About 25 of our Members attended the “Super” Members Potluck event on Saturday, February 3, 2024. What a wonderful turnout it was!
There was so much food! Ziti, mac and cheese, lasagna, cornbread, Italian meatballs, pasta salad, yellow rice, egg casserole, Swedish meatballs, rice with seafood, empanadas, cheese manicotti, and ribs! And that was just the main course!
Members enjoyed talking and getting to know each other better and enjoying small talk with each other in our small HOA community, Garden Patio Villas.
Desserts included several fruit pies, walnut bar, Colombian coffee, pumpkin pie, fruit and flan. Yum! It was super!
For those who did not attend this potluck event, we missed seeing you! There was plenty of food left over and more seats available.
Thank you to Lou, our Secretary, who orchestrated this event and made it happen! Thank you to all who attended! We know we have a lot of good cooks in our community! We hope those who couldn’t attend will be able to come next time.
Keep informed of our Member events on the bulletin board by the mailbox, by text or by Facebook with Garden Patio Villas.
Below is a slide show of pictures of our “Special” Members Potluck Event!
Garden Patio Villas had bushes that were 45 years old! In January 2024, we replaced the old bushes off 76th Ave. (between Strawberry Lane and Lemon Tree lane) with new clusia bushes! In addition, we added dwarf ixoras around the edges of these roads to make it easier to see cars and better visibility all around.
We also had the area at the end of Orange Blossom Lane cleaned up and replaced all that was there with some smaller clusia bushes.
Ring a Bell Farms did an excellent job with our new bushes! They came on time and helped us out with some uncertain issues that developed. They promised to complete the project the same day, which they did by early afternoon!
Here are some before and after pictures to share with those who don’t live here at Garden Patio Villas.
SOLD– $279,000 – This charming villa is freshly new on the market at Garden Patio Villas! It is a lovely 2 bedroom 2 bathroom in a 55+ HOA community. It is a corner unit which has a nice amount of empty green space to enjoy the view out your window. It is located in cluster 6 off of the 76th Ave. side entrance. It has a one car garage with an automatic garage door. This unit also has a bonus room which can be used as a den or office space! The screened patio is another nice feature of this villa. Electric shutters are another great addition! The roof is 2 years new and the A/C was also installed recently. Kitchen features are updated with white cabinets and have a modern look! Appliances include: Dishwasher, Electric Range, Microwave, Refrigerator. One washer and dryer comes with the property. This villa for sale is move in ready!
Our Homeowners Association is located in Margate, Florida. We are a small, 55+ community that is self-managed. Purchasing in our association means you get a restricted deed on your property. Members must abide by our Governing Documents and adhere to the rules and regulations.
Our HOA fee is $570 every quarter. A heated pool and clubhouse is available to all Members. For more information, go to eligibility to be a Garden Patio Villas Member.
Contact the realtor for a showing or see more pictures here!
What is a Homeowners Association?
It is a business like GM or McDonalds, except it is non-profit. It can be compared to shareholders who own these companies through shares of stock that are purchased. It’s like we own shares of Garden Patio Villas through the villas we have purchased. Like GM, the Board of Directors steers the corporation, or in our case, the HOA to make decisions for the betterment of the community. Being a shareholder of a corporation, you are an owner with limited rights. When you purchase a villa in Garden Patio Villas, you have a restricted deed. You agreed to abide by the Governing Documents and Rules and Regulations. A shareholder of McDonald’s cannot go in and ask for a free hamburger. Same as in the HOA, there are not unlimited rights granted. The Board of Directors represents the Association in making good decisions for the Membership to maintain common area and help increase the home values.
Our mission statement is to maintain the community and increase homeowner value. One of the decisions made in November (and required by our Governing Documents) is that for 2024, we must go to a three person board. A Board Member resigned, and no one wanted to step up to take the Board of Directors position.
We may have to think about going to a management company in the future because no one is stepping up to do the Board of Directors’ work. This will increase the HOA fees because of the additional costs that a management company would charge to manage the community. Also, when something needs to be done, we would go in the “in basket” of the company and when they get to us, that’s when it would be fixed. It also means we must trust a company with our association financials. Some people feel that we should be managed by a property management company. It would cost each of us at least an additional 10%, over what we currently pay in dues. This means that it would cost at least $220 per year per villa for a management company.
Garden Patio Villas must take a modest increase of $15 or 2.8% a quarter for 2024. As a comparison, Oriole Gardens 2 is taking close to a 30% increase per quarter to $1,519. Our increase is for the following reasons:
1.) Water and pool services and a couple other vendors are increasing at the beginning of the year in 2024.
