By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
On October 4, 2016, we posted a letter from “Pastor John” DiGiamberardino, COO of the OGCMA. In it he reassured “friends and neighbors” that there would be no increase in residential ground rents. Below is the link to that Blogfinger post.
But the Pastor’s letter was not considered clear enough, so the OGHOA decided that they needed “clarification” regarding the CMA’s policies, so they sent an email querying the Pastor further about the ground rent intent.
“Pastor John” responded to them and said, “In short, nothing is going to change” with respect to lease fees.
“Addressing the question of ‘terms and conditions’ of a ground lease,” Pastor John stated that “this primarily relates to non-payment of ground rent”.
In an email today from the OGHOA “Board of Directors” (aka Board of Trustees; aka Board of Dubious Intentions) to the membership, the Directors said that they would “take the OGCMA at its word” regarding the ground rent issue. A little condescending perhaps?
Some residents remain distrustful of the CMA and they are encouraging everyone to pay their land rents on time each year.
THE BEATLES:
How can anyone complain about raising the rent on single family homes? $10.50 is a joke. Maybe, way back in the day, that was a lot, but now its so low as to be ridiculous. What if the rent was increased to $125 per year and then increased 10% every 5 years thereafter. That would still be a ridiculously low amount of ground rent yet give the OGCMA much needed funds to improve the town and the build a cushion for when the next big hurricane hits. I think if the OGCMA said that 50% of the rent increase was to go to a hurricane recovery fund, that would take the sting out of it for detractors. (“Detractors” are folks who apparently think anything over$10.50 is unreasonable even though beach passes are $60, etc.)
I would urge the OGCMA association to reasonably increase the rent in line with the amounts I listed above.
Jesse: Every homeowner in town also pays real estate taxes on the land and the improvements; They also pay ground rent. Evidently, the CMA does charge more for commercial buildings, ?rental properties, and condos such as yours, and as you (and Kevin Chambers) point out, this is nothing new.
So, for the HOA to suddenly discover this “problem” is disingenuous and indicates that there are members of the HOA board whose new discovery is that it might affect their own condos. As for the business interests in town, they need to fight their own battles with the Camp Meeting.
We didn’t post your comments about parking, because this post is about ground rents. If you have another topic, please send it to us separately.
—-Thanks, Paul @Blogfinger
As some of us read the accounts of the ground rent issue reported in the Coaster, we blanched, given that the rules changed back in 2002/03 when condos were being built around town. Some of us started out back then paying ground rent in the range of $600 to $700 dollars per year with percentage increases for the first thirteen years. The rates have gone up steadily based now on the Consumer Price Indes (CPI), and now some of us are paying over $800 dollars per year.
This is a far cry from the $10.50 per year on most single family homes. Ours is a former hotel that is now a residence with eight apartments yielding more stability to the rents. Our building is residential, and no one in the OGHOA seems to have noticed this before the Carriage House changed hands.
If I paid $10 bucks a year and got an assurance from the CMA that ground rents would not be increased, I too would remain silent.
We pay over $800/year per apartment got groundless rent. We also are each assessed a land value of $150, 000 per apartment by the Township of Neptune. Add to that the assessment for property improvement (the apartment itself), and you have a hefty real estate tax.
Kevin Chambers and Paul Goldfinger continue to be the speakers of truth to power in God’s Little Acre. The one good thing is that mortgage lenders will one again consider making loans to prospective buyers in Ocean Grove.
The HOA has claimed success in the Coaster, saying that the threat of a lawsuit intimidated the CMA to back down on ground rents. They even got their lawyer to make a statement claiming that the CMA feared a suit because a suit might uncover a vulnerability in the right of the CMA to charge ground rents.
Can you imagine the legal fees that would be required to attack the CMA on what could be Constitutional issues? That threatened suit is just smoke and would never materialize.
The groaning noise emanating from the Home Groaners in the Coaster sounds like nonsense—a fiction designed to justify the dopey efforts and legal fees that resulted in the HOA’s chasing its tail around and around. They look small and pathetic, while the CMA actually looks tall and noble on these issues.
Where is the HOA on real concerns such as the massive building which has emerged at #50 Main Avenue, the zoning fiasco which may allow the Warrington to be built, and the threatened high density effort proposed for #60 Main Avenue? And then there is the North End lurking in the shadows. And who knows what else is in store for OG by developers who want to cash in, just as their buddies are doing in Asbury Park, although there they have professionals who have a transparent plan.
The people of Ocean Grove are too busy enjoying their beautiful town to wake up and look into the future to see the threats looming ahead. They can’t depend on the HOA or the Township to take their side against those who would ruin Ocean Grove.
The homeowners of OG shouldn’t be distrustful of the Trustees of the OGCMA; they should be distrustful of the Trustees of the OGHOA. Nothing has changed about the OGCMA being able to increase ground rents for new units created by improper variance approvals by Neptune, such as the new condos and new condo commercial units being built on Main Avenue. The new leases created for these improper units will be written to permit an increase whenever the OGCMA wishes to increase them.
Why then is the OGHOA, after hiring an attorney, now willing to except the statement of the OGCMA? We all knew that they were not going to raise ground rents for single unit leases, but they will continue to raise ground rents for newly created condo units. This is what the Trustees of the OGHOA were up in arms about.
So what has changed and why are the OGHOA Board now alright with the OGCMA’s statement when nothing has changed?
Will the OGHOA tell its membership what the attorney has found out? Or will the “Board of Directors” just sweep this under the rug?
Kevin Chambers