Need Advice on a Number of Things

Hello,

I am new to this forum, and I hope you can help by giving me some advice.

I've lived in my HOA community for 15 years. The first six or seven years was fine. The community was kept up and it was a nice place to live. Over the last few years we've had a board that did nothing, a manager that did nothing except for sending out the notices for dues. Maintance stopped, so did our annual yard sale, clean-up day, Easter egg hunt for the kids. Out in front of my house is a trash bin that went unrepaired for almost two years.

Finally I had had enough and went to the annual meeting. There are 126 townhomes in our community and it was very disappointing that only a handful of people showed up. I volunteered to be on the board, and I got three other neighbors to do the same.

We fired the president and voted in a new one. Since October she and I have gotten a ton of work done to improve our community and it is beginning to look like it did years ago.

We still have problems. If you don't mind I will list them and if you can give me some advice on how you would handle these I'd appreciate it.

1. Residents put out bulk items in and around our bins. Things like refrigerators and mattresses. We went door to door with a flyer about trash that explained they cannot put out bulk items except on designated bulk pick up days. Some people are ignoring this rule. It's cost us over $3000 last year to haul this stuff away. We are at a loss as to what to do.

2. Our manager has been with us since 1981 when the community began. He has slacked off in the last few years. He hasn't helped maintain the community. Has failed to collect dues, nor has he given us an annual budget for 2007 to vote on. Thing is he is cheap at $8000 a year. He was peturbed that we spent money on repairs at $14,000. All these things needed to be done. We are concerned that if we get another property manager our dues will go through the roof.

3. Homeowners not taking care of their property is a big problem. We do walk throughs and send letters. Homes need painting and repairs. We'll have one side of one street where the homes are well taken care of, and the other side of the street the homes look terrible. We can't send someone on these properties to make repairs. I did have a city inspector come out last week to look at a house that is in a delapidated condition. They sent a letter to the homeowner to bring it up to code or be fined. But what can we do when it is things like painting trim and fixing a fence, things like that?

4. Our bylaws and architectual guidelines were implemented in 1981 and have never been changed. There has never been an audit of our books.

1. Residents put out bulk items in and around our bins. Send notice that anyone found doing this after X date will incur a fine, AS WELL AS the cost of removing the item. Then, remove it, and charge them for it. Include the cost on their dues (as a fine, not an assessment).

2. Our manager has been with us since 1981 when the community began. If he is not doing what he is supposed to, then he isn't cheap. he is expensive. Give him a list of clear expectations, and then discipline him or fire him if he doesn't do them. You pay him, you don't need to pay for mediocrity.

3. Homeowners not taking care of their property is a big problem. But what can we do when it is things like painting trim and fixing a fence, things like that? Depends on your CC&R's, but if you have rules, then enforce them. Send out notices, institute fines, etc..

4. Our bylaws and architectual guidelines were implemented in 1981 and have never been changed. There has never been an audit of our books. do an audit.

Thanks, Brian.

We have tried sending out a flyer about trash to every house. We put notices in sign boxes that we attached to the trash bins and still people throw bulk stuff out there. If we can catch who does it, we put a letter on their door and tell them they will incur a fine from the City if they do not remove the trash. That does work.

I hate to sound prejudice because I am not, but since so many hispanics have moved into our area trash is a real issue, not just in our HOA but in others. I had to go over to the office of the one neighboring ours and ask them to clean our old furniture that had been dumped over their split rail fence into our drainage pond. The manager there was real nice about it, and told me they were having these problems too with people that can't speak English. And when you try to talk to them about it they say they don't undersand and don't speak English.

Your advice about our manager is right on. I am going to make a list of our expectations. I spoke to the president of our HOA and asked her if she had ever seen his contract and she hadn't. So she asked him to send her a copy. This way will can see what is required of him to do.

I've connected with our codes compliance team in our City government and they are willing to help us get on homeowners who have allowed their properties to become blighted. This is really going to help. They send the homeowner a notice of violation, and they have a certain number of days to clean up the property. If they haven't and the time expires they are fined up to $500 a day.