Community Security

The August 4 “clarification” letter from Community Manager Kevin Pollock included a warning that “nuisance-type of rental activities” would “invade Desert Mountain as it has in other communities. . .”

One responsibility of the Dings Ad Hoc Committee was to develop facts about disturbances caused by tenants at Desert Mountain:

• “What are the specifics of incidents that community homeowners have had with their rental/exchange neighbors, and how were they dealt with?”

• “How do these incidents compare with complaints about homeowners/members who don’t rent their homes?”

To answer these questions, the Dings Committee compiled a list of 154 specific Desert Mountain addresses known to be used at least occasionally for rental or exchange. This list of rented homes at DM was developed using two sources:

1. “Public” in the table refers to the 111 homes found to be offered on web sites such as VRBO, AirBnb, or FlipKey.

2. “DMMA” in the table refers to the 43 home rentals available from real estate professionals working with DMMA or the DM Club.

DMMA management asked Anderson Security to compile a report of incidents recorded at these 154 homes.

The Rental Property Pulse Report gives details on each “incident”. It’s considered an incident when DM security responds to a call from someone at Desert Mountain. Since 2013 there have been 7,021 incidents.

Currently there are 1,805 completed homes at Desert Mountain. At the 154 homes rented at least occasionally, there were 289 incidents in the last five years. Doing the math, the 8.5% of the homes offered for rent at least occasionally accounted for only 4.1% of the calls to security. And homes found on public sites (VRBO or AirBnB for example.) were the least likely to attract a security call. They were 6.1% of DM homes but only 2.6% of the calls to security. What follows is a summary of five years of incident reports at the 154 homes rented at least occasionally.

The Actual Security Facts:

334 number of call entries on the logs reviewed and provided for community review

46 The number of entries in the log that list N/A or “None”

288 The number of “Calls” that required Action

61 The number of Calls for Vehicles needing a jump (likely Owners and not renters)

48 The number of calls for home alarms going off

53 The number of calls associated with the removal of bees, birds, snakes, gila monsters,tarantulas, dead deer, and baby javelina.

50 The number of calls associated with gate strikes, barking dogs, foul odors, doors left open,items left in driveways, found mailbox keys, garbage not secured, a mis-dial of 911, outdoor lights left on, water pressure loss, assist with locked keys or a flat tire, process server access, a design review call and a thank you call

33 The number of calls associated with a water leak or suspected gas leak

19 The number of calls associated with a medical issue or a welfare check

Out of these 24 over a 5-year period (or 4.8 calls per year):

8 – The number of calls associated with a Noise complaint of some kind (1.6 Calls Per Year)

8 – The number of calls associated with undefined “suspicious activity” (1.6 Calls Per Year)

3 – The number of calls associated with missing property (1 Call every 1.7 years)

2 -The number of calls associated with a phone threat (1 Call every 2.5 years)

1 – The number of calls associated with a drone ( 1 Call every 5 years)

1 – The number of calls associated with pictures being taken (1 Call every 5 years)

1 – the number of calls associated with a domestic disturbance (1 Call every 5 years)

Nothing in this report connects any incident with a short-term tenant. The call to security could have been to report a problem with an owner, a guest or even a construction worker. In short, nothing in the report supports a claim that short term tenants are a nuisance in our community.