Welcome Desert Princess Homeowners

9/3/2020 19 Comments

Welcome Desert Princess Homeowners

We’ve come through a lot in 2020 here at the Desert Princess. The Board and The Management Trust has responded to the unexpected consequences brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. To their credit they have significantly reduced overhead and applied effective and stringent cash management actions.

But now, the new fiscal year is upon us. No longer can we rely upon an annual cash infusion from returning snowbirds to resolve operating deficits. How do we move forward? The Board has warned us that the dues increase and the golf cart registration fees may not be enough.

The business of the Desert Princess continues…and with it the pain of under funding. How do we get from pain to gain? How do we replace this lost revenue? Is subsidizing by the homeowners the only answer? We, the homeowners, need to know what the future of Desert Princess will be as we leave this pandemic era. Will there be a new future or is this our new normal? We all can have a hand in shaping our new future.

We welcome your comments and thoughts.

19 Comments

Michelle

9/4/2020 05:49:56 am

I have been a home owner for less then 4 years. I have been responsible and paid my HA dues monthly. The HOA dues At the beginning in the early 90’s were $608 and remained the same til 2017. There has been 5 increases in the 3.5 years I have been an owner ($608 to $620 to $630 to $640 to $650 to the current $665). I know there are owners who do not pay their dues and I don’t feel it is fair to continue to raise the dues and penalized those who are responsible. What is being done about here owners who do not pay? Are there areas where the expenses can be cut?

Roz Veltri link

9/24/2020 03:29:41 pm

I also object to the more frequent increases in HOA dues. I'm terribly disappointed in the quality of the landscaping. Our current landscape maintenance company is awful. After having all the flowering shrubs around my home cut down so that all that could be seen were woody stems, I requested that no more hedge trimming be done around my condo. That request has been honored; however, the passive-aggressive result is that now the landscapers are not even removing weeds from the tall shrub bed on the side of the condo!! I want to improve the curb appeal of my place by planting perennial plants in by the shrubs BUT, if/when I do, I know the landscapers will then decide to "weed" the shrub beds. It is a no win situation with our current landscape company.

Tom Moen

2/28/2023 11:41:19 am

Also believe the bigger issues is reduction of costs... we paid a fortune for tree trimming that was A) unnecessary and B) done at the wrong time, wrong way, I would NOT as a homeowner pay for those services. Funny the tree trimming resulted in diseased and dead trees, then the trees had to be removed (fees) and then new trees ($500 each) had to be ordered. Seems like a scam. There seems to be a lot of waste in "studies" and "consulting" like the new landscaping design and studies which NOBODY wanted in the first place. The removal of sand by the maintenance gate... $9k when we have trucks, maintenance workers seems like that was $8k too much. Just a ton of waste here.

Tom Moen

11/7/2023 10:04:40 am

Yes, it is insane. That proper monthly budget and spend is published to our website. That all these single bid projects are done and they keep paying for "ideas" that never get implemented. They are paying our manager of our HOA nearly $300,000 a year and what 11 employees in that Taj Mahal of an office that I sat at an entire day and saw like two owners go to!? In my other community, the HOA manager gets free HOA and that is all! $12k from $283k? That all of the sudden they have scores of O'Connell people running around. That they single sourced and wasted nearly $10k to remove sand from a CVWD gate that A) their director said they would have removed and B) the quote I received was $380. Maths do not work with board. They waste, waste, waste, it is that simple. A prime example is their waste of $78,000 on a sound system that if you attempted to join the meeting last week FAILED! Big Time! That they were duped into wasting all that money because golf cart chargers interfere with audio. LOL! That President Russ said, "We [are wasting this money because] have to get this right the first time - LOL! Fail. Epic fail. We need to recall every member of the board, not just the two vacancies but all of them!

T Rosa link

9/4/2020 06:43:53 am

As homeowners who has owned for 18+ years and a full time residents for 12 + years We have seen a dramatic decline in the overall quality of the property. The landscaping has never been more shoddy. Many of my neighbors share this observation. The management trust has "right sized" their staff due to COVID. I suggest they can operate at this level full time. We are so disappointed that we are finally considering selling. The Desert Princess was once a high quality property which is why we live here. Unfortunately it has become yet another miss managed HOA. The only thing the board knows, is they have 1200 + captives from which to require more money from. If I thought that the money was being used to BETTER the community I wouldn't say a word. It's really sad.

