA has given me more issues than I care to even describe, oh wait, I have been pretty detailed in everything they have done to this point. The HOA sent an email to all homeowners to pay up. That is right, after this fiasco I have had with them to be able to rent my home out and being denied, and now they are asking all homeowners to pay up their quarterly dues immediately!
Get caught up on everything that has happened to this point following the links below starting from Part I:
I have been simply trying to pivot my short term rental business model to a month to month or long term rental business and the HOA has yet to allow me. My goal is to weather through this storm with enough rental income to cover my major expenses in each of my short term rental properties. This should be a temporary thing and I have been able to successfully pivot my real estate investments in each of my properties but this one property.
Here Is The Email From The HOA
This is definitely a long email, but I want to post the entire thing for you to get the full story. If you want to just get to the meat and potatoes, jump to the last paragraph! I have gone ahead and highlighted the part I couldn’t believe they added to the email.
Dear Homeowner,
As promised, this is an update on the impact of Coronavirus on the resort and how we are responding. Obviously, this is a fast-moving situation and while we will attempt to flag up pertinent issues as they arise, all owners are urged to listen to public broadcasts and particularly take the time to understand the implications of the Florida Governor’s Executive Orders (EOs), which detail the State’s response to the unfolding situation and provide instructions for citizens to follow.
The latest “Safer at Home” Order (EO 20-91) relating to “essential services and activities”, became effective April 3rd and expires on April 30th. This EO is wide ranging and we would encourage you to familiarise yourself with its contents. EOs can be found online by a simple search but we shall be posting these on the resort owners’ website for ease of reference. Please don’t ask our staff for guidance on the implications of the various orders, as they are not qualified to advise but if you are in any doubt, do contact the authorities for clarification.
Just for information, for those not actually onsite, all resort amenities are currently closed down and we are operating on a skeleton staff, with strict social distancing rules applied to those visiting our front desk. Our front gate remains covered 24/7, by our own staff during the daytime and by our regular contractor during overnight hours. These measures will be in place until at least the end of this month, when the position will be reviewed in light of prevailing circumstances and, of course, guidance from the authorities.
Also, in accordance with an earlier EO (20-87), in which the Governor temporarily suspended vacation rental operations, we have been refusing new rental admissions and our attorney has advised that we should continue to do so for the duration of the order and of course, any extension, unless for any rental which may be exempt, as prescribed by the Order. If, therefore, you are considering renting out your own property within the duration of the Order, perhaps to emergency workers coming in to help fight the virus, please contact our GM who will advise on what documentation will be required to comply with the Order but again, if you are in any doubt about compliance, please seek legal advice first.
Finally, your Board are currently working with our management team to find ways to mitigate the threat to our financial wellbeing, as we work our way through this crisis and to formulate an “Emergency Budget”, to give us a slimmed-down template to follow over the coming months. We are also looking at the available Government support schemes, which may benefit the HOA and our employees in the short term.
A further update on our financial planning will be provided in the next few days but in the meantime, thanks to all who have already paid this quarter’s fees and to those who have not yet paid, please do send yours in as soon as possible, so that we can maintain sufficient cashflow levels, not only to protect your resort asset but just as importantly, to keep our resort and its residents, guests and staff, safe and secure through these difficult times.
Thank you all for you co-operation and please stay safe,
Resor HOA Board
Overall Summary Of The Email
Like I said, this was a very lengthy email. Here are a few things I took away from the email.
First, they are finally listening to some of the feedback that I gave to them in regards to communication. I sent a clear email to the HOA/Board coaching them up to understand that they can’t close down the resort and then send 0 communication to any of the homeowners on what is going on. This is extremely unprofessional from a business standpoint.
Second, they continue to outline the two different executive orders signed into law by the Florida state governor. They even go as far as to tell people to seek their own legal advice if they have questions around what is legal and what is not. They know they are in hot waters right now for how they have handled the situation and they even “claim” they have seeked their own legal advice as well.
Third, they are seeking what they refer to as an Emergency Budget to get through this crisis! Umm…do you understand how a basic P&L statement works? For those of you who may not be familiar, a P&L is a profit and loss statement. This document outlines the expenses and income generated for a business. The HOA, by stating we need to create an Emergency Budget, is implying we will somehow be spending more money than previously by reducing the overall staffing and shutting down all the amenities in the resort. Last time I checked, when you close things and reduce the number of hours people are working, you save money. Not spend more. So I am still scratching my head as to how this crisis means the resort will be incurring more expenses than usual when everything is shut down. And no, they aren’t doing any special type of cleaning in the resort clubhouse. Mainly because it is shut down and everything inside is shut down. So saying they need more money to clean is not a valid point.
Now Time To The Part That Really Pissed Me Off
I continue finding it funny that the HOA thinks they are financial experts on this stuff. Here is the part that not only ticked me off, but also ticked off all the other investors in the Facebook group. This excerpt from the email:
“A further update on our financial planning will be provided in the next few days but in the meantime, thanks to all who have already paid this quarter’s fees and to those who have not yet paid, please do send yours in as soon as possible, so that we can maintain sufficient cashflow levels, not only to protect your resort asset but just as importantly, to keep our resort and its residents, guests and staff, safe and secure through these difficult times.”
So, let me make sure I am reading this right. You are requesting HOA dues from everyone so we can keep our resort and its residents, guests and staff, safe and secure during these difficult times? So you feel morally okay telling people to fork up their dues when you won’t allow me to rent my place long term based off the law allowing it?
Just want to make sure we are clear here. I also want to be clear about another thing. I paid my quarterly dues. On time and in full. Every time. I set everything on auto-payment and I didn’t for one second think to not pay my HOA dues. I pay my dues just like I am supposed to every quarter. These dues, I thought, gave me the right to own and utilize the community for a rental property investment it was meant to be; yet, now I am paying the exact HOA who is preventing me from renting my own place out?
Dang, this seems ass backwards. I can’t believe they had the nerve to put that at the bottom of their email while at the same time they are saying tough luck to all the investors who own in the resort. It isn’t the fact that they aren’t allowing me to rent short term, the law is clear on renting short term. I get that.
It is the fact that they abruptly shut everything down and have yet to offer any alternatives to investors who still have mortgage payments to pay. It is honestly things like this that I believe are going to cause the economy to tank in the next 3-4 months, if not sooner.
In tomorrow’s post, I will outline my response back to their email to the larger group. They continue to handle this situation in ways that amaze me.
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Thanks again for all the support and continuing to come back each day for new updates in this saga!
Checkout the next article at the link below!
My Response To The HOA Clearly Asking To Rent Long Term
