Fellow Homeowners,
I hope this letter finds you and your family doing well and that you enjoyed the summer.
There are several major topics we would like to share in this newsletter update.
- Change in management company
- Insurance coverage
- Financial Health
Change in Management Company – For the better part of a year we have had numerous issues with our HOA management company, Waccamaw Management. This was mostly due to their inability to create our financial reports correctly and timely. There were frequent accounting errors, and the response to our requests for corrections and changes were slow or were not addressed. The same was true with the maintenance personnel search with the inability and/or lack of desire to hire suitable replacement maintenance personnel.
We documented the issues and met with Waccamaw’s main office personnel in June to bring the problems to their attention. After a few months there still was no improvement in the level of performance that we received. If anything, it remained the same, or worse.
The Board of Directors decided it would be best to end our relationship with Waccamaw and we put together a committee to research and interview other management companies. We received proposals from six companies, interviewed four and decided that Ally Management would be the best management company from a value and performance standpoint.
The change will be effective January 1st and we will share the information you need as the transition progresses.
Insurance coverage - As you probably are aware by watching the news, because of all the natural disasters that have been happening, insurance companies are re-evaluating what they will insure. We see that a lot of insurance companies that did insure high rises on the ocean in the past are no longer doing so or are changing the coverages. We are aware of renewals that have doubled in price and have seen minimal renewals at a 30 to 40% increase.
Some insurance renewals are now only written with 5% deductibles, which means if One Ocean Place had damage from a named storm, the HOA would have to pay the first $1.6 million. Sometimes a deductible buy down is offered, but at a very high price or it might not be offered at all. The Board will weigh all options and will make the best fiscal decision for the HOA.
We will also be sending out a questionnaire to seek the opinion of the homeownership regarding the conversion of One Ocean Place to a smokeless complex. This would include all common areas, pool decks, unit balconies, parking garages, elevators and streetside walkways.
This subject has been brought up at our homeowners’ meetings. The board will be asking for the homeowners’ opinion on this matter for guidance. A restricted smoking area will be proposed.
Financial Health - With the discussion about probable increases in the insurance rates we thought owners would be interested in knowing more about the financial health of our HOA. We are in Good health financially. You can see the monthly balance sheets on our website, https://oneoceanplace.net/ The password for owners is beach. The financial information is listed under “HOA Documents”. Here is a quick summary:
- Operations – We are currently on track to end the year with approximately a surplus in the ~$10,000 range vs. 2023 Budget. Year-end Owner’s Equity will be ~ $350,000 range.
- Reserves - We spent $559,165 this year to complete all the projects that were scheduled for 2023 for a total of about 15 projects. To put things in perspective the three biggest projects were: Encapsulating the Building (Stucco) = $379,805; Replacing the Generator = $80,628 in 2023, $171,728 total; Boardwalk & Crossover Replacements = $32,285 in 2023, $47,469 total.
The good news is that we will end this year with over $550,000 in the Reserve Account. Additional good news is that this year we used the funds in the Reserve Account to purchase $250,000 in Certificates of Deposit and will earn $10,250 in interest (4.1%).
- The 2024 Budget – We are hard at work with developing the budget for 2024. One of the things we are focusing on is the impact of the insurance costs. We will be separating the assessment charges into three parts as opposed to the usual two (Operating & Reserves). We will be breaking out the insurance component so you can see its impact on your monthly assessment. As always, we will be investigating other ways to reduce expenses.
- This year our Spectrum TV/Internet contract expired. The Board negotiated with HTC and Spectrum. We signed a 5-year contract with Spectrum at a savings of $9800 a year, a rate freeze to 2025, 3% rate increase cap per year, 500mbps download speed and a sign on check for $28,500 paid to the HOA.
As a reminder, this Fall, we will also be updating our garage parking entrance gate system and implementing a gate locking system to access our pools and the beach. We have noticed people that are not guests or owners at One Ocean Place using our building for beach access and to use our spas and pools. This new system will hopefully restrict unauthorized use. There has been a good response for the requested information needed from owners to implement the system. The Board will be sending an email with additional information explaining how to use the new features of the system. This will also explain how those who rent their units and rental agencies will handle the automatic reservations feature.
Regards,
The One Ocean Place Board of Directors