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HOAs

Discussion in 'General' started by Ducti89, Jan 16, 2021.

  1. In Your Corner

    In Your Corner Dungeonesque Crab AI Version

    The secret to success is getting dirt on all the other HOA members.
     
  2. rd49

    rd49 Well-Known Member

    I’m the President of mine, what ya wanna know?
     
  3. Motofun352

    Motofun352 Well-Known Member

    I ran for and, believe it or not, actually won a seat on our school board! This was in days when the internet wasn't the be all and end all of human existence. You remember, when e-bay was cool and Amazon was a river somewhere down south. Anyways, since I ran for it I was too proud to quit. 4 year sentence, I could've gotten out earlier for a murder charge. I wanted what most folks want, good teachers, effective education, costs under control. What I got was yelled at, threats, retribution taken out on my kids.....One thing for sure, you'll find out who your friends are.
     
  4. sternsi

    sternsi Well-Known Member

    My wife worked at an HOA property manage group. If you live in PA and their is nothing stating you have to join when you bought the house they cannot force you to join an HOA no matter what they try. If you bought a house knowing it has an HOA and signed documents knowing so you have no choice. She has a love hate with them. Some of them are so over the top she wants to rip there heads off. She has a lady that literally calls multiple times a week about complaints. Over the summer a family put out signs for there twins who graduated in the yard since they didn;t get a graduation ceremony. The lady called and complained about them being in the yard and not in the mulch.
    On the other hand she likes that most HOA neighborhoods are well kept and the properties are clean.
    She assured me we will however never live in an HOA neighborhood.
     
  5. tgold

    tgold Well-Known Member

    I was the president of our HOA for something like six years. I did it mostly because there were mostly ladies on the board who didn't know jack as far as taking care of the infrastructure of the place. the worst part was being involved in a lawsuit because we got royally screwed by the apartment complex we had to buy water from (because they owned the water main between us and the road) . They were really sneaky with intentionally overcharging us on a monthly basis. I actually had to check their math every single month and correct it to pay them the right amount. They kept overcharging us and we kept correcting the amount because it would have cost us more to sue them. Our relationship with that apartment complex was so bad I told the board we needed to put in our own water main from the street and I found a way to go around the Apt complex using a power line right of way. My wife and I moved to the neighboring town a couple of years ago but we still own the townhouse and lease it but I'm no longer on the board. The current board is moving at a glacial pace to get the water main put in but at least they are moving forward. I have to keep an eye on the board though, because they have been trying to prevent owners from leasing their units because there have been some bad tenants that are difficult to deal with legally.

    If you're going to be on the board, go for president so you can keep meetings moving along and conduct business quickly then get out and get on with the rest of your life. Otherwise, things will move along at a glacial pace that will suck the life out of you. e.g:" Should we replace the dead bushes with small rocks? How much are the rocks? How many rocks should we get? How much were the bushes? Bushes aren't that expensive. People don't water their bushes. How do we get them to water their bushes? Maybe we should replace them with rocks. Rocks don't look as good. Well, it depends on the rocks but not too many rocks." Etc, etc, ad nauseam.

    You can make a difference but it'll cost you. Most of the residents had no idea how much time we spent making the place nice and livable.
     
  6. bigtime

    bigtime Well-Known Member

    this ideas exactly the reason I ran for treasurer of our hoa. They were talking about spending a lot of money on the stupidest shit and not maintaining our pool and pool house. So I ran and won and got a couple more on the board be we shut shit down. And actually made it nicer. I pissed off a lot of folks that were delinquent and got almost everyone back to current. More folks than you would think are just good folks that are honest and want what’s right. It’s just a few that catch a bad rap. They appreciated our efforts. I had several folks want me to run for Prez but we moved out of the hood and bought a farm so I don’t have to deal with that shit
     
  7. beac83

    beac83 "My safeword is bananna"

    So much this.

    I bought a condo for my folks when dad couldn't climb the stairs in the house any more. Dealing with the Condo Board (like an HOA except they are far more into your business) was difficult at best. Almost had me stage a takeover with some of the more sane of the 60 unit owners. I was happy to sell the place after mom moved to a continuing care community after dad died.

