Tone Change On HOATalk

Am I the only one that is noticing a tone change on here like it has gone from saying/asking about the BOD not doing the right/efficient/proper thing, to accusations of out right stealing money from us?

Tis the season to be jolly............LOL

When I started on this forum, I was trying to understand how Associations operate because I needed to address an issue between the Association and myself. I had visited other sites (let's call them gripe sites) and members of those sites simply offered their own stories of being wronged and encouraged me to take the Association to court.

This site was different. This site challenged me with questions about the issue, requested I cite sections of my governing documents and when they offered advice supported their advice by citing applicable laws. Yes, members would use tough love at times but temper it with empathy and, when needed, simply agree to disagree.

Interestingly, the other sites I had initially visited are no longer in service. This one remains. [Thank you sponsors]

Perhaps because the other sites are closed, this site is seeing more posts being posted by members of the Association vs. members of the Board. However, it wasn't that long ago I was the member with a problem and was venting my frustration to the regulars of this forum. Looking back, I can see that a lot of that frustration was due to my lack of understanding of how Associations functioned and the perceptions I had formed without really validating those perceptions and looking at issues from all angles.

Because members of this forum took their time and educated me in how Associations ran, I (with help from other like minded members) was able to make my Association better than it was.

I hope this forum continues to be as helpful to others as it has been to me.

I hope members of this forum continue to temper tough love posts with empathy (as many of us have been in similar situations).

Despite the frustrations we have, if you take a look at things from a different perspective, there are things to be joyful for. It is indeed the season to be jolly.

Tim,
Nice post. The reason I like this site is because of the feedback that I get from like minded individuals who are walking in my uncomfortable shoes. Long live Communinty123.

In the same tone of HOA member should be suspicious they should be EDUCATED. That is the purpose of this site. It is to educate people so they understand their suspicions are justifiable or real. I see so many posts about how their board members do this and that "Illegally" without one ounce of understanding what may drive that decision. Many can't even define "illegally" correctly in context of a HOA.

I think many of us regular posters here with beneficial real life experience can offer not only a sounding board but some common sense inside information. You want to sue your HOA? Then realize who you are suing. Yourself and your neighbors. You think your HOA should enforce rules? Realize how that is done and by who. There is no "They or them" in a HOA. Only YOU and your neighbors. Hopefully, the posters can learn to see that and concentrate on educating themselves more about HOA's and their role in it.

Both John and Melissa hit the nail on the head. Ths site CAN be informative IF that is what you are seeking. In many cases today people come to pick up tools to fight THEIR good fight against what they see as illegal,immoral,dishonest, violating their rights, violating federal law,or whatever over "serious" charge words they can come up with, violating THEIR set of rules. When in fact their rules don't apply. And when they have no real understanding of what laws or principles do in fatc apply.

If you come to this site for others to pat you on the back when you obvious goal is to prove YOUR point or get revenge while having your property pay the price then I have trouble with that.

And yes I agree there is no us and them no matter how well that mentality serves your purpose. The members of your Board are owners and neighbors and in some cases they are doing the best they can for whatever reasons. To attack them or persecute or suggest their actions violate YOUR code of conduct is not something I admire.

I have told my story before. I joined our Board 27 years ago. Many bad decisions by people who were not qualified and to whom the other owners had given their responsibility away. Easier to have someone else look after my investment and home.

I was outnumbered and outvoted. So slowly ( now please understand I had a full time job) for 14 years, yes, years, I worked to change things. Then one night after the annual election when the winners were announced the Pres. VP and Treasurer were out. Combined more than 50 years serving.
It was automatic they be re-elected until that night.

After that the MC was terminated and we headed in another direction.

It is now 10 years into my service as Board Pres. In that time our assets have grown 12 fold. This in a time when our financial challenges have been great.

So IF you really want things to be better do something. But if you can't be bothered, can't attend meetings, can't work to inform yourself about the operations of your own property but simply wish to have the world go as YOU say. I have little patience for that.

