Condos Can Equal Free Fuel for Electric Cars

Three years ago, when I was president of a 107 unit condominium, I suggested that we may have to take steps to regulate the electrical outlets in the underground parking. I was assuming that at some time an owner would buy an electric car and plug in at night. As electric charges for all common AND titled spaces were paid out of condominium fees (no individual meters) for that condominium, I wasn’t about to have someone freeload their “gas” off the rest of the owners.

I was scoffed and laughed at (awww, poor me!).

Well, Mike Nemat of South Keys condominium, Ottawa Ontario, was doing just that – slipping his power cord into a common property wall socket for his 2012 Chevrolet Volt. Now, once he got caught, he’s been offering to pay $50/month for the right to plug in (he estimates the actual electric bill is about $24/month).

The board is having nothing to do with it, and requires Mr. Nemat to install a $2000 meter to continue his siphoning ways. That’s not going well with Mr. Namat.

The board is within their power to demand a separate meter. Indeed, they’re well within their rights to deny Mr. Nemat access to any electricity served through the common property – and unless the condominium’s by-laws are really poorly written, they should back up the board on that fact.

While I am all for getting off the monkey’s tail of fossil fuels – older, and even newer condominiums – aren’t designed for electric car charging. All new construction moving forward though should have parking stalls that, at minimum, have the wiring and sufficient grid to power every car at once – even if they’re not activated or metered till sometime in the future. Retrofitting will be a pain.

Mr. Nemat should in all honesty have approached his condominium board first before buying his car. It’s much like new owners who buy a condo already possessing a vehicle that’s longer or taller than the by-laws allow, and then complain about the board preventing them from using their titled parking spot. Too bad.

Multi-Housing Development OK If Not For The Poor

Residents of the Woodbridge HOA in Sachse Texas have begun to complain that a proposed low-income block will mar their community with lowered property values, an overloaded school system, and a general discouragement of new business.

Sachse is an affluent neighborhood – only 6.5% of the community lives below the poverty level compared to a state average of 17.2%, and their median household income is 70% higher than the state average.

For a zip code that has over 21,500 residents – adding some 350 people (100 low-cost rental units x 3.46 average household size for the region) – increasing the population by 1.6% of low income individuals won’t have any substantial change to the area. Indeed, this might raise the total below poverty individuals to 1750 (including what the residents claim will be 200 new children) or so individuals in the whole community.

Indeed, at that level of “new poor”, along with the location of area – which has been zoned for apartments and commercial development for 10 years – is relatively isolated from the single detached units (you don’t have to drive through the neighbourhood to get to the proposed development), no traffic impact. Indeed – most residents could continue living their lives without ever seeing an actual low-income resident ever step foot on the sidewalk in front of their house. (Though watch out – Google street view shows a suspiciously low income looking van for sale in the Woodbridge community, along with a lot of generic low-cost, 10 year old appearing, cars.)

So – (1) the amount of development, location, and growth on the community should have negligible impact on property values, (2) the area is 70% more affluent than the region so their already have enough of a school tax base to cover new students, and (3) apparently low-income residents drive away discourages new business. That’s so silly I don’t have a better remark.

In a country that welcomed immigrants with the words “Give me your tired, your poor” – they should update it with the tagline “as long as they live far away from me”.

Arizona State Senator Thinks HOA Off-Leash Fining is Mostly Very Silly

I fully support Senator Lori Klein’s comment that the off-leash fines issued to homeowners (which she quotes as 25% of all HOA fines) are, as she states, “Most of it is very silly.” I would actually go further and find that most all fines handed out by HOAs tend to be “very silly.”

The problem is I think Senator Klein is picking the wrong fight – highlighting off-leash rules is one that can be easily refuted using real life experience. Even in my own life a close friend’s dog (who was on leash) was viciously attacked by an off-leash dog which charged off  its owner’s front yard. The only reason her dog is alive is because of a local neighbour bludgeoned the attacking dog with a bike lock until it released its grip on her dog. The attacking dog was later removed from the owner and put down. Her dog was put through excessive vet bills. Something she was never compensated for.

I’m also familiar with an acquaintance who laughed at the fact his dog jumped his backyard fence and killed two dogs walking by. This was especially cruel as the dogs’ teen owner was right there with them, and failed to save them.

Senator Klein highlights an elderly resident that keeps getting fined for her tiny Chihuahua. Agreed, this example seems very silly, and I would hope that the HOA realizes fines are not a tool to enforce compliance, but a last resort after trying other methods.

Leashing dogs in public, based my own experience, is a necessary evil. Good dogs are sadly affected by leash laws, but they are required to help control those that are uncontrollable.

Arizona state lawmakers are currently considering a bill put forward by Senator Klein to allow insured dogs off-leash. I would have to say I object to such allowance.

Boards Can Enforce Parking Restrictions Even After Years of Not Doing So

There’s a recent ruling by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice between Toronto Standard Condominium Corporation No. 1737, and Farrah Hakim and Jaffar Kayyali, regarding board enforcement of owner parking.

