From the Letters to the Editor, Smoke Signals Online - May 27, 2008:
“Higher POA fees will hurt some residents.”
“To the Editor:
Presently in Big Canoe many changes are going on. All are designed to improve our lives and community. I hear many rumors ranging from applying a fee on purchasing homes by 1 1/2% to raising the association fee by $40.00 per month.
In over 10 years in the real estate business as an agent and broker we were always reminded that it is how much down and how much per month that sold homes. The 1 1/2% will not mean much on a $600,000 home, which is becoming the average.
However, the real purpose of this letter is to remind people in Big Canoe that we are also made up of widows and many on fixed incomes. In the last 10 years I have volunteered my time with Saint Vincent de Paul; we have had to come to the financial aid of some of your neighbors. Yes, we come to Big Canoe and other retirement communities to assist those who live there and work there.
If you did this work you would hear there stories, as this is where they come to spend the rest of their lives; lets not ruin their dream and drive up their cost of living by raising the Association Fee above where we are now other than the usual CPI [inflation rate] increases.
Please show concern for those who have less than you have.
[JVW]
Vincentian”
7 users commented in " Is Big Canoe pushing the fixed income elderly out of the community? "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackBig Canoe’s fixed-income seniors need to realize that the POA wants to build a first-class RESORT community like those found at Hilton Head, SC. You need to assume that the 1% initiation fee will not be enough. As they have said in their White Papers, similar communities are paying up to $65,000 in initiation fees. The timing is not good, but some of us are hoping to cut our losses by getting out soon.
After a group outing a few years ago, I drove an elderly single lady home from Jasper, GA. On the way back to Big Canoe, she broke down and cried. She said that she had to move away from Big Canoe, and her friends, because of the ever-increasing monthly assessment fees.
The next day, at a Big Canoe committee meeting, I brought up the issue of fees and the fixed-income seniors to the committee Chairman: his response, “If they can’t afford to live here, they should move.” The lady moved to the Bent Tree community a few months later.
Yes, Big Canoe has lost sight of the community’s original purpose of being a retirement community; and yes, you are right, Big Canoe now wants to be a first class Hilton Head type RESORT community.
Big Canoe is not a friendly place for the elderly on fixed-incomes. May God bless and help Big Canoe’s elderly.
The monthly assessments are getting out of hand, due largely to the ineptness and financial incompetency of the POA board. Right now, they have installed their lap dog as the “temporary” general manager, who now says he isn’t going to quit until at least next year. They have hired numerous unneeded employees, such as a director of amenities, additional assistants in the tennis operation, and various others, all of which we pay for. Now they have made arrangements for the community as a whole to pay for $285,000 worth of golf carts, want us to build a new golf maintenance facility, and who knows what else. We are also subsidizing the food and beverage operation by over $25,000 per month. The monthly assessment should not be increased to cover the cost of ammenities. These must be paid for by the people who use them. If they can’t or won’t pay for them, shut them down. Remember, less than 20% of the residents are golf members, about the same percentage belong to the fitness center, and about 5% play tennis. These features are nice to have but not at the expense of the 80% who don’t use them.
I have had discussions with two homebuyers who are looking and are able to purchase homes in this poor economy. Both of them are asking first about the community POA’s monthly fees and have said that a 6% plus monthly fee increase would eliminate that community’s properties from consideration.
Has anyone searched with Google using “Big Canoe” and “Fees”? The current POA Board is killing property values at Big Canoe.
You realize you are on a fixed income when the POA Board increases 2009 monthly assessments 6% during a recession.
For those on a fixed income, staying at Big Canoe will not be easy in the coming years. The elected POA Board officials, and the Big Canoe developers, want Big Canoe to be more like the Greenwood Development Corporation‘s Palmetto Dunes property located at Hilton Head Island, SC. Big Canoe’s residents will be required to cover the costs of this transition.
There are some short-term answers to a fixed income resident’s cash shortfalls. Whenever the POA Board increases the monthly assessment, decrease your usage of the community’s amenities. For example, the 2009 monthly assessment increased by about $14.00/month; therefore, reduce your monthly visits/meals at the Clubhouse restaurant by one meal each month.
As your spending at the Clubhouse restaurant is reduced to zero or when the POA Board assesses a new special assessment, stop using the Big Canoe amenities or at least cut back on your usage.
Good luck.
Be afraid. Be very afraid. Inflation destroys fixed income retirees’ financial health.
A current POA Board Director wants to debate the need to tie annual assessments increases to inflation.
Will the community of Big Canoe soon see annual assessment fees increases of 7%, 10% or even 12% and higher?
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