The Board has been operating on the principle that they only tell the homeowners what is needed? This years set of "needs" are: more money to fix pools, more money for short term and long term rental issues , more money to put transponders on vehicles and more money for the golf operations.
The narrative of the Board and the HOA has to change. Homeowners want to feel confident that the current budget increases are rooted in facts and based on the following business principals:
The blog would like to hear from the homeowners on their interactions with the HOA and Board and if they believe that the narrative needs to change too.
32 Comments
Lyle Smith
8/12/2021 08:47:19 pm
The narrative and attitude of the board needs to change. The attitude of the HOA board stating they don’t need to give reason or explanation for increases in HOA is unacceptable. This is not a board dictatorship!!!
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Pamela crawshaw
8/13/2021 01:22:45 am
I’m a new owner and totally agree that we should given a complete and total details to see where and why an increase of the monthly fees. Plus more detailed information is needed for this increase for owners who rent and why there is a need for an additional compliance officer is needed which is a big expense.
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Elaine & Marc Rubenstein
8/12/2021 08:52:01 pm
Hi All,
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Mary Maloney
8/13/2021 07:47:20 am
Completely agree! There are no incidents, there is no data. In asking simple questions of our CEO, Jerry Storage, for access to the reports/data/statistics that the STVR committee or the HOA BOD used in making their determinations, none can be provided......then this is a made up "problem" and borderline slander on the rental owners. Every newsletter from Jerry's office starts with "numerous" complaints about renters, but yet, there is no documentation for this.
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Deb Huy
8/16/2021 08:56:27 am
Agree with those comments above. I emailed the board and Jerry Storage, CEO, asking for documentation/data regarding rental units that would justify the $100 to $500 increase in the rental unit fee. Mr. Storage's response was "...it would entail considerable staff time to prepare what you have asked for since we do have existing reports available that we could give you." So....the HOA has no data collected, but says there is a need for another officer and a vehicle?? Clearly, this is not how an HOA board should operate!
Jeanette Morocco
8/12/2021 09:15:57 pm
I am totally disgusted with this board and their way of operating. I do not think they have any right what so ever to handle things the way they have been or plan to. I know things have gone up...but really a $ 100 to $ 500 dollar increase - what for ??? what extra benefit does this bring to me for $ 400 extra ??? Costs on the development have continued to rise - I have never complained before - BUT THIS ENTIRE PROCESS THIS PAST SESSION IS NOT "OK" IN MY BOOK
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Judith Stephan
8/13/2021 07:54:47 am
Homeowners, you have recourse. Send the board a request for resolution for issues you dispute and demand they provide back-up for fees and other costs.
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Deb Huy
8/16/2021 08:52:10 am
I did email Jerry Storage, CEO, and the entire HOA board requesting documentation/data related to problems caused by rental units over the last 12 months that would justify the new $500 fee. His response was "...it would entail considerable staff time to prepare what you have asked for since we do not have existing reports available that we could give you." My response to him was if you have no data showing there are problems, how can you justify a fee increase from $100 to $500?? I received no response.
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Valorie Farber
8/16/2021 12:17:18 pm
Thank you for sharing.
Timothy Gaffney
8/13/2021 08:17:33 am
The financial course Desert Princess is on is not sustainable.
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Maggie Hood
8/13/2021 08:31:19 am
The board President is just rude! When he read the letter from one person, it was long; he read it in a manner that disparaged the comments. He cut me and others off while we were speaking. This board is primary run by out of towners who play golf. They haven’t been here now for over a year. Jerry Storage stayed “we can’t control expenses”. That is not true. They just blatantly spent $15,000 on an architect to design a new clubhouse patio. You don’t do something like that after a bad year. You WAIT. you don’t hire a new “compliance officer” to oversee 233 rentals. That’s a fraction of the units here. What are the issues? How can the be do terrible when no one even came last year? And why should owners who have full time tenants pay when the so called problems are with vacation tenants. I think a large group of us need to organize and demand these answers.
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Takis Vartelas
8/13/2021 08:46:26 am
My wife and I rent our house 4-5 months out of a year to ONLY professional renters that stay 1-2 months at a time. Just an FYI we have NEVER encountered any nuisance problem with our house and the security has NEVER appeared in our front door to bring people to order...!
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David Guerra
8/13/2021 10:03:24 am
We are all homeowners that demand transparency and clarification...not secrecy. Remember that we are all homeowners and have a stake in our community. We need to hear facts and not fiction so we can make sound decisions. We must protect our beautiful investment which is the Desert Princess Country Club.
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Pam Meadows
8/13/2021 10:09:27 am
I totally agree that this board does not have ALL HOMEOWNERS best interest at heart (except 1 who does). They only have their own interests and secrecy. I feel a full accounting of why an increase is needed is not out of line. Things go up, granted, but this much...NO WAY! I do not rent my home, but I defend others right to do so. Rules need to be followed. For this board to say they don't have to account to us, the homeowners paying these fees, is ludacris!
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Joanne Brown
8/13/2021 12:34:13 pm
I think after a Covid year it’s time to stop spending for a year. Also how can we be so poor when we just added all the Hoa fees to all the new villas in Arroyos to our monthly income. I know Cathedral Canyon has not increased there fees for several years.
