What’s all the noise about?
Social Media is always squawking. I’m old enough to know it sounds (on the screen) like the old CB radios. I know… I know.. yes.. we have problems. Always have .. always will. Even Jesus stated that “the poor will always be with you”. But the village is changing (a little) EVERY DAY and will continue. When I arrived 20 years ago the ONLY thing on KVRE radio was big band and Count Basie. That too has changed a little more EVERY day.
So, let me tell you the GOOD news
- Lot sales (of every sort) are BOOMING. (more on this later)
- Home Sales are BOOMING.
- New arrivals are coming every day.
- Lot generated revenue (SHOULD) be booming as well.
- HUNDREDS of tax sales lots dollars should be pouring into our accounts.
- As always (if you have been around long enough) the Village will “right itself”. Which is actually amazing if you think about it.
- Broadband is
- Being addressed
- About to solve for thousands of village residents (Fiber). First Electric Co-op will be running fiber to all customers who get power and it will be very competitive (watch your back Suddenlink, I hear they have customer support WHO SPEAK ENGLISH as a NATIVE language).
- Starlink (satellite internet) will get a run for the money this Fall. This will also cover parts of the National Forest for VERY remote locations.
- The POA Board is addressing some long-standing issues. One of the directors is reportedly asking department heads “so what is your goal this quarter?”. To which, there are blank stares. Asking these questions is the FIRST step to sanity. I think we will get there.
- New Podcast for Villagers and Wannabe Villagers… think you will like the new spin. [Click here to visit “Hot Springs Village Inside Out.”
So I will expound on each point for the Good AND bad
- Tax lots sales are THOUGH THE ROOF. Hundreds and hundreds per month. If the POA is capturing these correctly, that is $125 transfer fee for EVERY lot and $39 per month times hundreds. It would be reasonable to expect that this sort of trend could help “right the ship” financially. Bad News: These lots are being sold PURELY on speculation and the “owners” may not be paying the dues or transfer fees. These “new owners” may need to be more aggressively addressed than in the past. I would expect easily an additional $500k (800 or so lots times fees = real money). Lets’ call a spade a spade. This new income DOES NOT COST the POA a penny. No outgo all income (unless of course they want to build a home and we have to pave the road to them and bring in utilities.
- EVERY HOME (even some junkers) are selling quickly and 30% – 40% above 2 years ago. Spoke to a man who bought a home on Coronado Lake and was GRATEFUL to be able to buy as he had made offers of up to $35k OVER listing and STILL lost the bidding war.
- Seeing more and more new faces EVERY DAY. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be nice to these people. They are paying for our future and remember … one day.. .not too long ago.. YOU TOO were a visitor or new resident. THINK BEFORE YOU TYPE.
- As noted above the NEW OWNERS of tax lots do NOT seem to be bothered by the fact they have clouded titles (lots that will need $$$ legal action $$$ before they can be built on) and are not paying the assessments on the lots. The POA needs a VERY aggressive stance on these to discourage playing Ponzi Schemes with the Village values as in the past (that’s YOU NRPI).
- I am YET to be convinced that new home sales are the way to fix the village budget. The LOTS ARE FREE (mostly) income to the village while homes require pavement and LOTS of upkeep. Reply and tell me your opinion.
- As we were facing another DIRE situation about 17 years ago… NRPI came in and blew up the market. LITERALLY blew up the market and then disappeared into the shadows when the repercussions came home to roost. NPRI bought from the POA ALL of the lots the POA had in inventory for $500 per lot with a YEAR’S SUSPENSION OF DUES. The POA had NEARLY 700 at the time (a number we thought was HUGE). The POA has (as of last year) over 3500. Yeah, let that sink in.
- There have been stories about realtors who lost sales because “there was no internet” at the house. The Tech Club of HSV has documented over 17 providers of internet to the village. If you “don’t have internet” it is because you are LOOKING DOWN. Time to LOOK UP. The future of internet is just about to be here and as someone who has preached this to whoever would listen for the last decade … ITS ABOUT TIME. Starlink has won a grant to provide internet to the National Forest areas North and West of HSV. It is very possible they will be providing internet from the nearly 42,000 satellites they plan to launch (they have about 1500 now and hundreds more every week. Oh, and that is BEFORE the Amazon satellites launch next year and the EU will have a program too. The First Electric Fiber solution will be the greatest game-changer next year. 1 gig server for under $100 from Suddenlink AND FEC. Heady times my friends 😊 .
