In this log the most recent entry is at the top. The oldest is at the bottom
Sergio,
On the electrical and engineering issues – we are simply being pro-active and will not interfere in anything. The issue around electricity is really about information. We simply do not have the details we need as owners, and perhaps we can obtain more details in a non-confrontational and non-interfering way. I will be cautious and note your concerns. However, my feeling is that we were not being informed properly about the electricity ( maybe even misinformed ) and that we, as owners are at risk. At the same time, in fairness to the developer, we do not want to be demanding him to install the power supply without knowing if that is a reasonable demand. On the engineering, Kurt was very informative as he is a developer and delivers condo projects in Canada. He is simply saying that we should begin collecting information now, as it is a very long and arduous task, and sooner is better than later. On a legal front, I agree, it is too soon but in terms of information gathering, it cannot hurt at all. I appreciate your points but when you see Kurt’s notes, you will see more clearly the issues.
The biggest issue is definitely the options regarding who should own the civil association the relationship between the owners, and Alarmen.
I am concerned instinctively when Alarmen comes to the meeting with 4 people, and produces insufficient financial information. They are not doing a good job at the Peninsula, only an adequate job and the only way I can see to improve that is to change the relationship to one where we are the administrators, we sign checks, and they must come to us for all payments over a certain amount or simply all checks. Only when we that kind of relationship can we properly control everything. In the meeting yesterday, the group was strongly in favour of the last option. Many of the people were quite strong on that point.
ON the issue of committee members living here, that is something to consider going forward. Having folks living here on the committee would be very helpful, if it is possible. I am only here from Nov to May, and perhaps somebody else is here May to November or several people. I know there are several people living here Nov to May who would be on the committee if asked, and who have some experience in these matters. That is not to say we should not also have committee members who do not live here, just some additional ones for control if we move to option 2. Thoughts.......
I think this is an excellent exchange of information and respectful debate and would like to continue. I am also very grateful to you for contributing your ideas and thoughts and certainly hope I am coming across with respect and an open mind. My intention is to assist and help.
Mike Kennedy
CEO
toll free (877) 372 3728
fax (250) 372 3814
mobile: (250)
574-2531
www.crashteams.com
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it is addressed (the "addressee") and may contain
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retransmission, dissemination or other use that a
person other than the addressee makes of this
communication is prohibited and any reliance or
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actions taken based on this communication or
otherwise. If you received this in error, please
contact the sender and destroy all copies of this
e-mail.
From:
sergio eichner [mailto:sergioeichner@hotmail.com]
Sent: February-25-09 11:32 PM
To: mike@crashteams.com; Sara Becker;
Pete Smith; Jack Arizcuren; Jorge Agnesi
Subject: RE: Civil association
Hi all! answers in between:
From: mike@crashteams.com
To: sergioeichner@hotmail.com; sara@sarabecker.com;
petesmith@mcdowellrice.com; jmarizcuren@verizon.net;
jorgeagnesi@prodigy.net.mx
Subject: RE: Civil association
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:10:56 -0800
Thanks Sergio. What I am not really clear about is the involvement of the present administration in the civil association. I though the idea was to form our civil association so we can have better control of the Alarmen group. As you say, they are very nice etc but not really transparent to us, and attempting to run a very profitable business. I thought if our civil association was “ arms length “ from Alarmen then Alarmen would have to be much more transparent and we would have a business relationship that put us in charge of them.
I think we need to go step by step otherwise things
could go out of control, If we would be leaving full
time in Peninsula I do agree that the owners of the
civil association should be the homeowners, (this is
exactly how we have it in the association we have
in my home in Mexico city but we al leave
here), the main reason is the signing of all
documents, (checks, bank accounts, contracts, etc.),
which would be difficult when none of the committee
members are in Vallarta, BUT I think we have 2
options here: 1.- Let Alarmen be the owners and
responsible of the association and ask them to sign
an administration contract with tower 3 committee
that would give us the power over them since we
would be the ones signing it as proprietors. 2.- We
would be the sole owners of the association not any
person from Alarmen and just give them signing
rights to sign checks and daily stuff. Opinions?
