Great stories of the HOA

Started by MelissaP1 • 13 replies • 2099 views

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MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

I thought it would be fun to have a post for some "Wild and Crazy" stories of your HOA. We all have them and survived many...

The stories can be anything from a crazy resident to a crazy situation/solution. It is up to you to share. Have some fun and let people see that being in a HOA isn't always budget, violations, procedure, and liens/foreclosures...

I will start: We had to approve house colors in our HOA and had a list of them to go by posted at the front entrance. One owner decided they were going to paint. The first color went up on a wall and it didn't quite make the approved list. So he graciously bought another can. We tried it again. This time it was on the list but because it was new paint and not faded like the similar ones, it came out a bright purple plum. Even the owner did not like it. So finally we ended up on a 3rd color!!! It finally made the cut....I felt really bad for the guy as I think altogether he had tried 5 different colors. It got to the point of where it was quite funny for both of us. We spent over 2 weeks going over the colors and paint samples. Whenever he was ready I got another phone call and try it again...

This story may sound like one of those terrible HOA control issues people always complain about in their HOA. However, we were able to find the humor in it. Sometimes that is what you need in situations like this. Learn to laugh a little in the details...

Oh and ya know it got some better crazy stories than this...This is just to get us started.

Former HOA President

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Two owners came to the BOD complaining that their dogs were always fighting and what were we going to do about it. We reminded them that the town had a leash law and it was their responsibility not the BOD's.

One gal kept going on that we were no help and unless we helped she was going to contact her lawyer. I said well we are going to drain the poll for the winter so maybe we could just put the two dogs in the pool and let them fight to the death and the winner gets to live here....but on a leash.

They both stormed out of the meeting and the issue was over. Few days later I saw one wealking her dog, I stopped and said nice leash. She ignored me.....LOL

AmyA1 (Washington)
Posts: 101

Posted:

When I was first on the board, I did some research and was going through some HOA files. I found a letter written to the board from back in the 70's. I printed it out and gave it to our Chairman. He read it ... said yeah we are working on all these issues, I'll let the homeowner know. Then he re-reads the name and says.. 'This guy died years ago". Asked him to look at the date on letter. We all had a good laugh and just goes to show you ... same problems different year .. or in this case decade.

FredB4 (Ohio)
Posts: 375

Posted:

I brought this up before but it too funny not to repeat. We had an owner who decided he was going to start a home business... Dried chicken meat for a local speciality market. He started hanging large amounts of raw chicken pieces from his deck to dry in the sun.

CeceliaV (North Carolina)
Posts: 30

Posted:

How about the people who dug out the lovely shrubs planted by the developer in the front yard and put in a pumpkin patch.

Happy to say pumpkins out and shrubs back in.

RayC4 (Virginia)
Posts: 173

Posted:

Since I don't know whether to laugh or cry over this one I'll include it. Melissa has often remarked that "suing your HOA is suing yourself." Here's what is happening right now in our small lot community.

With the subdivision under total Declarant control, the homeowners have responded to improper regular assessment fees by filing suit against the Declarant (HOA Director). The Declarant has in turn filed suit against the individual homeowners AND the HOA as an entity. As Director, he has hired an HOA attorney to defend the HOA against this suit against himself. In the HOA's 'answer' to the lawsuit, the HOA has filed a cross-claim, to which of course the homeowners are now busy filing their responses.

Are you following all this? I call this 'the nested lawsuit problem' and plan to publish the book shortly!

CindyN (Nevada)
Posts: 3

Posted:

Been reading for months - thought this would be an appropriate thread for first post.

We have two swimming pools - tiled outdoor showers, bathrooms. And a group of widowers who utilize the showers, not just for rinsing off before/after getting in the pool or spa. Nope - they are taking full showers...shampooing, shaving in bathrooms, soaping up. Surprised they haven't asked for a shower curtain.

One day I plaintively asked "why??".

The answer was: "Since our wives are gone, we don't want to have to clean our bathrooms/showers or use our hot water."

We then had a chat about cleaning the shaving clippings out of the sinks.

CarolR11 (Colorado)
Posts: 2,563

Posted:

Welcome, Cindy--good story! I have one that's related, but with a much higher Ewwwwww factor. I did not see this and a neighbor told it to me a few years ago. We have a Jacuzzi spa in our pool area. It can be seen from many condo units in our towers and from our gym. One fine morning, a woman and man were in the spa. She was lathering his back and shaving it. All together now: EWWWWWWW!

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

EWWWWW!!!! LOL!

Now these are the type of post I am talking about!!! LOL!!!

I had a lawncare guy caught taking a leak in a backyard by the owner. She wrote in a letter about it to our board and demanded to fire the company. I had to read this OUTLOUD to everybody in the room! Yeah one those meetings you want to crawl under the table with a vodka bottle and resume the fetal position...

Former HOA President

DonnaG6 (Minnesota)
Posts: 14

Posted:

5 years ago we had storm damage and all the roofs had to be replaced. I can look up in my garage and see all the pointy NAILS sticking through the roof. Last year a lady, our CCO, brought in a jar a perfectly clean SCREWS, claiming that the roofer had left them on her roof when it had been replaced and demanded we go to mediation to resolve her issues. One should get their facts straight before attempting to defraud their association.

KarenT (Washington)
Posts: 250

Posted:

I got a call one night at 2:30 a.m. - left on my voice mail from a homeowner that said she had called the neighbor next to her about her dog barking. She went on to yell stating that neighbor called her a colorful name and that if I (President) didn't do something about it she was going to sue the blankedy blank association. SMILE!

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

I had a phone call about how someones dog got run over and killed because the lawncare opened the gate to mow the yard. Mind you lawncare comes on the same day for years and owners are told to put locks on their gates to NOT allow lawncare back there. The lady wasn't upset the dog had died as much as she was about the $400 she had spent on the dog to purchase it! She wanted the HOA to pay her for her dog!

Former HOA President

MichelleC7 (California)
Posts: 108

Posted:

We had a board member who thought he could take care of a few things around our property with approved workers.

The workers were here for about a week or so. He presented in executive session receipts for over $200 in "lunches" he bought the workers expecting reimbursement
.

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Some of our units have garages and while most just use them as a garage, some have put freezers in them and some use them to do crafts or woodworking. All of the electric for the garages including the outside flood lights are on one meter and the HOA charges a nominal fee to cover it. A previous Board raised the fee by a whopping one dollar a month and you would have thought that someone asked some of the homeowners for their first born. One keeps a light and radio on 24/7 to make sure his car isn't lonely and he gets his dollars worth (BTW he's our resident tier III child abuser), another started peppering the Board (which her husband served on) to repeal the increase. She finally shut up when I explained to her after she had brought it up at a Board meeting for the umpteenth time that she was correct and the amount shouldn't have been increased a dollar. I told her I had done extensive research on the matter and according to the CC&R's the amount of increase should have been $25.00 not $1.00. She suddenly went from rabble rouser to everyone telling her to sit down and shut up.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

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