Mountain Green Sales?

[Stormchaser]

Mountain Green is an example of why you should always research a condo's financials before making a purchase. Anyone buying over the past two years who didn't look at the financials is obviously paying the price now. A well run condo has an engineer do an inspection every 5-10 years to check physical condition, provide a report, and provide guidance on what reserve funds are needed. Knowing the useful life and current condition of critical systems and structures is important and Associations need to plan maintenance and funding based on expected useful life. If something lasts longer than expected useful life, that's a bonus, but you can't count on it. Did Mountain Green do any of this or did they simply defer maintenance until the sh*t hit the fan?

Weak management, bandaid repairs, poor ownership participation on boards and at board meetings. All that has changed in the last 5-6 years, but uncovering years of neglect isn’t cheap. Outdoor pool was replaced a few years ago. Water supply (wells, pumps) failed and replaced along with new treatment system. Replacememt heat plant for Bldg 3 will be in place for heating season. Health club will be operational for Thanksgiving, amongst other repairs. Things have been moving in the right direction for a while now, but it is a big hole to dig out of. It will be nice not having my unit fill with smoke when my neighbors light fires (back drafts down chimneys due to no building supply air), and not having to replace ceiling tiles in my kitchen routinely from roof leaks 3 floors above me…

[Stormchaser]

sh*t hadn’t truly quite hit the fan yet, but the big sack sitting on the shelf behind the fan needs a lot more than bandaids at this point to keep it up there. New board took the bull by the horns. Aggressive but expensive. Will double most folks mgmt fees.

[RENO]

Almost bought there many years ago. All the units we looked at were neglected and needed repairs except 1. 1 actually was on the top floor and they had many towels stuffed around the sky light with water leaking in? Ridiculous. Glad we went with a different condo devp. We've had some big payments over the last 10 years also and still have 1 more big one that we've been collecting for a couple years, but nothing close to Mt Green!

[Seacoaster]

Interestingly enough, as I understand it, the newer owners who paid up to get in are the ones actually OK with this, whereas some of the long term owners are not so much. i am guessing they have been dragging tons of rental income out of these and would just assume it stay that way by not having assessment impact that....

[Stormchaser]

Interestingly enough, as I understand it, the newer owners who paid up to get in are the ones actually OK with this, whereas some of the long term owners are not so much. i am guessing they have been dragging tons of rental income out of these and would just assume it stay that way by not having assessment impact that....

Most of the folks against the project weren't against making the repairs and improvements, they were against jamming all the work into 2-3 years and funding the project with a 10-year loan instead of a much longer term. The cost impacts were too much for a lot of owners, but the Board didn't give owners options to spread out construction projects or costs. Personally, I thought they could have addressed the major issues first, and then worked on less urgent items and cosmetics to soften the blow to owners, but the Board wasn't interested in going that route.

[Bubba]

Interestingly enough, as I understand it, the newer owners who paid up to get in are the ones actually OK with this, whereas some of the long term owners are not so much. i am guessing they have been dragging tons of rental income out of these and would just assume it stay that way by not having assessment impact that....

Most of the folks against the project weren't against making the repairs and improvements, they were against jamming all the work into 2-3 years and funding the project with a 10-year loan instead of a much longer term. The cost impacts were too much for a lot of owners, but the Board didn't give owners options to spread out construction projects or costs. Personally, I thought they could have addressed the major issues first, and then worked on less urgent items and cosmetics to soften the blow to owners, but the Board wasn't interested in going that route.

Possibly because they didn't want to have to come back to the owners several times for more funding approval?

[Stormchaser]

Board doesn't really need funding approval. The Board sets the yearly budget. Could be a billion dollars. If the owners want to challenge the budget, 50% of all owners must vote to not approve the budget. That's a tough standard to overcome - 50% of all owners, not just 50% of those voting. 50% of owners don't even attend the yearly meeting. And emergency spending is done without a vote. $4.7M for the pool/garage repairs without any direct consent by ownership (bylaws allow). But somehow those emergency repairs include a full renovation of the health club...hmm. The Board has been steadily working for years to improve the standing of MGR in the rental community, and the glaring inspection report has allowed them to fast forward that process. Board elections come up next month. We'll see if ownership wants to maintain continuity, or make a change...

[daytripper]

Is the restaurant gonna get new windows? That place had quite the draft. Is it still hops on the hill?

[Stormchaser]

Windows and doors all around.

Still hops. Try the tatas.

[Bubba]

Board doesn't really need funding approval. The Board sets the yearly budget. Could be a billion dollars. If the owners want to challenge the budget, 50% of all owners must vote to not approve the budget. That's a tough standard to overcome - 50% of all owners, not just 50% of those voting. 50% of owners don't even attend the yearly meeting. And emergency spending is done without a vote. $4.7M for the pool/garage repairs without any direct consent by ownership (bylaws allow). But somehow those emergency repairs include a full renovation of the health club...hmm. The Board has been steadily working for years to improve the standing of MGR in the rental community, and the glaring inspection report has allowed them to fast forward that process. Board elections come up next month. We'll see if ownership wants to maintain continuity, or make a change...

I was under the impression that this was a special assessment that required a vote but I guess I was mistaken.

[RENO]

Board doesn't really need funding approval. The Board sets the yearly budget. Could be a billion dollars. If the owners want to challenge the budget, 50% of all owners must vote to not approve the budget. That's a tough standard to overcome - 50% of all owners, not just 50% of those voting. 50% of owners don't even attend the yearly meeting. And emergency spending is done without a vote. $4.7M for the pool/garage repairs without any direct consent by ownership (bylaws allow). But somehow those emergency repairs include a full renovation of the health club...hmm. The Board has been steadily working for years to improve the standing of MGR in the rental community, and the glaring inspection report has allowed them to fast forward that process. Board elections come up next month. We'll see if ownership wants to maintain continuity, or make a change...

I was under the impression that this was a special assessment that required a vote but I guess I was mistaken.

I thought the same thing. I'm on the board at our development and if we tried to pass something like this without voting we would be crucified! The good thing about our development is that it's 40 units and at least 1/2 show up for the yearly owners meeting. When we first bought though about 20 years ago for the first 10 years or so there was only a few people that would show up for the owners meeting, but there rarely was anything on the agenda of significance. A lot of differed maintenance by the previous board that caught up with us. Once we started having issues which started with the wood stoves about 10 years ago, the meeting was moved to Columbus weekend so more people could come and many people showed up. We probably had 3/4 of the owners at that first meeting on Columbus weekend.

[spanky]

Any news on these repairs/assessments/progress?

[LINYbob]

Why is Hops leaving just as ski season starts? We'll miss that place.

[Mister Moose]

I'll bet a beer in the next place it had a lot to do with the date of the renewal of the lease. The board of directors is going to look to allocate some of the huge expense they're facing on tenants, and Hops couldn't justify the expense. This space has been very transient for decades, and Hops was the most stability they had. It's really sad to see.

[PinnacleJim]

Any news on these repairs/assessments/progress?

Lots of work going on in Building 1. Looks like they are going with metal roofs which is good for a long life, but not cheap. Do note that the big number of units on the market is way down. Either units sold (at reduced prices) or have been pulled from the market.

I also note quite a few units at other complexes have recently come on the market after a summer of almost nothing for sale.