Thursday, April 2, 2015

Congratulations!


Congratulations; Hindu Seniors Community Of Las Vegas on signing a contract to buy land. 



Here is a wonderful story of an intentional  community in Washington.
#LasVegas  #IndianAmericanSeniors #community#SeniorCommunity #LasVegasIndianSeniors #Desi #LittleIndia #IndianImmigrant #DesiInLasVegas #Villages #ShantinNiketan #GokulGaon #BharatVillas #PriyaLiving #VishramKuteer #SunCity #MaplePalayamCommunity

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Waiting to die?


Dark side of ShantiNiketan? No way! Iggy's vision

DISCLAIMER

The ideas expressed here on this blog are exclusively mine & not that of:
Hindu Seniors Community Of Las VEGAS!

Here is Iggy’s 2/6/15 NPR radio interview (You can skip to 4:44 to 5:36 instead of listening to the entire interview if you wish):
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/02/06/384043496/being-with-people-like-you-offers-comfort-against-deaths-chill

It has some of his revelations about primal human instincts & his vision behind Shantiniketan communities.

--Begin clip
But there's a dark side to this homogenous heaven, its founder says. "I don't want my children or grandchildren to live in a community like this," Ignatius says. "Retirement communities are places where people go waiting to die.”
And at that time, he thinks, it's beyond your control. No matter who you are, you'll experience a deep primal desire to withdraw, like a salmon swimming upstream to the place of its birth to spawn and die. "I think that is an animal instinct which we as human beings seem to have.”
—End



Waiting to die?

Morbid?
Do you envision settling down in a “forever home” possibly your final sanctuary? Would you want to live in your own “agraharam”, not in a depressing extended stay glorified motel / time-share? 


Most senior communities voluntarily impose the age restriction for the tax benefit (no kids would mean no additional burden on local school district) rather then keeping the (undesirable / annoying?) kids away from the residents. But if you have a non-profit status, you will not be taxed anyway!

You don't have to be a gerontologist or a psychiatrist to know that major problem in old age is depression caused by isolation & loneliness. If you withdraw into a "vanprasthashram"; kind of old age "man-cave" (even if with other similar Indians) would you be making it better or worse? 

I suspect 80-85% investors / renters / winter birds buy in SN for bragging rights: “I bought a condo in Shantiniketan”! The rest of the 15-20% permanent residents would be dying for you to buy & move in with them for good instead of the constant turnover of the transients!




Count the number of smiling faces on Shantiniketan website or on their Facebook photos! Waiting to die; even if it is in a comfortable & clean resort along with other Indians that understand you, is for those who have given up on life. Would it be despicable to include a crematorium on site?


Would it be better to live / celebrate life to the fullest towards the end with your loved ones, young & old (without age restrictions)? Like an oil lamp that burns the brightest just before getting extinguished, running out of oil (juice of life)!


Salmon-run analogy: most of us are done spawning; wouldn’t you agree (unless you are planning a hedonistic resort LOL)? & hardly anyone would want to return to Varanasi or Haridwar or somewhere on the Himalayas (our Indian birth places)! What kind of living can you anticipate, if you are just waiting for the “grim reaper”?

Do you really want to build “a retirement resort (purgatory?) for Hindu seniors waiting to die, living with 80-85% investors or curious transient renters”? It would also force you into an auto centric development to accommodate rental car traffic that most renter / tourists would invariably bring in! Las Vegas would certainly attract more renters. Building a resort would also imply going into hospitality business. 

Do you recall my suggestion about building either a mixed community or an age restricted community adjacent to a non restricted development? & my caveats regarding car-centric design, waving the “holier then thou” Hinduism flag, living in a resort vs living in a community, economics of standard vs high density zoning, parasitic dependence on investor participation, MacMansion villas vs empty-nester’s frugal homes, insistence on the divine number 108 etc. 






If you do not have a clearly defined vision; you will have to adapt & conform to the builder's vision; good bad or ugly! Even if your project does not materialize, it would still be a feather in the builder's cap; another “stay tuned location” for his brochure!

