Our pool/deck is now open year around.

The pool is now open year around.  The 'Grand Opening' pool party had only six units represented, probably due to the weather being 46F at 9 a.m.  I am sure that there will be few if any folks in the pool during the winter, but having the 5,200 sq ft pool deck open will allow all residents to use the tables, chairs and umbrellas on nice days to socialize and enjoy our mild North Florida winters.

This opening is due to the 'new' Board of Directors getting this done.  If it were up the the management company the pool would be closed for 5 months during winter and in fact when both opening the pool and having better hours during summer was brought up at the 1/14/12 AGM the CAM was not only against both ideas but stated that there would be an extra cost to us of $800 per month if it was opened.  This was totally incorrect and just shows what a bad job this management firm is doing here at Nautilus Cove.

Parking, Keys, Pool and Knology

(Sent via email to those who have provided their address to the office, reproduced here FYI)

Reminder: Trailers, Boats and Unit Keys

To:  Residents/Owners

From:	Turnipseed, Roxanne (Roxanne.Turnipseed@ConcordRents.com)
Sent:	Tue 2/21/12 4:33 PM

Good morning,

With Spring and Summer fast approaching, Board President Barbara Simmons has asked me to remind everyone of that no trailers (including boat, watercraft, work or personal) may be placed, parked or stored on the property for more than four hours unless repair work or ground maintenance is being performed.

In other words, owners and residents may not bring their Jet Skis, boats or other watercraft onto the property parking lot if it is to be left for more than four hours.

In the past, several owners have parked their trailers in the Nautilus parking lot for several days while they were on property, ignoring the warning tags that were placed on the trailers. While we understand the desire to bring watercraft, boats, etc., there is not room on the property for all owners to have these on property.

This year, fines will be levied for those failing to comply, and towing the trailer will take place if it is left on property longer than the allotted four hour period. For your convenience, you may use the property's side pedestrian gate and park the trailers outside the property near that area.

Please be aware of this and other condominium rules when coming onto property, or allowing guests to stay in your condominium.

KNOLOGY

Also, please make sure the Association has a key to your unit. Knology will soon begin site work and will need access to every unit during the installation process.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at any time!

POOL

We are looking forward to a great Spring and Summer here at Nautilus Cove, and the pool should be open by March 1, and will be open year-round!

Pool hours are 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. currently, and then 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. May-August. When water conditions are out of balance, a sign will be posted indicated the pool's closure until which time the chemical balance is restored to let owners and residents know the status.

Bid-A-Wee again

For those few of you who have been following the antics of our neighbors across the street at Bid-A-Wee there is another development there. The long time BAW Corp President Jimmy Smith has announced he is resigning. Here is my updated post on that: http://bidaweeeasement.blogspot.com/ and I also expect there to be comments on http://bidawee.proboards.com/index.cgi?

R F tips off the Fire Dept that OUR buildings are prone to early collapse.

Yeah, that means you live in cheap construction!  This complex was originally intended as low income housing, don't take my word for it see:  http://nautiluscondosrules.blogspot.com/2011/07/affordable-housing-options-concord.html

If you have ever wondered what those red symbols at the corner of the building are, it is there per a 2009 requirement to identify structures so that firefighters are warned that the building has a light frame truss system as this type of construction is prone to early collapse based on how they are built. 
 
So our buildings are flagged for the fire department as having structures with light-frame truss floor and roof systems and they are marked with the letters “RF”. 
Further details at:  http://tinyurl.com/3zrwn77

"Knowing immediately upon arrival that a particular structure is prone to collapse will allow commanders to make a more informed decision about the risk of sending firefighters into a building for an offensive attack during a fire."

Read more about the markings at: http://www.newsherald.com/articles/fire-96142-rule-compliance.html#ixzz1VGGmquOt

Starting in 1996, 112 properties with 24,076 units, similar to NCC have been built in 6 states, and as said on the Atlantic Housing site http://www.atlantichousing.com/listings.cfm: "the Principals of Atlantic Housing Partners* have developed a well respected portfolio of affordable multi-family rental communities across the country". 

Atlantic Housing builds them, Concord manages them and we are stuck living in them.

