Sunday, August 23, 2015

Condo For Sale

The condo that started it all is for sale. If you know someone who wants to buy it (and can understand how associations work), please show them this link:
http://paragonmls.sandicor.com/publink/default.aspx?GUID=a6bcee02-659f-47c5-ae92-c49c9a93c78e&Report=Yes

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Farewell

This is what I'm getting each member of the Village Woods Owner's Association as a going away present. If you would like to send a present, just ask for each board member's name and home address and I will do my best to get them for you. But you'd better hurry though, because they're going off the board, moving out of state, and settling into new homes and jobs very soon. 

For the intrepid President, Valerie, I am getting "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," a warm winter coat, and those chocolate covered macadamia nuts she likes so much. Jim, the real estate agent who no longer lives at the Village Woods, is getting a walker. But just as a joke because he's finally retiring after so many years of service to the board and the people who live and own at the Village Woods. 

He's also getting a copy of the California Real Estate Association's Ethics Manual. Finally, for the third member -- and the second Val, I'm getting a gift card for the Rite Aid pharmacy. Lord knows how expensive medications are not to mention psychotropics.

Everyone is getting carryon luggage, too because -- can you imagine? --they're all moving 1,000 (or more) miles from San Diego. I guess I should get something for Hugo, our previous Community Manager, too. Such a sad thing, losing your job like that -- and his company losing the Village Woods contract. 

Well, when the law gets unvolved, there's really no other way.  I guess we could take up a collection for his family; it looks like he's going away for a long time. 

Well the good news for me is that I got a rather large settlement and it was more than enough to fix all the damage done to my unit. We're still selling, though; we were offered so much to sell and a long vacation is in the works so stay tuned for postcards. 

I'll get you my new address just as soon as we close escrow on the new place. And don't forget to email me for everyone's address. 

Or I guess I could just leave them here in the comments. But that's up to Vallerie, Jim, Val and Hugo. Isn't it?

Monday, May 18, 2015

Credit where credit is due

I must say that and NN Jaechke did a good job this weekend. We had another flood (bad) but the weekend manager called a plumber, a roofer, and a group to take Away the water. So far so good. 

Now to find out the source of the leak. 


Friday, May 15, 2015

Considering a lawsuit

It's not much, when your association decides to charge you to replace keys that don't work, but it is the first step. That step includes lawyers and, of course, blogging. I'm considering outing all of the idiots/assholes involved.

These include members of the board of the Village Woods Owners' Association, the Community Manager and her assistant. If the CM is intellectually challenged, the ACM is a charity case. 

The only people who are more stupid than these two are the four people who will soon be a party to the funniest lawsuit you ever saw. 

Bugs Bunny quoting Winston Churchill: "of course you know, this means war."

Friday, April 10, 2015

Still hate NN Jaeschke

I had to have $75 billed on my association account to get replacements for keys that don't work. I also had to state "why would I lie?" about my keys not working. Best of all is a toss up between a) having to appear before the condo association board for them to waive the key replacement fee; and b) the fact that the replacement keys were the only thing not in the envelope that NN Jaeschke's employee of the month sent.  

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Board Meetings Canceled

I do this thing when I call the management company my condo association has chosen to manage the property. It has to do with me emailing the Community Manager, getting the runaround, calling her supervisor, and the supervisor being reasonable. My Community Manager's supervisor says she doesn't know why two board meetings in a row have been canceled and understands my concerns.

My concerns are these:
  1. There is a whole on the balcony above my condo
  2. There is water damage all up in there and probably my wall
  3. The Association has promised to replace balconies but...
  4. Only balconies at or near Association board member condos have been replaced
  5. They are going to vote on whether to replace the balcony above mine -- whenever they have a meeting next
  6. I cannot get my condo appraised, rented, sold until these folks act
Act already!

Monday, March 2, 2015

The Source of the Flood

This is water leaking into my condo from the common area.
So I revived the Village Woods Fun Party because people from N.N. Jaeschke, Inc. have gotten right under my skin,  These people, heretofore as yet unnamed, have two days to fix a problem that:
  • Was not of my doing
  • Is to do with water entering my condo from the common area
  • They (N.N. Jaeschke, Inc.) have denied
  • Has become worse since the rains began
  • And it is, for sure, a GAPING HOLE IN THE STUCCO on the patio above my sliding glass door -- as you can see in the photo above
As you can see, in the above photo, there is a hole in the balcony above my condo -- right where the water has been coming in.  This hole is about eight inches long and 1-2 inches high.  That's a lot of water, people.  Why isn't someone fixing this?

Actually, why did I have to discover it?

