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HOA's and condo. associations are like unions: 90% of the work and effort is by VOLUNTEERS. And you can vote to remove that expensive to maintain pool IF as a group you've decided to change. HOA's may seem in low income areas to be unreasonable: why would they strike a rule to leave your garage door open??? BECAUSE someone is cooking meth, that's why. For those for whom a detached home is the only answer: In my nearest city detached homes DOWNTOWN do not EXIST any more. That's why. Board HOA members (and local union reps) risk the ire of their "know everything" neighbors and the unlimited supply of "second guessers" I missed that major in college. How do you get it??? Hopefully, you're in a STATE/Provicne/Canton where the laws set up HOA's and condo assoc. with some consistency. If you live in a "free enterprise" state (Texas just had some horror show examples of DETACHED HOUSING developments, new, with NO HOA, but SURPRISE County Assessments. The world is not quite as SIMPLE as the old days. you want to old days? Go live in the bush.
Hello. I've been on my condo board since 2012. I was not retired at the time, but I did sign up because I'd moved to a new area but still worked 45 miles away in the city and thought it might be a good way to meet neighbors (and it was). No one else was running and there was a spot open on the board, so I volunteered.
My friend warned me that it would be a thankless job, and it is. People complain over the stupidest stuff but don't bother to actually educate themselves about the property or the budget and where their money goes. I've had someone approach me while taking my garbage out to tell me that she didn't think our board was doing its job because we didn't have any reserves and an HOA is supposed to have reserves. I asked, "Why do you think we don't have reserves? We have a healthy reserve fund, and it's right there on the paperwork you got in the mail after we passed the last budget and sent it around to all of the residents along with last year's budget vs. actual."
She stammered and said, "Well, my neighbor told me we don't have any reserves here. We don't know where our maintenance fees go."
I said "Yes, you do. It's in the information you are sent EVERY year, and what we spend money on and why is discussed at every meeting. I've never seen you at one."
She mumbled something about not understanding complicated documents and not having time to go to stupid meetings and walked away. The annual budget is not complicated. It's one page with line items that a sixth-grader could read.
These are people deliberately and willfully choosing to exercise stupidity. That's the only explanation I can think of.
Now I'm retired and spend half my life out of the country--but I am STILL on the board of a 122-unit townhouse complex 500 miles away from where I am because they can't get anyone else to join the board. There are four quarterly meetings a year. Nope, nobody can do it. I will attend the July meeting via Zoom.
And yeah, "vetted" by whom?
My favorite HOA story was the time the new resident walked up to me after her first meeting. She actually started to complain to me, the janitor, that she didn’t think that the residents had to pay for things. And I said like what things as I continue to clean and mop.
“Well, things like garbage pick up, and all the extra trash. The HOA should pay for that, not the residence.”
I stopped and looked at her like she was crazy and she continued on about all the things that the residents had to pay for when she thought the HOA should pay for them.
And then I asked her “what do you think an HOA is?“ And she responded that it’s an entity that overseas the building. And they send a lot of money to them and they should pay for things. I looked at her once more and said do you know what HOA stands for?
She shook her head, and I said “HOA stands for home owners association. You and the other 163 owners of this building are the HOA. You are dues and everybody else’s pays those communal bills of garbage and recycling pick up. You pay me to clean your building. You pay my husband to break down the rest of the trash that he can break down like the couches that have been left on the TV stands that are left and we need to take the TV somewhere to have them recycled and that’s an extra charge.“
Her mind was blown. She actually thought there was some magical entity out there that just paid stuff for them. A miracle mommy and daddy with unlimited pockets so the owners could do whatever they wanted.
And local governments just love HOA‘s. Think about it, if they don’t have to fix those roads where that development is, they don’t have to do the snow plowing of those roads where that development is and there’s a ton of developments that’s a lot of money they get to save and spend somewhere else. It’s not like you get a break on your taxes because you moved into an HOA. In some ways it’s almost like you’re double taxed because you’re taxed for road maintenance in your property taxes, but your dues goes to road maintenance, and you don’t get to take your dues off your taxes either. And I keep hearing that there are plenty of places that are getting very built up and you can’t find a place anymore that isn’t part of an HOA.
Why add another layer of government? And how practical are community pools and spas nowadays?
? They are still pretty popular. My sister pays a small HOA fee which I think includes pool membership and that pool is PACKED. She lives in a single family home. The fees are not very high. I lived in another area that had a master HOA that everyone had to join. I think it was about $50 a month when I was there. That was for people in condos and single family homes. My gym’s pool is also pretty popular. My coworker joined the even fancier view branch of the gym and absolutely loves it- says the pool is like a resort. Almost everyone I know who has gone on summer vacation recently has taken advantage of pools at hotels. I know I did and we went into the pool and hot tub.
As with anything else, HOAs can vary. I was lucky enough to live in one that was pretty fiscally sound. It planned out expenses very carefully- roof replacement in year X, repair siding/repaint in year Y, etc. At the time I lived there, we had an on-site resident manager and if anything was happening that might require a special assessment, she’d go around putting notices with big red lettering telling us if we did not do X or Y we could expect a special assessment of $$$. The community had a lot of retirees on a fixed income, so when it came to stuff like “please pick up your storm debris or pay $500”- the storm debris got removed by the residents pretty quickly.