Thanks for the thread John...

I have noticed a lot of it, but thankfully, there are still many useful posts with thoughtful questions and even better answers. It also gives me some prespective - just when I think my association is a hot mess, I come to this board and read about places that are complete turmoil (if the original posters are to be believed).

When I found this site, I was already a borad member, but found early on there were a lot of nuances and details to running a HOA. We'd had a Board president who was very good, but something of a micromanager, so the rest of us left it to him to do things. When he got tired of it and became angry at the board because we didn't go along with the assessment increase he felt was necessary, he quit by email the day after the board meeting and didn't do anything to help the vice president transition into the job.

That's when we realized that we needed to pay more attention, as as time went on, I started to look for information on HOAs from whereever I could get it, bringing the information back to the board to consider. We've make mistakes, as people are wont to do, but overall, I think we've done fairly well, given our high delinquency rate, seriously underfunded reserves, an increase in offsite owners who do absolutely nothing and everything else.

As others have said, education is the key - if you're on a HOA board, it's vital that you take time to learn what your governing documents say, keep up with current laws affecting homeowner associations, ask questions (lots of them) about anything you don't understand and seek imput from the homeowners (even though it seems even a cattle prod won't prompt them to get off theif duff and say something). So I'd personally like to say thanks to everyone who posts on this board - I've learned so much, even from the posters I've thought sounded as if they were a few French fries short of a Happy Meal. I may not have 1000+ posts (yet), but I hope you learn from my biased opinions as well!

For the homeowners who accuse their boards of bad behavior, they remind me that transparency is required when it comes to HOA business. Everyone should know what their boards are doing and why - they may not always like it, but at least they won't have to guess. I've never understood board members who act that way - do what you like with your own money, but if my money's intertwined with yours because we're both supposed to be taking care of the common areas, you best believe that I will ask questions and I expect accurate, complete answers - quickly.

But many of these homeowners who bark about their boards will usually pip down when you suggest that THEY take on the job and see if they can do it better. For them, it's a lot easier to sit at home and fume than it is to actually get up and work towards a solution.

How true.

At our last annual meeting we had one homeowner stand up and complain about the erosion around his property. Our President calmly said that the board understands that erosion is a problem for the whole community but just didn't have the time to properly investigate it as we are all volunteers and have only so much time available. He reminded him that we spent 3 months requested assistance in the way of volunteers from the membership to serve on an erosion committee to investigate the issue, document the extent of it and make recommendations to the board. He reminded the membership that no one stepped forward. The President then asked the individual if he was now stepping up and volunteering to be on that committee.

The individual calmly sat down muttering that he didn't have the time for that but the Association needs to really do something about it.

I always say there are no "They or Them" in a HOA. It is ONLY you and your neighbors. (Unless developer controlled). Whoever this "They" is, I wouldn't trust them anyways...LOL!

Don't forgot "why, oh, WHY are our fees so high?" "How come X community pays more in fees than we do?" and "I don't see where my money's going, so....."

I've never understood why people pay more for health care, gasoline, movies, cable TV and even cell phone service without too much of a peep, but are ready to come at the board with baseball bats when a fee increase is announced. Don't they teach math in school anymore?

Why do you think you can live in a community 24/7 with the houses exposed to all sorts of weather, you and your family opening and closing (slamming) the doors, windows, turning the faucets off and on, driving up and down the street on bikes, motorcycles, and "hoopties", and think these things will NEVER wear out? Why do you think the cost to maintain and replace all this crap will cost exactly the same as it did in 2009 or 1989 for that matter?

When your fellow homeowners stop paying their assessments for whatever reason and you now have 70% of your budgeted income, but the bills remain at 100%, where, pray, do you expect the rest of the money to come from? Do you think your contractors and vendors will automatically drop their fee 30%? I don't think so.