HOA Administration in Playa del Carmen
I am welcome to the Playa Del Carmen Now podcast but I welcome welcome back my sidekick mr. Resendez mr. Resendez hicken how are you I'm great and today we're going to talk about HOA Administration in Playa del Carmen the great and you know what that is do you know what you're selling a home owners in the office with us to do this podcast and it's Veronica Shriver
Veronica's here and she's going to give us all the ins and outs and what she does on a regular basis but before we do that let's find out a little bit about Veronica Veronica where you from I'm from Mexico City Mexico City she made the big jump from Mexico City to Playa de Carmen and what brought you to plow the apartment well the fortunately it was the job for my husband was an architect and he worked with Jack point on the developer he brought him here so I just came as the wife of the architect of these beautiful buildings and the and the here's where I jumped into this business very long time to you she's actually started before me cuz she started with Jack and the original Partners Jack and Mark and I jumped in right when I was in construction and that's when I jumped in board
I created the systems and all that but enough of me so Veronica when people are in town when you have friends or family in town
what what is that or what activity do you make sure to do with them
but of course everybody wants to go to the beach and so but I honestly could prefer this to notice so I am I take them to the Sonata stand well it is going wants to to 5th Avenue and have dinner or lunch or whatever is important type I really am not that much so fond of that but I prefer to take them somewhere else to closer to where I live we just play a car and the car is like the Beverly Hills with my old apartment right now I don't know maybe that's a good description but yeah there are a lot of good things and good places around there to go okay so then the same question again what is the secret your appliances so when you're when you're in Playa del Carmen for a long time they call you up lion say
yeah oh yeah for almost 17 years now and what our favorite place also to go just my husband and me or with friends we go to perking up you know that one person. Do you know know at all this isn't like I got to be before well that's a great restaurant and they just opened up another great one is passed out of the address I'm telling you every it's amazing we're on our 13th 14th episode and and we don't know anything about that guy exactly I just live here I don't know any of these places all these episodes everybody now including Veronica has brought a restaurant never heard of never been to
Pantone asked me about a restaurant on 5th Avenue because I don't know because we're playing and we'd like to do we like to expand out of the tourist Zone and and in a lot of the great restaurants I've I've I've dragged Hobby Lobby to my some of my favorites and now he's going to drag me to some of his favorites and
yeah it's amazing yes it is amazing can
alright so let's talk about the today's subject today's subject is h o a Association in Playa del Carmen so Veronica you run your I think there's only a handful of HOA Administration companies in in Playa del Carmen correct too many there are a lot of independent administrators managing maybe one building only or two but a reel to reel companies there are a few a few good ones important one a few that have just been very new but yes it it's just too much to too many buildings to manage so everybody's jumping in with or without experience and that's that's something that happens in Playa people look for work and they're like hey there's not enough HOA Administration companies in Pilots
Wanda they are there in like an obvious case let's start of photography company and yes but yeah you've been here for like you said 17 18 years and you have how many buildings I might have died building buildings and you've been right managing these seem a buildings for for how long some for 16 years like for the playoffs since it was started and then all of these sand well I can say luckily luckily and proudly that but that that's one of the things that I'm really proud of all so but where I've started I have left for the minions me I have left them but they have never left me that's a good one that's the thing about her job and every year they vote
to keep you I mean that's like you know that's worse than the president that you don't even get your 4-year your eight-year what is it Mexico 6 years 6 years yes so amla is good for for 6 a.m. easy been in there
he's been there for just left to left to left hand but the possibility of getting voted out every single year is my job every single little bit scary but the experience and quit so many different kind of people that you have to deal with you learn how to deal with people like
you learn but there's always some new ingredients coming into the the homeowners associations into the boards and you never know when with with so many so-called administrators anybody can tell one person I do it for less and I can do it as good and but for less money so that that's a lot of out there and people just sometimes just go for the money part
the quality or the Integrity or you know the property management number of the buildings that Veronica does our buildings look great and they still a make it look amazing compared to a building
any other building in Playa de Carmen with the amount of years I mean even though the building I won't mention names leaving behind our building it's only been up for 2 years out already. Looks like it's been in Playa del Carmen for 15 years and that that makes a big difference in a lot of your properties are on next to the beach with a lot of the properties of the hotel properties so the beach obviously brings a whole level of difficulty in challenges is so so different than even the property behind that the beach front property is so different just one one block away it makes a huge difference in and where and terrans and all that so let me just jump back so we're talkin about HOA Administration
