Home Owner Associations
r/HOA
I don't know if this is normal, something I should be worried about or something to fight?
Should I look into who the lawn service company is and if there are any relations?
Should I bring it up to a HOA community meeting?
We lived at our 8-unit condo for 3 years and didn’t really understand all of the complications of HOAs
We had an older woman, Barb who walked around in a pink nightgown smoking constantly. And when we moved in she said “the way it works is you pay me $465 and I make sure everything that we owe gets paid. (Actually not good cause we had almost no reserves)
We didn’t even meet for three years until she died and everybody felt like they needed to have unique opinions and argue about the craziest things
Somone got in trouble because a mimeographed document from 1969 prohibited black doormats because it signaled oppression (I.e walking on people of color).
In 1971 they banned plastic flowers
Nudity was officially banned in 1976.
Before I moved out I copied any documents and began compiling a list of odd thing people have been concerned with over the years
It’s like a history of the American psyche
Hello,
I am a member of my HOA board (North Carolina). The board is responsible for maintenance of the the common areas only (tennis court, pool, retention ponds, etc). Including myself, there are 4 members of the board. There should be 5, but the vacancy since the beginning of the year has gone unfilled. We do have a management company.
Presently, the President and VP are constantly bickering and disagreeing over the tiniest (to me) issues. The latest was the wording of an email out to the community about the reopening of the tennis court following closure for resurfacing. The board votes on the text of the email, then the President sends the contents over to the property management company to be sent out to the community. Somewhere between our vote/discussion and the ok to the property management co to send out, some wording got changed/removed. VP is mad that Pres changed some of the wording and thinks Pres is making decisions unilaterally. VP just really wants to follow "protocol".
I think it's stupid to be clogging up my inbox with petty back and forth about a couple of words in an email (about a tennis court that homeowners who would be inclined to frequent would have already seen was re-open).
Of course this is just the latest example of this bickering. I almost want to resign my position, but then I also want to be a voice of moderation.
Is the VP right in that every tiny action/detail needs to have been voted and approved? Who would come back later and be like, here are instances where the item you all voted on did not then proceed exactly as laid out? Does the law require such detail? With any votes occurring over email needing unanimous votes, how do other boards get things done? It seems impossible.
Hi! I’m currently a Member-At-Large on my board (Georgia). And I’m looking for some recommendations or advice on our pool furniture situation - preferably from other southern states, but honestly all thoughts are welcome.
So we have 128 homes and a pool built for 12. I’ll post a picture of it, if anyone is interested. It’s…an interesting shape. That’s a little beside the point… we’re a new construction neighborhood (my wife and I were actually the last house to break ground and close, spring of last year!), and we seem to be buying pool furniture (tables, chairs, umbrellas) every year. Not replacing the entire set every year, but a few pieces.
Is that normal? As in, this is average yearly wear-and-tear? Or should we maybe be buying higher quality furniture that will last longer?
TIA!
We have a couple homeowners in the neighborhood who are downright abusive to the board.
They don’t just complain constantly, they yell and scream, bully, come to board member’s homes and bang on the door expecting 24/7 attention, and of course they are completely unreasonable in their demands.
I’ve just stopped taking their calls (I’ve never opened the door to anyone who wasn’t invited) and they can email or talk to the HOA management company if they have a HOA question or issue.
Is there a better way forward?
Hey everyone! So my building (6 story, hundred unit condo in Seattle) needs exterior painting. We've deferred that project for 6 or 7 years. Now we have a quote for like $380k, a decent chunk of our reserve budget. We (the board) think we should go ahead and not delay wait any further. On the other hand everything's crazy expensive right now, and we can't help but wonder if next year would be cheaper. I thought I'd ask here for hot takes. Thanks!
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r/HOA Rules
Guidelines
Posting guidelines:
include your state
briefly describe the issue
include or provide a link to the relevant regulation and communications regarding the issue
come back after it's resolved and let us know how it went.
be respectful
Many questions can be answered by reading the governing documents for your community. These may be called Declarations, CC&Rs (Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions), or Master Deed. In addition, the association (typically a non-profit corporation) will have Bylaws that govern its structure and operation.
Every state has different laws regarding real estate transactions and HOA governance, so please include the US state where you are located as members here may be familiar with your state laws and practices.
State HOA laws can be viewed here -> https://www.hopb.co/hoa-state-laws
If you're new to the board or feel your board is dysfunctional, this article may be useful -> https://www.reddit.com/r/HOA/wiki/index/boardmakeover
Remember - an HOA is a business, not a neighborhood club, and needs to be run as one; the owners are the shareholders in and customers of the business, and the success of the business is measured by the quality of life in the community it serves.
General information on community associations and how to run an HOA is available at Community Associations Institute - www.caionline.org (Board membership approx $300/yr) and HOA Leader - www.hoaleader.com (Board membership approx $120/yr).
Introduction to Community Association Living - https://www.caionline.org/AboutCommunityAssociations/About%20Comm%20Assns/introduction.pdf
Community Association Living: An Essential Guide for Homeowner Leaders - https://cdn.coverstand.com/25762/690134/8e672e120d60f533504a4baaf80297221d056154.7.pdf
General information on reserve studies is available at www.reservestudy.com/resources.
Wiki of articles of interest at https://www.reddit.com/r/HOA/wiki/index.
Message the mods if you have questions. Thanks.