(* Atlantic Housing Partners, L.L.L.P., CPG Construction, L.L.L.P., CPG Construction, Global Realty and Concord Management, Ltd)

1/14/2012 Meeting Minutes

If you have provided the office with your email address then you already have a copy of this, if not then you should give the office/BOD the OK to use your email address to keep in touch with you for condo information.

FYI:  To view condo documents as far back as 2006 click on this direct link:   http://tinyurl.com/66zdaor

Special BOD Meeting Held On 2/9/12

At 5:30 p.m. on Thursday Feb 9, 2012 a Special BOD Meeting was held. Full details are found at:  http://bbsr-babs.blogspot.com/

Two of the major items were:

1) Enough authorizations from Owners are on file so as to be able to remove MDU cable service and a cancellation notice is to be sent. A Knology contract will be looked at by our attorney and if it meets our approval it will take 30-60 days to have cable installation done. Knology will also be offering bundles of Cable/Internet/phone service. A special introductory rate with Knology has been arranged. Within 24 months it is expected that all satellite dishes will be removed.

2) Starting March 1st the pool deck will be open year around. Hours will be from 9 AM to 10 PM during October to April and during May to September, the closing hour will be extended to 11 PM.

Another half dozen items are addressed on Mrs. Simmons above cited blog. I am sure that our long term Owners are very pleased to know that after many years of indifference and inaction, that Nautilus Cove now has an Owner controlled Board which is taking in hand things that have been ignored.

I hope that we will also find that in months to come we will be rid of Concord Management and we will have better legal representation that is now provided by the Hess/Applebaum firm.

Pssst - Wanna buy 56 slightly used condos

. . . for $6,720,000?  Suitable for rentals as 'low income housing'.
The Developer is again trying to unload his 56 unsaleable units with a bulk sale, this is what is being advertised to unload them.

"Description: 56 beautiful condos in the Nautilus Cove community. These are new construction (not condo conversion) condos with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. The mix is 33 four bedroom, three bathroom; 10 three bedroom, two bathroom; and 13 two bedroom, two bathroom."

Highlights: 
1) Great Drive By Traffic for Rentals Huge
2) Potential for Selling as Condos when Market Recovers

Financial Summary 2011
Scheduled Gross Income $489,003
Effective Gross Income $520,834
Operating Expenses $364,614
Net Operating Income $156,220
Pre-Tax Cash Flow $156,220
Price: $6,720,000
No. Units: 56
Price/Unit: $120,000
Property Type: Multifamily
Property Sub-type: Garden/Low-Rise
Property Use Type: Investment
Commission Split: 1.5%
Occupancy: 86%
(see:  http://tinyurl.com/893bdu2) 

My Comments:  Overpriced and unsaleable, even at a lower price considering this economy.
Developer Owned Condos at NCC:

Q. Which of the 168 condo units are still owned by the developer NAUTILUS DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS, L.L.L.P (AKA: Gulf Boulevard Partners, Ltd)?
      
A. They own all of the condos in buildings 12 and 13. In buildings 10, 11, 14 and 15, they own almost all of them with only 8 being sold and individually owned. The other 8 developer owned condos are in buildings 6, 8 and 9. 

The developer owned units are being rented out by Concord Management as low income housing and plugged as 'affordable housing' at: http://www.concordrents.com/?CFID=4110310&CFTOKEN=28972099. 

Association v. Management Company - Who Controls the Complex?

Cyber Citizens for Justice at http://www.ccfj.net/ bills itself as 'Florida's Largest State-Wide Property Owners' Advocacy Organization' and has been mentioned on the blog before (12/23/11). It deals with condos and related articles and it worth book marking for future reference.

It is particularly relevant with multiple articles that are cited below from the Orlando Sentinel which deal with CAM's and management firms.

As I pointed out in literature distributed at the 1/14/12 AGM, Concord Management is part of a larger group of companies that build and manage developments such as ours. The developer builds them and drops Concord in to manage them.

Take a look at: http://www.atlantichousing.com/ourteam.html  whose introduction says:

"Atlantic Housing is the commonly used brand name for our family of companies working in a cooperative effort to develop quality multi-family communities and maintain them in a sustainable environment that enhances the quality of life for the privileged residents. The members of our team include Atlantic Housing Partners, Global Realty, CPG Construction, and Concord Management."

