Ask how Sun City Center is doing and you’ll hear how many homes sold last month. Thirty-five? Forty?
That number matters to the Association. Each new owner pays about $3,000 at closing, and that money builds and repairs our campus. But it isn’t your number. Thirty-five sales or forty-five, next month changes nothing about your life here.
Two other things do.
Your house is probably the biggest thing you own. One day you or your family will sell it. Two things will matter that day: the price, and how long it sits.
So picture a similar house a few miles up the road. Same size, same age. Why should yours be worth more?
It should. Look at what comes with it.
$346 a year (about $29 a month)
No CDD fee on your deed
More than 100 clubs, three campuses, a Security Patrol, an Emergency Squad and Samaritan Services
$300 to $700 a month
Often a CDD fee on top
Amenities owned by the developer, not by you
CA dues only. Many neighborhoods also have HOA or POA fees, which vary.
That’s somewhere near $50,000 kept in your pocket over ten years. [CHECK]
Search Google for “best 55+ community near Tampa.” We don’t come up. Developers do. A moving company does.
A buyer who doesn’t know what our fee covers is paying for square footage. A buyer who does is paying for a way of life. Same house, different price.
I believe the Association holds email addresses for about half our members. [CHECK] If that’s right, when a storm is coming, the CA can reach roughly half of us directly. The rest hear it from a neighbor, usually the one who got it slightly wrong.
Residents clearly want news. About 30,000 people follow the unofficial Sun City Center pages on Facebook, against about 1,500 on the CA’s own page. [CHECK] The CA should be the first place the news comes from.
Near-instant news on your phone isn’t a luxury, and it doesn’t need a big budget. It’s the plumbing of the place.
Getting word to every member. An email address for everyone who wants one, and every club’s events on one calendar you can check from your phone. The Board approved the key elements of free Google nonprofit software in April. What’s missing isn’t money. It’s the work.
Telling buyers and agents the truth about our value. An honest cost comparison, a proper page for people thinking of moving here, and a simple fact pack for the 120 or so local agents who set our asking prices. [CHECK] Nearly free, and it helps every home here, including yours.
Using free advertising we’ve already earned. The Google program includes up to $120,000 a year in free advertising that for-profit developers can’t get.
Reporting what matters, every quarter. In plain English: what homes sold for, how long they took, and how we compare with the communities nearby. And one director responsible for this work, so it outlasts any election.
Knowing what we spend, and why. A plain-English account of what the Association pays for software and services, in one place members and directors can see.
I won’t promise your house will be worth a certain amount by a certain date. Nobody honest can.
And I won’t vote on hunches. Board decisions should rest on research and numbers, looked at together by the nine people accountable to you.
The Board has plenty on its plate with the Phase 1 campus project, and that work matters. Nothing here needs a big budget. It needs someone to finish the job.