Vote of confidence

Congratulations to Duv Wolff, Marcio Jaspan, Murat Kizikli and Zack Karmali on their election to the International Village Board of Directors. All four were automatically elected to two-year terms this month after drawing no opposition for the four available seats on the Board.  I consider that a pretty strong vote of confidence in the job the Board has been doing to keep costs and maintenance fees down while pursuing important improvements to the property.

Duv, Marcio and Murat – the three returning incumbents – have built a strong track record of fiscal responsibility since joining the Board, and I’m thrilled the association will continue to benefit from their valued service. The newcomer, Zack Karmali, is a native of Canada who moved to International Village as a renter.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all the unit owners who took advantage of last month’s Wilma Special Assessment Early Payoff Bonus offer. About 20 owners reaped hundreds of dollars in interest savings by paying off their Hurricane Wilma special assessment balance approximately three years early. In all, the association collected about $40,000 in special assessment payoff checks during the month of December, which will go toward reducing our debt with Wells Fargo. If you happened to miss the December 30 deadline, your next opportunity to save money by paying off your Wilma assessment balance early will be in June, although the savings won’t be quite as large as they were last month.

John Labriola

International Village President

Merry Christmas!

On behalf of the International Village Board of Directors, I’d like to wish all unit owners a very merry and blessed Christmas.  We have much to celebrate as we look back on 2015, including new efficient washers and dryers, improved landscaping, important legal victories, and continued progress on our building renovations – all in a year in which we saved about half a million dollars and lowered maintenance fees for an unprecedented second year in a row.

But our shared successes are in reality because of you, and we thank you the owners and all the volunteers serving on our various committees for all your support and encouragement over the last year. Let's continue working together in 2016 to build on these successes, and may God fill your new year with love, health, peace, and all the joy the year can bring.

P.S. The office continues to receive inquiries from unit owners interested in paying off their Hurricane Wilma special assessment early to save hundreds of dollars in interest. Just remember this discount is only available until Dec. 30. Check out the flyer HERE for more information.

With warmest regards,

John Labriola

International Village President

Lower maintenance fees and more savings opportunities

International Village unit owners will be getting a maintenance fee reduction for an unprecedented second year in a row. Of the more than 320 owners who submitted their proxies before our budget meeting this Tuesday (for which we thank you), about 96 percent of you voted “Yes” to paying a little less in maintenance starting in January, my colleagues and I on the Board of Directors were very pleased to vote for a budget that will make that happen. 

The budget we approved not only continues to build on the savings and efficiencies of the last two years, but it also provides funding to complete the building renovations begun this year – a top Board priority.  Thanks to a more proactive approach to recovering fees from delinquent accounts, as well as the increasing number of owners who are deciding to pay off their Hurricane Wilma special assessment early to save on interest, we also look forward to continuing to make steady progress toward paying down our 2007 Wilma loan ahead of schedule.

As I previously announced, owners who are still paying their monthly Wilma assessment can now take advantage of hundreds of dollars in savings by paying off the balance this month.  By making a lump sum payment no later than December 30, 2015, a one-bedroom unit owner could save about $350, while a two-bedroom owner could save well over $500 in interest by paying it off approximately three years early. The amount of the lump sum payment required will vary depending on the size of your unit – from about $1,000 for a small studio to about $3,000 for a two-bedroom. To find out your exact payoff figure, send an email to manager@intlvillage.com with the subject line “Wilma Payoff” and include your name, phone and unit number in the email. Be sure to act by December 30 to take advantage of these savings.

Thank you,

John Labriola
International Village President

Happy Thanksgiving / Send in your Budget Proxy

On behalf of International Village and the Board of Directors, I’d like to wish all unit owners a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving. As we approach the end of 2015, I’m thankful for a great year of being able to serve you as president. As a community, we have a lot to be grateful for this year – including continued progress on our building renovations, new efficient washers and dryers, improved landscaping, and saving more than $400,000 on the third and final phase of our 40-year certification. And to top off a fantastic year, International Village unit owners can now look forward to lower maintenance fees for an unprecedented second year in a row!   

If you haven’t already done so, please return the budget proxy you received in the mail. If you want maintenance fees to go down, you must vote YES to waive reserves and mail back your proxy or drop it off at the association office as soon as possible. If you never received the proxy, you can download and print one HERE. For detailed instructions on how to complete the proxy, click HERE.

In addition to saving more on maintenance, many unit owners will have the opportunity to save hundreds of dollars on Hurricane Wilma special assessment payments by paying off the balance before the end of 2015. By making a lump sum payment no later than December 30, 2015, a one-bedroom unit owner can save about $350, while a two-bedroom unit owner could save well over $500.  To find out your exact payoff amount, visit or call the association office at 954-484-9106, or send an email to manager@intlvillage.com with the subject line “Wilma Payoff” and include your name, phone and unit number in the email. Be sure to act before the end of December to take advantage of these savings.