When our Association was under the control of the Developer, and even after turnover that control lasted until 1/14/12, Concord was working for the Developer and the Developers interests and NOT the interests of the Owners at Nautilus Cove.

Now that we have a true Owner controlled BOD we have the opportunity to move away from Developer control by virtue of having 2 of the 3 Board votes held by Owners that are not in the hip pocket of the Developer.

It is no longer necessary or desirable to have Concord Management as our management firm for our Association. Their contract can be terminated for cause or allowed to expire 20 months from now, either way, we need to bring in another management firm and get rid of Concord.

One thing that can be done immediately is to make sure that here at NCC the 'tail doesn't wag the dog'. The various articles cited below point out how many management firms and I include Concord in this category, think that they actually run the condo and here at Nautilus Cove that has actually been the case due to the relationship of the Developer and Concord.

Now that we have effective control of the Condo we will be moving away from doing what the management company wants and into areas where we will now be telling the management company what we want to accomplish and if they are not effective in moving in these directions then they will provide us with 'cause' to terminate their contract.

Here are 3 Orlando Sentinel articles bearing on the condo association/management firm relationships:
Community Association Manager - Right-Hand of the Board - Or Dictator?
http://tinyurl.com/77ry5xt
Just Who is Managing Who? http://tinyurl.com/6ua3b4k
Board Members Beware! http://tinyurl.com/85elbqf  

Click on for larger image or go to:  http://www.atlantichousing.com/ourteam.html

Bid A Wee Owner Acquitted of 3 Felony Charges

You might recall the problems across the street at the 599 home Bid-A-Wee subdivision.  They installed 6 locking gates to keep everyone but the homeowners in BAW from getting to the beach.  The gates were vandalized, repaired and then the BAW President Jimmy Smith claimed to have been assulted by BAW Owner Martin.

This resulted in 3 Felony charges against Martin and a day long court case on 1/27/12 in which Martin was acquitted after the jury was out for only 45 minutes.  Next comes the civil suit against Smith, the BAW BOD, the PCB PD and various others.  Should be an interesting summer.

Full details at:  http://bidaweeeasement.blogspot.com/

Some Links for NCC Sites

Below are 10 blogs which may be of interest to residents of Nautilus Cove, 8 have information regarding the complex, 2 are provided FYI:

185 photos of Nautilus Cove
  http://nautiluscondo.blogspot.com/
Nautilus Cove Owners List
  http://nccownerslist.blogspot.com/
Proposed new Management Company (Continental Mgmt)
  http://nccmanagementcompany.blogspot.com/
Proposed changes to NCC Rules and Regulations
  http://nautilusrules.blogspot.com/
Our former utility billinig firm American Utility Mgmt
  http://aumsucks.blogspot.com/
A long running problem with individual grills  at NCC
  http://nccgrills.blogspot.com/ 
A bit of NCC history, our very own ‘Meth Lab’
  http://nautiluscovearrests.blogspot.com/
Bid-A-Wee, the HOA across the street
  http://bidaweeeasement.blogspot.com/  
Medical Tourism, a trip to India
  http://overseasmedicalcare.blogspot.com/
A 3 year suit against NCC BOD cost Owners $11,000
  http://nautiluscovesuit2008.blogspot.com/

=================================================  

NCC Condo Sales in 2011
(Due to the downturn in the economy the developer does not anticipate any further sales for their 56 unsold units, they will contunue to be rental units.  The 'average' paid for a foreclosed/short sale is 42.7% of the units original sales price)

#308 WILLIAM MALCOMSON - 10-28-2011, 4/3
Sold for:  $80,000  Originally sold for:  $194,900 on 2/26/07
  Current Owner paid 41.0% of original sale price

#1608 CLIFFORD MYERS - 10-7-2011, 3/2
Sold for:  $67,500  Originally sold for:  $169,900 on 3/30/07
  Current Owner paid 39.7% of original sale price

#203 WILLIAM MALCOMSON, - 06-03-2011, 3/2
Sold for:  $70,000  Originally:  $159,900 on 10-20-06
  Current Owner paid 43.7% of original sale price

