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No One Knows Coral Bay Like Eddie Velie, Realtor & Licensed Mortgage Broker |
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Unfiltered Coral Bay News Get this newsletter in full color via e-mail. sign up at: VelieRealEstate.com |
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Unfiltered Coral Bay News Get this newsletter in full color via e-mail. sign up at: VelieRealEstate.com |
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Unfiltered Coral Bay News Get this newsletter in full color via e-mail. sign up at: |
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CDD EDITORIAL — “Double taxed? My friend in a small condo in Coral Springs pays nearly $300 a month in Condo fees, TWICE what we pay in Coral Bay. They get NO FEMA money.” (He’s not my greatest fan—) That is a quote from an email sent out from the chairman of the CDD board on April 3, 2007. WHEN YOU READ BETWEEN THE LINES: What he is saying is he doesn’t think we are over taxed and believes we could or should be paying more. That was when I went on an email rampage to try and persuade the CDD board to vote on the proposals for a new CDD management company. They asked for the proposals last August and still had not voted. Those of you on my CDD mailing list know what I am talking about. (To sign up for my newsletter via email, in full color, active links and such, go to my web site, fill in the FREE services request form, or email me directly. I do not share my database with anyone.) The above statement is misleading because he is referring to the CDD and comparing it to a CONDO ASSOCIATION. If you read my last news letter, you would see that the CDD can only be compared to a MASTER CONDO ASSOCIATION OR A MASTER HOA. Therefore comparing it to his friend’s condo is “Nice try at deception”, which was my response to him on April 3, 2007. Our Coral Bay HOAs also cannot be compared to condo association without tremendous difficulty. It is like the “apples & oranges” analogy. The main idea behind condos is to have affordable homeownership with more amenities (pools, tennis, basketball, etc.) by sharing the cost. Each HOA homeowner pays their own insurance for the outside of their homes. That includes, painting, roofing, landscaping, lawn care, pool maintenance, driveways, etc. Everything I just listed is included within a condo maintenance fee PLUS water & garbage. Some condos include more. My Family would gladly trade $300 for all that. Our water & garbage bill alone averages $120. If you still want more on this subject, email me. I’ll send you a comparison chart. ¡
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CDD SPENDING— THE OTHER 1/2 OF THE STORY “Coral Bay has been really looking much better this last six months”, said a friend of mine recently. Indeed it has. For the first time since the fall of 1993, the sprinkler system has worked adequately enough to keep the grass green through out the dry season (December thru May). The annuals (seasonal flowers) you see were added again after they got the sprinkler system working. Ironically, this is no coincidence since the proposals for a new management company was hanging over New Community Strategies (NCS) head since last August. Now that Broward and Dade are on watering restrictions, the board chose to cancel the order for Summer annuals at the recommendation of the outgoing management company, NCS. Yes, you read that correctly. New Community Strategies has finally been replaced as the management company for the Coral Bay CDD. The new management company is Alliance Property Systems. Alliance was our manager from about 1998 to the spring of 2003. Hopefully, this means we can return to the nearly flat assessment growth you see in the chart above left from |
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At Home In Coral Bay |
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A Mortgage & Real Estate Newsletter By Eddie Velie Real Estate Svcs |
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FREE Refinance Analysis (954) 263-6287 |
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1997-2002. What is most appalling is I have not told you the full extent of the funds they had to work with. NCS also procured a $2,000,000 bond issue for the CDD and spent the majority of that on the wall that is incomplete. When you add in grants & FEMA money, you get an estimated $6,742,130. This is a great time to give you updates on NCS fiascos. (see pg 2). ¡ |
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FREE HOME BUYER REPRESENTATION |
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Taxes per year are from my tax bills since Coral Bay in 1997. The total revenue in their report differs, perhaps because of uncollected assessments. *Estimate only. NCS is in violation of FS 190 by failing to file an audited report with the CDD board and the State of Florida for 2005. ** This is our long term debt. The amount we actually got was somewhere around 1.75 million. Bonds are discounted and management fees are removed. ¡ |
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New Community Strategies has finally been replaced as the management company for the Coral Bay CDD. |
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At Home In Coral Bay |
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A Mortgage & Real Estate Newsletter By Eddie Velie Real Estate Svcs |
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No One Knows Coral Bay Like Eddie Velie, Realtor & Licensed Mortgage Broker |
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FREE Home Equity Analysis (954) 263-6287 |
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FREE Listing Guarantee—(954) 263-6287 |
