Older Covenants

Becky:
What state are you in?

a couple of points, that may or may not help.

Check your by-laws, i bet it refers to a population of eligible voters/owners. For instance, ours does. THat means i can reduce the total "vote" numbers by those who have not paid their dues, are behind, have standing/unpaid violations, etc. All of these incidents can cause an owner to lose their 'voting status' until resolved. For instance, if many of the "22" who don't want to change the rules are behind on their dues, then their votes may not count, and your total squeeks by. Or, it is reduced in total number, and you only need 180 positive votes to affirm.

Another thing to do is the long view: make sure to remind your owners how unfair a certain rule is, and how you would hate to see them lose their home by running afoul of it, how expensive it is to enforce, how we might have to raise dues to live with this rule, and then, offer them the carrot: gee, if we could only change these things easier. If we could just change this number here, then we could ammend our by-laws, etc.

finally, talk to these folks, and really understand what their reasons are. I can think, for one, that they may be "conservative" in thinking: THe rules are good, and they SHOULD be hard to change. If we go to where a few folks can change them at will, then the whole place will go to heck in a few years. Who's to stop them from changing ALL the rules then.

once you understand your opponent, then you can work to educate them, deal with their fears and conceptions, and overcome them.

Thanks for the thoughts, Brian.

I reread the Covenants twice last night (you think I'd know them by heart at this point!), but it still says only 90% of the lot owners.

Talking and understanding are good tools for focusing in on the critical sections - I appreciate the reminder. We'll add that on our next Board "meet and greet" when we walk the community.

b