#210 GEORGE GEORGEKOPOULOS, - 05-06-2011, 3/2
Sold for:  $73,000  Originally:  $179,900 on 5-25-07
  Current Owner paid 40.5% of original sale price

#502 TED GEORGEKOPOULOS , - 05-06-2011, 2/2
Sold for:  $65,000  Originally:  $160,000 on 7/23/07
  Current Owner paid 40.6% of original sale price

#102 EDITH A TRONCALE, - 03-28-2011, 4/3
Sold for: $90,000  Originally:  $184,900 on 12-18-06
  Current Owner paid 48.6% of original sale price

#1404 THEODORE SEXTON, - 03-28-2011, 4/3
Sold for:  $110,000  purchased directly from developer

#1606 THUAN NGOC NGUYEN, - 03-24-2011, 3/2
Sold for:  $75,000  Originally sold for:  $164,900 on 4/27/07
  Current Owner paid 45.4% of original sale price
-----------------------------------------------------------
NCC Condo Sales in 2010:

Unit - New Owners  -  Pur. Date  -  $ Amt. Paid
#604  MICHAEL COVINGTON,  12-30-2010 - $70,000  3/2
#716  JERRY R. CLAYTON,  09-09-2010 - $84,000  3/2
#512  MARK F. STITT,  07-08-2010 - $69,900  2/2
#710  WILLIAM R. COVINGTON,  06-17-2010 - $89,000  3/2
#714  RANDALL G. WRIGHT, 05-17-2010 - $89,000  3/2
#606  JOHN R. GUOTH,  05-06-2010 - $77,000  3/2
#305  KEVIN G. RILEY,  04-07-2010 - $110,500  4/3
#712  N. HOOKS,  03-08-2010 - $94,000  3/2

Unofficial Minutes of the 1/14/12 AGM/BOD meetings now available:

Click on this direct link to see the unofficial minutes for the 1/14/12 meetings: http://tinyurl.com/66zdaor
At the same link you can view condo documents as far back as 2006.
  
Meeting Summary:
The voting totals for BOD candidates were:
Simmons, Barbara - 22
Troncale, Edee - 17
DiGiacomo, Len - 12
Sexton, Theo - 9
Clayton, Pamela - 2
Webber, Jaime - 1

19 units attended:
104 R Jones, 107 Holloway, 202 Hallaway, 207 Stoll, 503 Davis, 514 Vanderwerff, 604 Covington, 608 Morgan, 616 DiGiacomo, 703 White, 704 Perry, 708 Harris, 709 P Jones, 710 Covington, 712 Hooks, 801 Webber, 802 Simmons, 1401 Rowland, 1404 Sexton.


The dates for future BOD meetings were set at:
April 7, July 14, Oct. 13 and Jan. 12, 2013 - for the Annual General meeting with BOD meeting to follow.

The major areas covered at the meetings were: 
Gate repairs, Individual Water Billing, Pool complaints, Knowlogy TV and Delinquency Foreclosures.

For those looking in from out of town additional 20 photos have been added to:  http://nautiluscondo.blogspot.com/

New BOD Email addresses FYI:

Barbara Simmons (Owner #802) is BOD President
  bbsr@knology.net
Edee Troncale (Owner #102) is BOD VP
  edeetroncale@yahoo.com
Norman Knight, Developer Appointed, Secty/Treasurer
  nknight@ndkconstsvcs.com

My Comments:  You will note that the 2 candidates who put out information about themselves in a Candidate Information Sheet got the most votes and won, those 3 who chose not to this did not do so well.  As a historical note the most votes cast for anyone seeking office was tied by Mrs. Simmons at 22, and 63 votes were cast in total for the 2 openings, Jennifer Jones (#206) in the Dec 8, 2007 election also had 22 votes of 39 cast for only 1 opening.

Some Minor Changes at NCC

For those living 'off campus' there are some changes from my last visit. 

We have some new signage directions to buildings, and a sign identifying the red box on the clubhouse wall as an emergency phone and a small bulletin board. 

Some new garbage cans and benches around the complex and finally after years of people requesting it a basketball backboard in the area of the maintanence garage.