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Peninsula Park Update When I visited the park on May 21, 2007, the Park does not appear to be anywhere near finished in spite of numbers about cost being thrown around at the board meetings in excess of $100,000 spent. The happiest person must be the CDD engineer who instead of executing, shows up and makes suggestions for revisions like, “perhaps a small garage door would be nice”, and “we should do it now while we’re ...”. Two years later, I and most Coral Bay residents are scratching our heads wondering why they closed the park to begin with if everything was not ready to go with the renovation project. The tower itself is finished. The building under it is gutted and sand blasted as is the pool deck. The deck also has holes broken through the concrete. The docks are torn apart and work stopped with the debris still there. Just listening to conversation during the CDD board meetings between the manager and the Board, I can figure out the pool was never tested for leaks but was shut down due to leaks. Yep, that’s right. The discussion came up at the last board meeting and the manager was saying the leaks must be in the top of the pool because every time they went there the water level was way down (holding up his hands to demonstrate depth). Do see the insanity here? Another board member brought up leak testing to which the manager replied, “it would cost quite a bit to fill it up and test for leaks.” Please understand that the park was not shut down because of Wilma. The park was shut down before Wilma. No excuses. Just plain apathetic bad management on the part of the board and the manager. ¡ |
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CORAL BAY SALES 2007 YTD |
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THE TODDLER PLAYGROUND The toddler playground has also been closed for some unknown period of time. I guesstimate about 8 months. Some friends first proposed to me to try and raise funds for a new one. I looked at the old one and surmised it would cost about $200 to fix the few problems that existed and began to fix them. After bleaching it, and water sealing the structure, I replaced a few bolts on the big kids swings, trimmed the trees, raked out all the leaves and trash, and pulled the weeds. However, there are a few more problems to fix before opening back up. Yes, “I”. I chose to do it alone because your CDD board and management company are apparently frozen into inaction from fear of liability. I did not want to involve our Cub Scouts, or make it a high school community service project for the same reasons. Can you reason this out with me please? In law, a person has to prove “negligence” in order to sue someone. If it is proven in court that the injuries are cause by “willful negligence” then the injured party can get double the damages or more. Willful negligence is provable if the negligent party KNEW ABOUT IT BUT DID NOTHING ABOUT the problem that caused the injury. Yes, what I am saying is the CDD board and management company appear to be willfully negligent by not doing anything to fix our toddler playground. NO EXCUSES. Just plain and simple bad management on the part of the board and the management. The irony of it all? The afore mentioned board member in this newsletter did not want me to continue because I might do something negligent (while I am trying to protect our community from the board’s negligence).¡ |
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The Main Entrance Pole Lights Let me make this one quick and simple: The lights were taken down before Wilma because one fell off and was dangling. Then why are they on a FEMA claims report if Wilma didn’t do it? It makes you kind of wonder, doesn't it? The HOA entrance way lighting is tied in a big loop with the landscape lighting. Perhaps the most expensive electricians around from FPL installed the new lights on the columns then ended up working by the hour to trouble shoot the landscape lighting. A blank check is what one board member called it. ¡ |
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MY GUIDING PRINCIPLES: · Professionalism · Honesty · Fairness · Accountability · Skill · Care · Diligence and · Confidentiality! |
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Articles & opinions here in do not necessarily reflect the opinions of EXIT REALTY, Discount Mortgage or franchises. |
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THIS MONTH · Pg 1 CDD Editorial— · Pg 1 CDD Spending-The other 1/2 The Story · Pg 2 Coral Bay Sales 2007 YTD · Pg 2 Toddler Play Ground Update · Pg 2 Peninsula Park Update · Pg 2 Main Entrance Lighting Update · Pg 3 South Bay Drive Fencing Update · Pg 3 When Are The Gates Coming Down? · Pg 3 The Parking Problem · Pg 4 Coral Bay Sales Comparison Yr to Yr · Pg 4 Change in Average Sale Price By Qtr. |
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At Home In Coral Bay |
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No One Knows Coral Bay Like Eddie Velie, Realtor & Licensed Mortgage Broker |
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A Mortgage & Real Estate Newsletter By Eddie Velie Real Estate Svcs. |
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FREE Down Payment Analysis (954) 263-6287 |
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FREE Expired Listing Analysis (954) 263-6287 |
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NEED TO SELL YOUR HOME? I WILL MEET OR BEAT ANY LISTING CONTRACT PROPOSALS. CALL ME NOW. |
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EDDIE VELIE, Realtor & Licensed Mortgage Broker (954) 263-6287 Copyright: Eddie Velie
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CORAL BAY SALES YEAR OVER YEAR Numbers always tell the truth. From 2005 to 2006, the average price of a home in Coral Bay went up 10.56%. The sales 2007 YTD shows a 5.25% decline in in the average sale price. All data is considered reliable but not guaranteed. Data is directly from Broward county public records and includes FSBOs.