- Paul Harvey used to state repeatedly … “Government (POA?) is run like NOBODIES BUSINESS. NO ONE would run a business as the government does. “
I truly hope to see this change in the village. For those of you who do not know, we DO NOT have a “government” … we have a corporation that Cooper set up 49 years ago. Every time there was a headache or a maintenance issue… the POA was used by Cooper to fix it. The POA and Cooper had a symbiotic relationship for 34 years until Cooper pulled out (except for the Concrete Plant they will remind you) in 2006. Cooper would do the marketing, building lakes and golf courses and the profit-making and the POA picked up trash, provided water, and took away sewage. Until 2006 … since then the POA has been finding its way. I think the new board with young blood like Chris Jones, from a corp environment, can help us run the POA in a more professional and accountable way.
All for now, Dennis Simpson, June 5, 2021😊
Dennis can be reached at dennis@totaltech-ar.com.
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HSVP C
06/05/2021 — 10:08 am
The policy of this website is that only comments using full names will be published. Thank you.
Robert Mac Devitt
06/05/2021 — 3:03 pm
Dennis,
Thanks so much for your positive insights and opinions. You’re a breathe of fresh air!
Brad Beaumont
06/05/2021 — 3:36 pm
I like to read everything Dennis writes. I am new here and he was one of the first people that contacted me on Facebook when I began looking here. He has lots of knowledge and I learn a lot about the village from him. Thank you Dennis.
Melanie Williams
06/05/2021 — 4:46 pm
What an excellent synopsis. Very informative. Thanks for the good work. Keep us updated.
Tom Blakeman
06/05/2021 — 5:02 pm
Item 7: There is still virtually no info anywhere that I can find on this First Electric fiber deal. Maybe you can point us in the right direction. Also, far as I can tell, Starlink may be available soon but it is relatively slow and expensive. SuddenLink already has cable (could be some fiber) riding on most of the power poles on the West side. Their 400 Mbps service works fine – if you can get past their 3rd world customer service.
HSVP C
06/05/2021 — 5:47 pm
Tom, John Paul spoke of this at the Retreat. It is in my report. Also, Keith Keck verified this in the Facebook group. I
Tom Blakeman
06/05/2021 — 6:06 pm
Cheryl, I know all that but there are no definitive details anywhere. Meanwhile the word is we now suddenly need a Broadband Manager to go along with the some 50 other “managers” on the payroll. Personally I’m guessing that while First Electric is really working on something it will be years and years before end users here in HSV ever see anything, manager or not. Smoke and mirrors?
Does anybody remember 25 or so years or so ago when Microsoft first announced “plug and play” technology. Guess what? It still is fraught with issues.
HSVP C
06/05/2021 — 6:17 pm
Okay, I didn’t know if you knew that. I can’t find the deal mentioned anywhere, either.
Steve FitzGerald
06/05/2021 — 5:50 pm
Thanks Dennis, interesting read and as a relatively new (HSV Home/Property Owner since Fall of 2018). I tend to agree that despite the words/postings of the most negative vocal social media postings (I personally believe this is “loud minority”), things in HSV are not that bad, as a matter of fact, I’ll tell you we’re quite happy with our move here. Given the challenges of the last year with the “Great Pandemic of 2020”, I think we’ve (as a community) fared quite well. Certainly there were unfortunate losses (personal, family, & property), HOWEVER, I would contend if you take a step back (strategic vision), the impacts here (HSV) compared to “other places” weren’t actually that bad (got it, subjective assessment from my foxhole….). As a native Arkansan, I have no regrets on our decision to return to our home state and establish our retirement home in Hot Springs Village. We’ve had the opportunity to live & work in several places around the world & nation (some pretty amazing places, and and some……not so much…..), given those experiences, I find our challenges here, certainly in need of attention and improvement, but overall (in my opinion) we (residents of HSV) generally live ahead of/at the top of the Global Bell Curve (yes, another subjective assessment on my part). Is that true of all residents of HSV?, unfortunately not, but I think if you were able to take a general poll, the overall positive would outweigh the negative….. My $.02… NOTE: This is certainly JUST an opinion piece, and I fully understand that some, maybe many, don’t agree with my opinion, but it is just MY opinion, and THAT is the only thing I/we all really control in life…
Jama Lopez
06/06/2021 — 8:08 am
So, let’s just all hold hands and sing “Kumbaya”?