what do you really do like a gift card that day in the life as the HOA Administration in and not one of the days that I o s h o a s b g Global concept or is this just local I mean I'm just getting in this area that's when I started with a really because I have I had I didn't have the V's in Spanish but it is it's it's the administration of the administration condominium Condominiums and that's what it's called
the HOA place is called an HOA homeowners association even though it's a condo okay or condo building or apartment building it's always called so give us the day in the life what is what is what are you responsible for what do I do I take care of the building so what does that mean I have to first create a budget in terms of what other than the societies of the building and established at present that at the assembly which is what is the organ that that determines or proves everything that is said to be done in the building every year at the assembly we present the budget if it's approved and we work on that so what does that include everything that has to do with the common areas of the building lets a Van Dyke if it has a pool Landscaping that it's painted the pumps were
all that we have the security make the programs for the security make all the purchases of what they need for the repairs of be attentive to do whatever happens if something is failing April something needs to be repaired if I have to bring in an outside contractor to do certain jobs and well whatever it takes two to have the building in good shape I think one of the biggest responsibilities of an administrator is to preserve the quality and the and the value of the building very well that was a very well description we better not you have to create a budget you have to present to the owners okay this is how much all these things you know the electricity for the building that pool maintenance and the pool maintenance obviously you got
chemicals involved in in in a lot of things altered or a lot of things can alter that budget so what happens when you go over budget or what happens if you don't have enough money what what do you do then yeah but that's a problem that you should have because then I think I say you should have because many buildings in in Playa del Carmen or even in Mexico don't even have what we call a reserve fund which is fun for emergencies because anything can happen and I always say everybody wants to be the building to be perfect and everything cuz nobody wants to pay a lot of Maintenance fees not the first yes you have to have a decent budget that allows you to keep keep up the building but then you have to have these emergency money in case something happens and he can fly I believe me
everything happens and we know that that's what I believe one of your buildings has elevators and the cost can relieve I have one in one building in Empire Car where we have 16 out of Avis in one minute when when I peeked 16 elevators broke in one minute the electricity police beat because you know the electricity
you know tell him that the city doesn't Supply in of water we have to get the water trucks and well lot of stuff you know it's good for guests to know this cuz this is a weird thing this is a behind-the-scenes ride like you are right play Gatman and spend a little time and you have a great moment but you don't know what you doing people like you to read this kind of atmosphere really take it for granted and I can understand that they expect everything to work and obviously we are in charge of that that the pumps work that they have water that but sometimes there are things that are out of our control of course of course in again you know the electricity and Paula Carmen is
nine out of 10 8 out of 10 and what's the biggest problem in Playa del Carmen is when you lose power you lose pumps you lose water so many times I guess we'll come
they get in the room the power go out in there like okay I'm going to go take a shower with that far but it's it it's a combination with I work very closely with with Veronica on a lot of these issues because it's the way we explain it to people at the owners especially is that when you're feeling inside the condo you're dealing with the property management and that's us and when you dealing outside the building anything outside of our outside of the condo outside of the condo you dealing with Veronica so we have to work hand-in-hand many times many times
an issue especially water issues electricity issues is a combination of both of us working together and like she mentioned there's a limited water supply the government of Carmen infrastructure doesn't always compensate for a hundred percent water it's a town that has been growing so fast that the infrastructure can't handle it yes so what happens is filled with cisterns huge how big is a sister's cisterns Siri how do you say that in Spanish what do you say
yeah how big is a sister now I really can't I don't have the number in my buddy but that it is huge and even with that it's not enough it's not enough on the other side also if there is a leak and him somewhere and you can lose half of the sister of all the nights you know so that's also some of the stuff that can happen and that we have to be on top of it every minute and then order water if it's if it's necessary and Ralph like if you're a guest and you hear this truck outside pumping water
they're actually pumping water into the building so it has enough water to take a shower and use the restroom will it take care of the water right like don't waste it and try to because this is a big problem sometimes condos expand and quiet time without bitters let's say so maybe there's a leak inside of the condo and you don't you don't know until someone goes to check right and this is the kind of creepy things with this kind of place that's because when you when you do you have a place and you use it as a home at the same day or the next day or that week you're going to realize about it but with these condos and vacation or rental
