4/26/1999

An informal newsletter for Wildflower II owners.

Volume: Not large

Issue: Whatever strikes our fancies.

Well, folks, this started when my husband & I were in Sunriver in March.

The first thing that we learned was that Ridgepine has been sold to ResortQuest International. Look up their Web Page: http://www.resortquest.com/. I did. Does this have repercussions for us? I don't know, but when I was having trouble getting e-mail to David Washburn, I contacted ResortQuest's webmaster, and within 4 hours, it was fixed. That's a good sign.

We also learned that when the South Golf Course http://www.sunriver-resort.com/sunriver-resort/golf_medowshtml.htm was upgraded it became THE premier golf course at Sunriver. This will certainly enhance the value of properties that adjoin the course, as ours do.

The second thing was that we began to wonder was whether other absentee owners were out of the loop learning news like this. Communication has always been sporadic (and expensive when you want to mail to 48 owners). We realized that our community manager was now part of a firm with a significant Web presence. Maybe someday ResortQuest will give us a web page for owners' news, but for now, let's start small and see where it goes.

The third thing - well, I have to be truthful, I do have an issue - is that we are troubled by the state of the exteriors of the Wildflower II condos. We began to look for information on our association (see http://www.sunriverowners.org/ ), the Wildflower II Association by-laws, and the Oregon statutes (see http://landru.leg.state.or.us/ors/) Chapter 100 of which deals with Condominiums. We tried to figure out how the Association got to this impasse, and to devise some suggestions for how to get out of it.

We realize that different owners have many different opinions on this matter, but we communicate so sporadically that we really don't know what everyone's concerns are. This is my attempt to find out what ideas other people may have.

Our board has been trying valiantly to keep our dues low, and to respond to individual crises as they arise. But annual maintenance is one thing, replacement of capital items (those items whose useful life is greater than three years) is another. We need to replace many big-ticket items(roofs, decks, paint, siding preservative, asphalt), and frankly, we don't have a fund set aside to do this. In the Oregon Statutes, such a fund is called the "Capital Reserve Account for replacing common elements". We don't have one.

How would the majority prefer that we replace these items? What are the costs involved? Finally, what are the statutes and bylaws that provide the framework for our decisions? We aren't the only ones who have ever faced these decisions. Let's learn from what others have done.

I'd like to share with you what I've learned. I'd also like to learn what you know about the subject, what your individual concerns are, and what your preferences are. I'd also like to keep individual e-mails fairly short, so, with your permission, next week, rather than now, I'll share my discoveries with you.

This is not a moderated newsgroup, just an informal mailing. I trust that if any of you wants to remove yourselves from the list, all of the rest of us will honor that wish. Other ground rules? Be honest, but be constructive when making suggestions. Check your sources before you make a statement. Consider your neighbors' needs as much as your own. If you feel tempted to flame someone, go ahead and write your feelings down, but wait at least 24 hours, then edit what you wrote before deciding whether to actually send it (learned from a lifetime in the computing industry)

Cheers!

Ruth