SLV a model for HSV?

by Lloyd Sherman, 10/20/19

Savannah Lakes Village (SLV)

A Model for Hot Springs Village (HSV)?

Many of us are aware that David Twiggs came to HSV by way of SLV. With him came a document he referred to as the Master Workbook. That document looked suspiciously like the CMP once it was rolled out. Twiggs has physically left the scene but remnants of him seem to remain.

David Twigg’s Master Plan for HSVPOA

Note: scroll through the pdf’s to read. Also, on the pdf’s you can zoom in/out to enlarge or make them smaller.

HSV-Masterplan-Twiggs

SLV is now a part of the Windfall Group, LLC.

In April of 2018 SLV announced they were entering into a partnership with a developer to purchase and resurrect their failed hotel. While no reports are currently available on the status of that venture, what is a fact today is that SLV is now a part of the Windfall Group, LLC. From their website, this is how Windfall describes their company:

“WINDFALL GROUP IS A MULTI-OPERATING COMPANY LOCATED IN THE US, CANADA, AND CHINA. WINDFALL IS INVOLVED IN MANY DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES THAT INCLUDE A BROAD CATEGORY OF REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT.”

Click here to see where SLV fits into the Windfall organization

SLV deserves a closer look

Now a situation like SLV’s may never happen here in HSV, but when several conditions arise from the same environment where Twiggs came from, it really deserves a closer look.

So, in exploring the SLV 2012 Marketing Plan, issues of that document gave me pause. Given some recent announcements involving the closure of HSV Village Homes and Land, begs the question of what is coming next? While nothing has yet been formally announced on the POA plan to remain involved in the real estate market, it makes some worry about how things might function. Being involved in projects outside their core responsibility obviously dilutes the efforts to manage their number one requirement, maintenance of infrastructure.

SLV Marketing Plans from 2012

So, let’s analyze some of the SLV Marketing Plans from 2012 regarding real estate sales and see what may be proposed by HSV if we follow plans from SLV.

The following documents are taken from the “Enhancing Real Estate Sales systems within Savannah Lakes Village” portion of their SLV Marketing Strategy. 

2012 SLV Marketing Plan

SLV2012Marketing-Plan

Excerpt from 2012 SLV Marketing Plan

How this might all come together

Allow me to conjecture how this might all come together based on conversations that are currently being held within our POA here in HSV.

First: Most people do not know that real estate agents currently staff the HSV Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center 7 days a week in hopes of getting real estate related walk-in or phone leads from those interested in HSV real estate. So, there is already a model being used at the west gate where the activities of Discovery Packages could be merged into. 

Second: There have been POA driven conversations for years about relocating the Visitor Center at the Chamber, to the Discovery Center at the east gate and the Hot Springs Village leads program, be merged with the Discovery Package leads program remain in the control of the POA. Now let’s assume the program suggested for SLV be suggested in HSV with a structure, something like a $ buy-in, a monthly fee and some percentage of the sales charged by the POA to realtors. 

Don’t think a scenario like this could happen?

Don’t think a scenario like this could happen? Think again. There will be a meeting soon with the Hot Springs Chamber on this subject. I predict the POA will not close the east gate facility and if discussions with the Hot Springs Chamber proceed, the merging of the Visitor Center will be proposed. I also predict that something, like outlined on page 3 of the insert, will start surfacing within the next few weeks.

None of this will impact the quality of life for property owners, but what will happen is that an opportunity to completely close the east gate facility will be gone and more property owner funds will be spent unnecessarily for functions and software tools that could have been absorbed by the HSV Chamber and Board of Realtors.

The POA should be out of the real estate sales business

RESULT: While the POA should be out of the real estate sales business and allow it to be handled by those motivated to make it work, they will want to control the process. It will be a hot mess. Clients want to have a single point of contact (their agent) and if they are constantly getting bombarded from multiple sources, they are likely to withdraw from the process. Real estate agents will become disgruntled and will withdraw from the program as they did on the POA lot program. And while these POA resources are managing a function they are not equipped to handle, those resources could have been directed to the maintenance needs of the Village.

Another unnecessary money drain

This is another unnecessary money drain the POA will propose and adopt. When will the waste of money cease? We NEED to elect 3 more POA Board Members who will fight to stop this senseless spending on projects that are draining POA funds. These are YOUR funds paid by YOU to keep the Village properly maintained.

SHOW YOU LOVE HSV!

SHOW YOU LOVE HSV! The 2020 HSV Board of Directors’ election is coming soon. Elect smart Board members who have YOUR Village at heart. Help us get our Village BACK ON TRACK with proper care, repair, and expenditures of YOUR assessment funds.

Appendix – Supporting Materials & Research 2012

SLV2012Appendix

By Lloyd Sherman, October 20, 2019