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 Koger
Hired for Full, Professional Management of Shadowood
As you may have heard, on Saturday
October 21st, the Shadowood Condominium Association Board of
Directors voted unanimously in selecting the
Koger Management Group to fully manage our condominium, its
finances and all of the common property. Koger and its management
team will begin their work on Wednesday November 1, 2006.
Although the benefits to the
Association are many, individuals will see few changes.
The Board has put together a short
list of frequently asked questions. If you have any other questions, please
direct them to
president@shadowoodcondos.com
The Board will compile the questions
and send the answers to all (unless you want your names used, they will be
removed from the answers sent to all).
1) Why did Shadowood make the change to full management with Koger?
Your Board of Directors made this change for many reasons. At the 2006
annual meeting, many co-owners called for a move to professional management
and indicated concerns about the in-house management approach that Shadowood
has used for many years. In addition, cost and HR issues were becoming
increasing burdens for the Board of Directors. By moving to full
management, the Association will save at least $7000 per month and
be freed from the burdens and risks of managing staff. The Board will now be
able to focus on contract management and spend much more time on many of the
aging elements within our community. The Board feels this move will have a
very positive effect on Shadowood.
2. My statement was not clear and my condo fee was not charged
correctly. Why would you trust Koger? Koger has
been managing Shadowood's finances since July 0f 2005 and did a flawless job
for the first year of the contract. In July of 2006, Koger was forced to
move its offices and change software unexpectedly -- both of which had to be
completed at the same time. To complicate matters, the previous software
vendor went out of business and forced the expedited transfer of all of
Koger's 600 accounts at one time. While this is no excuse for the errors
that a few of you experienced, the vast majority of the accounts were
correctly processed last month, all funds are properly accounted for and
Koger is rapidly working to resolve the remaining inaccuracies. The
problems that a few unit-owners experienced were software related, are now
resolved and had nothing to do wither Koger.
3. How will this affect me? Very little. You will still
pay your condo fees in the same manner you do now, you will still use the
same email and postal addresses to communicate with the staff and board, and
the phone numbers for the office and fax will not change. The Board
anticipates adjusting office hours slightly to better accommodate community
needs, including offering evening and weekend hours.
4. How does this decision affect the Association? A lot.
In addition to direct savings of at least $7000 a month, money that will be
used to manage and improve the property rather than pay ever increasing
administration and staff costs, the Board will be able to focus on property
and contract management. What's more the Board will have the benefit of a
large professional management company behind the Association with access to
contractors, suppliers, benefit programs and new ways of doing things that
were not previously available to the Association. All of Koger's on-site
staff will be bonded employees of Koger freeing the Shadowood Board of
Directors from burdensome and time-consuming human resources functions. We
also believe that co-owners will be more interested in board and committee
service. Rather than debating how many hours of leave each staff member
should earn, the committees will decide how Shadowood will look and operate
and the Board will manage the property and its budget.
Using economies of scale with
other Koger clients, Shadowood should have access to cheaper services from
contractors and service-providers than currently available.
5. Will my statements change? No. For the remainder of
this year, your statements will continue to look the same. The finance
committee is working on some positive suggestions including a budgeted
amount for gas and electricity consumption (which will allow your payment to
be the same each month), paperless statement delivery and a much more
streamlines administrative process. We will be consolidating from four
computer systems and software into one, eliminating the redundancies and
automating much of what has for years been done manually.
Heating and Air Conditioning
Shadowood will began the
conversion from air-conditioning service to heating on October 10th.
Air-conditioning service has been suspended and will no longer be
available until Spring 2007. The air conditioning cannot be turned back on, so please do
not call the office requesting heat.
By Thursday evening, October
12th, all buildings and all condos
should be supplied with heat and should no longer have air-conditioning service.
"No Heat" service calls are
provided as an emergency service after business hours and on weekends. Only
unit owners, and not tenants, may authorize after-hours service calls. Please
consider waiting to file a "No Heat" call until normal
business hours (Monday - Thursday 9 - 5 and Friday 9 - noon). All
after-hours no hear calls and other emergency calls must be phoned
in on the Shadowood main phone line at 703-620-5444.
Free Smoke and Fire Alarms
Fairfax County offers free alarms and batteries for life. Call the Fairfax
County Public Information and Life Safety Information office 703-246-3801 if you
would like to take advantage of this program. You may also call the Fox Mill
Fire Station at 703-860-2680 and either get a free alarm or have someone from
the fire station install one for you.
Community
Center Fire Update 4 - Clubhouse Renovation
The
Shadowood Condominium Association office is now open and operating on a
normal schedule at our traditional location: 11639 Stoneview
Square.
Please note:
- use the front doors to enter the office spaces
- you are welcome to schedule an appointment for all SCA business
by calling the office
- until further notice the clubhouse space will be unavailable for
rental or other use
PS--were it not for the smoke and
fire alarms in the community center, the building could have been a total
loss. Please test, repair and replace your smoke alarms in your units!
FREE
FIRE AND SMOKE ALARMS!
Fairfax County offers free alarms and batteries for life. Call the Fairfax
County Public Information and Life Safety Information office 703-246-3801 if
you would like to take advantage of this program. You may also call the Fox
Mill Fire Station at 703-860-2680 and either get a free alarm or have
someone from the fire station install one for you
Payment
Reminder
Despite many notices, some
unit owners are still sending payments to the wrong address!!! If you are
sending your payment (either directly or via a bill-payment service), it must
be addressed to a PO Box in PHOENIX, AZ or it is going to the wrong address.