Or, perhaps we don’t know what we don’t know?
Jim Langford
06/06/2021 — 8:57 am
Good job Cheryl. It is good to see all the good things about the Village posted. One thing I have never seen talked about is, if the Board decides we need a Monthly Assessment increase, how are they going to handle the non-resident property owners who will probably vote it down. The Covenants still state all property owners have an equal vote. I think the Weiss Board backed us into a corner that will be hard to get out of. I could be wrong but, to my knowledge, that is where we are.
HSVP C
06/06/2021 — 9:45 am
Thank you, Jim. We have to give Dennis Simpson credit for this article. I don’t know how the non-resident homeowners will vote, but those only owning lots for amenity purposes and not homes here may be likely to agree with an assessment increase. I could be wrong, but the Board is more likely to get an assessment increased passed if they only ask for an increase for the homeowners and little to nothing of an increase for lot owners. As we know, they can do this because of our two-tier assessment system. As you said, we all get an equal vote and the lot owners can vote to increase our monthly assessments, even if it doesn’t affect them.
Gene Garner
06/06/2021 — 10:22 am
Jim, the non-resident property owners will vote for an assessment increase because the BOD will repeat the same plan as the original two-tier increase. The resident property owners annual assessments will be increased but the non-resident owners will get a “pass”. The BOD know the non-resident owners won’t vote for an increase on themselves but will vote for an increase on residents only.
The BOD will justify the increase by saying residents use more of the amenities than non-residents. Of course they forget that we pay to use the amenities- like green fees, access cards, vehicle decals, utility fees etc.
There are approx. 8,000 resident property owners and 16,000 non-resident in the HSV POA– so an resident only increase will easily pass. This is what’s known as “tyranny of the majority” where the majority takes advantage of the minority.–Gene
Andy Kramek
06/08/2021 — 9:14 am
Gene, I am surprised at you for making such a misleading and inaccurate comment about the number of Resident vs Non-Resident property owners. In the 2021 election, (as I suspect you well know), the actual number of ballots sent out were:
“Residents”: 10,085 (44.9%)
“Non-Residents”: 12,364 (55.1%)
Since only “members in good standing” can vote, these numbers represent those qualified to vote in an election and as you can see non-residents outnumbered residents by just 2,279. (hardly the 16,000 to 8,000 margin you stated)!
However, since the RETURNED ballot numbers were:
“Residents”: 5,517 (54.7%)
“Non-Residents”: 2,452 (19.8%)
It is hardly a ‘tyranny of the majority’ – unless you mean that residents are the majority (which they, in fact, were)!
Granted, that if ALL eligible non-residents were to vote (which given history is , at best, an unlikely scenario) they would constitute a small majority, but the reality is not even close to to the overwhelming 2-to-1 ratio you claim exists.
James Walin
06/06/2021 — 10:37 am
Hi all, we’re new to HSV and all we have to say is “ Let’s get er done it’s a great day and tomorrow will be even better”
Rock On!
JHW
John M Szczepaniak
06/10/2021 — 10:41 am
If having Highspeed Internet would solve all our problems it would be wonderful. However, I think we need to be real and acknowledge that our neglected Village is requiring far more and our current sub $70 assessment it just not going to cut the mustard. Much of that fee goes to subsidizing the amenities and very little goes to direct benefit of our 9000 plus rooftop owners needs.
I hope most of the owners either attend or watch the presentation tonight and see just exactly where we are and accept that fact that we can not go on much longer with the status quo.
I hate to pay more fees as much as anyone else but we have no choice if we want to maintain our homes value and that which supports us living here.
You can blame whomever but it is not going to change the facts. You can cut a little here and there but we cannot escape the fact that we have to support everything that is in our Village just like we have to pay taxes to support local schools and the costs are going up.
Just a thought, have a nice day!
Missy Masterson Hale
08/18/2022 — 6:59 pm
For those interested in more information about First Electric’s Fiber Optic project in HSV, please check out the contact information below.
Connect 2 First, phone:
1-833-411-2234
Website:
https://connect2first.net/fiber