    I just sold a co-op on the far fringes of the NYC metro area. The Co-op board is even more in your business. The board did a good job at taking care of the property, making sure the finances were solid and that the property was both well-maintained and looked good. But we residents had to deal with the whiny notes about residents doing stupid stuff. One note was about someone spitting gum on the sidewalk. (turns out it was the UPS guy).

    If you are on the board, people will expect you to do whatever they want done. They will call you at all hours of the day/night and expect you to do their bidding, no matter how trivial or improper. However, if the board sticks together, they can keep a community clean, well cared for and welcoming, while not breaking the bank with fees.

    Good luck.
     
    Ducti89 likes this.
  8. Ducti89

    Ducti89 Ticketing Melka’s dirtbike.....

    I appreciate everyones input here.

    I think Ill sit in on a few more meetings to get a better feel but im leaning towards “feck no” on the interest meter.
     
    YamahaRick likes this.
  9. Pete Busch

    Pete Busch Active Member

    The best thing to do is find a new place to live without an association and amazes me how much people pay for what they get in return. Associations are a form of socialism that does not work at all and never will. The end result is nothing but fighting and overpriced shitty property management. If you think your going help the situation by being on the board good luck, you're only getting sucked in deeper with no reward at the end. Again, best bet is to move out.
     
    cav115 likes this.
  10. lee955i

    lee955i The Traveling Gnome

    Yeah, I did a few years service on the ARB of our HOA... Never again...eff that!
     
    Ducti89 likes this.
  11. Ducti89

    Ducti89 Ticketing Melka’s dirtbike.....

    Again, ours appears very lax and easy. Nothing to really maintain except a small area of landscaping at the entrance. This is the Pre-retirement house. I have 5-10 years here and then off to Floriduh.
     
  12. Gixxerguy855

    Gixxerguy855 Well-Known Member

    Sounds exactly like what I went through when working at the 911 dispatch center here in Texas! So much crap from people! Call 911 because someone planted flowers around the fire hydrant! Call 911 because you cannot agree on the A/C temp inside their house, etc.
     
  13. tony 340

    tony 340 Well-Known Member

    Same here. Love my island. If I leave here it will be nothing less than 40 acres and woods.
     
    Rich and noles19 like this.
  14. Woofentino Pugr

    Woofentino Pugr Well-Known Member

    My city actually has an ordinance banning HOA's in the city limits. Condo Associations though are allowed. My brothers subdivision, the builder tried to put restrictions on just about everything. No parking trailers/boats in the driveways or backyards, no sheds, all fences must be 6' wood privacy fences, houses must be certain colors. Well damn near every home in the area has a shed, couple have chain link fences, boats, rv's, trailer in driveways and back yards. They tried to "fine" a homeowner for his boat, he took the builder to court and won. Brother didnt sign a damn thing agreeing to these limits when he bought the property to build his house (and neither did anyone else). Builder got his pee pee slapped by the court AND the city.
     
  15. TWF2

    TWF2 2 heads are better than 1

    If I lived in HOA I would try to get on board. To dissolve it :)
     
  16. notbostrom

    notbostrom DaveK broke the interwebs

    HOA= 3-5 people trying to be lawyers because the HOA doesn't have the budget to have the lawyer opine on every issue that comes up. So everything ends badly.


    Close thread
     
  17. Ducti89

    Ducti89 Ticketing Melka’s dirtbike.....

    More or less. At least I have plenty of court experience but Im tired of that game.
     
  18. Jedb

    Jedb Professional Novice :-)

    I would imagine babuska alone would have soured you on the novelty of it..
     
  19. Ducti89

    Ducti89 Ticketing Melka’s dirtbike.....

    That sucked but im on to much suckier things as of recent....
     
  20. 2blueYam

    2blueYam Track Day Addict

    I am the treasurer of my HOA and the neighbor next door is the president with no other board members. Very low key with just 5 homes. We only exist because the city makes us pay to maintain a storm water runoff system. We don't have any of our own rules outside of that. Two homes have turned over since we moved in 8 years ago and so far so good on the new owners. I was worried that a new owner (lawyer) was going to start complaining about my trailer but no one seems to mind. I was prepared to offer up planting some screening.

    From previous experience with larger HOAs, if you get on an HOA board with the idea of dissolving it, you will probably only succeed in making lots of enemies and becoming the target of enforcement of the tiniest infraction.
     
    Ducti89 likes this.

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