Because N.N. Jaeschke, Inc. -- or at least the people I have come in contact with -- have a way of dealing with problems: Deny them; grudgingly accept responsibility after I do all the legwork and provide proof; delay, delay, delay; continue to deny; mis-communicate; etc. I have dealt with an Assistant Community Manager, a Community Manager, and a Manager Supervisor at N.N. Jaeschke, Inc. and, all I can say is -- I want to complain long and loud -- to:
  • The Board of Directors
  • Someone -- anyone -- at the management company (N.N. Jaeschke, Inc.) 
  • The California Association of Community Managers
  • The State of California
  • Obtain assistance from the Social Media Hive Mind
If anyone wants to help me in this, I am looking help.  Legal, professional, governmental, regulatory, you name it.  End of rant. Thank you.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

I Hate NN Jaeschke and You Should Too

I #hatennjaechke for not fixing this flood.
What is social media if not the worst parts of Junior High, neighbors and Facism? Shit! We might as well be talking about my fucking stupid Condo Association -- and the stupid fucking management company they hired to "manage" the property - NN Jaeschke, Inc.

I would like to use social media to get all my friends to hate them. Hate NN Jaeschke. Or, if you're going to do the Social Media thing: #hatennjaechke.  Why hate? Because...

At my Condo Association, this is the way they "solve" problems
  1. Deny responsibility
  2. Grudgingly accept proof of responsibility
  3. Disclaim responsibility going forward
  4. End communications after project finishes but before satisfaction is reached
Your example can be the four floods I had in my own condominium (two of which could have been prevented with fast action by my management company, NN Jaeschke). But Noooooo! They were too busy denying, grudging, disclaiming and not communicating to solve our first flood when the second one happened -- in the same place for the same reason! It's no wonder I hate NN Jaeschke or, on Social Media, I #hatennjaeschke.

People who are not beholden to condominium associations don't have a clue as to the personal hell it can be if you get a bad board member or a bad person at your association's management company.  At NN Jaeschke, two of the three people I've conversed with (or 66%!) are DGDEs.  Degedes are the worst kind of people thrust into the perfect jobs for the type: they seem to save money for their company and, by extension, the associations they manage.

But if you believed that, you would be dumber than 66% of the people I have encountered at NN Jaeschke.  Degedes cause more trouble because they don't accept that there is a problem.  And they do this so roundly and so completely that many other problems sprout from the one they're DGDE-ing all over.

For those of you who don't have a condominium (or if you're part of the problem over at NN Jaeschke), let me explain.  Condominiums are owned both individually and in common by the owners who make up the membership of a nonprofit organization set up to manage them.  For example, I own and am responsible for everything in my condominium from the paint out and the association is responsible for the drywall in; the framing, plumbing, etc.  The association should also take care of more easily-definable common areas like pools, walkways, trash containers, etc. and we pay collectively into a fund that is used to (never properly) manage the complex.

Setting aside the above recipe for fraud to focus, instead, on the kinds of people who let fraud occur, think about this: Because it would be cumbersome (even in the digital age) to have every member weigh in on every concern, associations elect board members, from within the owner-membership, to make decisions for the whole.  This might not always have been a problem, but now, the kinds of people who end up on boards fall into one of four categories: 1. people who genuinely care but whose voices cannot be heard among the cacophony of the other types; 2. people who have a particular ax to grind; 3. people who are power mad or otherwise unbalanced; 3. real estate agents, who are usually multiple-condo owners; and 4. investors who don't live in the complex but own one or more of the units.  
Add to this the person who usually runs the meeting, the management company shill, and the way the numbers work out is this: investors, real estate agents, and ax-grinders (who are in the majority) do not have the best interests of the association or its membership in mind when voting or making policy.  This means power mad people and people who want what's really good for the community (and who often get mistaken for each other) are in the minority.  The association manager, whom I call the company management shill, only wants what's in the best interest of the management company -- and that is rarely, if ever, in line with what's actually good for anyone.

The final piece in the Condominium Association puzzle is this: no single person, whether condo owner, renter or government regulator, can cobble together even one tenth of one percent of one fuck to give about any of it. So horrible things get done for no good reason, megalomaniacs gain control of boards, regular owners steer clear, and asshole companies like NN Jaeschke can shit all over people in the name of profits.

Government regulators, the ones who regulate nonprofis (allegedly public benefit) organizations, do not want to hear a single word from a single person involved in a condominium association, and for good reason: you'd have to be bat-shit-monkey-nuts crazy to ever be involved in one so you get what you deserve.

Only problem is, what happens when there's a problem that needs quick, decisive action by a person empowered to do good for the human beings who call a condominium (and its association) home? The answer is FUCK ALL and that is because idiotic activist board members have allowed companies like NN Jaeschke -- and the socially-impaired people who work there - to take advantage of the good people of condominium associations, the smartest of whom threw up their hands long ago. 

The answer for people who do not have access to legal representation is to live with floods, shit, power-outages, water shut-offs and rules so ridiculous and arcane that the Nazis would laugh at them. Or start a blog and shit invective about the imbalance of power at condominium associations until someone listens. 
If you're listening, I ask you to please put NN Jaeschke, the minions who work for them, and the people who put them in power, up for ridicule! To do this, please comment on this post, write about your own circumstances, re-post the ones you read, and use the hashtag: #hatennjaechke until the people in power realize that it actually pays NOT to be assholes.

Thank you.