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Something Like Covid-Rage? How Covid could change our homes forever

Each month, I want to use this opportunity to add some value to either your knowledge of community living and some of the legal and/or practical issues involved, or just something related to it or life. I hope that this information is of value to you. Please feel free to pass these articles on to your family and friends.

If Not Road-Rage or Roid-Rage, What About COVID-Rage?

Living in a community village setup is challenging at the best of times – but in the confines and stresses of a pandemic, where everyone wants space, but there are even less than usual to go around – things can get crazy!

With WhatsApp groups, everyone can be in contact with everyone, and it can be very useful, with lots of opportunities to get to know and help each other. It can also become a battleground of accusations and abuse. The trustees can become lightning conductors and scapegoats. They have the responsibility to enforce legislation and safety plans, and they must in the midst of economic disaster, keep an eye on the financial health of the scheme and implement actions to the best of their limited information! They have to keep the scheme healthy in more ways than just protect from viruses!

We live in a society where keyboard warriors can use their sometimes unlimited supply of time, or their superior knowledge or opinions, in a less than socially acceptable or cordial manner. They have opinions on everything and would like to broadcast it on a platform where they can impress and influence the rest of the less gifted beings around them. It usually also becomes the platform where they can attack and abuse others. Their communication can be course, insolent, and rude. It can sometimes destroy the valuable connection trustees seeks to establish, to such an extent that trustees have to change the WhatsApp group to a broadcast group so that members cannot comment. This is a big social loss that can often be laid at the feet of only two or three culprits. To have successful WhatApp groups, trustees will need to have rules and enforce discipline.

Behind the obvious harm, this causes, there is a good thing that emerges from this. These communications, whether Whatsapp groups, email or whatever other methods, is a great opportunity to get to know the other owners/residents that you may meet in real life – at an Annual General meeting or in another situation where this little window into who they really are, can be very valuable. It gives the mild-mannered, silent majority of owners, a chance to get to know the people they share the management, of possibly their most important asset with.

It is especially of value when having to appoint trustees at the next Annual General Meeting! Usually, people do not know each other well enough to make an informed decision when appointing community scheme executives. This can lead to getting the hot-headed, mouthy people into the highly important and responsible positions of being trustees or directors. In these positions, you need people that can make evenhanded, coolheaded, and rational decisions. If you can only base your opinion on the limited interaction at an AGM, it is easy to make disastrous appointments!

I would like to address something that sometimes happens at meetings where this kind of people cause a lot of tension and chaos. Sometimes the other owners feel that by appointing these loudmouths as trustees, it will teach them a lesson or have them put their money where their mouth is. – It is never a good idea! Someone who cannot see the bigger picture and act in the best interest of all (even those that do not even know or appreciate it!), should not be in a position of power. Although meetings must be ordered and well run, it is sometimes a good idea to give someone like this, a little bit of rope, so that the other owners can see what is going on.

Even though someone may have been nominated as a trustee in writing, it is possible to oppose a nomination and share concerns with the meeting on why you do not think that a specific person is a suitable candidate. The meeting can then decide on the matter by first voting on this issue, before further voting on the appointment of trustees.

It is not easy to deal with controlling, manipulative, or domineering people. It is unfortunate, but they are everywhere in society and will try to steer according to their will and not their mind. You can get very “góód leaders”, which may be strong leaders, but not good. Their leadership qualities can send those they lead over a cliff and do a lot of damage to the establishment they must take responsibility for. If someone has this profile, they will NOT be able to be objective, impartial, or fair. Qualities that you need to have, to make good decisions.

They are dangerous in all circumstances, whether in government or in other leadership positions and it is dangerous for the silent majority to take the way of least resistance, and allow them to take charge over matters that can and will, impact your life or possessions.

The difficulty of the lockdown is definitely the ideal chance, where frustrations, pressure, and annoyances bring out the anger and underlying antagonism, which may otherwise not be so noticeable.