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Traditionally, senior citizens could move into smaller homes and free up some extra money to do more things. With the real estate taxes the way they are, you will lose your homestead exemption that has kept property taxes from increasing more than 3% per year or the CPI which ever is less. Your property taxes would double, triple, or more in cost. You could end up paying more taxes per month in a house 1/2 the size as the one you left. ARE YOU OVER 62? DO YOU OWN YOUR HOME? The answer to the tax dilemma: GET A REVERSE MORTGAGE. Call me and I will do a 15 minute presentation to one or more people— FREE! |
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CORAL BAY PRICES ARE FALLING— A QTR BY QTR COMPARISON |
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SOUTH BAY DRIVE FENCE The fence blew down during Wilma. Who knew that would happen? Everyone is the answer. The wooden fencing in Coral Bay was all put up at the same time. The fencing on south bay drive started blowing down in a thunderstorm in the spring of 2003. We waited for 1-1/2 years before the concrete wall was finished to find out they didn’t include the South Bay Drive fence and many other sections in the $2,000,000 bond issue procured when interest rates were historically low around 4%. Now that they are around 8% — Too late! The board’s contention was the fence on South Bay wasn’t as bad as the rest. An elementary student could deduce that if all fences went up at the same time, were subjected to the same environmental conditions, then they would all go bad at the same time. Hello? It doesn’t take an engineer. The engineer said the fencing would require $187,674 to rebuild the fence. FEMA agreed to pay $78,758. The board would rather sit around for two years waiting for appeals to FEMA rather than making a decision on a new fence. A friend of mine from The Cape faxed me a report on October 27, 2006 after he read my article “The Effects of The Missing Fence On South Bay Drive.” He called a fencing company who did a quote to replace the entire fence with chain link and green slats for only $21,956. We could then put landscaping in front of it to cover it up. Problem solved, until Coral Bay is more solvent. The board knew it and blew it. NOW THAT OUR HOUSING VALUES ARE STARTING TO DECLINE, HOW ABOUT JOINING ME AT THE CDD MEETINGS TO DEMAND ACTION? ¡ |
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At Home In Coral Bay |
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No One Knows Coral Bay Like Eddie Velie, Realtor & Licensed Mortgage Broker |
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A Mortgage & Real Estate Newsletter By Eddie Velie Real Estate Svcs. |
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FREE CREDIT Analysis (954) 263-6287 |
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WHEN ARE THE GATES COMING DOWN? This is the most common question I here while talking to hundreds of Coral Bay homeowners. An estimated 80% of owners want the gates down NOW! The answer is no one knows. The CDD board is in a quandary: They are spending around $100,000 per year on the roving security that tickets and tows our cars but they have no money to put the gates down. The homeowners of Coral Bay voted in a public election run by the Supervisor of Elections to buy the interior parks from the City of Margate and put gates at all three entrances. I do not recall the voters in Coral Bay being asked if they want to trade that for “roving security.” The way I see it, and you can correct me if I’m wrong, this is a gross violation of the fiduciary responsibilities of the Board members by not carrying out the will of the people as recorded in the public record because it appears they traded our gates for the roving security. What is worse is there is no evidence that roving security is needed. Our crime rate is lower than other parts of Margate. The board caved in to a few complaining homeowners without the evidence to back up the decision. The decision to hire roving security is based on their claims of vandalism and “gangs” hanging out in the common areas. They are wasting our dollars on “roving security” when all the need to do is put up a sign saying: “NO LOITERING” “Except for sunbathing or swimming.” Then any one of us could call the Margate PD to enforce it. ¡ |
