Is it worth running for a board position?

Everyone wants someone else to step up and take care of things for them. They don't want to be bothered and believe that they pay their dues so they shouldn't have to be. The problem with that line of thinking is the assumption that someone else will step up and give their time and effort to make things right.

In my situation, everything was slowly getting worse for a few years and then last year it got much worse; it was the general apathy of everyone in the community. When I joined the board I became the Treasurer and talked to the members of the previous board. They said that they didn't do anything and that the community manager did everything for them and they had a meeting once a quarter. It is because no one from the community was personally involved that we ended up with people owing the community for several years’ worth of dues, things that were broken were not fixed in a timely manner, things were not cleaned regularly and houses were allowed to become run down.

When I originally decided to join the board I had no idea how much was involved but thinking back on it I don't think it was a mistake. That is your community; who better to maintain it and look after its best interest?

MarkH1,

As for positives and advantages, there are many I have experienced. Each HOA is different, you may not experience the challenges many have in making sure those with an agenda are ousted.

A good first step is to form or join a Board approved committee. This may allow you to gain some hands on experience without being in the line of fire as a BOD. The biggest challenge you will face is the learning curve, things you and many volunteers can't possibly foresee. As an incumbent, your voice of reason will need to be established over time amongst a quorum (Pres, and 3 other BOD's) that can outvote you. Think longterm, rather than making premature assertions to "right the wrong" (if any) so to speak. Build support and use the committee position as a stepping-stone to gain election to the Board. It is political after all, volunteer or not.

Interesting how you have two types of housing, single-family and townhouses. Do you have two boards, such as an HOA and a COA?

A Board member is a fiduciary and is entrusted to ensure the common, limited, and general elements are maintained and replaced, and the by-laws and cc&r's are adhered to. Two of the most important responsibilities are a Transition Analysis and Capital Reserve Replacement Analysis.

TRANSITION
Transition in an HOA is the process of moving from a state of Developer control and construction to ownership by the HOA/COA (all members in the Association). Transition from the Developer to resident run board, and transition of the elements to the responsibility of the community is a challenging, methodical, and long-term process. It is make or break for the community's financial future. Once the Developer is officially off the Board, the Board hires (at the Association’s expense) a Transition Engineering firm to inspect a percentage of the townhouses (usually 10% at first) and the common elements to evidence deficiencies in construction, and latent defects. If there are trends, more townhouses are then inspected. This will establish a basis to request the Developer repair the deficiencies or proved capital contribution to the HOA/COA. Note, if you seek reimbursement to repair the deficiencies, you may need to extrapolate for the percentage of the elements not inspected in the Transition deficiency report. If the Developer disputes the requested reimbursement, the HOA may need to contract the Transition Engineering firm to perform more inspections.

CAPITAL RESERVE REPLACEMENT ANALYSIS
The Transition Engineering firm, hired by the HOA/COA, will perform a Capital Reserve Analysis. The Reserves are an account (savings, money market) that is a percentage of the monthly maintenance fees that will fund the replacement of the elements at the end of their useful life cycle. Your governing documents/prospectus should have Developer budgets and Developer estimated replacements costs (ERC). Often the budgets and ERC are low-balled by the Developer and reflect outdated ERC's that don't reflect inflation/rising construction costs. For example, mine were fore casted by the Developer in 2002. A the time of the Transition Analysis construction costs rose more than 18% since 2002. The Reserve Analysis will provide the cost of replacement at the end of each element's life cycle, the date of original construction of each element, the useful life cycle of each element, the measurement of each element (cubic, square, linear feet), the minimum amount necessary to be set aside each year to fund the replacement of the elements (called the threshold which can be a percentage of the total replacement cost), the minimum reserve balance at all times. The threshold may be 5% of the total replacement cost set aside each year, so if the total replacement cost is $1,000,000 and 5% threshold is adopted by the HOA than each year $50,000 needs to be set aside in Reserves. Therefore, each of the 262 HOA units will contribute $15.90 per month towards the Reserves. Calculation is $50,000 divided by 262 divided by 12 months. The Transition Eng. will probably estimate that the elements in your community were constructed in 2004. Therefore, the amount necessary to set aside going forward will need to calculate the previous years that were not funded according to current replacement costs. For example, the Developer may have an ERC that states $39,000 is the Reserve amount to set aside each year. Whereas the Transition Eng. says $50,000 is more correct. So if funding of $39,000 started in 2002, the HOA needs to make up the difference of $11,000 x 5 years. That's where the HOA, probably through the HOA attorney requests the Developer contribute $55,000. These numbers are demonstrative.

Hope this helps you and good luck!!!

Thanks all for the replies and words of wisdom. I'm not even sure if I'd get on the board anyway

I really don't have an agenda at all, well maybe a little bit of one.. All the members selected so far by the developer are at the far end of the community and all buddies. I'm in the middle of the development and don't know any of them. It's almost like little subgroups form with each phase of development. I want to get in the mix not only to be more involved but also to discourage favoritism. Not to say that they won't be fair and reasonable but I'd read enough here to know what the possibilities with the buddy system are.

As a start I can see tons of rules being broken that will affect a lot of people if enforced. They're all relatively minor but I think it's going to cause a lot of friction when and if a new board tries to enforce them. Things like trash barrels visible from the street, commercial vans/trucks in driveways, unapproved trampolines, unapproved planters, unapproved landscaping, parking on the streets etc -- minor stuff but still broken rules. Some are worse with unapproved construction and a couple of unapproved fences that will not pass CC&R requirements. Some of the first houses in our development were completed 3+ years ago and have some of the items mentioned.. I'm not even sure how you'd go about enforcing this stuff after so many years have passed other than to send notice that these items will be enforced and if not approved already then they need a ARC form submitted???

My biggest concern is being amoung the first group of board members that would provide any enforcement at all of the CC&R's and end up getting harassed or whatever. Some of my direct neighbors are breaking rules with sheds, trampolines and other items and I don't want them blaming me or expecting me to do something. I like my neighbors but if they never talked to me again it'd be thier loss and not mine so I have no problem with enforcing what should be enforced.

Maybe I should wait for the second term??

Printed for future reference, Thanks!

MarkH1 - enforcement of the cc&r's is a good thing to remedy. however your focus should be on the financial bottom line, whether you're on the board or not. I can not stress enough the importance of a transition deficiency study and capital reserve replacement analysis. think big picture and worry about the do's and dont's later.

The best advice I ever got with being a board member/officer was from a former board member. They reminded me that the money of the HOA's is NOT my personal money but EVERYONE's money in the HOA. It was this advice that really changed my way of thinking and let me be less controlling. I realized that I was elected to represent the needs and desires of ALL the members. It was my job to spend the money on NOT what I felt was a good idea but what the MAJORITY of members felt. If the members wanted the HOA to paint the streets red, I was to make sure we had the funds and contractor to do so. Essentially, my job was to FASCILLITATE what the members wanted and NOT enforce ideas of my own.
You have to make being a board member part of who you are. It has to be something you believe in and willing to put the effort into. This is part of your investment as well as everyone elses. Remember NOT everyone is going to be as eager as you nor do they want to be involved. Don't force it.
The CC&R's are there for a reason. They are the standards the Homeowners have agreed to live by when they invested in the area. It's a CONTRACT. Treat it like one. The HOA has to live up to it's side of the contract just like the members have to live up to theirs.
I always felt the job was a "THANK FULL" job and NOT a "THANK LESS" one. The friends I made and the accomplishments were worth the effort. It can take one person to make the right changes for the right reasons to make living in the HOA a great place to live.