9/5/2020 08:24:33 am

Hi - I agree 100% that the landscaping needs to be managed more closely....as well as the lighting at night along the streets on the trees. Do we really need christmas lights wrapped around the palm trees when we there are better options??? The mentality seems to be "stuck in the 80's" with the overall appearance of the property.

Jerry Persky

9/4/2020 10:14:29 am

Has the Desert Princess HOA received any confirmation that the Canadian snowbirds will not be visiting us during the upcoming season? I hope, as we all do, that by the end of the year we will have a better picture of how we can control Covid-19. I have not heard anything from our renters.

The Bloggers for My Desert Princess Blog

9/5/2020 03:44:59 pm

We are not affiliated with the HOA or its management. This is a question that should be directed to the HOA.

None Business

9/4/2020 07:13:15 pm

I'm choosing to be anonymous by giving a fictitious name and email. That being said, I'm an owner in the Arroyos and I do love it -- I love my villa. However, I find that some things are really unfair around here. I pay my HOA dues gladly on time but I hear there are others who don't. Why doesn't the HOA charge a stiff(er) late fee after 5-10 days. Further, if the golf fees were increased, perhaps it could generate the needed funds.

Jimmy G

9/6/2020 06:22:33 pm

Golf membership fees are seldom increased at Desert Princess because that's the beauty of a golf-centric, golf-controlled board of directors whose main agenda is to turn our public golf course into a private course for a continually decreasing golf member base who wants to play for next to nothing. Unfortunately this pandemic has played right into their hands and they are using the coronavirus as the camouflage they need to push the golf course into their own private golf playground while outside $$$ slip past us an go to other courses who welcome outside play.

Maybe it's time to think about other options. Our skyrocketing dues already cover a large amount of the $1,000,000 golf shortfall we have every year that our 1200 homeowners cover for the 150 golf members.

Does anyone have any ideas on what other options could be employed to pull us out of our golf quick sand? Let's hear your thoughts.

Not Happy

9/5/2020 01:44:45 pm

Can someone please explain why only golf cart owners have to pay an extra $100 a year to create extra revenue. I feel this is extremely unfair. We are only down there for 3-4 months a year, we only use our cart to go to the recycle bins, visit friends and pick up food. It is not even used every day or even second day plus it is a more environmentally friendly way to get around DP. Why should we have to pay an extra $100 to do that?
I also don’t think we should be jumping the gun with raising fees or adding fees until we see if there is a short fall. As we all know once fees are raised they won’t be coming back down.
If the golf course and or restaurant can’t make it on their own then maybe it is time to raise green fees or sell it. I don’t think home owners should have to subsidize it. Maybe sell of 9 holes and build more condos or villas to bring in more revenue. When we bought, HOA fees were $630 by the time we took possession they were $640 and now 2 years later they are up to $665. As with all other vacation owners we pay our monthly HOA fees all year and only reap the benefits for the few months we are there. We bought in DP because we love the area, however if we are going to be asked to subsidize everything and keep raising our HOA fees maybe it’s time to rethink owning there.

A Homeowner

9/8/2020 05:03:05 pm

The HOA Board of Directors has been conducting virtual meetings in response to the COVID-19 restrictions. Homeowners are experiencing difficulty in understanding the participants due to extreme audio problems, distortion and faulty equipment. The board is in violation of Civil Code §4925. Open Meetings; Open Forum

(a) Any member may attend board meetings, except when the board adjourns to, or meets solely in, executive session. As specified in subdivision (b) of Section 4090, a member of the association shall be entitled to attend a teleconference meeting or the portion of a teleconference meeting that is open to members, and that meeting or portion of the meeting shall be audible to the members in a location specified in the notice of the meeting.

Also the BOD only permits questions for the Open Forums that are submitted in writing prior to the meetings. This also is a violation of the Civil Code.
(b) The board shall permit any member to speak at any meeting of the association or the board, except for meetings of the board held in executive session. A reasonable time limit for all members of the association to speak to the board or before a meeting of the association shall be established by the board.

