Letter to Owners September 2011
September 2, 2011
Dear Ocean Walk Owners,
Since Donna, Terry and I, took over the Ocean Walk board in December of 2007, there have been a
great many positive changes. Below, is a comparison of what the status of Ocean walk was in 2007 and
what it is now. I hope it serves to refresh the memory of our older owners and inform our newer owners.
September 2008. It follows:
WHAT WE FOUND on December 2007
1- Special assessment account: Balance $9,400.00 on 1/1/08 and $20,000.00 worth of checks which
were written.
2- Operating account: Negative balance on 12/24/07
3- Fire extinguishers in the building: all expired. Signs were missing.
4- Building fire alarm: not working. Last inspection was done on 6/2006. It is required one per year.
5- Elevator service maintenance: unpaid
6- Janitorial worker: salary unpaid for the last two months.
7- Florida Power Light: A $3,501.00 bill unpaid.
8- Dry wall worker: showed up with a $1,400.00 unpaid bill.
9- Several more vendors showed up claiming unpaid money for a variety of rendered services.
10- Hallway AC’s working without filters and never maintained since they were installed.
11- Lien on Ocean Walk for lack of payment to one of the suppliers.
12- Washer and drier account closed since two years ago. OW was not collecting any money.
13- Flood insurance, required by law, was cancelled on September 2007.
14- Elevator: There is an open permit with the city. Unfinished work when it was installed.
15- Ongoing Project: All contractors stopped working for lack of payment. All of them had an expired
permit. Contractors were not related to each other.
16- No master contractor and plans for the project as required by the City of Miami Beach.
17- A major electrical work done by someone (we were not able to find by whom) without permit that
needed to be fixed and cleared by the city.
18- Some work done in the ceiling that has to be corrected and part of it redone.
19- Sprinkler work (part of the project): we could not find any bid on this.
20- Not door in the storage room.
21- Severe lack of maintenance in the whole building.
22- Elevator Certificate: Expired since 2006.
23- Loan: $81,000.00 balance.
24- Cable contract: Ocean Walk was paying for 80 units instead of 78.
As you all know, this was not the complete list of problems. When we got involved, we only had partial
paperwork from previous years. Even now, after over three years, problems that had not been dealt with
previous to 2007 are emerging.
After three years of the dedication and hard work of former board members and current ones, Maria
and Victor, we can all see a huge positive change. Now, you can compare the before and after. Most, if not
all of the above issues, have been resolved. We had our financials tended to by an accounting firm, which
has worked its way up to the 2010 year. Our bills to vendors have been paid and we correct any violations
as soon as we are notified, we maintain our building, we work to the best of our ability on collections, and
little by little we are building a healthier condo association. Moreover, we have not increased the
maintenance fee in the past three years, despite the fact that our insurance and other expenses have been
going up.
There are some further topics I’d like to review:
Management Company
In order to efficiently operate our building within our very limited budget (keep in mind we do not have
reserves) changes were needed. We changed the management company to Choice Property
Management because it provides more efficient service and most importantly, its charge is half of the
previous company. This change represents a substantial yearly savings for our association and much
superior service.
Collections
It is our biggest problem. Out of 78 units, 29 are in arrears. 37% of the owners are NOT paying dues. 10
of them have balances over $10,000.00. They have all been referred to the attorney and ten of them have
been submitted for foreclosure as per our attorney’s recommendation.
A few delinquent units were sold, and the association was able to collect some money; but a few new
owners are already becoming delinquent.
Water and electricity
These are the highest bills we pay every month and I request your cooperation in lowering them. Some
suggestions:
Please, turn off TV and electrical appliances once your tenant leaves. If you are an owner living in the
building, do the same. We have empty units with utilities on 24/7. We are planning to check all units for
possible faucet/toilet running water. We will replace flappers, if needed, and you will be charge $15.00 per
change. Signs will be displayed in the building with dates on which the inspection will take place in each
floor. The tentative schedule is: first week of October, first floor, second week, second floor, third week,
third floor and the fourth week for make up’s.
Osvaldo, maintenance employee
Osvaldo is in charge of maintenance and repair of the common elements in our building. He could assist
owners and tenants if an emergency arises. Please keep in mind that he works for Ocean Walk and not for
any individual owners/tenants. If you want Osvaldo to do any repair in your unit, this has to be done after his
work hours. Osvaldo has NO obligation to repair anything in our apartments; inspect any broken
appliances in the units; change A/C units, carry the old appliances downstairs, receive your tenants, host
plumbers, contractors, and the like. NONE of the above is his responsibility as the maintenance employee
for the association.
