Providing Board's Explanation to Member

What, PRECISELY, does it actually say ?

Unless, of course, you are actually seeking Tauric Ka-Ka

Hi Kerry, the exact wording is: "Unless otherwise approved by the Board, all windows shall have wood-colored horizontal window blinds."

"Discretionary" to me means the board can use a "fair and reasonable" standard to allow blinds that are not "wood-colored horizontal."

Thank you, Tim. I too wanted the member to know something like, "... it is the aesthetic look the developer desired and may have been a factor in attracting many to purchase." He's very confused, a little upset, and obviously a newbie to how condos, Declarations and property values all work together. To me, it could have been a teaching moment. I suppose it is not a big deal, other than I feel one person's negative emotions could have been quelled some by a rational response rather than just throwing the Declaration wording back at him.

Thank you, Kerry. Reading your experience helps. The new board does a lot of (vicious ouch!) arguing behind closed doors. But I feel it still has made good progress with infrastructure, transparency, getting a grip on reserve funding, and lighter meetings in front of members.

In our patio home HOA our covenants call for all window dressings in windows facing the street to be white or off white. We do not specify what type window dressing, just color. Same as all front doors must be black and any storm/screen doors must be full length with white trim.

We had one owner paint their door red. When notified they said they did not know the restriction existed. They were not happy about it but they repainted it black.

Sounds like your board is making progress on the civility front, Augie. I'm sorry to say that after years of improvement, civility & honesty on our Board is declining.

The more expansive reasons given against doing something, then there are more avenues to attack. For example: It is against the CC&Rs, give one thing to attack.

Saying the "thr developer and architect thought..." then you can also argue whether or not in fact the developer and architect thought that, and how it affects values and appearance.

Hi JanetB2, as I am sure you know, the Covenants are what they are, and amending is no easy feat. The Association is presently stuck with the 'Unless the board approves... ' qualifier for this use restriction. As for the time the blinds have been up, it is way over six months. Worse, the blinds were cited in October 2015 as being a violation. In October 2015 the member asked for a hearing. The gov docs require a hearing when requested. The HOA never responded, ever, until this past spring when, to the member's alarm, suddenly he was cited again.

I thought long and hard about the law here. I wrote two drafts for my position on this as a director. One draft approved the blinds, stating the Association had let too much time go by. Going the latter route could lead to (a) other members threatening legal action for the board's seeming failure to enforce, allowing a poor exterior appearance of this building; and (b) others using these blinds as precedent for installing their own incongruent blinds. Weighing all, I decided instead that I was obliged to ask that the blinds be restored to compliant ones. I have a duty to 'enforce the covenants' and strive for harmony in the exterior appearance of the condo units here. This seemed the route that would result in the least threat of litigation and controversy. I also asked the Board to issue an unequivocal apology from the Association for dropping the ball in 2015. (I do not think this will happen. The two other board members are not that sharp. They are angry they even had to have a hearing. The gov docs require a hearing, if requested. I told them, annoyed, that the member wrote the board specifically to say he was talking with an attorney. If the board does not have a hearing, count on the judge in small claims yada to rule in favor of the member.) At least the member ultimately did get his hearing with a board majority. The President ducked out at the last minute and did not attend the hearing. I think he did not want to do something he felt wasted his time. His absence will not help if this goes to court. I got some clarification on why he did what he did and do not think nearly as badly of his action as I did.

The court note at the bottom of this opinion also figured in a bit: http://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/court-of-appeals/1993/a93a1073-0.html . I do not live in Georgia. But I am aware that the Courts want to see a HOA follow its Declaration. I tend to think my HOA's dropping-the-ball in 2015 was not as serious as allowing the non-compliant blinds to stay up.

Janet

It would be impossible to list all aspects/angles of something such as what blinds are allowed. It also opens up the possibility that if something was not on the list of not allowed then it is allowed. There can only be general guidelines such as horizontal, white of off white blinds only with the BOD having the final say. Yes it could make the BOD the arbitrator of good taste or give them power you do not want to give them, but I see no other way.

Fence guidelines are a good example of impossible to list all types allowed but one could say no chain link of any kind.

I can't count the number of times I've read this from you. Please stop. It's the same thing. An attractive home sells for more than an unattractive one does; in the same neighborhood. Why else do realtors strongly suggest cleaning the yards, painting the houses, etc. All it takes is one redneck neighbor to store a few cars in the yard, or place the hot tub in the front yard, and everyone's property values go down. Because, a home is only worth what it will sell for. The numbers you see on willow, zillow and other sites, are just references. Before I purchased my latest home, the wife and I had to drive through a crappy area to get to a real nice lot and home on the side of a mountain. The crappy neighborhood lowered the value of that home for me. I may have bough it for 50K less, maybe not, but probably would have.

Purpose of a Home Owners Association:

The primary purpose of a homeowners association is to ensure that an individual or group cannot negatively impact the market value of homes in the neighborhood. The rules and regulations established by a HOA are designed to protect the value of each property. As a result, rules become a necessity. While many people may be turned off by rule sand regulations, it is one of the primary reasons that HOA remain popular.

See where it says "Market Value"?

No offense meant. I'll slide off my soapbox now.....

MARKET value does NOT equal "HOME Value". Market value is pretty much saying what been saying the whole time. It's MARKETING your home to be ATTRACTIVE to potential home buyers. Home Values are REAL numbers. They are based on how much homes of similar size/features have sold/foreclosed for in about a 6 month period in a designated area. A 3 bedroom 2 bath house next door sold for $100K then your house has a basic $100K home value. (In the generalist of terms).

Yep, seems so.

And determining who "The Market" is, can sometimes be difficult.

My house appraised for 19K more than I paid for it. It could have been fixed up nicer and would have sold for more. I chose to do the work myself and have the instant equity. It's in an HOA but the HOA has/had no authority to do the repairs to the home. Mine selling for less because it needed repairs hurt the market value of all the rest in the neighborhood.

Appraisers are crooked as hell. That's why they ask what the appraisal is for. Their appraisal will vary depending on whether it's for a seller, a buyer, or for home equity loan. In the mid 2000's this area had stick built homes being appraised for 300K+. Someone paid them for the bloated amounts. Those appraisals did not protect the banks(lenders). They did not protect the buyers either. Those appraisals put a lot of money in the pockets of builders and sellers. People walked away from their homes/loans costing the banks/lenders millions. Many of them simply refinanced their homes and walked with 100K in their pockets.

What never changed was the price per square ft to build the home. Wages did not go up, material costs did not go up. It's not rocket science to figure out what a house SHOULD sell for. People are sometimes willing to pay more for a nice home. No one pays more for a crappy looking home. HOA help that.