The pool chairs and tables are piled up due to the pool area being closed for the winter.

 

So you wanna buy a condo -

In addition to those units being put on the market by owners and the short sales, we have 3 units already finished with the foreclosure procedures and being offered by various firms:

#205 by Fannie Mae a 3/2 at $74,900
#213 by EMC Mortgage, a 3/2 at $74,900 and
#405 by Flagstar Capital, a 4/3 at $94,900

These are the prices being 'asked' you can probably get a few thousand more off those prices, particularly #405 which seems a bit too high.

Here are what four of our 3/2's have gone for lately:
#604  - $70,000 on 12/30/10
#1606 - $75,000 on 3/24/11
#210  - $73,000 on 5/6/11
#1608 - $67,500 on 10/7/11

For the absolutely lowest sale price in NCC history we have:
#502 at $65,000 BUT this was only a 2/2 so it hardly counts.

One less Kmart in Bay County.

The Callaway K-Mart store on Tyndall Parkway*  is on the list of 79 K-Mart/Sears stores closing. 
(*225 S Tyndall Pkwy, Callaway, FL 32404)

No other K-Mart or Sears locations in Bay County are effected, but this is just the first round of closings. The company’s web site says 120 Sears – K-Mart stores are targeted for closing. Today’s list included 79 stores which means there are still another 41 stores to be announced for closing.

K-Mart will still have 2-Bay county locations, one on the corner of Lisenby Avenue and West 15th Street in Panama City, and the other just west of the Hathaway Bridge in Panama City Beach. 

Closings Announced in Dec. 27, 2011 Sears Holdings Update, click on the direct link to see the list:
http://searsholdings.com/about/122711_close.pdf

2012 Proposed Budget and Expenses

Most Owners already have their own copy of this item. In case you do not have it I am posting it here FYI.
 Print out or click on for larger copy:

The Water Billing Issue is NOT Going Away

Below is a post from Jan 14, 2011, about the possibility of saving some $ for Owners if we went back to billing for water/sewer on an individual basis.  After doing the research I brought this up at the 1/29/11 AGM and information was provided to those attending (see below).  As usual for the BOD nothing was done.

The CAM opined that it might not be 'legal' and it would have to be looked into, still waiting for that.  Individual billing was in place, set up by the Developer and used for 3 years.  Why it would suddenly not be legal dosen't compute, nothing further has been done in this regard and it is very disappointing. 

I do understand that the Developer controlled BOD was so useless that you wouldn't really expect them to actually 'do something', but I had hopes that once the Board came under the control of the Owners (we now have 2 of 3 positions) that we would finally be in a position to make some changes. 

Clearly we need to get an Owner controlled Board of Directors that is prepared to make some decisions, particularly if we can save Owners several hundred dollars a year.  Here is the original post FYI: 

Owners 'might' save $400-500 a year on Quarterly dues!*

We need to look into hiring another utility managing firm to bill units individually. There are many such firms, below is some information from one out of Sarasota. You will recall that we had quarterly dues of $537 which went up to $675 quarterly to cover water/sewer costs when AUM was fired as our billing firm 2 years ago.

I believe we can substantially reduce our quarterly payments by returning to what is called 'co-metering', where each unit pays its own water usage. I don't know that we can return to exactly $537 quarterly, but we can almost certainly get it back to the mid $500 area.

* Keep in mind that while 'dues' are reduced you will also gain a monthly bill for what water you use, but you should still save $ overall with this change.
 For details on this firm see:  http://web.amsbilling.com/WebUBS/index.php?hidAction=welcome 
This potential savings for owners needs to be looked into by the BOD.

(Updated below)
Something to think about: 
The 2010 Budget reflects $34,800 for Water and $29,700 for Sewer (total: $64,500), this comes out at an actual cost of $383 per unit yearly. When AUM left their quarterly billings to owners ceased and we went instead to an increased dues payment to cover the estimated water/sewer costs. Quarterly dues increased from $537 to $675 to cover the water/sewer city charges. This is a yearly increase in dues of $552 from the prior yearly dues.


