Injustice?

And I hope there is a new promo video used for Discover Sun City that is also in the pipeline. In Focus produced a new one to replace the former "outdated" piece. While their attempt was admirable, we can not compete in today's market with substandard social media. The new generation is too media savvy and expects a lot more than what we're providing - that came through clearly at the ASU survey work groups. We have a lot of catch-up to do.

 

RCSC, SCHOA and our Sun Cities Area Historical Society/Del Webb Sun Cities Museum are THE experts.

They should create professional, easily accessed educational tools in every format, placed everywhere.

Hosting a Sun City Realtor Appreciation annual event for realtors, with a box lunch or other draw, would help build relationships. Also an opportunity to formally explain any changes and answer questions.

Hope the new RCSC Communication/Marketing person has a healthy budget.

It’s that important to our future.

 

An educational luncheon is a great idea! We held a similar event for financial advisors and estate planning attorneys when I was CEO of our Community Foundation. It made a major difference in helping develop our donor base. It was surprising how little some of them understood about the role we played in their client's planned giving/philanthropic goals. Helping realtors understand the importance of using the correct terminology about our "assessment" and how those funds are used, as well as how the PIF funds pay for our infrastructure could help new residents feel some immediate ownership in the community, and possibly get excited about becoming involved sooner than later.

Finally, maybe more realtors would see Sun City as more than just "another sale" if they knew more about us. If nothing else, it helps improve communication with a very important business sector in our community. Again, education and communication.

 

Do you know that this has not been done or is being done?

 

While president of the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum (2010, 2011), we had a part time employee (Judy Baerg) who was also a part time Realtor. Her broker provided us lists of every broker in the area and we sent an open house invite to 27 different companies for a Tuesday morning walk through of the museum. We offered refreshments and thought we'd get an interesting mix of agents who had never come. Not a single one. 6 months later we tried inviting individual agents to contact us for individual tours; not a single response.

Undaunted, in 2012, as a RCSC board member and chairman of the communications committee and ad hoc marketing committee we toyed around with something like Sun City West's TORCH program. However we wanted to go further and proposed a special Realtor designation for Realtors who qualified for it with a specialized RCSC training program. We had 2 or 3 Realtors on the committee and they liked the idea initially but when they found out there was a time commitment to it, the idea quickly fizzled out.

Too many Realtors, as noted above, only are looking for the sale. I've long argued they (Realtors) could be an amazing source for community education but most of them don't know much more than the buyer they are selling to.

 

Any chance we could get buy-in to include a seminar as part of their continuing education credits?

 

There actually is some sort of loose accreditation for selling in senior communities. I forget the name of it but realistically Sun City is different from most of the others.

 

It seems that would make it even more important to include a seminar specifically about what makes SC different - or, is that too logical? Or, does it make SC less marketable, in their minds? Maybe a good coffee conversation with your realtor friend, Bill. Food for thought as we plow ahead.

 

The SRES is a designation that a Realtor can earn after taking certain classes. The Senior Real Estate Specialist classes are designed to instill knowledge, understanding and empathy for real estate clients and customers aged 50 and over. As an additional note please review the SCHOA newsletters. SCHOA still remains to be confused as to the "lot assessment" and the "rec center fee"................!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It is too logical and sadly there is very little impetus on or for changing where we are. As happy as i was about the new quorum number set at 500, it really isn't a solution. Nope. sorry, it's simply the start to a very long journey. At least one new board member got excited when i said slow down and get it right.

Yesterday i attended the SAC meeting. Mostly i went because i hadn't been to the new Grand Center and the Sonora room. The other reason was to see up close and personal the process. It was interesting as they are in the phase where stake holders get to make their pitches for what they think is needed. Some of it was interesting, some curious. The one most obvious piece was how little anyone clearly understands Sun City and the RCSC as a whole.

I've written it a hundred times; Sun City is a sum total of our parts (because i wrote it doesn't make it true, but i would happily debate it with anyone why it is accurate). Sadly what i heard a lot of, and worse yet what will be coming, is what I want. It's the price we are paying for removing the membership from the collective process of governance and now we are trapped in it's my turn to get what I want; think I need. I get it, it's human nature.

Walking out of the room after the session, the comments made here and in that room continue to drive me to lust after an entire Continuing Education process for the community. Jean Totten, bless her heart, stated an 8 hour mandatory session for every new buyer should be required. Ouch. When i chided her on the folly of it she gracefully reduced it to 4 hours. My answer; hell no. Education isn't something you shove down people's throats.

I would create programs that were fun (and educational), informative (and educational) and with a wide range of topics and time availability that creates interest and buy-in (and make them educational). Then i would be filming them and make them available for replay on every social media site possible. When they post the new RCSC website i would have an educational component just for them with a marketing push that keeps them front and center.

I've told you all may times, every organization i've been involved with questions how to reach their clients/members. There's no one single answer but the one thing i know works most effectively in Sun City is word of mouth. Both good news and bad news travels with the speed of light in our community and we need to better understand the unique characteristics of clubs and organizations and how to make them conduits for change (and education).

