EricaL3 (Oregon)
Posts: 1
Posts: 1
Posted:
Hello all! Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer.
I've ended up on the HOA board of my small 10 unit condo complex. The previous President sold their unit and left and handed me several boxes of records, however the records are from 5+ years ago, noting recent. Digging into this, he was not at all knowledgeable about HOA's and this was run very poorly. There is almost no money, because he was under the impression anything left after monthly bills was taxable, so at the end of each year the complex would have a party and spend the excess money on that party. The dues were low enough to ONLY cover the insurance and have a couple hundred bucks at the end of the year. From what I gather from talking to neighbors, everyone here was friends for a long time, so for quite a few years if any projects needed to be done (gutters cleaned, etc) he would go door to door and simply ask people to "chip in" towards it. Nothing formal and nothing in writing.
At the same time he sold, three other units sold as well and I now have new owners on my hands with repairs they want done and I also have older owners who want to sell and want the units painted/roofs inspected...and there is no money. I have held two meetings, the first one literally no one showed up to, and the 2nd one i got just enough people to pass raising the HOA dues so we are building some reserves.
I'm newer to this and digging into the CC&R's we are actually supposed to have three formal board positions, but literally no one else wants to be on the board. I am unsure if should send out a letter to all owners detailing what has happened or just hold a meeting and try to get an assessment passed to take care of the immediate needs and then raise dues for the next few years to stack up reserves.
I've ended up on the HOA board of my small 10 unit condo complex. The previous President sold their unit and left and handed me several boxes of records, however the records are from 5+ years ago, noting recent. Digging into this, he was not at all knowledgeable about HOA's and this was run very poorly. There is almost no money, because he was under the impression anything left after monthly bills was taxable, so at the end of each year the complex would have a party and spend the excess money on that party. The dues were low enough to ONLY cover the insurance and have a couple hundred bucks at the end of the year. From what I gather from talking to neighbors, everyone here was friends for a long time, so for quite a few years if any projects needed to be done (gutters cleaned, etc) he would go door to door and simply ask people to "chip in" towards it. Nothing formal and nothing in writing.
At the same time he sold, three other units sold as well and I now have new owners on my hands with repairs they want done and I also have older owners who want to sell and want the units painted/roofs inspected...and there is no money. I have held two meetings, the first one literally no one showed up to, and the 2nd one i got just enough people to pass raising the HOA dues so we are building some reserves.
I'm newer to this and digging into the CC&R's we are actually supposed to have three formal board positions, but literally no one else wants to be on the board. I am unsure if should send out a letter to all owners detailing what has happened or just hold a meeting and try to get an assessment passed to take care of the immediate needs and then raise dues for the next few years to stack up reserves.