2.) We have two non-performing villas. The first is deceased with no known heirs. The second is an owner who is behind on his dues. We are actively working and pursuing legal remedies up to and including lien and foreclosure to bring to a positive resolution for our members. This, of course, is an expenditure because our lawyer is involved with this process.
Transparency:
This year, there has been a series of articles in the Sun Sentinel about HOA and Condo Associations. The articles talk about how secretive and non-responsive HOA’s and Condo boards can be to the Members of the community that they serve. Please know that this Board tries to be as transparent as possible!
We have a website, which is only required for communities of 150 or more homes. On our website are all the financials that are open for anyone to look at without having to track down a Board Member to view it. We also have meeting minutes posted from all meetings that the Board conducts. It has a link to Florida Statute 720, which is the statute that governs HOA’s in the state of Florida. It has our Governing Documents. It also has our Rules and Regulations, which is a summation of the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) from our Governing Documents.
We have a lot of articles on our website to help you understand more about our community. These articles are meant to keep you informed about all types of things happening in our association. Some articles help explain our rules and other articles help you to save money.
Our website has all our required forms for Members as well as for Realtors. If you are wanting to sell your villa, we do help out by putting it on our website. We have been told numerous times how helpful our website is to those seeking to purchase into our community.
We have Garden Patio Villas and Maintenance phone numbers to reach us via call or text. Also, Garden Patio Villa’s email address is on the website. In short, we want to react quickly to an issue that our Members may have concerns about. That being said, sometimes the answer may not be forthcoming if it is a difficult question. Also, sometimes we have to say no because of different reasons. Rest assured though, there will be a response to your question or concern.
Home Sales:
Garden Patio Villas has had five sales this year for an average sale of $255,000. This average is lower because in one villa, the previous owner left money on the table. There are currently two villas for sale in our community.
Insurance:
As many of you know, the state of property insurance in Florida is still out of control. The Association had to forgo wind mitigation insurance on the clubhouse roof. While it saved the Association approximately $5,500 in premiums, we will be looking at having to replace a 20-year-old roof. Our reserves have come up in the past 3 years to help cover the cost of a new roof with a modest special assessment. This is a topic that will be discussed in the spring before the next hurricane season. Fortunately, we didn’t have any storms this year. By the way, we did not special assess for any reason this past year through sound fiscal management.
Accomplishments:
A first reading of the townhomes project went before the Margate Commissioners for the rezoning and re-development of the golf course. The Commissioners listened to the presentation and to comments by residents. Commissioners voted to rezone and approve the redevelopment of the golf course to 132 townhomes. These changes must still be reviewed by Broward County along with the State of Florida, In three months, it will go back to the Margate Commissioners for a final vote. Commissioners want to hear from you!
In Memoriam:
We lost three valued Members of our community this year. Marshall Hyman, William Carullo, and Lawrence Gittleman. They will be fondly remembered.
To Finalize:
Thank you for helping to make Garden Patio Villas a community that we are all proud to call our home!
SOLD – $295,000 – This cute and remodeled villa is located in cluster 4. It is a 2 bedrooms, 2 bathroom with an extra room that can be used for a den. It has a garage along with two screened in patios! The remodeled kitchen features appliances that are practically new! In addition, the A/C is fairly new! Also in this updated villa, it has recently been painted with new lighting! Master bedroom has a walk in closet. This villa for sale is remodeled and move in ready!
Our Homeowners Association is located in Margate, Florida. We are a small and peaceful 55+ community. We are also self-managed! Purchasing in our association means you get a restricted deed on your property. Members must abide by our Governing Documents and adhere to our rules and regulations.
Our HOA fee is $570 every quarter. A heated pool and clubhouse is available to Members. For more information, go to eligibility to be a Garden Patio Villas member.
Contact the realtor for a showing or just view some photos of this great villa for sale!
Are you wondering how our quarterly maintenance fees get spent? Our Treasurer puts together monthly reports to help you see the Association’s monthly expenses. We publish them monthly to all Members. The Board of Directors should always be transparent with how maintenance fees get spent!
Here are Garden Patio Villa’s 2023 expenses shown by percentage for the year, as perceived, for the entire year. This is a rounded percent how and where all monies were spent. Over half of our budget (62%) goes towards water and lawn care! That is over half the budget!
Being transparent of the Association’s finances is important for all our Members! It is the duty of your Board to manage the HOA’s finances by keeping financial records and a financial budget. Remember our Association mission statement: To maintain the community and increase homeowner value. If you want to know more detail how our maintenance fees get spent, contact Garden Patio Villas!
