I was the president of my HOA. Somewhat not intentionally.
It was my first home, a condo, and I bought it at launch right after it was built. After about 6 months of living there, a neighbor approached me and said the whole rest of the board had flaked out, and would I like to be president of the HOA?
I said sure, it seems interesting and I definitely want the value of my ownership to be protected.
So me, him, and another guy formed a new board.
Oh man, the messes we started to uncover. The super low dues didn’t even cover the trash removal, hallway electric lighting bill, elevator maintenance contract… Much less any landscaping. No wonder the place was looking rough.
And of course there was no budget to put money away for long term needs like reroofing or whatever.
So we worked hard on a plan to propose to the owners to increase the dues about 70% so that we’d have a well landscaped place and hopefully no surprise expenses ever because of an ample rainy day fund.
Less than 10% of the owners even showed up to the HOA meeting, so we didn’t meet quorum.
We tried again, and finally got quorum after knocking on doors and asking for people to please come and vote.
This was just one issue. I’d get regular calls like hey, somebody dumped an old mattress by the dumpster. Can you call the removal company (the regular trash service wouldn’t take that kind of thing). Or calls like “there’s some sick trees in the front yard, when are you finally going to get an arborist out here?” And so and so’s room is leaving trash in the hallway, can you please go talk to them?
I resigned within a year. Screw those guys and I’ll never co-own without getting to choose my partners again.
Why is an HOA looking after the building and public spaces? That should be either the landlord/building owner and the local council responsibility. HOA are bullshit which ever way you look at them.
The HOA is the owners. The owners vote in some board members who do the work on behalf of the majority of owners.
Sometimes the HOA hires some 3rd party management company to handle stuff, but in our case we felt it was wasted money because we would care more about the results. In the end I can see why a lot of owner boards do that as the day-to-day of running the place is obnoxious.
The public spaces were on our property, so our responsibility.
Yes, this is the unappreciated other end of shitty small-scale power tripping. Normal people don’t want to do jobs like internet moderator or HOA president, because nobody appreciates them and it’s boring. So, people who get a different kind of value out of it take their place, and around we go.
Lived in a 1Br condo with one for 5 years. Didn’t have any major beef with mine.
Only issue was they didn’t allow anyone to install air conditioners in their units when I first moved in. Then they said they’d be allowing mini-splits soon, after which it took them 2 years to get that approved. Unfortunately they had designated locations where the condenser had to go, which for the unit I was in, was right next to the front door and kitchen window. I was all ready to purchase one until that detail came out…
Ended up toughing it out for the next year until I could afford to move out into a bigger house without an HOA. Now I’m happy to have full control over anything that goes on or through my roof, attic, and exterior walls.
I took my trash to the dumpster. Later I got a photo of my trash bag in the dumpster because I had tied the bag closed incorrectly and a $200 fine for improper trash bag fastener.
Did you end up paying it?
I had to. It was included with my monthly fees.
That’s so fucked. I hate how even your neighbors can act like dictators.
Sounds like someone needs garbage in their front yard
someone in that HOA has shares in a trash bag fastening company, guarantee it
Perhaps! I’ve always found that people who participate in the HOA Governance are the kind of people who can’t mind their own business.
No nightmares… $100/yr and it mostly goes to landscaping at the entrance and repairing the wall when cars drive into it.
It’s a duplex so the HOA only has two homes in it. The fees were designed to cover the water bill, master insurance policy, and slowly collect enough money to replace the roof every decade or two.
Unfortunately the other unit has no interest in even basic maintenance so unless we take care of everything the place slowly just falls apart. We’ve had to fight with them over every tiny repair from siding damage to a literal hole in the roof that a squirrel chewed out. They keep running an Airbnb with loud guests who throw parties despite it being against the HOA and unless we pay for our own lawyer there’s no way to actually enact the fines and stuff as laid out in the HOA rules.
We’re selling and never buying in a small HOA ever again
Getting out of it is the hardest part for us right now.
We’re in a small 28 unit condominium, so our dues go towards insurance for all buildings (only exterior, have to have our own for studs in), water, lawn service, management company, etc. Our dues are almost $400/month.
Yes, per month. It absolutely blows, especially when we’re trying to sell our unit and it’s been on the market for almost half a year.
I’m the HOA president so I know what all our expenses are (and have fought to keep increases to a minimum, including negotiating the community water bill with the water company), and unless we kick out the management company (Not going to happen) the dues are just going to stay high. We’re preparing to refuse an increase for the next year.
Why can’t you kick them out? Wouldn’t it be cheaper if the hoa managed all that jazz?
It’d be cheaper, sure. But that assumes anyone actually wants to run things locally. My VP is an elderly woman who would love to get off the Board as well. We just don’t have volunteers to run things. I joined up so our HOA didn’t get handed to a lawyer to run, which would cost even more.
Prior to having a management company, the HOA treasurer embezzled about $40,000. It’s the reason they got the management company in the first place.
Yeah people don’t really understand that HOAs are a two way street in most states. Bad HOAs exist because of bad neighbors, neglectful neighbors, or both. All it takes to right a ship is to show up and vote (or fill out the paper absentee ballot…) when the yearly elections happen. And then show up to some meetings so quorum can be met.
My HOA has to reschedule important meetings several times a year because nobody can be bothered to show up for a 30 minute meeting every quarter so quorum is met. Bad HOAs are like bad local unions. They only have power because you let them have power. Lobby your neighbors to do something about it. Unfortunately my experience is such that the typical homeowner who chooses to live in an HOA does so because they want to be rorLly hands off as much as possible. Kind of the opposite of the default pictures people have of obsessive neighbors in HOAs.