This is not an attempt @ bashing Shantiniketan or Mr Iggy Ignatius; he is providing a much needed service to a particular niche of Indian seniors. God bless him!

Follow your bliss!

#LasVegas  #IndianAmericanSeniors #community#SeniorCommunity #LasVegasIndianSeniors #Desi #LittleIndia #IndianImmigrant #DesiInLasVegas #Villages #ShantinNiketan #GokulGaon #BharatVillas #PriyaLiving #VishramKuteer #SunCity #MaplePalayamCommunity



Monday, February 9, 2015

Hope

Where art thou; Obi-Wan Kenobi?



If you haven't seen Star Wars, you wouldn't understand!



"Hope is not a strategy!"


This is about "working out" for abs, you perv!

It has been over a year since the group started meeting @ the temple. 

  • Are we waiting for someone else to show us properties?
  • Are we waiting for angel investors to pour money in our project?
  • Are we waiting for a builder/developer to come & design build the project for us?

Here is a no stones unturned approach:
Unless you are content with the progress you have made so far; download this app for the group & start checking off tasks you have done already & plan on tackling next, as a group as well as individually!



Would it make sense to embark on journey without a destination (your goals) & a route (your timeline)? See how many tasks from the following list have you accomplished after a year & whether they matter to you?

LVISC Time line tasks (not in any order of priority)

  • find minimum of 10 committed members / early buyers
  • predevelopment funds (soft costs: surveys, soil tests, schematic design, etc.)
  • design programming (recipe ingredients)
  • explore goals & values (commitment to one another)
  • decide on luxury living resort with villas or frugal Dharamshala
  • army barracks or town houses or detached units
  • auto-centric or people-centric design
  • "McMansions" or "Not so big houses"
  • assisted or independent living
  • age restricted or multigenerational
  • site selection
  • Negotiate options on chosen site
  • Buy land
  • Create development entity, partnership or corporation
  • feasibility study
  • site planning schematics
  • off site work: street paving, street lights, sidewalks etc.
  • utilities hookup
  • appraisal
  • title search
  • value engineering
  • greening decision alternate energy considerations
  • marketing & sales
  • Prepare bids for site work and building construction
  • find angel investors?
  • Fund raising
  • find a banker
  • find a lawyer
  • find a chef
  • architecture, engineering
  • schematic design workshops
  • Workshop: consensus process
  • Workshop: site design
  • Workshop: common house
  • Workshop: prototype homes
  • building permitting & fees
  • planning & zoning approval
  • common house design
  • individual home designs
  • common house construction
  • amenities
  • moving in
  • begin construction
  • find builder to partner with
  • construction loan interest/fees
  • interest on investments
  • hire a project manager
  • utility hookup fees
  • real estate taxes during construction
  • bonds & insurance
  • title & recording
  • grading water/sewer connections
  • landscaping pathways & irrigation
  • On site paving, utilities
  • individual mortgages
  • CC&Rs
  • maintaining common facilities
  • hire staff (maintenance, maids, chef)
  • buy furnishings (donations / sharing pool)
  • gym, pool equipment
  • Bhoomipuja
  • ground breaking
  • Customization of individual units
  • Buying a van
  • Decide on Redundancies individual washers, dryers, dishwashers
  • Solar HW
  • Accessibility
  • On site medical personnel
  • Guest accommodations in common house
  • Pool building
  • Construction documents
  • Bidding
  • mortgage broker
  • Materials & finishes selection

#LasVegas  #IndianAmericanSeniors #community#SeniorCommunity #LasVegasIndianSeniors #Desi #LittleIndia#IndianImmigrant #DesiInLasVegas #Villages #ShantinNiketan#GokulGaon #BharatVillas #PriyaLiving #VishramKuteer #SunCity#MaplePalayamCommunity



Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Hot investment tips from Tony Robins

Excerpts from his brand new book:


The "self-help guru" has substantial investments in senior living facilities.


The demographics are a no brainer; even more so for Indian seniors!

Even if you do not believe in his preachings you can believe in supply & demand economics.