18yrs

9/21/2020 09:21:12 am

I agree. How many have been given a fine for nothing ??

Barry Burgelin

9/9/2020 06:05:34 am

I sent this Comment to [email protected] concerning the enacted Golf Cart Fee.

This email is in response to a request for comments from the Membership regarding the Golf Cart Registration fee imposed by the DPCC Board of Directors.

Section 5600 of the Davis-Stirling Act limits the amount of a fee imposed to an amount "necessary to defray the costs for which it is levied." The explanation provided for the Rule Change states that a Registration Fee is commonly used... throughout the Coachella Valley (in other words, everyone else is doing it), the "Revenue from the fee will be used ... to cover our HOA operating expenses (in other words, "We're short--Had to find it somewhere!"), and "it is an alternative way to generate revenue, rather than raise ... the monthly HOA Fees (again, "We're short").

No specific costs, or estimates of costs, to be defrayed by the Fee are included in the information, other than a vague "...these include administering and enforcing registrations (maybe $2 for a sticker, plus checking paperwork and keeping files, maybe $15 to $20 tops). As for enforcement, you're charging a Fee to pay for fining people for not paying the Fee. Pardon my sarcasm, but this sounds very much like; "Let's give Patrol something to do, and let these suckers pay for it!!

The third part of the vague justifications for the Fee is"...dealing with damages caused to common property and other homeowner's property by golf carts." How, specifically, do golf carts cause damage to common property? (Let's forget homeowner's property, since the HOA doesn't cover that, anyway). Golf carts cannot be as harmful to the streets and roads as cars and heavy trucks (No Fee). Sure, golf carts are routinely driven on unpaved common areas, but their impact is miniscule when compared to the wear-and-tear of the Maintenance and O'Connell vehicles, which are much heavier, gas-powered, and often driven at higher speeds on the grass. (and streets)

Please re-think this unfair fee. If you need revenue, please be honest with the Membership, and increase the assessment as necessary

sherry

9/21/2020 10:36:34 am

I have a question regarding rental properties. I have rented my property for years (seasonally 30 day min rental). I just found out today we have a $100/unit administration fee if we are renting our units. Is this new? Have others paid this? Did i miss a memo somewhere along the line?

Lynn MacDonald

10/17/2020 12:41:04 pm

Rather than copy and pasting, please see our comments under the CART FEE section of the blog which relates to this section as well.

Condo owner

2/6/2023 09:28:09 am

Closing 1/2 the pools is a mistake. Buy insulating covers for the pool. Pull covers over pools at night. This will solve the problem. Yes, the covers will have a capital cost but they will pay for themselves in 1 season. Secondly, Install solar panels on the out buildings. Installing solar panels on and around the campus to power the pumps of the pools. These solar panels would run the pumps of every pool and even the pathway and roadway lights.

Lauren-Michelle

5/5/2023 02:45:31 pm

HOA President, Russ' recent email regarding having to rise costs and insurances to increase homeowners' dues is really upsetting. I own one of the villas and we do not get any of the protections from these insurance plans. I think the time has come to have a serious look at what the villas actually receive vs the amount we are expected to pay for the rest of the neighborhood. I head there was a talk to split the neighborhood into an HOA for the villas and an HOA for the condos. Seems like that would be a good idea or at least find a way so that the villa owners are paying for the condos.

Trish

11/2/2023 09:33:13 pm

I just got here last night… I was just choking on the $130 that just got raised last month to discover that it’s $160 more? I know prices of things have gone up but it seems to me that there’s a miss handling the funds to make this much of a difference. The prices didn’t change for years and years and years…what is happening? To people that make a lot of money this might not 20 be a big deal I don’t. This is extremely painful. People are selling, they want out I’m just stunned.

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This blog is designed as a means to provide transparency and informative access to the policies and protocols of the Desert Princess Palm Springs Homeowners Association, the governance of the HOA Board of Directors and the management of the community’s assets by The Management Trust. The expressed intent is to establish a neighborhood hub for trusted connections and the exchange of helpful information, goods, and services; it is hoped that homeowners will use it to build a stronger and safer Desert Princess Palm Springs.

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