By now you know we had a difficult 2011 year financially.  We’re still doing quite well with our overall reserves, but we ran a deficit in 2011 (for the first year ever) as a result of necessary repairs done to our property.  There are improvements and repairs that still need to be made, as well; we’ll discuss some of those at our annual meeting in January. One obvious one is our front doors – many of them are showing some signs of wear (either as a result of sunlight or water damage).

The HOA has purchased the stain used on the doors, as well as a protective top-coat to put over the stain (we don’t think the protective top-coat was used the first time our doors were stained).  The work was already performed on the door to Unit #1 :

The total work time for sanding, staining, and applying the top-coat was less than an hour.  There was a substantial wait in between the stain and the top coat – meaning organizing a company to come in and re-stain all of the doors would be a logistical nightmare similar to the yearly fire inspection, as well as an enormous cost to the HOA (as it would likely be two site visits, one for each coat).  Purchasing the stain and top-coat and applying it ourselves will cost us a mere 5% of our best estimate – huge savings at a time when we could really use them.

So, here are your options for having a nicer looking front door:

1)  Email the HOA and let us know when you’d like the stain and the top-coat so you can apply it yourself.  The directions are clear, but we can show you how to apply it to your door if you like.  Many of you have requested this option or agreed to re-stain it yourself already; thanks for that.  Just let us know when you’d like the material.   The only supplies you’ll need for yourself are one pair of protective gloves (rubber, plastic, or latex) and rags.

2)  Email us and let us know you’d like the HOA to re-stain your door for you.  Once we have a list of units we’ll need to work on, we’ll set up a day to do the sanding and staining.  We can come back anytime after it’s dried to do the top coat – it takes only a minute or two to apply.  (NOTE:  This is not Ghertner coming to do the work for us, as that would cost money.  This will be your HOA board members doing the work for you voluntarily.   As such, this is likely to be a longer wait than option 1.)

3)  Leave your door as-is.  A lot of them still look OK, a lot of it depends on the way they face and how much sun/rain they are exposed to.   If you’re an off-site owner and would like a recommendation on whether your door should be re-stained, let us know and we can give you our recommendation.

Be aware the door needs to be at least cracked open during the entire process (including allowing the top-coat to dry).   So if you’d like to wait until Spring (when it’s warmer) that’s fine as well.  Just know you’ll need to be home and the door will need to be open.

Thanks for your help and flexibility as we work for solutions that are cost-friendly for all of us.

PS:  The name/color of the stain has been added to our Information page on our website: http://madisonsquarehoa.wordpress.com/fyi/

This is a big deal – we’ve been working on this for almost a year and a half – and positively affects our resale values (not to mention resale abilities).

Just a reminder that it is strictly against the law (let alone community policy) to have a grill on your patio, in your entrance, or stored in your home.  It violates numerous fire/safety codes and violates our community insurance policy.

We installed a community grill out back – please take advantage of it.  You must not have a grill in or around your living space.  Warnings have been issued to units with grills on the balcony, and fines will be assessed if the situation isn’t fixed soon (especially considering our upcoming fire inspection).

Thanks,

The HOA

The new mailboxes are up (yay!) and we have the new keys.  Tonight at 6 pm, the HOA will deliver keys to resident’s doors.  Please listen for a knock.  If you are an off-site owner, a single key is being sent in the mail.

If you will not be home at 6 pm tonight, please stop by 1204 6th Avenue (the unit farthest north in our development) sometime afterwards to pick up your key.

Mail delivery should resume by Monday at the latest.

Off-site owners, please pass this information on to your renters.

Thanks for your patience,

The HOA

A couple of quick updates:

1)  We don’t know why the new mailboxes aren’t installed.  They should be installed any day. (UPDATE:  Our boxes are on backorder.  It will be another couple of weeks.   Sorry for the inconvenience…)

2)  We should hear about our FHA application any day as well.  They requested additional documentation last week (for the billionth time) and we provided it immediately.  We should hear word soon.

JULY 20th:

On Wednesday, July 20th between 3 and 5 pm we will have our annual fire inspection tour.  Every unit must be accessible during this time.  If you will not be home between 3 and 5 pm on that day, you must provide the HOA with a key to your unit so the fire marshal can access your unit.  Please contact the HOA to either 1) let us know that you’ll be home or 2) arrange where and when you can leave a key if you won’t be around.

During this time we will also have a Ghertner rep with us to estimate any repairs that need to be made to any units.  The HOA is only responsible for anything outside of each unit, but accessing the balconies and upper story windows of the upstairs units will give us an opportunity to evaluate if there’s any water damages that we can help fix.  We’ve had reports recently of water damage in unis, so this will be a chance to see what the HOA will be able to help with.

Please contact us ASAP about your plans for July 20th.

Thanks.

- looks like the remains of the big tree are going to have to come down.  It’s unsafe as it stands.  Expect it do be down soon.

-  If your personal property (ie car) received damage from the tree (not from hail), make sure you put in a claim with your personal insurance.  We’re looking into whether the HOA is covered for tree damage to personal property and will let you know, but the first step is claiming with your personal insurance.  Hail damage, you’re on your own to handle — sorry.