Regarding transparency and information needed, I
think it is just a little time since we start
working as a committee and they all ready started
responding to us, so far they have been improving
their communications and time responses we just need
to let them know exactly what it is that we want and
how often.
I also agree our one voice should be the current group or committee and I assume that I am now part of that committee. I do NOT want to be in charge, and leave that to you. However, the reason I took the recent initiative is because nothing was happening and I would really like to see some action moving forward steadily.
I do not know about others but I have no problem you
or anybody else joining the committee. I do not see
my self as being in charge of the committee or
anything, it is just that I speak spanish and a
little english so it was natural that I would do the
talking but please forgive me if at some point I
abuse from the language issues, it was never my
intention.
I do think things were happening, it was only in
late December that the committee was formed and we
all ready had a working meeting, receive all the
balances for 2008 and 2009 budget, (still need to be
analyzed and discus, I all ready started hopefully
tomorrow I will translate and send you the email,
all ready shared it with Jorge), we have Sara's web
page with allot of useful information, Pete manage
to get the lawsuit, etc. of course there is always
room for improvement and even more room at initial
stages but we are going fw and a very important
thing is that until now it has been done without any
confrontation with the developer. Also we should not
forget that we all have things to do in our own
countries, homes and businesses but we are going
forward I think.
Until yesterday’s meeting, most people were completely in the dark. The meeting accomplished a lot just in terms of informing the group. I will continue to move things forward and inform everyone of everything – and keeping the committee in place. As far as I am concerned anyone who volunteers to help should be involved as we need all the help and energy we can get.
I agree and the more truthful information we can get and post the better.
I am in the process of drafting the initial letter to Alarmen and the developer outlining the concerns of our group. We reached a consensus on safety issues yesterday and it is very timely to report those concerns now. I am going to share the draft letter with everyone, before sending it on.
Please do so and I hope this doesn't sound wrong but keep in mind that things works differently in different countries and in Mexico not because we think the developer needs to put railings, just as an example, in certain parts of the building means that he must do it, he could very easily say that is not part of the project and that's it... it is the must common argument all developers use:) so what I think is that we should come up with a list of requirement and during a meeting we should asked them to fulfill the list as much as possible and we negotiate from there.
Yesterday’s meeting was very positive and I received many emails today from people expressing gratitude for being informed.
I do not know who else in the committee is living here all the time but would like whoever is to email me and confirm.
I wish:)
Tomorrow morning I am meeting Eduardo, and an electrical engineer about the looming electrical power issue. Following that meeting, we plan a meeting with the electrical company to get to the bottom of this issue and find out all the information. Obviously, we cannot accept delivery of a building without sufficient power, and a large expense to correct the issue following our acceptance.
I think speaking of delivery of the building is way
to soon, they cannot deliver the building if they do
not have the condominium regime therefore we still
have another 6 or 10 plus months to think about
that. My opinion when we'll reach that point most
likely would be to hire a professional company to
inspect the building completely and issue a
professional opinion and base on that we ask the
developer to execute all the pending issues, (we
should be doing this along with tower 2 and
depending on the timing with tower 1 as well since
the common areas are the same to everyone and we
could split the costs).
One very important thing in my opinion is not to
interfere with the developer negotiations with the
electricity company at this point nor with the
municipal government directly regarding the lawsuit,
we should give the developer time to resolve all
this. 2009 is a mid term elections and I think they
will occur next July so before that it is risky to
do any moves because you can end up in no mans land
if you know what I mean:)
I am also working with OUR structural engineer, Kurt on the start of a due diligence plan in anticipation of the process of delivery so we fully understand the issues well in advance.
Same as above.
Everything that I am doing will be fully reported to everyone, and documented. If there is anything else I can do to assist, let me know and I will begin it.
Mike I also read the minute from the meeting of
24-02 and maybe I did not explain my self properly
regarding the taxes, I'm not saying we should pay
the 150,000 pesos as we speak, what I meant was that
in my personal opinion I would agree to that but we
will do what the majority decides, I specifically
said to Alejandro that when the time comes for
that we will negotiate but that in the mean time
they should keep paying all the taxes to which he
agreed.
Regards and sorry for the length of the email.