maybe you that you have a problem and you don't notice that they had a specific moment right where we work very closely with the property management group because when there is no property manager with things like that's going to happen to nobody knows but with the property management if we noticed that we lose water we immediately tell them and they go check and check if there's a leak somewhere so that's very important to to really have someone to check on your place when it's not being used you were saying how how you take it off the outside things from their condo and you have willing to make this this
power let's say right you are now like great team otherwise problem might be figure there's not one property management company in the building but every owner has his own property manager or some owners don't have enough property management and they live somewhere else and they leave the condo like it's a empty on used and then if something happens it's very difficult so it's we always suggest that they have at least one person and go check on on on the property every now and then and in those cases yeah when you have buildings when you have somebody that doesn't live there or not there full time and you can have a leak or you know exactly and it can create a problem with the entire bill
okay so the other fun thing you get to do is the collect
collect the actual money for the HOA fees one of the most important of creating this comforter because it's working with someone else's money and so I take this very seriously and I have to provide a very accurate Financial reports and tell him what we spent the money why we spent the money if we if it was enough it if it's not enough and then if we have to increase the budget or whatever but yeah I take this very seriously and I try to manage this really professionally I have a very good software that that is one of my how would you say that like the pillars can you say the colors of the business so we can we can really Report with accuracy and transparency so we create the confidence with the with
and I've seen some of these updates on a monthly basis you send out an update and you pictures and all saying this is what it look like before and this is what it look like after and and
sometimes it cost depending on what it is and those are great great information it's great you know it's great to know specially if you're out of town here in owner and you're relying on your HOA administrator it's it's very important that you see and be able to see what work was done and how it affects the budget which is great for the HOA Administration don't have a very good reputation because of that precise it because of manager how they manage the money or how they don't report accurately tell people that don't live here sometime they are afraid of where they're putting their money into so that I think this is really really important part I agree and I agree in in in soap
if there's a building out there right now that's looking for an HOA administrator Veronica how do they contact you
I don't know yet I got a lot of requests to my web page web page on the web page address is h o a and the web pages www.com privet Mexico with karkaria mexico.com in German she speaks to the German background of you
my my grandparents but all four of them for German so like me to leave from Germany to Mexico or Tuesday came to Mexico my grandparents was from the aspirin and German inspired by a common why is her excuse is okay a mi excuses for not
okay with that but that's that's the story and that's how they came from my mother they also came my they also work in fire my parents were born in Mexico and then the funny story is that when the world war broke out they had to because they had to go back to Germany they were requested to go back so they were standing in Veracruz which is support and waiting for the ship for them to to go back and the ship never arrived because it's sung on the way so that that said that but yeah that's that's why we live in Mexico and you're still waiting for that both of the families that's so we split wish they'd stayed here we were born when my parents to stay here also we were born here and I didn't even know that
I've been around you with this I mean I've heard the bear story I didn't put all the pieces together now I'm here I am 16 years later sitting with you and I've learned a different piece of the puzzle puzzle so let's talk about the promotion board this podcast we are going to offer we're going to do hashtag hoaxed that's an easy way to hashtag HOA and you will get
I'm looking at all hunger my my administrative assistant and I'm what am I giving what am I giving this
I won't repeat that
so let's what is what is
okay so she's saying 15 I'm going to do 20
so I'm going to say we are going to get do hashtag 808 and we're going to give 20% off of any other properties for what months are in July June July July July August September October November so five months and she's writing that down so my reservations department takes guys all that's the promotion of the day... All right well Veronica I want to thank you so much for coming it was amazing that you having you on the show thank you for inviting me and
we we we did video and we are crossing our fingers
I'm looking at Fernando are technical director and heating element for a wheel have to give me the cross the fingers thing so that's out and hopefully we'll be on a regular podcast channels and we hope that the video works so we can put it on YouTube all right folks everybody have a great day thank you very much thank you very much but I need gas thank you very much thank you it was a pleasure thank you
