Now you know

Q.  How many condo units are there in Bay County?

A.  There are 19,109 condo units in Bay County.

More Gate Problems

Friday morning our entrance gate was kaput again. Looked like someone hit it and knocked it off its track. The gate was subsequently opened. Possibly the security camera will show who or what hit the gate.
 

 

 

Even before the Friday problem, on Thursday 1/10 the gate was not working correctly, here 5 of us were lined up to try to get through the gate. (yes it is 5, there is one vehicle in front of the white one - you can't see it, only its shadow on the ground)

Watch your speed on Back Beach Rd!

Thanks to a resurfacing project that will last into 2014 the normal speed limit of 55 MPH has been lowered to 45 MPH on Back Beach Rd (PCB Parkway) from the Hathaway Bridge on the east to the Phillips Inlet bridge at the Walton County line.
This has the potential to be the newest speed trap in Florida, so be warned that the road in front of NCC is being heavily patroled 24 hrs a day.
See article at:
http://www.newsherald.com/news/crime-public-safety/enforcement-up-as-speed-limit-drops-on-back-beach-road-1.75988?tc=cr

#1115 foreclosure filed by Hancock Bank

On 1/8/13 Hancock Bank filed a Lis Pendens (Foreclosure) on unit #1115 owned by USD Enterprises, LLC, Kevan K Miles CEO.  The 2/2 unit was purchased 11/1/07 for $146,000. 

Mr. Miles is also the Manager of Herbafex, Inc, which owns unit #803 and this firm has been the on again/off again landscaping firm used by NCC. Currently we are not using them. 

Herbafex is also being sued in Bay County Court for 'Contract/Indebitness' in a 3/30/12 case.

A job for the next Board of Directors

The Pinellas Beaches Patch reported on 12/20/12 about the 45-year-old chief financial officer at a Tampa Bay realty company who now faces a first degree grand theft charge for allegedly stealing $560,000 from 10 beach condo associations.

When NCC went through 'turnover' and we took over effective control of the condo from the Developer our Board should have arranged for an audit of our accounts.  You may recall that in 2010 the Developer had commingled our condo funds with his own accounts and this was only brought to light when I complained to the DBPR in Tallahassee that Concord was not making any reply to my complaints about the situation.

The matter was resolved shortly after my DBPR complaint and I was told that the Developer and Concord did an audit and the funds were restored to us.  Details at:  http://nautiluscondosrules.blogspot.com/2010/12/dbpr-complaint-information.html

It is past time for us to have an independent audit now that we are in control of the condo and NOT rely on either Concord or the Developer with assurances that all is well.

Long term Owners here may recall that both a prior NCC Concord CAM and later also a District Manager were fired by Concord for financial issues, the above mentioned one concerned our misapplied funds the other may have involved only Concord money.

Wanted: New Lawyer for Condo Association

With the new Board of January 2013 we need to secure our own independent legal representation. 

The firm now used, Hess and Applebaum PA, also represents the condo Developer and Concord Management, a clear conflict of interest with them also representing us, and they have on multiple occassions given questionable advice to the Association and they could not be relied on to give independent advice if we contract for another management firm.   

I have looked for some condo lawyers and the below 3 which I suggested to the Board, all are experienced condo lawyers.

Since the first two of these are major legal firms either would be well qualified to assist in a change of management firms in 2013.  Both have very interesting Q and A sections about condo issues.
 
The 3rd is a smaller local firm which is very familiar with NCC and was the firm I used in my 3 year litigation against the Developer controlled Boards for permitting violations of our rental requirements here at NCC.