Moreover, Osvaldo is NOT allowed to lend or release any unit key belonging to the association to any third
party. Osvaldo only may open a unit door with written owner authorization sent through the management
company. Real estate agents working for unit owners should not expect Osvaldo to do their jobs, to open
unit doors, to check their apartments, to do repairs, to answer tenant complaints, to check in/out tenant, etc.
Please, ask them not to call for these types of requests.
Security issues
Some owners are very selective in choosing their tenants while others not. Lazy background checks on the
part of the owner’s results in unwanted tenants in the building and creates great problems for the
association. Many times these tenants belong to those delinquent units. Since many of them are short-term
rentals, it is extremely difficult to start a legal process against them. You can cooperate by checking
prospective tenant’s background, asking for a copy of driver license or passport, not lending FOB’s to your
friends, closing doors behind you, being aware of your surroundings, and reporting any suspicious activity
to the police. In addition, if you notice people in the pool area that do not belong to the building, call the
police.
Security tapes
If you need a copy of a security tape, the unit owner should send a written request to the management
company including an explanation of the event to be searched, date, frame time, and a $150.00 money
order. We won’t honor the verbal requests of tenants and real estate agents.
Other concerns
Please, do not leave unwanted furniture, mattresses, old AC’s, stoves, refrigerators, etc. by the garbage
bins. These items won’t be collected by the garbage pickup company. The association has to hire another
vendor for its removal. We will charge $150.00 fee to any unit doing so.
Fumigation is done the last Wednesday of each month. However, we have been unsuccessful in entering
all apartments because we do not have their keys. Although keys have been requested several times to
owners and/or their agents, we still don’t have them. Please, do not complain if you have bugs when you
don’t allow us to fumigate your unit.
I have been the association president since 2007 and the goal of our current board has always been to
bring transparency, honesty, credibility, and respect to our association. We strive to do our best while
working for each and every one of you; not to mention protect our collective investment. We work day and
night for you, including weekends. Keeping Ocean Walk running and thriving is a fulltime job…without pay.
Regardless, please rest assured that your BOD would continue to be committed to the association and
protect our property. We are dedicated to continue taking Ocean Walk forward.
Thank you for your cooperation and support.
Susan Omil,President of the BOD
Dear Ocean Walk Owners,
Since Donna, Terry and I, took over the Ocean Walk board in December of 2007, there have been a
great many positive changes. Below, is a comparison of what the status of Ocean walk was in 2007 and
what it is now. I hope it serves to refresh the memory of our older owners and inform our newer owners.
September 2008. It follows:
WHAT WE FOUND on December 2007
1- Special assessment account: Balance $9,400.00 on 1/1/08 and $20,000.00 worth of checks which
were written.
2- Operating account: Negative balance on 12/24/07
3- Fire extinguishers in the building: all expired. Signs were missing.
4- Building fire alarm: not working. Last inspection was done on 6/2006. It is required one per year.
5- Elevator service maintenance: unpaid
6- Janitorial worker: salary unpaid for the last two months.
7- Florida Power Light: A $3,501.00 bill unpaid.
8- Dry wall worker: showed up with a $1,400.00 unpaid bill.
9- Several more vendors showed up claiming unpaid money for a variety of rendered services.
10- Hallway AC’s working without filters and never maintained since they were installed.
11- Lien on Ocean Walk for lack of payment to one of the suppliers.
12- Washer and drier account closed since two years ago. OW was not collecting any money.
13- Flood insurance, required by law, was cancelled on September 2007.
14- Elevator: There is an open permit with the city. Unfinished work when it was installed.
15- Ongoing Project: All contractors stopped working for lack of payment. All of them had an expired
permit. Contractors were not related to each other.
16- No master contractor and plans for the project as required by the City of Miami Beach.
17- A major electrical work done by someone (we were not able to find by whom) without permit that
needed to be fixed and cleared by the city.
18- Some work done in the ceiling that has to be corrected and part of it redone.
19- Sprinkler work (part of the project): we could not find any bid on this.
20- Not door in the storage room.
21- Severe lack of maintenance in the whole building.
22- Elevator Certificate: Expired since 2006.
23- Loan: $81,000.00 balance.
24- Cable contract: Ocean Walk was paying for 80 units instead of 78.
As you all know, this was not the complete list of problems. When we got involved, we only had partial
paperwork from previous years. Even now, after over three years, problems that had not been dealt with
previous to 2007 are emerging.