Jaffar and Farrah bought a unit – with titled parking – and proceeded to park, according to by-laws, an overheight vehicle there for 3 years before the board informed them they were in violation. The couple fought the board and demanded the right to continue to park their vehicle in their titled spot. After 3 years of dispute the court ruled that the couple’s claim was invalid and ruled in favour of the board.

It’s important to note – because this comes up ALL (all!) the time with boards I deal with – that the court ruled the board didn’t have to grandfather the vehicle because the board issued and started enforcing the overheight violation on all deliquent owners (there were 7 at that time in violation) in a fair manner.

Many owners often argue that there is a “timeliness” requirement to be caught in their bylaw infraction. That requirement doesn’t exist. A board needs not be omniscient, nor perfect, in their application of the bylaws. They do need to show fairness when enforcing them, and that the board enforces bylaw infractions as they become aware of them.  That’s about it.

So, if you’re an owner raging against a board claiming that they “ignored the situation for years” and that should invalidate any restrictions listed in the bylaws, you might not find that a convincing approach to gain favor from a judge.

Contractor Required to Give Condo 10% of Revenue To Work Onsite

Swim coaches that the residents of the Azalea Park condominium, Singapore, have hired are being told that they need to give the condominium 10% of their revenue to continue their services at the condo’s pool.

It’s punitive because the lessons aren’t being offered to non-residents – so the act only punishes owners from the full use of their pool. It’s arbitrary because it’s based on the coaching fees, not directly the number of students or time used in the pool. And it’s onerous because the additional overhead and red tape will drive away the coaches.

All in all – a 10% fee doesn’t correlate with control of the facilities (which the condominium already has added time restrictions). Nor does it equate with a “worry of additional wear and tear” because the owners are already paying for that in their monthly contributions (its owners using the coach, not off site individuals).

I can only imagine if this idea catches on, maybe condominiums would just have a 10% surcharge to all contractor work purchased by residents. Want to renovate? 10% please.

$8.7 Million for a Condo You Can Only Live In 120 Days a Year

I almost get the math that would justify the purchase of a hotel condominium listed at Trump Soho (warning: the hotel website has music) for just over $8.7 million. As a hotel condo, you are allowed to use your unit for no more than 29 consecutive days in any 36, for a maximum of 120 in a year. The rest of the time it is added to the rental pool and offered to hotel visitors.

Owners of hotel condominiums still pay condominium and taxes all year long. In essence, it’s exactly like a rental property that you buy and hand over to a rental pool to manage. You get a cut of the profits and the management company takes a bit. As it’s in a rental pool – revenue is split between all units each month even if they all weren’t rented.

If the general rule of thumb is 1/16 of the price of housing is what you can normally rent it for so let’s assume a more generous 1/15, and add in an 81.5% hotel rental occupancy use and the room should go for.

Because there are room rates online for the studio units (425 sft) which match some of the available units for purchase, let’s try the math. This unit lists at $995,000.

$995,000 / 15 / 0.815 / 245 (days available) = daily room rate required. That works out to about $332/night required rental rate. Currently the hotel is offering ~435/day ($1.03/sqf/night) for room bookings, based on blended rates listed for units of about 420 sqf on the Trump Soho booking site.

Ok – that seems plausible that there might be an opportunity for the owner to actually make some money on the purchase. Don’t forget the owner is paying a fixed price (taxes, management, and hotel operation) no matter if the unit is rented – while the return from the pool is affected by the occupancy and average nightly rate. A 31% mark up over required daily rate might be enough to cover the costs of operating the hotel and miscellaneous costs.

All in all hotel condominiums may not be for the faint of heart. One would assume that if all the numbers where known, the management company is likely putting the following offer forward: the purchase should return about 4% (much like a good bond) with the bonus of 120 free days of living in Manhattan.  I really think that’s how simple the formula likely is when trying to sell the units to investors/part time residents.

So that $8.7 million unit – should return about $29,000/month in revenue, and cost (thinking that one couldn’t rent for less than a week such a large unit) about $17,000/week.

Condominium Has Radioactive Foundation

The fallout (ah, hum) from the crippling of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant continues in interesting ways. The foundation of a newly constructed 12 unit condominium in Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture, was completed using rock from a quarry that was placed under the expanded evacuation zone, April 22. The rock has turned out to be radioactive and the entire foundation is now contaminated and leaking into the first two floors.

The kicker – most of the residents there are displaced peoples from the evacuation zone. They don’t seem to be able to get a break.

I guess the next time I hear about a broken pipe or badly installed roofing I should be a little thankful that the in-floor heating is water piping – and not a nice little radioactive pile.

I Want To Build an IKEA Small Space Condo Complex

I love IKEA. I think it’s not only a store, but an idea towards simplified living that is encapsulated within a powerful brand (I am not brainwashed by a corporation!).