We have been trapped in a mindset of bragging how cheap everything is and had little, let me be more clear, absolutely no interest in being honest with people about the issues confronting us. Being cheap doesn't make us better if the cost has a negative drain on our future. We know from our history DEVCO made lots of starts and stops to get it right during those first 18 years. The RCSC followed in their footsteps and were willing to evolve, change and grow. Sadly, we ran from that history and tried to become something we weren't.

The new board has exciting opportunities in front of them. The challenges will be daunting...but totally doable. To be successful, the membership has to become involved and dare i say, far better educated on why Sun City was the right choice for them.

 

Thanks Gary, i was clueless on the name and acronym. The funny thing was i first heard about it from a Realtor at one of those marketing meetings. It clearly wasn't something Realtor's used as a very effective marketing tool.

I think the year was 2016 i was contacted by a person putting together the programing for the National Organization of City Planners being held in Phoenix. They wanted to run a bus tour starting in Sun City, winding through Sun City West, Sun City Grand (now The Grand) and ending with lunch served in Festival at their golf course restaurant. I was giving the initial program pitch, with the second half coming from the PULTE regional vice-president overseeing senior developments.

I was excited by the idea as i understood the evolution and what it meant. There were and still are pros and cons to both approaches. I always labeled Sun City as having multiple layers of governance with various organizations each filling their own niche. Almost every other community (Sun City West was the closest to us, but even they had evolved), was what i called "single entity governance." One organization controlled every aspect of the community's way of life. It was an interesting and eye-opening session...for all of us.

Senior age restricted communities are unique for lots of reasons and Sun City even more so. My good friend Ben Roloff has filled 5 large folders with the history and more importantly the day to day stories on how we got here. Things as simple as street lights or fire hydrants all come with a backstory that is entertaining and revealing. When you live in a city or town, the local bureaucracy takes care of all of that. Sun City was built without much of it in place and local residents often led the charge for change.

I would love to see the day when the RCSC invites Ben and I to run educational programs where we help those living here understand why we are unique and different than everyone else.

Someday maybe eh?

 

I hope that an RCSC educational seminar series happens sooner than later. I really believe people are hungry to know more. Once the first group attends and the word spreads, I'm confident others would be clamoring to attend. Similar to our community "Leadership" programs in my former life, such programs can instill new energy, build community pride, create new volunteers, and strengthen neighborhoods. It's a win-win.

 

What IS the cost of goodwill these days to keep a member happy? Seeming far less than $4K. My sense is Betty & Hugo weren't trying to avoid anything... they bought, paid a PIF, their annual assessments, participated in Clubs and lived happily in SC for +/- 20-years... now the RCSC is harassing a surviving spouse over what amounts to unknowing mistakes made by the multitude of entities involved... Meade, Maricopa County, Title Agents, the RCSC, and Betty/Hugo... all over $4K.

Betty's experience is far from unique in the RCSC quest to collect a PIF when it isn't "morally" due. Another example was when my friend's mother passed away (the surviving spouse and administrator of she and her husband's family trust) which triggered a change to the administrators to their daughters. The RCSC tried to collect a PIF for that "change in ownership" and then a second PIF when the administrators (daughters) sold the property... two PIFs, for one actual change to the deed (XXX Family Trust to YYY buyer). Another example I know of was when lawyers resolving the SC estate for an out of state relative made several administrative deed changes during the process and unknowingly triggered the RCSC to try collect PIFs for each change... the law firm claimed it wasn't their responsibility to pay, the estate refused to pay, and the buyer did also... leaving the Title Agent trying to complete escrow in a tither.

I wholly support the need for the RCSC to better educate realtors, buyers, and lawyers as to their PIF rules, but it's a losing proposition since the devil is always in the nuances and unusual cases that seemingly change the "ownership" of the property in the minds of RCSC. I suspect the better solution is to simplify the rules so ordinary people can know and understand their responsibilities. No matter how simple/complex the rules, creative people will try to game the system. But in Betty's case it's hard to see how missteps made 20-years ago were an avoidance and should not result in her being charged a PIF, let alone one larger than when they bought, plus interest and fees. That is immoral IMHO.

 

Well said IC and this story is yet to be completed. The good news is home sales rose in June above the 2020 June figures by 7%. Collecting the PIF from those owing is one thing, trying to take it from people who have already paid it or from heirs who took ownership and immediately put it on the market and sold it so as to collect it twice is as you said...
Simply immoral.

 

I think the contrary is true. The RCSC needs to be better educated because a lot of times the home seller will pay the PIF as an incentive to the potential buyer, and then the buyer gets hit-up again at closing?

I do believe that this is happening?

 

I have to disagree with this. I'm betting most people knew no one when they moved here. Many did move here because family moved here in earlier years but hardly a majority. We also had a large number move here because it was the cheapest place around. At this time, they may be one of the largest groups. How many were bought at auction at that time?
If most people bought because of friends or family don't you think they would have heard about many of the things discussed here before buying? Such as PIF and being on the deed.

 

Family and friends in surrounding areas, not necessarily in Sun City.