While having an understanding of the difficulty of these times, and while we need to make allowance for out of character behaviour, it is still valuable to see the characteristics that pressure will bring to the forefront. If someone is unreasonable, selfish,  hostile, and vindictive – take note and take action when necessary and important! – The best indication of future behaviour is past behaviour!

Our new website is coming!

After  22 years of existence, our third generation website had to be created, as service provider servers had new coding requirements.

So many things have changed from when we had our first website, which was beautiful and functional. It had to be redone for a second time, and now a third time, and this one had totally new requirements.

Our IT whizz has really outdone himself and as the saying goes: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever!” (That is as long as the hosting servers can deal with the current format of the website!)

We are excited, to say the least. We need só much from a website and we have waited só long!

We expect to go live soon and Minari who is in charge of rentals and selling, can’t wait!

We hope that it will impress you as well!

COVID-19 effects on our services

It is important for our clients to understand the effects and limitations we have due to the Regulations and our Workplace Plan.

The most important issue is the time lost in abiding by all the requirements.

Nothing is easy, and as we are very careful with possible infections, it takes time and thought to keep to the social distancing, the sanitizing, etc.

We cannot yet hold meetings, and CSOS has relaxed the requirements regarding Annual General Meetings and the lodgement of documentation. Even when we can start with meetings, there will be a backlog and other limitations, so please be patient!

Although we try to get to everything, we still focus on essential services – so please keep that in mind. Weigh your enquiries and understand when some matters do not get immediate attention, while others do!

How the Coronavirus Pandemic Could Change Our Homes Forever

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Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, our homes have been serving as makeshift workplaces, schools and gyms. And many of us are spending more time in them than ever before.

People often choose their particular home because of its location – perhaps it offers access to good schools or an easy commute to work by car or public transport.  But with fewer people now commuting and more people working from home, where people choose to live and how they want their houses to function may change after this prolonged period of lockdown.

It’s likely that for many families, this period has also highlighted that when they are all in the house at the same time, it can be hard to find any personal space. A popular trend in recent years has been for open plan living. This, however, relies on a “phased” pattern of occupation, whereby different members of the household occupy the home at different times of the day. This is very different from the “concurrent” pattern of occupation – whereby all members of the household occupy the home simultaneously – that lockdown has made more prevalent.

Being able to supervise children while working may be beneficial for some. But for others, the lack of privacy afforded by these large, open plan spaces has no doubt presented challenges. Particularly when, for example, you might want a quiet corner in which to hold online calls.

People who work from home may use their heating more to maintain a comfortable working environment. So an increase in the number of homeworkers could see a renewed focus on thermal comfort and the energy efficiency of their homes.

A growing preoccupation with exercise and health could also see more people thinking about the impact internal environments can have on our well-being – prioritising natural light and access to nature. This could lead to reduced reliance on electrical lighting and greater demand for gardens that encourage biodiversity.

The experience of lockdown will, no doubt, have a lasting effect on us all. And many will be rethinking the kind of life they want to live post-pandemic, along with the role their homes could play in this.

Source:  The Conversation

Moving To a Larger Home?

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There are fatal MISTAKES to avoid when moving to a larger home.

Unlike your first home purchase when you initially entered the world of real estate, upgrading your current home can be complicated. Call Minari Nel now on 072 588 8136 to receive your free report entitled ‘A South African’s Guide to Moving to a Larger Home’.

Call now and find out what the experts know before it’s too late.

How Can I Help You?

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Frustrated with trying to sell your own home

Tired of:

  1. Expensive Advertising
  2. Haggling about Pricing
  3. Unqualified Buyers
  4. Loss of Free Time

Call or text Minari Nel today on 072 588 8136 for superior service and fast results.

Support Desk

I’d love to hear from you and get your opinion about my newsletter! I am always looking for new ideas and ways to improve. Do you have any questions I could address in my next newsletter or any comments or ideas you would like to share?

Please feel free to send a message to retha@jotam.co.za.

Thanks for your input; it is important to me! Regards, Retha

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