How to reduce your community fees

August 11th, 2010

As promised in the last blogs, I will share with you a number of things we have implemented for reducing our community fees.  But before we do that let’s just remind ourselves of something interesting.   I would think that by now almost all of us are aware of the energy saving light bulbs.  The cost of these bulbs vary and at times are as high as 10x a standard tungsten light bulb.  What I am trying to say is that in order to save electricity you have to spend at times a considerable sum replacing the tungsten light bulbs.  Same applies to solar panels, salt water purification for swimming pool and so on.

So, I hope that I have made a point and although it is not true for all cases it is for many.  Every year most communities spend anything from a couple of hundred to several thousands of euros on photocopying and postage.  All these can be replace by online systems that are automated and designed for this service.  Even if the statutes of your urbanization requires that all correspondence be sent by registered post, you can still get the owners confirmation and consent that they accept and would like to receive their communication by email.  So all you have to do is to make sure that you get this letter of consent from all current and future owners.  Those who do not have email or access to any PC can carry on receiving the information by post, but most people these days have at least one relative who has email and will be happy to receive a few emails per year and print it at their own cost for them.

Time and time I come across communities who say that they are too old to use these services, yet there are people older than them using facebook and hotmail …   The world does not go backwards and we can’t escape technology.

How does the VAT chage affect your community fees?

August 6th, 2010

The VAT was increased on the first of July. This has already affected all your bills from day to day shopping to petrol, gas and electricity. So how does this affect your income / expenses?

The VAT (IVA) of 4% that applies to basic and primary items such as:  Bread, frozen dough, eggs, cheese, milk, beans, fruit, vegetables, books, magazines and newspapers remain the same.  However the 7% rate has increased by 1% to 8% that includes other food stuff, soft drinks, property sales, hotel and restaurant, etc.

However the 16% rate has increased by 2% to 18% that affects most services, repairs, petrol and so on. 

Apart from water and electricity, the 16% rate is what most community bills are based on.  All your maintenance contracts and most products purchased by your community are affected by this increase which will of course reflect on your community expenses and finally your community fees in the coming year.

While some of us have not felt or counted the difference of this change in our daily life (maybe as yet), what’s for sure is that an increase in our community fees is the last thing that we would like to see at our next AGMs! 

So can we avoid it?   I personally think yes.  There are plenty of ways that an active committee can do to reduce your community fees and not just by 2%.  In my next few articles I will try to concentrate on giving you advice on how to reduce your community fees.

Why should you get OCM for your community?

August 5th, 2010

We are essentially trying to help owners who are in the dark about what’s going on in their community.  Charles Mackenzie-Hill local real estate agent and landlord wrote to me some month’s ago as our product (OCM) resonated with him. Mainly, because as in the service industry is forever trying to unravel local information for tenants or owners that they are trying to relocate. This is especially a problem whe it comes to community issues, where the owners are simply lost on what’s happening within their community and where their communities fees are due or spent on.  Similarly most owners are also in need of services such as internet connection, SKY TV awnings, etc, some of which are either provided by the community or have certain rules that need to be complied with.  

What also intrigued Charles was the multinational backgrounds nature of the development he lives in.  There are many issues that people need resolving throughout the year.  It is the normal procedure for these issues to be put to a committee to agree or disagree on.  This is normally formally aired once a year at the AGM. We believe only once a year is now an outdated way of managing communities and the technology is here that allows us to keep in touch through out the year, making Annual meetings a thing of the past.  Why wait 1 year to discuss an issue in 2 hours, when you have the whole year to read, review and express your opinion.

As CEO of  Urbytus I have had many  people like Charles , who are  amazed that communities don’t use these websites and services.  OCM is a free web portal that allows all communities to post all information, hold meetings, inform all residents and keep AGMs down the minimum time required.  As a company we recognize that Charles, like many other owners would really appreciate a website but as not on the committee boards etc .have no sway with the taking on of a website.  

So  to help  Charles and others, we have decided to provide this much needed service free for groups of owners as well as of communities.   Active communities will also have the opportunity to upgrade to the full version for free.  But the most important is that communication is key to success if you can create a better community and communication within your urbanization for no cost, while reducing communty fees and saving on all that postage and printing then why should you wait for you president to decide.

OCM has been installed on many communities in Malaga from Nerja to Cadiz, in Marbella, Mijas, Benalmadena.  There are already many community administrators who have started using the software to their benefit. 

The web portal is easy to use, like facebook and hotmail, however the most important part is that it has been specifically designed for communities of properties and has all the functions and multi level access that is required by a community. Functionalities like Proxy voting, AGMs, Tasks and repairs.  Newsletters, registered email and so on … 

Although Charles community is now starting to use OCM, there are still many communities which are turning a blind eye to these systems, just like when email and mobile was first entering the market.

Calling all presidents

August 4th, 2010

If you are the president of your community you know how difficult it is to keep everyone happy and all questions answered. Many communities have already got a website, but none are multilingual or allow as much functionality as OCM a system that is designed specifically for communities, the president, the owners and the administrator.

visit www.ocm-online.com

Welcome to the Urbytus Network

July 23rd, 2010

The Urbytus Network website is an online community site for users to discuss their communities/urbanisations and find usefull information regarding properly and communities in spain.