Sunnyside Estates

Quorum Article - June 2005

Sunnyside Estates is a gated community of 231 homes located on Madison Street in West Indio, just south of Highway 111. It has a fascinating history, both in development and management.

Presley of Southern California first incorporated Sunnyside in 1981 as a 55 and over community using modular construction. However, Century Vintage Homes subsequently took the project over, developed the remaining lots using stick-built construction, and changed the governing documents to allow for standard single-family home occupancy.

This mix of modular and stick built construction even came to include three mobile homes.  Interestingly, there is no pattern to the location of which type of home is situated where. Although the highest concentration of modular homes is in the southwest side of the community, they are spread throughout. All homeowners own the land that their units are built on.

Units range in size from just over 900 square feet to more than 1800 square feet. The market is currently very strong with homes selling in a matter of days. Offers are being made in the $250,000 to $265,000 range and are outstripping recent appraisals. Approximately 98% of the owners are full time residents. Most of the owners are working class families.

The common areas and facilities are mostly concentrated in the center of the complex with two small parks and an RV Lot in three of the four corners. The facilities include a beautiful clubhouse with a kitchen, fireplace, and barbeque, which is used for community functions. The clubhouse can also be rented by homeowners for private functions for a nominal fee and a refundable security deposit. There is also a large pool, kiddy pool, and spa.

A tennis court, a basketball court, and a putting green complete the center of the common area and all of these amenities have been refurbished within the last year. The RV Lot is in the Southeast corner of the development, with spaces that are rented to homeowners for a fee of $25.00 per month. It is currently at capacity and there is a waiting list for openings.

Sunnyside is located very close to Highway 111, so access to the rest of the valley is fairly easy. With the rapid pace of development of the east end of the valley, there is no longer a need to travel to Palm Desert or Palm Springs. A developer will soon build a large shopping center right on the corner of Madison and 111. So in the near future life will only get more convenient for Sunnyside residents. In the not distant past, Sunnyside was the only development on the four corners of Madison and 48^th Streets. Now all corners have been developed.

Sunnyside homeowners enjoy relatively low HOA dues at $114 per month. Most of the newer communities in the area have higher dues and cannot compete with the amenities. This is no accident, as Sunnyside is making strenuous efforts to stretch and conserve its dollars and meet the challenges facing a mature community. They are in the process of converting existing landscaping both inside and outside of the gates to xeriscape. This will better flow with other landscaping in the area and will save on irrigation and maintenance costs.

Common area lighting has been converted from time clocks to photocells. In addition, the air-conditioning/heating systems in the clubhouse have been replaced. With energy saving technology, Sunnyside’s costs both in gas and electric have been cut by more than half. They are also replacing the lamps in their streetlights, when they burn out, with high efficiency, longer lasting, bulbs and ballasts.

For a 20 plus year old community everything is a challenge. With the rising costs of utilities and services, it is a challenge to keep HOA dues at a comfortable level, while at the same time keeping everything working correctly and looking fresh. Sunnyside has learned all about the purpose of proper reserve funding. If something has not been replaced in the community, it is being planned.

Sunnyside shares this kind of challenge with all maturing communities. However, a special challenge facing the Sunnyside Board and Management arises out of the demographics of the community.  Their biggest issue is keeping the younger people out of trouble. The community was originally designed to be a 55 and over development so there is not a lot for the kids to do. Most homes have both parents working and this sometimes means that the kids don’t always have proper supervision. The Board and Management constantly have to watch the kids to keep them from getting into trouble or tearing something up.

Nonetheless, the Board is determined to enforce the HOA rules. Says one Board member: “If homeowners who habitually break the rules don’t want to abide by the rules, they are free to move. That’s what makes America great!”

To help bridge the communications gap, the Sunnyside HOA, with the help of a volunteer homeowner, has launched a website to post important information. This effort will be funded by offering advertising to homeowners with businesses as well as businesses in the local area. Free community barbeques twice a year also stimulate communications and community cohesiveness.

A 5-member Board of Directors governs the Association and is assisted by active architectural, rules and regulations, neighborhood watch, and activity committees. HOA vendors include El Paseo Bank (operating and reserve funds; Provident Bank  (reserve fund; Mountain View Landscaping; George Callier for electrical; Interaccess Systemsfor gates; Gen Margaret Wangler (Fiore, Racobs and Powers) for legal advice; Peters & Freedman for collections; Sonnenberg & Co., CPA; and Executive One for security.

The history of management at Sunnyside is fascinating. Michael Maler, resident manager, describes it in his own words: “At the inception of Sunnyside Estates we had a resident manager. About 9 years ago the board at the time decided that an outside management company would better serve the Associations’ needs and went in that direction.

“Things were very good at first but over time, we felt like we were not getting the service that we needed. At that time the Association hired another outside management Company. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out either. There had been very few violation letters sent out in years, people were making architectural changes without approval or enforcement by management. We had little or no committees that were active and it was like the wild, wild, west. The place looked awful and nobody seemed to care. We had well over a month’s assessments over-due with very few in collection and we were desperate.

“There was even talk by the Board, because we were so broken down and beaten, about dissolving the Association and letting the state take over. We met and the Board approached me because I had been involved with the ongoing activities longer than anyone else, and asked me if I wanted to take a shot at managing. I contacted our old resident manager, (who now lives in Montclair California), and she agreed to come back and help us get reestablished as a self-run community.

“The Board agreed to be patient with me as I learned and after talking with my family and much thought, I accepted. We had to start from scratch; we didn’t even have an office set up that was capable of handling the operations of an HOA. In addition, we joined CAI right away and I have taken courses and will continue to take as many as possible in the hopes of learning as much as possible. All of the changes that have been made have been done by this Board and myself in the past 20 months.

“We are so grateful to CAI for all of their help and support. Sometimes and in certain situations a resident manager, who has a vested interested in the Association, is the best choice. If you combine a resident manager with continuing education from CAI, anything is possible. You can even turn a dying, unhappy place, into a community of hope, where people want to help and where there is such a demand to live there, that they are even willing to pay cash above appraisal just to have a chance at it.”