Sergio
Thanks
Mike
Mike Kennedy
mobile: (250)
574-2531
www.crashteams.com
This e-mail is intended only for the person to
whom it is addressed (the "addressee") and may
contain confidential and/or privileged material.
Any review, retransmission, dissemination or
other use that a person other than the addressee
makes of this communication is prohibited and
any reliance or decisions made based on it, are
the responsibility of such person. We accept no
responsibility for any loss or damages suffered
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result of decisions made or actions taken based
on this communication or otherwise. If you
received this in error, please contact the
sender and destroy all copies of this e-mail.
From:
sergio eichner [mailto:sergioeichner@hotmail.com]
Sent: February-25-09 4:59 PM
To: mike@crashteams.com; Sara Becker;
Pete Smith; Jack Arizcuren; Jorge Agnesi
Subject: RE: Civil association
Hi all!
Please see below an email that I receive today from
Mike, I also send Mike the upside and downside
regarding the civil association that I sent you so
he will be in the same channel.
Good that everyone agrees to form the civil
association, the committee thinks that way to,
today I received confirmation from everyone. I will
look forward to see the minute from the meeting to
incorporate everyone's concerns into the agenda
however I think we should have only 1 voice and 1
channel of communication either with the
administration and developer as well and so far I
think it should be the committee that was conformed
during the December meeting in which the
administration and developer were present. (if any
one thinks differently it is fine with me), also
remember that when the association will be up and
running we will have an official homeowners meeting
and the official committee should be elected.
Per the only 1 issue as downside from the civil
association that I could think of, we would not be
the owners so we are not the ones who will need to
incorporate it, it should be Fernando and his team
and rest assure they want this as well. It was his
idea to form it in the first place and I know that
he all ready started the process of incorporate it,
he ask the permission for the name to the secretary
of the exterior in Mexico....(it is regular
paperwork to incorporate any company, association,
cooperative, etc... in Mexico).
any comments?
regards
Sergio
From: mike@crashteams.com
To: sergioeichner@hotmail.com
Subject: Civil association
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:02:04 -0800
Hi Sergio,
To bring you up to date on the meeting of the 24th I will send you and all the others the meeting minutes.
However, we did pass a motion to form a Civil Association. I understand you wish to be involved and perhaps take the lead on this process.
If you are too busy I would be happy to contact a PV Notario Publico and start the process.
Please let me know. Everyone is very anxious to move forward on this process immediately, for many important reasons.
Thanks
Mike
Mike Kennedy
CEO
toll free (877) 372 3728
fax (250) 372 3814
mobile: (250)
574-2531
www.crashteams.com
This e-mail is intended only for the person to
whom it is addressed (the "addressee") and may
contain confidential and/or privileged material.
Any review, retransmission, dissemination or
other use that a person other than the addressee
makes of this communication is prohibited and
any reliance or decisions made based on it, are
the responsibility of such person. We accept no
responsibility for any loss or damages suffered
by any person other than the addressee as a
result of decisions made or actions taken based
on this communication or otherwise. If you
received this in error, please contact the
sender and destroy all copies of this e-mail.
Meeting 2 20 2009 with developer and committee response
CONDOMINIO ESPECÍFICO RESIDENCIAL PENÍNSULA TORRE III.
Minute of the meeting of 20-02-2009.
Attendance:
- Homeowners.
• Sergio Eichner. Condo 19-A.
• Mina Fox. Condo 06-D.
• Jack, Janice Arizcuren Condo 08-B.
• Michael James Kennedy Condo 14-D.
- Administration Alarmen S.C.
• Lic. Fernando Alarcon M.
• Lic. Roberto Perez O.
• Srita. Cecilia Delgado.
Legal Department.
• Lic. Agustin Medina.
- Accounting Firm Vibeva S.C.
• C.P. Víctor Bernal V.
- Developer.
• Arq. Alejandro Báez.
- Sales Agency Lemmus.
• Sr. Alberto Lemmus.
Points Discussed.
Administration.
Regulations: Regulations were installed in common areas
in 2 languages, it is being handed over to every owner
extracts of the condominium regulations on the use of common
areas in each department and finally will be sent by mail
the complete version of the regulations digitalized. The
owners requested to the Administration to be strict and
follow all the rules without exception.