-  We won’t get a new mailbox for a couple of weeks.  You’ll have to pick up your mail for a while.  We THINK it’s at the post office on Rosa L. Parks, but will let you know for sure…

Send any questions our way.  Sorry to those of you who lost property or sustained damage.  Also sorry we’re losing one of those great trees in the back

We’ve had some positive developments in regards to becoming an FHA approved property.  I will outline the details below for those of you interested, but the short story is that it requires us to make changes to our Master Deed, which in turn requires us to obtain a notarized signature from 67% of our owners (which is 12 of our owners).

We can arrange to have a Notary Public on our property, but it needs to be during a time when we can obtain 67% of our owners’ signatures.  We were thinking this Thursday, late afternoon.  PLEASE EMAIL US if you will be able to drop by one of the Units  in Germantown Madison Square this Thursday (May 5) in the late afternoon so you can sign a notarized document (probably between 5 and 6, though we could push it 30 minutes either direction if it helps…)

Here’s the longer version, if you’re interested:
The reason that we weren’t ever going to be FHA approved is that our Master Deed shows that our developers used a special type of funding that requires one or more of our units to be income restricted (Affordable Housing, etc.)  A Condominium development may not become approved for FHA lending if there are income restrictions on any of the units.  So, ours was a lost cause.  Our original developers, Germantown Madison Square, did not in fact use that special type of lending — it was arranged for and cited in the Master Deed, but not in fact used.  So, our developers gave a lawyer the proper documentation and he has changed our Master Deed — but a changing of the Master Deed requires signatures from 67% of our owners.  All you will be signing off on is that you recognize that the Master Deed has changed, and the only way it has changed is that one of our units is no longer considered Affordable Housing.

Please send any questions my way and please email stating whether or not you will be available this Thursday afternoon.

Thanks
Madison Square HOA

PS:  A big thanks to Aaron White and Hunter Connelly, our original developers, for spearheading this effort.

You might notice we’re tweaking our landscape lighting over the next few days.   For both security and aesthetic reasons, we’ll be adding some solar powered lighting (we investigated permanent hard-wired lighting and it’s quite expensive and out of our budget).  However, using solar-powered lighting we might be able to accomplish what we hope to accomplish – which is, light the big tree out in visitor parking.  We hope to highlight it for aesthetic reasons while at the same time provide some security lighting for the vehicles that park in the back of our lot and along the alley.

We’ll be tweaking the location and number of lights to fit our needs – please send any feedback our way.

Additionally, we’ll be replacing the broken/crumbling concrete splash guards this weekend.  The new ones are plastic, but at least the same color as the drainpipes.  We’ll see if we like the look of it once they’re installed and go from there.  The problem with concrete is that given the amount of water they receive (due to the design of our building), they’re never going to last very long – they either become cracked and break apart, or they turn green with algae.  Given their price, we think we’d rather go with something cheaper and more replaceable.  Again, it’s a work in progress.

We’ll keep you updated…

Madison Square HOA

Martin’s Towing will remain our towing company.  However, residents will now need an authorized signature in order to tow a vehicle.   If you need a car towed from your space:    Before you call Martin’s (256-9502), please  knock on the door of one of our board members: (Joel in Unit 1, Emily in Unit 8, or Kim at 1204 6th).  Since most of those board members are not at home during weekdays, Jennifer in Unit 1 will serve as Joel’s proxy if someone needs to be towed during a weekday.

In a separate email to all owners, we will send Joel’s phone number in case no one is home at any of the three board member’s residences.

Because of this new policy, board members will now be more proactive in having unknown cars towed.  We’ll essentially call Martin’s any time we see a car that we don’t recognize parked in a space.  This means if you have a visitor park in someone else’s spot, they will be towed.  This means if you have a visitor use your spot to park, you should probably leave a note on your guest’s dashboard saying it’s OK.  This means that if you are an owner with a new renter, the first time a new renter parks in a spot they are likely to be towed (unless, again, a note is left on the dashboard).

As part of this policy, a couple of new signs will go up shortly explaining to people how their car can be claimed if it is towed.  The HOA will not be responsible for any costs incurred from towing – even if it is a misunderstanding about parking spaces, a guest, or a new resident.

Please email if you have any questions or concerns.

Did you know that if you haven’t had your locks re-keyed since you’ve purchased them from the developer that they still have the master cylinder in them?  This isn’t a huge problem, but they are much more likely to seize up and leave you locked out (or in!) in this case.  We’ve had some positive feedback regarding Green Hills Lock and Key who have re-keyed the locks for a few residents.  If you haven’t had them re-done since Madison Square was built, you might consider doing so before you’re left locked in/out.

Secondly, we’ll have a new Towing strategy to announce soon.   As predicted, with the new construction people have started using our lot for general neighborhood parking.  We’ve had some resistance from the towing company about towing so much from our property – they’ll pretty soon need an authorized signature to make that happen.  Look soon for a new post and information about who will be authorized to tow.

Please contact us with any questions.