Once again, happy Thanksgiving! 

John Labriola

International Village President

Our deepest sympathies

On behalf of International Village and the Board of Directors, I wish to extend my deepest sympathies to all those with family or friends in Paris in the wake of Friday's horrific terrorist attacks. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of France as the world stands in solidarity with them against the threat of radical Islam. God bless France, and God bless America.

John Labriola

International Village President

Welcome back, snowbirds! / 2016 Budget Preview

I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome all the snowbirds back to International Village. I hope you’re enjoying our warm South Florida weather as well as some of the improvements we made while you were away.  As you can tell, we’ve been pretty busy, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to recap just a few of our accomplishments over the last several months:

- First, we continue to make significant progress on the building renovations, as residents in the Orleans, Grenoble and Zurich buildings can attest – all, as promised, without a special assessment.

- Second, our newly installed Maytag washers and dryers are saving money by operating better and more efficiently – without the need to put your clothes through a second dry cycle. And because we decided to purchase the machines instead of leasing them, we’ve more than doubled our laundry revenues every single month. 

- Third, I’m sure you’ve noticed the improvements to our landscaping, thanks to the hiring of an excellent new lawn company, which also restored the ficus hedges at our entrance and throughout the property by treating them for whitefly, and did a very thorough job of trimming overgrown trees throughout the property. 

- Speaking of landscaping, you’ve probably also noticed the beautiful new bougainvilleas along the Inverrary Boulevard wall courtesy of the Inverrary Master Association. These attractive plantings, which came at no cost to International Village, were the result of significant lobbying by former property manager David Friedman, and they’re not only increasing our curb appeal but also improving safety by deterring wall jumpers. 

- As I announced recently, we’ve also had significant success on the legal front, including securing $71,000 in settlement money from our insurance carriers after we sued them for wrongly denying us coverage in a lawsuit filed by Ilan Weiss. 

- And finally and most importantly, I’m pleased to announce that just last month we passed the third and final phase of our 40-year certification by completing the inspection and certification of our last two buildings at a cost of about $4,000. That’s a savings of over $400,000 compared to what it would have cost us if we had gone along with the now infamous Criterium Report recommended by AMG, which called for hundreds of thousands of dollars in unnecessary repairs. Let me repeat that: the association saved over $400,000 on the third and final phase of our 40-year certification by getting an honest second opinion. Combined with the approximately $800,000 we saved on the first two phases completed last year, that brings our total savings on the 40-year certification to more than $1.2 million!!! 

The bottom line is we’ve been keeping our promise to save money by doing a lot more with a lot less. We also recently finished crunching the numbers for the 2016 budget, and I’m happy to report that thanks to all the savings, International Village unit owners can look forward to a modest cut in maintenance fees for an unprecedented second year in a row! 

Check your mail in the coming days for your 2016 budget and proxy. Be sure to vote Yes in favor of waiving reserves and mail back your proxy or drop it off at the association office as soon as possible, because we’ll need it to approve the maintenance fee reduction.

John Labriola
International Village President

Legal victory!

I’m happy to announce that International Village has reached a settlement with its insurance carriers in the case we filed against them for wrongfully denying coverage in one of the lawsuits filed by Ilan Weiss (the so-called “defamation” lawsuit he filed against me as a Director). The carriers have agreed to pay the association $60,000 as well as provide us with legal defense going forward, which means the insurance company will pay all our attorney fees going forward to defend against the Weiss lawsuit. The $60,000 settlement reimburses the association for all of the fees and costs the association incurred in suing the insurance carriers and also reimburses the association for its fees and costs while defending against the original lawsuit filed by Mr. Weiss. In a separate agreement, the association will receive an additional $11,000 from our insurer to reimburse us for our legal fees and costs in defending against several other cases filed by Mr. Weiss and his attorney F. Blane Carneal.  Most of those cases have now been dismissed.

We’re very pleased we were able to achieve a very satisfying settlement with the insurance carriers that not only makes the association whole, but also helps ensure that this Board of Directors and future Board members are protected against malicious and meritless lawsuits by Mr. Weiss in the future. If it was Mr. Weiss’ intention to bankrupt the association or this board member with his groundless lawsuits, he has clearly failed. There is no question that this outcome is a great victory over Ilan Weiss, and it calls for celebration.

In other news, the Board of Directors recently appointed unit owner Murat Kizikli to fill a seat left vacant by a former director. Mr. Kizikli is a professional engineer who owns the engineering company that saved the association nearly $1 million on our 40-year certification last year by providing an honest second opinion after an earlier engineering report commissioned by AMG called for hundreds of thousands of dollars in unnecessary spending. Mr. Kizikli, who fell in love with our beautiful community and recently decided to purchase a unit here, is an exceptional asset to International Village, and we’re thrilled he has agreed to volunteer his time and talents to the Board of Directors. Please join me in welcoming him aboard.

John Labriola

International Village President