Civil Asociation: It is proposed to form a civil
asociation in order to give legal personality to the
building, it was agreed to review the proposal by the
committee and send to the owners the project for an approval
(Requesting the administration bond work). The
Administration will send the proposal in English too.
Insurance policy: The building is now insured against
fire, contained fire, earthquake, civil liability, glass,
crossed liability, the building is not insured against
hydrometeorological phenomenons, it was agreed to change the
beneficiary name on behalf of the Trust Bansi SA and analyze
the content to endorse the departments to share the sum
insured.
Grills: It was agreed to enforce regulations where it is
prohibited to have grills on the balconies or terraces,
Administration will request to remove the grills and to
comply with this provision from the regulations, the condos
who won’t take the grills out, all services will be
restricted until they comply with the regulations.
Pets: Administration will demand to the owners which have
some kind of animals to follow the regulations of the
condominium which says as follows: it must bring a leash
when taken out to the common areas, pets can not get in the
pool, the owners must clean all dirt from the animal, owners
may only have pets of adequate size, the owners will be
responsible for acts that disturb other owners (noise,
smells, etc), pets can not be left tied to a tree or lamp
while the owners take sun or are into the pool.
Shower at the beach: the Administration informed that in
the next few days will be installed a shower next to the
stairway at the beach in condominium.
Stairs at the pool: It was agreed to install a staircase
inside the pool at the Torre III area.
Accounting. The accountant Victor Bernal delivered the
financial statements of the building from April to December
2009, those statements were:
Statement of income and expenditures.
Details of expenditure.
Status of fees collection until December 31st , 2008.
Statement of the reserve fund.
Operating Budget 2009.
Detailed operation budeget 2009.
List of 2009 maintenance fees.
These financial statements will be sent by e-mail to every
owner. The homeowners may also ask the Administration for a
printed copy of them. After this information is reviwed, the
owners will request all changes needed to make it easier to
understand. The Administration will get a credit card
terminal for Torre III.
Developer.
Arrangement in apartments: Arq. Alejandro Baez said the
developer has been repairing the flaws inside the apartments
but they had been unable to move as quickly as they wish
because most of the owners do not live in Puerto Vallarta.
They ask all the homeowners to notice the date of arrival to
facilitate arrangements pending in
their apartments. It was further agreed to hire by the
developer a person attending such arrangements and who
speaks English and Spanish. Arrangements pending: air
conditioning, toilets, kitchen tarja slack key, handles and
locks at the backsatirs, spa, audio system in lobby and more
umbrellas in the second row of deckchairs.
Titles (Escrituras): Arq. Baez said that the legal
process is between the Hotels Association of Vallarta
against the City Hall (past Administration), which is
currently under the stage of “Amparo” and their lawyers
estimate to conclude the case in about 6 months. The Amparo
state does not interrupt the process of construction and
sales of the development, he also mentioned that the
development of the condominiums regime is almost finished
and the City Hall is about to deliver the final approval.
The owners requested a letter in which the Developer makes a
commitment to solve this problem and respond for all
consequences and costs of this litigation, in addition to
the commitment to deliver all titles, this letter would be
delivered on March 15, 2009.
Property Tax: was proposed that payment of this tax was
made proportionately by the owners, which is based on
physical delivery of the apartments, Arq. Baez mentioned
that the current value of the tax payment is considered as
land and it is much cheaper than if were divided as
apartments, and the approximate annual payment would be $
150,000 pesos for the whole building. (This proposal will be
assessed by the hoemowners). Even though the owners will
analyze this proposal, in the meantime the owners does not
have to decide anything until they are able to get the
apartments titles, meanwhile is responsibility of the
developer to cover such payments.
Electricity: Arq. Baez mentioned that they have to make a
connection that comes from the electric station from the
Fraccionamiento Fluvial at a distance of approximately 2
kilometers. This job must be done by the Grand Venetian,
Icon and Peninsula. This job is authorized by CFE (Electric
Company) and was mentioned that is a matter of time for
their solution. The developer
made a commitment to provide enough electrical capacity
to cover 100% the needs of the Tower.