There is one innovation to marketing that I really like when I visit IKEA. It’s their Small Spaces demo rooms and units. Walking through their show suites you will stumble upon one or two “whole living spaces” in only a couple hundred square feet. And if we chain a bunch together we could test run a couple of “you life your condo by IKEA”

Hear me out. There is a need for two types of ultra-high density living situations: recently homeless and low cost/entry housing.

Recently homeless are individuals that are transitioning from homelessness to some sort of permanent residence.  Social programs have been helping people do this for decades, but this has recently become a hot topic with a movement in “rapid re-housing” which attempts to find housing and then treat the symptoms that caused the homelessness.

In this case, we would create individual “dorm floors” with a score or so individual Small Spaces, combined with shared common room, activity room, training room, and a larger onsite “dorm-mom” housing on each floor. The key is, instead of a dormitory feel, to use the Small Space approach to build fully legitimate apartments that are independent of each other – enforcing that that living there is about being independent. None the less we do wrap some common areas to help deliver the social programs and support on an individual level.

I guess why I look to IKEA is recently homeless people could also benefit from being in a well-designed, modern, beautiful and well equipped home. In Calgary we have a gorgeous drop in centre. Nice enough that when it was planned and built people complained it was “too nice looking” and “too much was spent on looks.” Now, it’s been a decade, and the building acts as an icon for the community, and the hundred thousand people+ who see the building daily have a positive impression. Good architecture, looks and functionality are as important. IKEA’s Small Spaces can do the on a unit by unit basis.

For low cost (and entry) housing, there shouldn’t be a disjunction between low-cost and IKEA. Low cost housing often creates an impression of ugly, low quality, slipshod, and temporary. To me it doesn’t have to be like that. We could build a specially designed complex where low-cost means value and quality, and that value and quality is driven by IKEA.

Anyways, there’s room for a company like IKEA to move from filling a house, to being a housing developer, and doing it in a way that is phenomenal.

Rich Use Condo Bylaws to Ensure Class Segregation

While there is a significant amount of growing resentment over the pettiness, corruption, and mismanagement that seem to be growing in condominiums and HOAs – the rich are looking at them to entrench the divide between them and the common riffraff.

For top end bare land condominiums and HOAs, if you don’t want “the help” cluttering your sidewalks – just pass a bylaw indicating they’re not allowed enter the area on foot. And if it’s not apparent who are residents and who are “the help” – just pass a bylaw requirement that domestics (nannies, gardeners, maintenance and builders) must dress in an easily identifiable style indicating they are “the help”.

Seriously. The El Algarrobal II in the ritzy Chicureo area of Santiago banned domestic help from entering the grounds on foot. Golf club Las Bresis de Chicureo mandates domestic help must always be in uniform.

Understandable, it can be downright problematic as a moneyed person that you might mistake a common person as somebody worth having a conversation with. Reminds me of a New Adventures of Old Christine episode I was forced to watch once, where Christine strikes up a friendship with a Portuguese mother at her son’s school only to find out she’s the neighbour’s housekeeper. Awkward!

Anyways, this seems complicated and hard to enforce. What if the uniform wasn’t obvious enough? Maybe it’s too stylish. Wouldn’t it be just easier to issue evey visitor a large id tag with travel and ownership (who they are working for) information that had to be worn prominently on their clothes. Or how about something even simpler like a giant yellow badge.

HOA Board’s Thin Skin Leads to More Controversy over Giant Menorah

Rabbi Arthur Grae and HOA Legacy of Leesburg (gated retirement community, 55+ only) came to an agreement in December to place a 6.5 foot Menorah to be set up beside a 6.5 foot Christmas tree, inside the community social hall. This only happened after the Rabbi filed suit in circuit court to get this done.

The problem is both sides were dumb, especially the HOA, as they settled with an agreement that was agreed to be expressly confidential. Now, the HOA is claiming that Grae has “discussed and opined” on the terms of the agreement. It looks like the two are going to go back court.

The HOA needs to relax, back down, and learn to build community instead of infuriating it further. All that comes across to me is the board still harbours bad feelings over the whole issue and is looking for further blood. It smacks of pettiness. Issue a statement that the board has been conservative in adapting to meeting the needs of all tenants and looks forward to putting all conflict in the past. That should solve issue right away.

The board is right – that its image has been “tarnished” – but that’s because of the board, not Rabbi Arthur Grae. It is a board that decided to keep mud racking, whose actions keep tearing at the scabs of the civil suit, and who seem to me – from the way the board is handling this situation – poor performers of their duties as officers of the HOA.

And no, placing a small menorah in the social room, may not be fair or equitable if it’s not as prominent. You may as well have placed it in a closet.

HOAs and Condominiums be wary that if you’re going to place religious symbols on common, shared, property, you better get ready to pony up for displays of all your resident celebrations. It’s only fair, supportive, and proactive in building an inclusive community (unless that’s not your intention). You should also be ready to add Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Jedi and other religious icons as well throughout the year.

And for all those Wicca and Pagan practitioners in the Legacy of Leesburg – don’t forget that equinox lands on 20th March this year – I would love to see 6.5 foot yellow, green and purple candles in the community’s social hall.