Calling all defunk pool HOA owners....

We have a joint use agreement with the houses in our development. We are the low income townhomes that get to opt in or out at any tme for the ue of the pool and clubhouse. After getting the innitial cost per month dues, I think that we might stay out for now. (too expensve)

My questions is this. Did you have a pool in your HOA that is now falling apart/not in use/defunct/insert your words here because of the high cost of maintaining it? Any lawsuit problems that took all of your reserves?

rick

Thanks Paul. We don't have the pool even ready to use yet. I have read stories from other members about not having the $$$ to continue to pay for their pool and it ends up in this condition. As of now it seems that the operation cost is around $60-75 a month more per unit. If dues are around $255 then I can see opting out.

RickR1:
Just a note---proceed with extreme caution in the planning stage of your community pool--be certain to get a study done on long-term costs to be
included for upkeep/maintenance as part of your capital reserve expenses. These expenses ultimately will become a portion of the monthly assessment fee for ALL to pay--whether they opt in or opt out of being a POOL MEMBER; otherwise, you won't have money for maintenance.
Better than I can say it...read KevinC2's response.

Rick:

If I read your posting correctly, the Townhomes don't have access to the pool unless you "opt in," but you have the option to use the pool that the single family home community owns/maintains, if you do "opt in?"

If that's the case, then choosing to opt in/out would be a choice that you would make relative to several factors:
1) Is there a public pool nearby that is free/low cost?
2) Is there a private pool nearby that is lower cost?
3) Do your townhomes allow you to put up a temporary pool in your back yard for the season, at a lower cost (perhaps initial purchse would be higher but used for 5 years...
4) Would you swim enough to make it worth it?

In Oregon, most HOA pools are open from Memorial Day to Labor Day (that will probably change with global warming) and pool maintenance (cleaning, overall balancing of water) happens once a week during that time, with regular checks of the pool (by HOA staff/board/volunteer committee) during the week according to state regulations.

When the pools are closed, the maintenance is about once per month (except to keep leaves out, etc.), the heat is turned way down (but not off) and there are a lot less chemicals used. Most pools aren't drained down completely but part way so that rain water won't overflow them, but there's enough water in the system so that the pumps don't "cavitate" (suck air into them, which can evenutally destroy them).

If the pool chemistry is well maintained, then the equipment lasts a long time and the pool will need to be re-plastered less often; if the chemistry is way off, pool equpiment may last less than a year in some cases (heat exchanger is copper and can get eaten up quickly) or the pool may need to be replastered much more often.

After taking a class on pool maintenance, I'm less inclined to use a pool unless I'm sure that it's well maintained.

J. Patrick Moore, CMCA

Rick,

I agree with Harold's post that the pool situation sounds like it could be in a death spiral. As the pool deteriorates, more people opt out, the costs to the remaining members increases and then more of them opt out.

In your situation, is your option to opt out a one time choice, where you can never join again, or is it an annual decision whether to join for that year or not? If it's a year to year decision, at least you can monitor the situation and decide when it's time to opt out.

NO ONE should ever think about operating a pool unless they have a guaranteed revenue source that can be counted on, and making membership voluntary is certainly not the way to do it! Our neighborhood pool was a great asset when the neighborhood was young. Our reserves (from the developer) were such that they actually kept FOUR lifeguards on duty at any given time. That was a lifetime ago. Kids grew up, moved off to college and the parents lost interest in supporting a pool that they would never use anymore. Now we have a pool that continues to deteriorate because there is no long term plan. We're down to only having one lifeguard present when it's open and discussing the financial benefits and liabilities of doing away with them. Every BOD has it's own band-aid for the problems that arise. And if it wasn't for one mechanically minded resident that always seems to be the one they call on to fix it's mechanical problems w/o charging us, it probably would drive us to the brink of bankruptcy. This year the BOD has decided to "experiment" with including the recreation area in with the annual HOA fees. So now we're looking at even fewer members joining the association because of the increase in dues and a potential $28K deficit which will eat up half of our reserves! And that doesn't include the issues of us now having a swim team that thinks they own the place! As much as I love being able to take my young kids to the pool occasionally, I personally would run from anything having to do with one now! Good luck, you're going to need it.