Delivery of the building: It was mentioned that the
delivery and assurance of furniture and equipment will be
from the establishment of the condominiums regime. It must
be scheduled a meeting to conduct the official inspection
and delivery of the condominium for which the homeowners
will ask an external firm to coordinate what it needs to
make a document for the Towers delivery.
Common Areas: In the upcoming days, the developer will
finish the pending installations in common areas, which is
to connect the sound for the lobby and the operation of
spas. Also to finish the work at the pool area.
Without any other theme to discuss, the meeting was over
around 22.30 hours.
21-02-2008
Administration.
Alarmen S.C.
Lic. Fernando Alarcón M.
From: sergio eichner
Sergio
From: Pete Smith
Date: 02/16/09 06:42:04
To: sergio eichner; Sara Becker; Jack Arizcuren; Jorge Agnesi
Subject: Tower 3 Titles
Attached is the COURT DECISION that was handed down on November 28,
2008. It is thirty pages long, legal size paper, and is written in
Spanish [of course]. Maybe Sergio can translate it for us (if that
is time-consuming, I’ll see what I can do here). I think this is an
IMPORTANT DOCUMENT that may shed some light on the title problems.
Pete
Pete Smith
From: Roberto Perez
What lies underneath here is the original set of emails. Above this line will be the most recent emails
Sarah,
I can confirm that previous title commitments issued upon Peninsula have not revealed any of the issues to which you refer to in your attached email. The title commitment for your property is presently being authorized by the Underwriter and will be available for your disclosure shortly.
With respect to any future potential permit discrepancies, these would be highlighted upon issuance, or lack of, of the condominium regime.
As ever my best regards, Kevin.
Kevin Crisp
Business Development Manager
Stewart Title Puerto Vallarta
Title Insurance, Escrow, Closing Coordination, Residential Loan Services
Mexico Line: 322 209 1483
US Line: 713 271 5453
Website: www.stewartlat.com
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Dear Sergio
I really appreciate you being a part of the committee and the others
as well Pete Smith 10D and Jorge Agnes 3B, and Jack and Janice
Arizcuren 8B
The ability to speak Spanish is a real asset and I am working on
it.
I am grateful for all who participated on December 29.
I will try and finalize the email list this weekend after I get home
tomorrow
My deepest thanks for all your help
------Original Message-------
Hi! Just wanted to let you know that yesterday I met with Alejandro Baez the legal representant for the developer and today I just met with the owners of the administration company and Roberto as well so I would very much want to tell everyone in the committee what they have said and to agree for next steps so whenever you have the time please send me the e-mail addresses from all of us and will send the update. Regards and have a safe flight back home. Sergio Eichner Apt. 19-A
From: sergio eichner <mailto:sergioeichner@hotmail.com>
Date: 01/03/09 20:07:11
Subject: RE: Committee
Hi everyone!
The same day of the meeting I receive a call at night from Marineus
saying that Felipe Tome, the developer would not be able to meet the
next day with us but that Arq. Alejandro Baez who is the legal
representant for Felipe would be able to meet that same night, (Marineus
tried to reach Sara without success and did not have the others
names and units numbers, neither did I), but to make long story
short I did meet with Alejandro and the next day with Fernando
Alarcon who is the owner of the administration company, (Roberto's
boss), and what I said to both of them was that during the
homeowners meeting there were 3 streams that I could sense and they
were:
1.- Title of the condos.
2.- Administration and reserve fees and the proper use of this
funds.
3.- Proper functionality and full delivery of the equipments inside
the units from the developer side: toilet seats, air conditioning,
kitchen faucets, electricity capacity, proper termination of the
building and its warranties as well as the rules and regulations for
homeowners.
I must say that both of them were very responsive, committed with
the full termination of the building and so far very willing to work
with us and provide any and all the information we need and deserve
as owners, of course one thing is to say it and another is to do it
but I guess at this point we need to decide what we need from them
to prepare and ask for it and see what they come back with.
1.- There is a lawsuit from the hotel association of Puerto Vallarta
against the local government because of all the new condominium
towers, not only Peninsula, and the truth is that they haven't been
able to come to a figure that all parties are satisfied with so each
side is playing towards its best interest and so far from what they
said Felipe is trying to resolve it but might wait until the change
of the governor early this year.