Becker and Poliakoff
Paradise Village
348 Miracle Strip Pkwy SW, Suite #7
Ft. Walton Beach, Florida 32548
http://www.becker-poliakoff.com/community-association-law

Sachs Sax Caplan, P.L.
660 E. Jefferson Street, Suite #202
Tallahassee, FL 32301
http://ssclawfirm.com/community-associations

Daniel W. Uhlfelder, P.A.
124 East County Highway 30-A
Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459
http://www.dwulaw.com

Gate Info FYI:

Gate Code Change/Courtesy Officer Change 

Beginning Dec. 31, 2012, Nautilus Cove Condominiums will no longer have a Courtesy Officer to respond to complaints or other issues. The current telephone number will be inactive at that time.

Please call the Panama City Beach Police Department with any issues that might need police intervention or attention.  Otherwise, contact the office with your concerns.

The individual gate codes are also be eliminated, and a new gate code will be issued at the beginning of each month. Beginning Jan. 2, the gate code will be #5287 for the month of January.

With the Courtesy Officer being done away with it is up to all residents to keep an eye out for safety here at the condo!

 

PCB plans for Snowbird Influx

The News Herald has a long article of interest to Winter Residents titled: "Full calendar planned for Snowbirds"   (The word count is 1,162, read time about 5 minutes)

While our big season for tourists is summer based we do have an influx in the early part of the year for our part time residents and this includes a few at NCC who come to avoid the bad weather further north. 

The activities are open to anyone, full or part time residents. 

The article also provides a '2013 Snowbird Calendar for January and February'

Take a look via the direct link at: http://www.panamacity.com/entertainment/news/full-calendar-planned-for-snowbirds-1.75115

You want NCC Information?  You came to the right place!

Want to read thew 10 page Concord Management Agreement? Go to: http://tinyurl.com/39sy3cy and take a look. It was signed 10/4/10 and runs until 10/3/13 at which time I hope we will get rid of the 3rd rate Concord management firm and get a decent firm to run the complex.

For Your Information: 
You can see current and past Owners List's, Delinquency List's and old condo newsletters at:  http://nccownerslist.blogspot.com/ and you can click on this direct link to see the meeting minutes for the last 6 years:   http://tinyurl.com/66zdaor, for 185 NCC photos see: http://nautiluscondo.blogspot.com/
also look at:
By-Laws of NCC - http://tinyurl.com/37vbqkz
NCC Articles of Incorporation - http://tinyurl.com/34wp8pj
Rules and Regulations - http://tinyurl.com/39lbjwl
Declaration of Condominium - http://tinyurl.com/7mkbshl
New 10/4/10 Condo Management Agreement - http://tinyurl.com/39sy3cy
Old Condominium Management Agreement - http://tinyurl.com/3x8963n
Balance Sheet of 10/2010 -  http://tinyurl.com/2d4oh4j
6 NCC Newsletters:  http://nautiluscondosrules.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post.html

Newsletter Available:
For those who did not get a copy, the condo newsletter for the 1st Quarter 2013 is available, along with most of the past newsletters at: 
http://nautiluscondosrules.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-post.html

Rental Competition Concord vs. Owners

Owners renting our their units find themselves in competition with those 56 unsold developer units being rented out by Concord Management.  Concord is both the Condo Associations management company and the developers rental firm.  In my opinion they spend far too much time working for the developer and not enough time working for the Association.

Generally renting from an Owner requires less paperwork and it will probably get you a unit in a nicer part of the complex, the lower prices of the Concord/Developer units give renters a savings and almost a half price Security Deposit making it cheaper for renters to go with the developer units.
 
The office has assisted owners in renting out their units, but their main interest is in getting the developer units rented and at the lower Concord prices/deposits those obviously fill up first.  Below are links to various Concord sites including one with their 'Resident Handbook'.

Can an owner rent out their units?  Sure they can, but probably not until the Concord units are full and if they go head to head in pricing it might be difficult to break even.  Owners renting out their units might mean taking a loss every month depending on what their monthly mortgage payment is.

For prices see Concord at:  http://tinyurl.com/3tmf5gl
and http://tinyurl.com/3z4nae7
See the 17 page Concord Resident's Handbook at:  http://tinyurl.com/3fmay5y