Honestly, it sucks, but nowadays, $400 isn’t overly high for condo HOAs. At least not in my region of the state. For stand alone, detached homes, it’s insane. But fees are crazy high nowadays for everyone. That price for a condo HOA is not outrageous unfortunately.
I lived in a failed HOA in California, 8 unit condo, slipped thru the cracks. We shared a water bill so that was getting turned off a lot. We had a large leak that we ignored for years until we couldn’t and had to collect $500 from each dirtbag to get it fixed. 3 of us cared, the others I hope have a painful demise.
I feel bad for these folks.
My building’s HOA kicks ass, but admittedly, the people we elected to it are very ‘live and let live’.
Hopefully it stays that way. I’ve read horror stories about buildings hiring HOA management companies out of nowhere who take over and turn things shitty. 😔
My HOA is badass because it’s really just one paranoid nice lady who lets literally anyone know if a trunk is open or if someone suspicious entered, etc. I’d complain about privacy but who the fuck hangs out in hallways?
But they had a nightmare prior to me moving here. Long story short, the former board member ran a slip & fall legal case against herself which paid out to the tune of 4 million. The insurance company refused to fight it (despite the lack of evidence) and instead settled immediately, recouping their costs by raising the building’s costs four fold.
This resulted in high HOA fees while that lady just fucking bought a house and left. Her sister sticks around, though, and on multiple occasions, stolen cars have been in our garage in their spot or in the guest spot as their “guest”.
Now that I said the last part, that’s still happening and I change my answer to that also being my nightmare HOA situation. Lol
Wouldn’t let me rent when the housing crash hit and I couldn’t afford the place, wouldn’t let me have friends over late at night because they thought my d&d group were a bunch of drug dealers. All around a miserable experience.
How the fuck do they keep you from having friends over? Also u need a new player for that group?
That it was in a state of total chaos: the management company wasn’t doing their job, one of the members wasn’t paying his fees (only 3 units so it was a major hit), and I found out we didn’t have any insurance. I ended up taking over, got rid of the shitty management company, sued the delinquent member, evicted one of his tenants (drug addicts that left the doors unlocked and would set off the building smoke detectors all the time), and sold/moved once the dust settled.
Mostly the neighbors who don’t pay their dues or needlessly hold up needed improvements.
Our HOA board does a great job, they are volunteers who live in the neighborhood. Our dues used to be $100 a year, plus $150 if you wanted to use the pool. Then the pool needed to be replaced (it was 45 years old) and we didn’t have the money for it, so we changed the dues to $250 and everyone gets access to the pool. That still didn’t raise enough money, so they tried to get everyone to agree to a one-time assessment of $1000 but too many people complained. So they’ve now raised the dues to $350, likely going up to $450 soon.
The good thing about the higher dues is we will now be able to afford a lawyer to go after the 10% of the homes that aren’t paying their dues. And maybe even force the people who are hoarding cars in their yards to have to move them.
Maybe they don’t care about the pool. Fuck an hoa
Then don’t move into a neighborhood that has an HOA and a pool?
You sound like a fun person to live around
Wait so for the folks that didn’t care about the pool, their dues went up 3.5x so far, soon to be 4.5x, for something they didn’t want or use, and you’re surprised they’re not paying? That’s some entitlement right there…
If you don’t want to pay for a pool then don’t move into a neighbor that has a pool. If you don’t want to have an HOA, don’t move somewhere that has one. If you don’t like how the HOA is run, volunteer to help run it.
What you don’t do is hold up the rest of the neighborhood that actually wants to take care of things properly.
The change to the dues required a change to the bylaws, which required 100% participation in voting, and required 60% approval. The change passed with over 85% approval. Most HOA dues in our area are $600 - $1000 per year, and many of those don’t have a pool. There are also many places around that don’t have an HOA.
It sounds like they moved into a neighborhood with an HOA that had an opt in pool and a two tier fee based on usage, and y’all changed that after the fact and are holding the smaller percent who don’t care about the pool hostage. This is part of why no one likes HOAs.
Prior to the pool retrofit could folks still move in and choose whether or not to pay for/use the pool?
mine went after a guy for adding insulation to the attic.
Only the poors care about energy efficiency. Can’t appear poor, or it might bring down the property values.
it was completely insane. they claimed he was storing the insulation in the attic (he had it professionally put in) and used association money on an attorney demanding he remove it. He refused and ultimately they had the maintenance guys remove it. bonkers. spent money so that our energy costs can be higher.
Selling.
The HOA changed management companies about three months before I moved out. New one couldn’t be bothered to provide the condo docs and required legal paperwork to me, the seller, my lawyer, or either realtor for the transaction, despite repeated requests. (My copies from my purchase were not enough for the bank.) Without it, the transaction could not close. We made it, barely, but their sluggishness almost destroyed the sale and the purchase of my next home, as the transactions were all dependent.
It took my realtor camping out in the HOA office to get copies. According to her, she showed up and was waiting for them and sat there for two hours while they photocopied, printed and generally fucked around pretending it was too hard to find.
They tried to claim I was behind in my dues too, but I’d anticipated that strategy, and emailed my realtor pictures of the cancelled dues checks AND the notarized statement from the outgoing management company saying I was paid in full at the time of handover.
I was glad to move out. Apparently they didn’t get better as I saw a lot of units for sale in the next year.
They casually inform first time buyers that the roof needs to be replaced, all the piping leaks, the elevator is past its service life, and the previous management ripped them off so we’re critically underfunded, but the board didn’t get voted out.
Finally convinced one do-nothing to not run for reelection but it’s been a problem. I think we’re paying $450/mo, no amenities. There’s been a hole in the hallway ceiling for 3 months after the last plumbing repair.
We have a 4x15ft patch of grass that one day turned into dirt. I think we’re paying landscapers to maintain two bushes at this point because they haven’t touched that dirt pad.