Alejandro said that the time frame for us to be able to start
getting our titles is from 4 to 6 months but my personal guess is
that it will occur sometime during the second semester of 2009. The
good thing is that they will take responsibility of all the taxes
until that happens, I specifically asked Alejandro this and he said
they will pay for them, (I think we should ask him to put this in
writing just in case:). Another thing I wanted to say is that in
Mexico whenever anyone wants to sell any property that property
needs to be free of any duties, taxes, etc. we called it Spanish
"libre de gravamenes" and this means that not only it is good that
they accept that they will pay for the taxes until we receive the
titles but that it is their legal obligation to do so.
There was this other thing that I felt awkward so I did ask
Alejandro that I did not understand how it is possible that with
this lawsuit from the hotel association they are issuing the titles
for tower 2 and he said that regardless of the lawsuit they are
moving forward with the titles for tower 2 and that they will do the
same with tower 3 but the risk in doing this is that per the lawsuit
they need to modify anything from the legal documents that they use
for the titles then the titles will need to be reissue and that
costs money but since tower 2 is being deliver for over 1.5 years
they needed to start but that he thinks that for the time the legal
papers for the titles of tower 3 will be ready the new governor will
be in place and hopefully all this nonsense will be finished.
(Alejandro thinks that because of this lawsuit the legal papers are
taking much more time than they should and mainly is because it is
the same local government that needs to sign those papers).
Finally regarding this point we need to formally ask Alejandro that
he elaborate a document that we all feel comfortable with all this
information to send it to all the homeowners.
2.- Administration fees and etc. they both agree that it was a
mistake not having a formal meeting during this days but Fernando
said that they will elaborate a balance sheet with all the
accounting information in order for us the revised it and after that
sending to all the homeowners.
3.- Regarding the toilet seats, a/c, Faucets, they will fix them at
their own expenses but I think we need to ask for a formal
termination date otherwise it could take forever. Regarding rules
and regulations they said that they were working on these documents
to deliver to homeowners but unfortunately they haven't finish
preparing but hopefully some time soon they will. Regarding
warranties for the building equipments Alejandro said that when the
time comes we will need to seat and come to an agreement using
common sense! They insist that they are not going anywhere until
they finish all the pending issues and also because they have
another year to go before they finish tower 1:)
Sorry for the length of this mail but so far this is everything I
recall from the meetings, of course they asked me not to share this
information outside the committee until we have the final papers
that we all feel comfortable sharing with everybody.
Next steps? I suggest we formally asked them to prepare the
documents for the 3 streams with dates and everything and we start
from there!
Any comments? Ideas? Questions?
I will be in Puerto Vallarta from the 15th of February to the 21st
in case anyone will be there we can have a small working session
with Alejandro and Fernando
Regards
Sergio
From: sergio eichner [mailto:sergioeichner@hotmail.com]
Sent: Sun 1/4/2009 11:39 PM
Cc: Pete Smith;
jorgeagnes@prodigy.net.mx
Subject: RE: Committee
Hi all!
1.- The mexican law for condominiums does establish that we need to
have in the bank account a reserve fund, (do not recall exactly but
I think it is a minimum of 3 months of maintenance fee), that money
should be in the condominium account and the interest must be
credited to our account. This exactly was one of the issues
regarding the monthly fees and reserve funds and proper use of the
monies, I specifically ask Fernando and he says that the account is
under the name of a person who works with the developer but that we
have full control of that account??, this sound awkward to me but
the truth is until we do not have the legal personality under the
mexican law we cannot open a bank account in our name.
Regarding this I told them that we should use the bank account of
tower 2 or even open a new account under their name which is much
better to have the account under a developers person.
2.- I think the titles they are issuing for tower 2 are valid unless
the results of the lawsuit would be against us and / or require a
change in the legal papers.
3.- I do agree that transparency and timely delivering of all
information is critical so what I suggest, if everyone agrees, is
that we give them the benefit of the doubt and we send them an email
asking for the information they want to share with everyone and we
give them a week or up to 10 days at the most to prepare it and if
we are not satisfied with what they come back with then we send
everything that we know to everyone.
I'm receiving a notification from Jorge Agnes e-mail that it cannot
be delivered so we might have he e-mail wrong.
Regards
Sergio
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