Condo Media - March 2014 - 40

COVER STORY
COLUMN NAME
concierge-like services through association websites that list restaurants and
other services owners can access easily
"without doing a Google search,"
Ragosa says.
Even the upscale concierge services can
be scaled back a bit to what Dannin refers
to as "attentional service." Most people
can order movie tickets, arrange for laundry pick up, and make dinner reservations
easily online, he says. But they appreciate and are willing to pay for someone
to check on their home, collect the mail,
and start their car when they are away.

Adding Value

Industry executives speculating about
current and future amenities trends
emphasize features that can be expected to add value to a community. Parking, especially underground parking in
downtown communities, and storage
space are perennials - the equivalent
of the "basic black dress" in the fashion
world, unlikely to lose their appeal to
owners.
In-unit services are also moving
rapidly into the "glad we have this"
or "wish we had it" category. Owners

want and appreciate the convenience of
having people on site who can handle
handyman-type repairs for them,
McBride says. But the service requires
staff members capable of doing the
work and a budget designed to support
it. If that expense isn't built into the
association's budget almost from the
beginning, the reluctance to increase
common area fees will make it tough to
add later.
If adding new amenities is difficult,
eliminating existing ones is almost impossible and for similar reasons. Adding
or subtracting amenities and even
exchanging an under-used amenity for
a more desirable one would qualify as
"improvements" to the community,
which unlike repairs, require the approval of owners, and a super-majority
of them, at that. The 10 percent or 20
percent of owners using the amenity
and their friends will all vote against
the idea, as will owners who feel they
based their original purchase on the
existence of the amenity, even if they
don't use it.
So unused swimming pools continue
to drain maintenance budgets, because
boards know they won't find enough
owners willing to vote in favor of filling
them in. And rooftop decks - once
must-haves for downtown high-rises
until owners discovered they didn't like
climbing stairs to reach them - suffer
from benign neglect, Ragosa says. Old
furniture isn't replaced, shrubs aren't
replanted, and worn deck covering (unless it's causing other problems) isn't
repaired.
These are common experiences.
When an unused tennis court in a community Dannin managed developed
drainage problems, the board wanted
to pave it over, but owners wouldn't
approve the change. "So they spent
$200,000 to repair it instead," Dannin
says. The tennis court is now fully functional - and still unused. CM
Nena Groskind is president of eContentplus, providing editorial content for
websites, print and electronic newsletters,
and magazines.

Condo Media * March 2014

Condo Media - March 2014

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