? They are still pretty popular. My sister pays a small HOA fee which I think includes pool membership and that pool is PACKED. She lives in a single family home. The fees are not very high. I lived in another area that had a master HOA that everyone had to join. I think it was about $50 a month when I was there. That was for people in condos and single family homes. My gym’s pool is also pretty popular. My coworker joined the even fancier view branch of the gym and absolutely loves it- says the pool is like a resort. Almost everyone I know who has gone on summer vacation recently has taken advantage of pools at hotels. I know I did and we went into the pool and hot tub.
As with anything else, HOAs can vary. I was lucky enough to live in one that was pretty fiscally sound. It planned out expenses very carefully- roof replacement in year X, repair siding/repaint in year Y, etc. At the time I lived there, we had an on-site resident manager and if anything was happening that might require a special assessment, she’d go around putting notices with big red lettering telling us if we did not do X or Y we could expect a special assessment of $$$. The community had a lot of retirees on a fixed income, so when it came to stuff like “please pick up your storm debris or pay $500”- the storm debris got removed by the residents pretty quickly.
Most cities have laws on blight, and almost everything else HOAs spend time and legal expenses on. I don't think threatening people with excessive fines is a good policy, and litigation could be a huge red flag for lenders and title insurance.. even if it was a crazy homeowner suing the hoa for harassment. Oh, and I have a doctors letter (bought online) stating I need two 140 pound pitbulls, even though the hoa says there is a 35 pound limit.. Lol.
Read the Condo Association Rules and Regulations before you buy. Lived in a townhouse with HOA, $400 month in maintenance fees. EX of rules and regulations: nothing on the porch, doors all the same color, no grills, curtains had to be white side facing out. We had to pay $5K for a problem the builder made on certain models. Didn't matter if you had that model or not, you still had to pay. The "Board" was made up of a group that NEVER owned a house. Referred to them as the "Pansy Police."
Read the Condo Association Rules and Regulations before you buy. Lived in a townhouse with HOA, $400 month in maintenance fees. EX of rules and regulations: nothing on the porch, doors all the same color, no grills, curtains had to be white side facing out. We had to pay $5K for a problem the builder made on certain models. Didn't matter if you had that model or not, you still had to pay. The "Board" was made up of a group that NEVER owned a house. Referred to them as the "Pansy Police."
NEVER HOA again!
I hear ya.
Our house search in Scottsdale took forever because we would never buy in an HOA. But we found the right house. The people across the street are in an HOA but not the folks on our side of the street.
Read the Condo Association Rules and Regulations before you buy. Lived in a townhouse with HOA, $400 month in maintenance fees. EX of rules and regulations: nothing on the porch, doors all the same color, no grills, curtains had to be white side facing out. We had to pay $5K for a problem the builder made on certain models. Didn't matter if you had that model or not, you still had to pay. The "Board" was made up of a group that NEVER owned a house. Referred to them as the "Pansy Police."
? They are still pretty popular. My sister pays a small HOA fee which I think includes pool membership and that pool is PACKED. She lives in a single family home. The fees are not very high. I lived in another area that had a master HOA that everyone had to join. I think it was about $50 a month when I was there. That was for people in condos and single family homes. My gym’s pool is also pretty popular. My coworker joined the even fancier view branch of the gym and absolutely loves it- says the pool is like a resort. Almost everyone I know who has gone on summer vacation recently has taken advantage of pools at hotels. I know I did and we went into the pool and hot tub.
As with anything else, HOAs can vary. I was lucky enough to live in one that was pretty fiscally sound. It planned out expenses very carefully- roof replacement in year X, repair siding/repaint in year Y, etc. At the time I lived there, we had an on-site resident manager and if anything was happening that might require a special assessment, she’d go around putting notices with big red lettering telling us if we did not do X or Y we could expect a special assessment of $$$. The community had a lot of retirees on a fixed income, so when it came to stuff like “please pick up your storm debris or pay $500”- the storm debris got removed by the residents pretty quickly.
A friend suggested that might be good for me (it's so hard to keep up with the yardwork, etc.) - but these places in my area have a monthly fee of $200 to $400!!))
A friend suggested that might be good for me (it's so hard to keep up with the yardwork, etc.) - but these places in my area have a monthly fee of $200 to $400!!))
? They are still pretty popular. My sister pays a small HOA fee which I think includes pool membership and that pool is PACKED. She lives in a single family home. The fees are not very high. I lived in another area that had a master HOA that everyone had to join. I think it was about $50 a month when I was there. That was for people in condos and single family homes. My gym’s pool is also pretty popular. My coworker joined the even fancier view branch of the gym and absolutely loves it- says the pool is like a resort. Almost everyone I know who has gone on summer vacation recently has taken advantage of pools at hotels. I know I did and we went into the pool and hot tub.
As with anything else, HOAs can vary. I was lucky enough to live in one that was pretty fiscally sound. It planned out expenses very carefully- roof replacement in year X, repair siding/repaint in year Y, etc. At the time I lived there, we had an on-site resident manager and if anything was happening that might require a special assessment, she’d go around putting notices with big red lettering telling us if we did not do X or Y we could expect a special assessment of $$$. The community had a lot of retirees on a fixed income, so when it came to stuff like “please pick up your storm debris or pay $500”- the storm debris got removed by the residents pretty quickly.
Not sure where that poster got the idea that the pools are not popular.
In my community everything is back to normal.
And it's great!
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Solly says — Be nice!