Although the board waived late fees and interest during the Koger transition,
no further waivers are being granted; your payments must be received on or
before the 15th or each month at the PO box in Phoenix to be considered
on-time.
Koger
Financial Management for Shadowood
The Board of Directors is
pleased to announce that after extensive research, reference checking and
interviewing, we have selected Koger Management Group, Inc.
of Fairfax, VA to handle the financial management services for our community.
The change is effective August 1, 2005.
Koger comes to us with an
impressive history and a diverse background of association management, and a
management style that the board believes will be efficient, effective, and
professional and will serve your best interests and those of the Shadowood
Condominium Association. Best of all, this relationship will cost less than
the current relationship and offer additional benefits including
credit-card payment and automatic debit from checking accounts.
 As always,
be sure you use only the envelope enclosed with your statements to send in
payments. Do NOT use any other envelopes, including your own or your payments
may be late. Neither the Board nor Koger will waive any late fees or interest
charges if you do not send your payments in the correct envelopes.
Do not send other
correspondence in your payment envelope as the envelopes are specially coded
to be routed efficiently to the payment center. Other correspondence will be
discarded.
PS Special thank to
Rodgerick Newhouse and Pamela Supanick for all their hard work in
evaluating financial-management contractors.
How Can You Help Shadwood Help You?
Simply by complying with the points
below, all of us will avoid future headaches and administrative fees, and
we will enjoy Shadowood as the great community it can be!
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Provide the office with a copy of the declarations page of your homeowner’s or
renter's insurance showing your liability coverage--all those without
proof of insurance on file 30 days after moving into a unit will be called to a hearing where
services (including air conditioning and parking) will be suspended.
As a reminder, tenants must have their own, separate liability insurance and
may not be declared as additional insured on
landlords' policies
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Updated
Address. Make sure the office
and Koger Management have the correct mailing address for your billing statements, particularly if you live
off site.
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Water Leaks?
Promptly report to the SCA office any leakage or water issues that you notice.
The association provides FREE leak repairs.
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Smoke Alarms.
Make sure your smoke alarms are functioning properly and have fresh batteries
or live connections to a power source. If your smoke detectors are part of an
alarm system, please provide the Shadowood office with evidence of the
connection and any special testing requirements for your unit.
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Pets. Keep the office updated
with current information on any pets housed in your unit;
keep your vaccinations current and pay your required Shadowood pet fees.
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Tenants.
Keep the office updated and copied on status and documentation of any tenants
residing in your unit.
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Current Vehicle
Registrations. Notify the office if you
are in the military AND have an active-duty assignment at Ft. Belvoir or have non-Virginia license plates or a legal excuse from having updated
registration and a valid inspection sticker for your automobile(s), so that you won’t run the risk of
being towed. Please notify the office immediately of lost/stolen SCA
parking decals.
-
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Trash and Recycling.
Place your trash and recycling materials IN a dumpster, NOT
on the ground. If the dumpsters are full in your area, you must go to
another dumpster on the property. It is NEVER acceptable
to place trash or recycling materials on the ground.
Insurance
Required of ALL: Tenants, Landlords, and Resident Unit Owners
The fourth amendment to the by-laws of the Association has been ratified and
recorded among the land records of Fairfax County Virginia.
As of 15 June 2005, all unit owners, will be
required to carry liability insurance. This applies whether a unit owner resides in Shadowood or leases his or her unit to others. As always,
tenants must carry liability insurance.
Failure to maintain (or obtain) insurance will subject unit owners to hearings,
suspension of rights, services and privileges and other administrative fees.
Comcast Selected by Board for Discounted Cable TV and
High-Speed Internet!
At its meeting on December 15, 2004, the Shadowood Board of Directors voted to select Comcast to provide
Video and High-Speed Internet service to the Shadowood community. The program is
expected to be rolled out beginning late winter 2005--watch the Shadoword and
this website for further details.
Highlights of the program:
- All 450 apartments with
accounts in good standing receive video programming of approximately 80
channels
- All apartments with
accounts in good standing receive high-speed internet service, multiple email
accounts, web site services and storage and a complimentary cable modem
- The office and community
center receive video and internet service at no charge to the association
- Affiliates of Shadowood
living off site receive discounted digital service
- Shadowood has its own
private television channel provided by Comcast
- The fees will be billed
to your account payable monthly with your maintenance and other utility
assessments
- Bulk pricing for the
Shadowood community
H2Options Water-Loss Program
H2Options, Shadowood's
water-loss management contractor, has been through 90 percent of our condos and
has repaired many leaks at no charge to either the association or owners. The
remaining apartments will be inspected throughout the rest of the year. Please cooperate
and allow H2Options staff into your unit. Contractors
are typically on the property Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday
mornings. You may schedule an appointment for a specific day and time by calling
H2Options at 703-242-2201.
If you have a faucet or toilet
leak, either before of after H2Options inspects your condominium, call
703-242-2201 to schedule a FREE
repair. As always, water emergencies of any kind
should be called in to the Shadowood management office at 703-620-5444. The
phone is answered 24 hours a day.
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