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Originally Posted by MartinSE
I see a lot of "they won't hire" said one way or the other. Unemployment is at almost historic low levels (3.6%) and every company is struggling to find "low end" employees. Combine that with the inflation and it just isn't worth it for low-end employees to work for the low wages so many of these jobs pay. Either the low wages need to do away (our amenity fees go up) or we all struggle through this cycle of inflation. The thing is I don't recall prices of most things going back down all the way after any other cycle ends. So, I expect we need to look forward to/prepare for higher amenity fees next year.
I honestly don't know who pays for the rec centers budget, if it is part of the amenity fee then if you have a problem with how something is being done, that is up to your Community Development District.
I know it is all great fun to constantly blame the devs but sometimes it is not them.
Personally, I think the devs have done something no one has ever done before, creating a place like this that 20 years later looks brand new. That is no small feat. Most senior communities I visited before coming here look run down after less than a decade. The CDD idea of turning over management of the district to the residents is a great idea and allows the devs to focus on what they do best, building and selling 400 homes per month.
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If they turned management over to residents we would probably be looking to move. Prior to moving here we lived in a gorgeous planned community in Venice, Florida. When we moved in it was still being run by the developer and a professional management company because it wasn’t completely built out. The place was gorgeous, pristine, and the HOA was reasonable (although higher than what we pay here for an amenities fee.) after about a year and a half building was complete and the HOA was turned over to the residents. Eighteen months later we were out of there. Constant in-fighting amongst board members, they really couldn’t agree on the color of ****e. Things started to deteriorate almost immediately in the common areas. This resulted in some injuries in the clubhouse area that resulted in liability suits causing our fees to skyrocket. We are still on their email list and just received an email last week that they are having a recall vote on one of the board members because he spent unauthorized funds, signed an agreement with a contractor without a vote, and verbally abused a homeowner who spoke out against him at a meeting. We have heard similar horror stories from friends who live in other planned communities with resident run HOAs.
The developers are responsible for the beauty and wonderful amenities we see around us. When we came here (just this year) we looked around us and were amazed at what they have built, and how well it works. We have lived in 13 different states (including Hawaii) and have traveled extensively over our lives and I can honestly say we have never seen a place like this. It is exceptional in every way and it didn’t become that way because of bad decisions made by the developers. They have a vested interest in maintaining this place as the beautiful oasis it is because it sells homes for them and they have plans to sell lots more homes. I say, let them keep doing what they have done so beautifully up to now.
I agree with a previous poster that said that seniors are an extremely difficult group to please. I hear that from people in the outside community as well. A lot of resentment because they say we want everything for nothing and aren’t very nice when we don’t get it. I am saddened that we have garnered that reputation among our neighbors but from the complaints that seem endless about a myriad of things that, not only seem trivial a lot of times, also are things that most people in this country could only dream of but for so many here just aren’t “good enough.”
As for the complaints I see about the amenities fees…..look around you, so many amenities it would take a year to do something at each one of them. That community I mentioned previously had a clubhouse with a small fitness center and one pool. Their HOA fee this year is $359 a month. Property taxes are just as high also.
We may still be in the honeymoon phase, but there is no place else we’d rather be. And if someone else knows of another place that offers as much, runs better, is more beautiful, and costs the same or less, then they should probably go there, and let the rest of us know about it too.