We no longer get any quarterly water/sewer bills from AUM, our water/sewer is now incorporated into our quarterly payment of $675. Every unit pays the same no matter how much usage there is for water, a 4/3 with 8 people pays the same as an unoccupied unit with no usage. In doing the math each unit is paying $169 yearly more than the actual costs of water/sewer, or a gain/profit for the Association of $28,000 yearly.


As we have seen here at NCC sub-metering can be effectively employed in condominiums, however the choice of a reliable firm to accomplish this is needed.  AUM had 67 complaints with the BBB over 36 months, another billing firm out of Sarasota that I looked at had only 5 in the same period.  Clearly sub-metering will decrease what we now pay for water and one benefit for most owners is that those using the most water will pay the most, not the case as things are now, where the total billing is simply divided by 168.  One firm that might be considered is: AMS Billing at: http://www.amsbilling.com/main/home.sfx?session=%{Session}% .

So we have something to think about:
1) Should we get a year end rebate for that $169 yearly water overcharge?*
2) Should we go back to metered unit billing where each unit pays only for the water used by that unit? (Obviously we would not use AUM but contract out to another utility billing firm.)
If we were to hire another utility billing firm we would pick up another bill every quarter, but we should also have a yearly drop of approx. $550 in our Association dues payments, plus you would not be subsidizing those units with more water usage
.----------------------------------------------
* The sewer charge remains constant, equally divided between 168 units, only water costs fluctuate.

Update:  Some general information from a Florida utility billing firm I contacted regarding going back to the metering system:
The current meters can probably be used with this firms computers and billing system, they might not be used if AUM had some off brand meters put in initially but it is probable that the ones in place can be used, a contract of 3 years is standard but prices can be locked in with a longer 5 year contract, billings to individual units can be monthly or quarterly, the fee to the unit is $10 per billing period, past due fees can be applied and the amounts charged are up to the condo – a fee split is possible to the condo could make a few dollars on past due payments, meter info is gathered and forwarded to them via a dedicated phone line.  They use both inhouse technicans/installers and also can contract with local firms as needed.
===========================

(photo)  Meter is an ‘AMCO INSIDER’ Model C700 ¾” B

S/N 16037471

FA5230  FCC ID:  HCQ306ABB 

Made by:

Inovonics Corp, of Louisville, CO. 80027

How are NCC tenants screened?

Having gotten some negative feedback on the backgrounding procedure here, on Oct 28th I sent an inquiry, via Certified Mail, to the office, asking the one question allowed per month, that the BOD is required to answer within 30 days of receipt. 

Here is the reply and some additional information on the firm doing the checks.  This may be of interest to all tenants and most Owners as the complex is presently about 75% rentals. 

This is what the Better Business Bureau says about the firm and you might notice that they rate them as a D-:

THIS BUSINESS IS NOT BBB ACCREDITED

CoreLogic Safe Rent, Inc.

Phone: (888) 333-2413

7300 Westmore Road, Suite 3, Rockville, MD 20850

See their web site at:  http://www.fadvsaferent.com/index2.php

19 complaints closed with BBB in last 3 years 11 closed in last 12 months

CoreLogic Contact Information

Complaint Contact: Ms. Robyn Small, Consumer Relations Director

Contact via email:  consumerrelations@saferent.com 

Business Category

SCREENING - BACKGROUND and  EMPLOYMENT SCREENING SERVICES

Alternate Business Names for Core Logic are:

First American Registry, Inc. and First Advantage SafeRent, Inc. both also rated at D-

Also 3 'Yahoo! Local' ratings found at: http://tinyurl.com/7ck7et7  were unfavorable to this firm.  I also found them under First American Registry, with complaints on The Rip Off Report at:  http://tinyurl.com/6wq9kkf, seems that they like using multiple names and don't like to correct errors in their reports.

 

CoreLogic, aka: First American Registry: This firm made a Class Action settlement in New York where Plaintiff renters alleged 7 routine violations of the FCRA, the NYFCRA, the firm settled rather than fight the charges. Details at: http://tinyurl.com/89rq6yj

 

Which firm Concord Management uses for backgrounding the Developer's renters is their business but the Owners should be using a more reputable firm for any such backgrounding of our tenants and not one rated at D- and who were subject to a class action suit.