 The caveat here is the he is talking about "high end senior living facilities" (with assistive care) not frugal, non-profit, do-it-yourself, co-housing communities! Senior care facility or a resort time share like development would be an entirely different proposition & business model.

Also be mindful of the fact that the promoter invests 50% of the project capital, in addition to putting in all the efforts of finding the site & doing all of the predevelopment work. Even though the investors get 6% to 8% preferred returns, the returns are not guaranteed (if you do, try explaining that to the SEC)!

In any event, if you do not have enough faith in your own project to pull out your wallet; forget about any investors jumping in the fray for you. You will have to wait till the cows come home!

#LasVegas  #IndianAmericanSeniors #community#SeniorCommunity #LasVegasIndianSeniors #Desi #LittleIndia#IndianImmigrant #DesiInLasVegas #Villages #ShantinNiketan#GokulGaon #BharatVillas #PriyaLiving #VishramKuteer #SunCity#MaplePalayamCommunity 

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Are you a lurker?

Hey, thank you for lurking!

Wanna play the late night show host the late Johnny Carson's character "Carnac the magnificent" here, just for laughs? May be you can pitch in your two cents (wait, don't panic; I am not asking for money. OMG, silly!)




Imagine this Q & A scenario between a prospective investor / future resident & a core member; kind of "Frequently Asked Questions". The following original list is from May 2014, the current 2015 version is in red:

Q is this a Hindu community?
A No, not any more. (Yes it is now! But if you visited ISCON or any other temple or you were even thinking about becoming a Hindu, you are welcome)
Q Is it age restricted?
A Initially we were adamant about it but we did not have enough positive response so we changed it to multigenerational with no restrictions (back to 55+).
Q I heard you were going to separate cars & people?
A Don’t worry if you want attached 2-3 car garage, we can accommodate you.
Q You expect the residents to take an active role in designing the campus & individual buildings in a non-hierarchical setting?
A That was the silly architect’s idea!
Q The residents are going to manage & run the community?
A We may have to find a management company to do it for us.
Q You are going to have two separate kitchens in the common house?
A Yes vegetarian as well as non vegetarian along with two chefs & support staff. (may be not)
Q You can afford all that?
A It will be covered by the H.O.A. fees & participation in the all meals plan will be mandatory.
Q Even with all meals are mandatory you will still have full size kitchen with dishwasher etc.?
A For the resale market.
Q What if someone does not like the chef’s cooking?
A Tough! They can cook @ home but their fees would still be the same in order support the staffing expenses.
Q You are also thinking about a doctor/nurses onsite office?
A Yes!
Q Is this an assisted living facility?
A No multi generational, but we will provide this amenity to attract a wider segment!
Q All the decisions will be made by consensus?
A Again crazy architect’s idea!
Q Are you planning a green Eco-friendly community?
A Whatever the market demands, we don’t care. If sloping roofs & concrete tiles are popular, that is what we will use.
Q Are you scaling down private homes i.e. give up traditional features like a great room, formal dining room, laundry room, 2-3 car garage, 2-3 baths, fireplaces, double vanities, granite countertops, island kitchen, media room etc. & move them into the common house shared facility?
A Wonder whether we have to be mindful of resale market; what do you think? 
Q Are you trying to please everyone?
A Yes, we will try & cover all the bases!
Q Isn’t that a recipe for failure?
A Not for us, hopefully.
Q So how will your community differ from a run of the mill, tract home subdivision?
A Indian neighbors!
Q Have you committed your money for your own home?
A Not yet, but you should buy two or three units or help us buy the land & build a few homes + the club house.
Q If someone changes their mind you are going to refund their money?
A 100% no risk whatsoever
Q Who would absorb the soft costs?
A Investors of course!
Q Are you serious & you want me to be an investor?
A Think of the profit you will be sharing with us!

 Can you help by adding your comments below?
Don't worry, no one will install a key-logger or a cookie on your computer! It is okay to come out of the shadows (not unlike a closet) to share your wisdom. Even if you are not a Las Vegan / Hindu or have no intentions of participating!
Thanking you sincerely,