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TERRY Albright
8/13/2021 02:13:55 pm
Here is what has changed in the 8 years that my wife and I have owned at DP. In the past DP had lots of personnel issues largely because DP didn't have a good HR manager. DP laid off most of the loyal and hardworking workers and hired a for profit management firm whose go to solution to every issue is to charge the homeowners. Our security is provided by a for profit firm as well as our grounds by O'connell. What we needed was a well educated HR manager and a experienced property manager both of whom posessed good "people skills and who worked for us. Not rocket science. We still need to wrest control of the golf course away from the golfers and make it an actual "PUBLIC" course. If the golf operations need to be run by "others" so be it. Make no mistake. DP is simply a profit center for the current management trust and contractors. We will continue to have our pockets picked as long we use for profit companies to run our affairs.
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Valorie Farber
8/13/2021 06:05:03 pm
So awesome to see people here sharing thoughts and ideas. Thank you to whomever hosts this forum for us to communicate and share. Thank you to everyone who is requesting supporting documentation for the decisions that have been made. We too, have been met with "we don't have to give you that information" to "we don't have that information to give you" to just no answers or response at all.
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Paula Paris
8/13/2021 07:18:50 pm
I whole heartedly agree with all of the statements here. I have written to all the Board members before and only received one reply from one of the men on the Board trying to mansplain that I obviously never lived in a gated community and am not familiar with how HOAs work here in the desert...very rude indeed! I told him I know perfectly well how they work as I lived in Ironwood CC for 15 years before moving to Desert Princess. There are BIG differences between these two HOAs. Ironwood included the following in the dues: All had trash pickup at not extra cost; all of the streets were resurfaced every 2-3 years; all of the roofs were repaired and/or replaced every 10 years or as needed; villas were painted every several years to maintain their appearance; gardeners/landscaping always had a schedule that was actually kept; all mail was delivered to each individual address since we all had our own mailboxes; the streets were swept with the driven street sweepers every week after garbage and recycling pickup; Security was at your home within 5 minutes if you had any reason to call them; plus more things that were provided that were included in the dues. Frankly Desert Princess looks like a dump compared to other Clubs around the desert where a number of my friends live. So what ARE we getting for our money is the question that needs to be answered by the Board and not with flippant or rude retorts, but rather with knowledgeable information that PROVES we need the ridiculous increases over just the last 3 years that I've been here. It's going to be harder to sell our places for those of us who aren't happy with the Board and voted for other who didn't win a seat.
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Elaine & Marc Rubenstein
8/13/2021 08:42:06 pm
Hi All,
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Cathie & Kurt Wachter
8/14/2021 02:02:51 pm
I actually wrote to the board about this exact issue related to the PPP funds. Here is the response i received from the president, Peter Webb:
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Valorie A Farber
8/15/2021 11:54:22 am
Cathie and Kurt:
Cathie & Kurt Wachter
8/15/2021 12:19:19 pm
In reading the comments above it appears the main issues are obviously the $45 per month HOA increase, 400% increase for rental units and lack of transparency or inclusion from the HOA Board. Does anyone know the makeup of our board? Doing simple math it appears 56% of the ownership are Villas, 44% Condos. Of those numbers 21% are renting out their units. I am unsure of the percentage of owners/non-owners that have golf memberships. Do we know the number of full-time versus part-time residents? Does our current board mirror or somewhat match what the ownership percentages are? I think there are different factions that should be represented on our board to insure everyone's views are heard.
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Takis Vartelas
8/15/2021 03:51:12 pm
I have been reading everyone's comments and everyone is right. Just an FYI, if the Board continues to act with an authoritarian attitude, and don't answer those comments and questions concerning all these items I think that I am going to call SBA and find out what is going on with the PPP funds given to The Management Trust or to DP or to HOA or to anyone else. And by the way, did the Management Trust applied for both PPPs or just one of them. You know that the Government hates when people and/or business entities are using Federal money in a no-appropriate way....!!!!
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Valorie Farber
8/16/2021 09:31:58 am
A friendly reminder about the owner chat this Saturday at 1pm on Zoom. Please join and encourage others to participate. The more participation, the better.
Mary Simmons-Maloney
8/16/2021 08:15:08 am
The CEO Jerry Storage sent this:
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Takis Vartelas
8/16/2021 11:54:12 am
I thought providing names and addresses is against the Board's privacy act...How come they published all the rental units?
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Valorie Farber
8/16/2021 11:55:23 am
I find it amusing that the latest rental notice in Condo Communities posted today states:
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D C
8/16/2021 09:41:37 pm
In an News/Notice published today August 16, 2021 on the Desert Princess Portal Terri Swartz states:
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I wonder why the board feels a need to punish homeowners who are simply exercising their right to rent their property. Why are they singling out short term rentals & not including long term rentals as well into the huge fines? This is ridiculous that the HOA would pile on fines & fees on top of the city & county unreasonable & cost prohibitive fees on STVRs. During the pandemic homeowners were prohibited from renting & when they allowed rentals to restart they required incredibly stupid & unreasonable cleaning requirements that literally eliminated 95% of the STVRs in Cathedral City. So, I suppose the city is happy now since they accomplished their goal of eliminating STVRs in Cathedral City. Guess they forgot that STVRs bring in other revenue to the city with restaurants & other venues. What a bunch of Nazis & marxists!
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David Guerra
8/16/2021 11:13:21 pm
I'm starting to get the feeling that STVR owners are being unfairly targeted.
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Kevin Crockett
8/23/2021 02:22:55 pm
For those of you who have not had issues with short-term, or long-term renters, congratulations. I have had problems, and these problems are the result of owners not properly vetting those they rent to. Their costs for owning are offset at the expense of those of us wanting to live in a quiet, and orderly beautiful community. I would suggest the BOD raise the fines to irresponsible owners who allow responsible owners to suffer thru their greed. Make it impossible for these owners to comfortably afford to own.
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Paul
8/29/2021 11:09:31 pm
Kevin Crockett:
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