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THE PARKING PROBLEM As prices in South Florida go up, the affordability of housing for the local people earning normal wages, continues to drop. That is one reason we are experiencing price declines now. When the investors withdraw from purchasing in our market, the only ones left are the local people to buy our homes when we want to move. Since we have known for several years that local incomes cannot sustain the housing price growth, we have known for several years that price declines were inevitable. One of the side affects of the lack of affordability or perceived affordability, is families double up, or sisters live with brothers, or roommates split the cost of housing. The problem in Coral Bay is the parking. There isn’t enough of it to let these people buy our homes. Repeat after me: “Anytime you restrict the pool of potential buyers, (demand), you restrict the growth of appreciation.” This is seen most prevalent in senior citizen housing. Some even believe that keeping the kids out helps their homes value. Nothing could be further from the truth. Anytime you restrict the pool of buyers for any product, you restrict the sales and therefore the profits. I cannot think of any logical arguments for ticketing and towing cars in Coral Bay. We are driving out families with college kids, multi-income families, and dual income families with high school kids and thereby restricting our homes values. Some would say its for safety. What? We only need to be safe from 2 –6 AM? How about everyone parking on one side of the street at night? The board thinks that the Fire Department doesn’t mind knocking on doors at 9 PM to ask “who owns that car?” But they do mind at 2 AM? What? How about putting the gates down, fire the roving security, stop harassing people and start preserving our values, which is supposed to be the primary function of the glorified Master HOA called the CDD. ¡ |
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Velie Real Estate Services will analyze your mortgage FREE. So, if you are not sure what to do, call now. Hold, sell, refinance - Talk is — |
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SHOULD YOU STAY OR GO? It is a huge life changing decision. There are many variables like taxes, homestead exemptions, financing, schools, kids, parents, rent, sale, jobs, income, interest rates, timing, insurance, hurricane protection, your needs, your want, etc. The fear of making a mistake and ending up worse off than you are now is a powerful hindrance to decision making. I will make it easy for you! ¡ |
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REPRINTED FROM MAY 2006 EDITION (& amended) This is a monthly newsletter to help keep the people I come into contact with informed of the real estate market. Our homes are our largest asset. Our homes make up the bulk of most people’s wealth. There is nothing more important or dear to us than our homes except what we put in it — our families, pets, and personal belongings. My intent is to keep you informed and aware so that you will know I am an expert in the field and will call me when you need any real estate or mortgage related information, products, advice, or consultation. It is my goal to be the one you come to for consultation. There will be information for home sellers, buyers, maintainers, and investors. :-) Those that know me well, know of my education and experiences. I have accumulated four college degrees, many certificates, and attended hundreds of other seminars, classes, training sessions, etc. The highest degree is a MA in Human Resource Management. My favorite and most satisfying certificate is my Private Pilots Certificate. I am licensed as a Real Estate Broker, Licensed Mortgage Broker, & pending Licensed Community Association Manager. I am also a commissioned Public Notary, (a FREE service to my friends, family, neighbors, relatives, etc.) My e-mail address list is kept confidential. It is not shared with anyone for any purpose. Confidentiality is one of my guiding principles. PLEASE ASK YOUR FRIENDS TO SUBSCRIBE TODAY — If you still want to be unsubscribed, just type “unsubscribe” in the subject line after you click “reply” and send it back to me. I honor all requests.
Sincerely & respectfully,
EDDIE VELIE, Realtor & Licensed Mortgage Broker EXIT United Realty & Discount Mortgage Finders, Inc. Phone: (954) 263-6287
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