Comments on: What Does Your Homeowners Association Do?

By: Buzzy

Buzzy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:20:15 +0000

I pay about $150 a month in a 40 unit Condo community. That includes Pool maintenece, Water, Trash, Snow Removal, Lawn Care and Outside building maintenece.

I have neighbors on one side who are loud at all hours of the night and have a dog who barks and howls whenever they leave. After speaking to them about it many, many times, I have involved the Property Manager who is trying to have them kicked out (they’ve had many complaints against them from other neighbors over the years).

I’m hoping that the Property Manager/Board are able to accomplish this because I am about ready to sell this place for whatever I can get for it.

What are the odds that these people can be kicked out?

By: David Belson

David Belson — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:21:44 +0000

Home Owner Associations have their pluses and minuses. The plus is that they try to maintain values within the community by making sure that homeowners keep their yards and homes in presentable condition. The minuses are that board members including the president sometimes let their position get to their head. Their jobs should be to bring the community together not create hostility and bad feelings by abrupt and unfair tactics, fines, and attitude. After-all they represent the people not themselves. HOA are important and useful but only when good intentions are acted upon. Sincerely, David Belon, Florida

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:07:59 +0000

I would like to know who was the fascist who came up with the concept of a “Homeowners’ Association”? To those who have a problem with a “purple” house, why do you care? I was watching “Penn & Teller’s B.S.” and they did a topic on lawns (and how these tyrannical H.O.A.s got on some owner’s case because his lawn was difficult to maintain due to the species). I mean, H.O.A.s and religion have one thing in common, you give them money to tell YOU what to do.

By: Amanda G King

Amanda G King — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:27:37 +0000

Hi Anthony,

That sounds illegal to me all the way around. Why don’t you check with a realtor and just see if they can go over the contract and paperwork with you. Most decent realtors will do it for nothing. When purchasing a foreclosed home, I do know that you should pay for the cost of the home and maybe back taxes due on the home, plus closing cost, but you should never be paying fees upfront. Sounds like someone is trying to scam you.

By: Jess

Jess — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:46:03 +0000

I am completely devastated with my HOA. I need some help. They keep fining me for having weeds or other problems in my front yard. But there arnt any anywhere!!! I’ve even tryed reasoning with them, asking them if maybe they could send someone out to show and explain to me the problem, but they refuse, saying they don’t do that. I have talked to my other neighbors and they too have been bullied by our HOA for no good reason. It seems like they send out bills for made up problems when they need more money, and they don’t come out to show you the problem because they know their isn’t one. I can’t afford this anymore, I’m a single parent with a county job that doesn’t pay much, but its like I can’t do anything about it. If anyone has any advice that would be great.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:11:43 +0000

Hello’ I recently purchased a foreclosed home & I received a large bill for fees charged before I closed on the home,is this legal? Should’nt the home owner that lost the home be responsible? Thanks any assistance will help.

By: Amanda G King

Amanda G King — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:52:03 +0000

If the developer still has a management company running the HOA, then you have problems. You will need to hold an election of homeowners to vote a new board and fire all managment and the old managment company. I am the president of my HOA, and the first thing we did when we took office, was to fire the management company that was hired by the builder. That management company was on board for 7 years, and when I got a check from them, it was for $1588.00 that was left in our reserves. Now that I am in office, we have over $6700 in reserves in the short time I ‘ve been in office. I took office in October 2008 and it is now June, and our reserves are coming along nicely. I have also lowered all homeowners dues $100.00 for this year. Management companies hired by the builders and the builders themselves rip off the homeowners before they get into the door good.

By: Amanda G King

Amanda G King — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:43:29 +0000

I am reading not HOA policies, but horror stories. My word, who in the heck is running your HOA’s that are charging for not getting approval for paint? I am the president of my HOA, and although we threaten homeowners for not removing boats, RV’s, and tents from the front lawns, we never actually fined anyone. We only do it as a scare tactic. We are in a brand new community that is still being built. Right now I am running an HOA with about 200 homes in it and more on the way, and my board treats our homeowners wonderful. We charge for HOA dues and that is it. Since I took office back in October 2008, I have lowered my homeowners fees $100.00 The homeowners here love me to death, because I try to help everyone. If somebody cannot pay, I setup a payment plan for them, and I also delete late fees as well. I am a human being and treat others the same. I am very sorry and appalled that you all are being treated worser than animals. I would have to get the other homeowners to sign a petition to disband the HOA. You would probably need at least 67% to 100% of the signatures of all homeowners to do this. Again, there will be people who won’t want to help. Consult with an attorney for a free consultation about your ongoing problems, and see what can be done.

Good Luck!

By: Amanda G King

Amanda G King — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:22:21 +0000

I can’t stand HOA’s and I am the president of mine. If idiots would only follow the rules and regulations set down by he zoning board, there would be no need for HOA’s. However, people will be people and when they destroy their property value, they also destroy yours. I run my HOA fairly, and we don’t charge our homeowners for anything but their dues. If your HOA is charging for things, you need to look into your covenants, because that sounds illegal. Kickbacks are against the law, and should never be tolerated by the homeowners. Another thing you could do, is to organize a petition and have at least 67% or more of the homeowners to sign it and agree to disband the HOA. You may need to get a free consultation with an attorney to ask him to help you interpret your covenants.