After three years of the dedication and hard work of former board members and current ones, Maria
and Victor, we can all see a huge positive change. Now, you can compare the before and after. Most, if not
all of the above issues, have been resolved. We had our financials tended to by an accounting firm, which
has worked its way up to the 2010 year. Our bills to vendors have been paid and we correct any violations
as soon as we are notified, we maintain our building, we work to the best of our ability on collections, and
little by little we are building a healthier condo association. Moreover, we have not increased the
maintenance fee in the past three years, despite the fact that our insurance and other expenses have been
going up.
There are some further topics I’d like to review:
Management Company
In order to efficiently operate our building within our very limited budget (keep in mind we do not have
reserves) changes were needed. We changed the management company to Choice Property
Management because it provides more efficient service and most importantly, its charge is half of the
previous company. This change represents a substantial yearly savings for our association and much
superior service.
Collections
It is our biggest problem. Out of 78 units, 29 are in arrears. 37% of the owners are NOT paying dues. 10
of them have balances over $10,000.00. They have all been referred to the attorney and ten of them have
been submitted for foreclosure as per our attorney’s recommendation.
A few delinquent units were sold, and the association was able to collect some money; but a few new
owners are already becoming delinquent.
Water and electricity
These are the highest bills we pay every month and I request your cooperation in lowering them. Some
suggestions:
Please, turn off TV and electrical appliances once your tenant leaves. If you are an owner living in the
building, do the same. We have empty units with utilities on 24/7. We are planning to check all units for
possible faucet/toilet running water. We will replace flappers, if needed, and you will be charge $15.00 per
change. Signs will be displayed in the building with dates on which the inspection will take place in each
floor. The tentative schedule is: first week of October, first floor, second week, second floor, third week,
third floor and the fourth week for make up’s.
Osvaldo, maintenance employee
Osvaldo is in charge of maintenance and repair of the common elements in our building. He could assist
owners and tenants if an emergency arises. Please keep in mind that he works for Ocean Walk and not for
any individual owners/tenants. If you want Osvaldo to do any repair in your unit, this has to be done after his
work hours. Osvaldo has NO obligation to repair anything in our apartments; inspect any broken
appliances in the units; change A/C units, carry the old appliances downstairs, receive your tenants, host
plumbers, contractors, and the like. NONE of the above is his responsibility as the maintenance employee
for the association.
Moreover, Osvaldo is NOT allowed to lend or release any unit key belonging to the association to any third
party. Osvaldo only may open a unit door with written owner authorization sent through the management
company. Real estate agents working for unit owners should not expect Osvaldo to do their jobs, to open
unit doors, to check their apartments, to do repairs, to answer tenant complaints, to check in/out tenant, etc.
Please, ask them not to call for these types of requests.
Security issues
Some owners are very selective in choosing their tenants while others not. Lazy background checks on the
part of the owner’s results in unwanted tenants in the building and creates great problems for the
association. Many times these tenants belong to those delinquent units. Since many of them are short-term
rentals, it is extremely difficult to start a legal process against them. You can cooperate by checking
prospective tenant’s background, asking for a copy of driver license or passport, not lending FOB’s to your
friends, closing doors behind you, being aware of your surroundings, and reporting any suspicious activity
to the police. In addition, if you notice people in the pool area that do not belong to the building, call the
police.
Security tapes
If you need a copy of a security tape, the unit owner should send a written request to the management
company including an explanation of the event to be searched, date, frame time, and a $150.00 money
order. We won’t honor the verbal requests of tenants and real estate agents.
Other concerns
Please, do not leave unwanted furniture, mattresses, old AC’s, stoves, refrigerators, etc. by the garbage
bins. These items won’t be collected by the garbage pickup company. The association has to hire another
vendor for its removal. We will charge $150.00 fee to any unit doing so.
Fumigation is done the last Wednesday of each month. However, we have been unsuccessful in entering
all apartments because we do not have their keys. Although keys have been requested several times to
owners and/or their agents, we still don’t have them. Please, do not complain if you have bugs when you
don’t allow us to fumigate your unit.
I have been the association president since 2007 and the goal of our current board has always been to
bring transparency, honesty, credibility, and respect to our association. We strive to do our best while
working for each and every one of you; not to mention protect our collective investment. We work day and
night for you, including weekends. Keeping Ocean Walk running and thriving is a fulltime job…without pay.
Regardless, please rest assured that your BOD would continue to be committed to the association and
protect our property. We are dedicated to continue taking Ocean Walk forward.
Thank you for your cooperation and support.
Susan Omil,President of the BOD
 |  |  |