Homeowners Assoc meetings

[suzannews]

I went to my first meeting tonight, we bought the house in May. My husband didn't want to go and my neighbor backed out at the last minute. I almost didn't go because I hate walking into a room full of people I don't know. I went early so I was one of the first there. I laughed the whole time. People were yelling at each other over not following the agenda, a fight almost broke out because there were no minutes from last years meeting, etc. I've never seen anything like it in my life. If you weren't there to see it, you might not believe it. While funny, it was very sad that only 34 out of 261 homes were represented.

 

[Pat]

I bought a new home a year ago and went to my first association board meeting the second or third month I was here. I offered to help out and ended up getting the job of treasurer and getting voted on the board. We have 53 homeowners in our association and most of them cannot be bothered to even come to the once a year big meeting. Last year only around 4 other homeowners showed up besides the ones on the board. People just can't be bothered. They will gripe plenty when they think something is not right. I realize that people have busy lives, but we do have some retired people in our association. It would be nice if people took an interest and some pride in the community where they live.

 

[darlene9947]

I'm the treasurer of our association. We have around 450 houses in our neighborhood and only 99 members so far this year. I've been here since 1995 and I can't even remember it ever being over 250 members. As far as the meetings go, usually only about 10 - 15 people show up. When someone new does show up, it's to complain about cats walking across cars or something like that. And they expect the association to fix it

 

[Mskanga]

We live in a community with 1300+ properties , 750 homes and the rest empty lots.
There is a big problem with our dues money, they cover NOTHING, we get nothing for them. We have no amenities and the roads are township, we pay for our water and garbage pick up. This year the association decided to once again start a race to build amenities all because they need an office building for their office. They don't get the message that we don't even want an association , now to top it off they threatened to have the building built with or without our approval.
We formed a commitee and got a petition to abolish their project , they rejected the petition. We started another petition to request a special meeting for this, they tried to reject it but legally they couldn't so they had no other option but to give us a special meeting.
On the last meeting we had before the special meeting, the association called the police on us , but nothing happened. We discovered that the attorney that works for the association, represents only the board of directors , not the homeowners that pay for his fee.
At the special meeting they were caught in a lot of lies, and it was proven to them , finally the project was put into a vote and it was flat rejected by 578 people out of almost 700 that responded. Now the board of directors are scratching their heads because they are being kicked out of the building they are in and they have nowhere to go and no permission to build anything. If we allowed them to build anything . Let's just say they did not like us getting our own attorney and defeating them.
We are very disgusted with the association, not to mention that we actually threw out the president because linked to the community website, he had his own personal website asking women what was their bra size and their favorite sex position.
What a circus we have for a board of directors, a bunch of liars who have nothing else to do than to make rules and regulations and watch what people do in their own properties.

 

[Kermit]

I'm the vice president of our HOA, and attendence at meetings is a huge problem. No one shows up. Our meetings go well with very little fighting, but there are hardly enough people there to even have a disagreement. Sometimes people have to serve on the board after their terms have expired because we can't get enough people to vote (I think we have to have 25% of all the people in the neighborhood vote to have an election count) to get someone new in.

The people do complain as soon as they're unhappy, though. If they'd come to the meetings and see the budget, they'd understand that we don't have enough money to do all the things they want.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I hate living in an association. The woman who sold us the house told us dues were $10 and that they mowed an area we have behind our privacy fence that backs up to a highway. WRONG! We have to mow it or get fined, and dues are $35 at least. I know this is low compared to some who have hundreds of dollars in dues a year, but all they do is mow the common areas (cul de sacs) and they get a lot of my money for absolutely nothing. They insist they are wanted but I don't really think they are. But we have one empty lot, and we can't try to abolish the association until it is filled. You can bet I'll be out with petitions when that happens. The last meeting I went to people were upset about basketball hoops--4 or 5 homes dared to put permanent hoops up instead of portable! Horrors! And don't even bother to ask about them easing up on the "no sheds" rule.
Robin M.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

DH and I don't even bother to go to our HOA meetings when they do come up. The boards all seem to be run by people who moved in at the very start, some three or so years before our house was even built.

At the last one, we asked if there was a way to slow down speeders on our very short street (there are about 5 houses total) and the person in charge was like "Where is that? Is that even in our division? Are you SURE you live in XXXX?".

The only time the HOA even takes notice of us is when they decide to send the Lawn Nazis out after us and we get icky letters in the mail, telling us we need to weed the flower bed (which is not always true) and that our grass is too high (by about 1/4th -1/2 an inch, but only because we don't mow it every week. We mow it about every two weeks.) or that we are violating an HOA rule which we can't find in the CCRs about leaving the trashcans outside on the side of our house.

TOV

 

[olena]

That's a better turn out than at our meetings. Our board just surrendered enforcement responsibilities to an outside source.

 

[darlene9947]

Well, in our association, no boats are allowed to be parked in the driveway or side yard. They have to be behind a fence. The only person who can complain is the neighbors. The board has no power to enforce the covenants. There was a lawsuit brought up by another H.O. assoc. down here and the judge ruled with the homeowner who objected to some of the covenants and against the board. Of course, the homeowner knew all about the covenants and restrictions because the real estate agents provide a copy to new buyers. So, basically even if you live in a restricted neighborhood over here, you don't have to follow the rules.

 

[kadaten]

We move a lot, so we're pretty up on the HOA stuff. Enforcement really depends on the state you live in. Here in VA, HOA covenants are VERY enforceable. In our last neighborhood, they would put a lien on your house if you were in violation too long...and you were responsible not only for fixing the violation, but fines of $10 per day in violation, and lawyer fees to enforce the rules. It was a HUGE develpment (7400 units if you include the apt, townhomes, and condos) and because of the tight standards was a VERY desirable place to live...and you always knew your property values weren't going to fall because of the appearance of your neighbors. They weren't "yard nazis"...folks didn't get nasty-grams for their lawns unless they were REALLY, REALLY unsightly, but they were very hard on architectural stuff...sheds, fences, painting, improvements, etc. One guy thought he'd build a bigger than allowed deck...nope. Had to pay the builder the same amount over again to come cut off the extra 5 feet!!

After being burned in our first house which happened to be in a non-HOA neighborhood that was nice when we moved in, we wanted the little bit of "urban fascism" that the HOA provided. First neighborhood-- next-door neighbor one day decided to work on his car and put it up on blocks. Was still there when we moved a year later....sitting right on our property line in the front yard. Guy across the street had decided he no longer had room in his garage for his weight set so put it in the driveway....for storage. Never even used it. Was happy to leave as we could see it going downhill...and glad we had been renting and not bought. These things weren't possible at our last neighborhood or our current one. Our current one is a little more slack, but still keeps up with the big items. Plus, our dues get us a community pool and a few activities a year for the kids!


HOA can be a pain but there are some good ones out there that are truly working for the good of the owners.