I wish you plenty of luck, because there will be homeowners who will be afraid to disband the HOA, for fear that people will paint their homes PURPLE. (An old real estate joke). I used to be a realtor. People will be afraid that other people won’t keep their property values up, and with an HOA, they know they would have to.

Keep me posted on your progress.

By: Ce

Ce — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:07:52 +0000

Amen Our HOA used to be pretty good until Hitler arrived in charge. Now we have more busy body neighbors than before. Plus the Board wants to charge you for everything you want to do to your own property. If I could get out of here I would.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:59:36 +0000

Hi Debbie,

I am the president of my homeowners association, and I am appalled that a lot of these HOA’s are treating people like animals. When my group started ours, we had committee’s first, then we held an election and the first time we didn’t get enough votes from the community. The second time, we got all the votes by bringing out the food, and then we fired the management company in charge. I came onboard as a VP and then I made it near to impossible for the PSP’s (power struck people) to stay on. I made sure that I made them uncomfortable enough that they resigned, and now we have decent people who really care about everyone. I made the new manangement company delete all late fees and attorney fees levied by the last company.

To make a long story short, I got the quarterly fees lowered by $25.00 per quarter, and hired all new contractors to get our new community back on its feet. Our builder is still building here, and trying to lower the new homes, which causes harm to everyone’s home values. In any case, check to see if there is a clause in your covenants that will allow the homeowners to disband the HOA altogether. I know that you need at least a certain percentage of the homeowners to agree to it, if not 100%.

SHAME ON WASHINGTON FOR ALLOWING HOME OWNER ASSOCIATIONS TO SCREW WITH OUR HARDWORKING CITIZENS.

If I can be of any further help to you, let me know?

By: Peter Rabbit

Peter Rabbit — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:39:37 +0000

What a bunch of crybabies. Goodness. My monthly dues are in the $300 dollar range. This is considered GOOD for our area. There is one place that has dues in the bloody $700 range. Now THAT’s outrageous.

Trash pickup
Recylcing pickup
Building Maintenance guys who pick up trash in common areas
No electricy payments
No air conditioning payments
No heater payments
Snow plowing in winter
Landscaping in summer
Fall leaves pickup in autumn
Maintenance of buildings and grounds (paint, painting of parking lot, pouring of new concrete sidewalks, hauling away of old dead trees etc.)
and on and on…

Do you really think this much could be done on $35 a week?

Dream on.

By: maria

maria — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:28:53 +0000

I purchased a lot in 2006, there are 27 lots and only 6 homes. When I purchased this property the hoa fee was $120 a year. It is gated only with a code to get in. Since then the fee has risen to $955 without any notice other than the two people that run this joke say they need this and that. I am refusing to pay this it is a lot I do not even live there
and they want me to make payments on water fountain pumps that only the two that run this can see. If anyone knows anything about this please let me know, do I need to consult a lawyer? I HATE TO GO THROUGH THAT SO FAR THEY HAVE TURNED IT OVER TO A MANAGEMENT CO. THAT HAVE BEEN SENDING 1.2 LATE FEE EACH MONTH.

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:00:22 +0000

I can relate to a lot of what’s been said regarding these HOA Nazi’s. I myself have battled with them reguarly since moving into my condo seven years ago. But I’m starting to fight back. I managed to get one of them removed from the board for confidentiality breaches and I in the midst of getting another one thrown off for being on the board for way too long. It is indicated in the bylaws that a board member cannot serve for more than 2 years at one time on the HOA. Which means these people have required their thirst for power and dominance from being on the board uncontested for years. You have to start fighting back by getting on the board yourself or finding out the discrepencies in the policies and procedures. These people have nothing better to do than to make a homeowner’s life a living hell and thrive in the ability to control what one does with their own property. It’s ridiculous. I understand we have to maintain a sense of order within our neighborhoods but they take it upon themselves to play God with people’s lives.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 23:59:59 +0000

My husband and I are disgusted. We live in a nice middle class neighborhood and our association fees have just gotten ridiculous. We pay 1,500.00 a year and every 6 months it goes up. It’s going to come to the point where we just can’t afford this anymore and we will have to move. What are we to do. I get absolutely nowhere with these people. They have the upper hand and all the power and if we choose to not pay or are 1 day late you get fined or have a chance to loose your home. When they send us a letter to fix something, we have a limited time to get it fixed or we get fined, but they never notice anything around here that they need to fix. Most of the year we live with dirt for grass and we pay for this service so I expect nice grass. I’ve told them to get rid of the grass and put in rock instead cause we can save on water and landscaping services. They ignore me. I’m at my wits end with these power hungry people and we have got not one leg to stand on. Where are the homeowners rights? If it was up to me there would be no associations. I’m fed up with them all. I wish we could sue them. If anyone out there knows of something that can be done about this I would really appreciate your help. Thank You