Need Advice Please!

If a CAM is hired fees will go up, that's true. but you won't lose control you will have more guidance.

IF you dissolve your HOA, are you SFH or Condos? If you are in Condos you likely should not dissolve due to too many obligations
that need to be met for the community.

One of the many advantages of serving on the board is that you find out exactly what it is you've bought.

One of the disadvantages is that you'll see your neighbors in a different light, and some of them will not be at their best. This is often a shock to first time board members. Almost every community has some who don't give a hoot about civility and who thrive on conflict, and HOA boards are often a favorite target.

Even homeowners who aren't looking to start fights can get very upset when they expect certain things in HOAs and don't get them. In fact, some of the angriest owners I've come across were actually upset by things that are normal business practices. They were expecting a social club/democracy. What they got is a corporation - and they're shareholders, not decision-makers except in some specific and limited ways. Many people don't understand the extent to which community associations are regulated by law, starting with CC&Rs and bylaws and up through state and federal law. Not even the board can do whatever they like - in fact in some ways their actions are even more constrained than those of their neighbors. But still, it's the board that says what gives, consistent with the various laws.

All the turmoil goes with the territory to a large extent. I wish that somebody would hand out crystal balls and a thick skin to new board members. Sadly, they don't. But newbies can develop a thicker skin over time. They just have to stick with it and survive that first year or so of "OMG, I don't know anything, what was I thinking, should I resign, why did my nice neighbor suddenly become my enemy, why did nobody tell me this, should I resign...????" The first year is A LOT.

The good news is that there are some techniques for handling those who want to cause drama. Basically they boil down to not giving them the drama. You need to be consistent and stick with it - if at some point they simmer down and you think they've seen the light, they'll go right back to the drama if you stop being consistent with your communications. My mantra for these interactions is "brief, bland, boring."

The bad news is that you're not going to be able to kick back and chit chat with your neighbors as long as you're on the board. You have to watch everything you say, including never talking about association business outside of board meetings except for things like "please put it in writing and email it to the board email address". If you do talk, your audience will hear it as "the board says" no matter how many disclaimers you put in front of your comments. This can create liability problems for the association. (A former board president in my community resigned in a huff a couple years back. Details were lacking, but our manager who announced this admonished homeowners not to bring their issues to an individual board member but instead send them to the manager "because of liability issues".)

Not sure how much this helps, just know that board service is one tough job and that it's normal to feel overwhelmed and clueless.

Thanks for all the comments, suggestions and advice. Yes, so true...seeing neighbors in a different light isn't always a good thing!

Oh yeah.

Apologies for griping. But "they were expecting a social club/democracy" really caught my eye. I'm fairly new at all of this, but I believe I know exactly what you mean. And in fact, some of my neighborhood's most frustrating problems are compounded by problem people who are "just trying to help" with the decision-making. And it's like there's this meme virus that has infected most of the 'hood where they *excuse* the meddling: "well, yes, so-and-so is a pain, but at least they care and they're trying to help." Over time, people have learned not to say that to me anymore, because I'm a pretty even-tempered guy but no, they're *not* "trying to help" and don't you dare try to make excuses for them. If anything, I think they - the meddlers - are beset by a form of mental illness: there are people who can't be bothered to join the Board or a Committee, but they're always happy to tell other people what they need to do. And then skip off with zero responsibility for any chaos they cause. And if there's any positive outcome, they will absolutely take full credit for it: "Oh, yes, I'm the one who got the Board to fix ____".

Admittedly, I've done a lot of learning on my own over the past couple of years. Being a Board member is extremely educational.

Bill

I completely agree on the educational value of being on the board. I think people don't really understand what they've bought until they do time in a decision-making role.

Regarding well-meaning advice, keep in mind that unsolicited advice is nearly always self-serving. I pretended to misunderstand and "assumed" they were volunteering (after a while people learned that I was only too happy to give them a job, and they avoided me). This works because it changes the narrative. They wanted to feel good about themselves without doing anything to deserve it, and instead found themselves forced to say "no" and therefore felt worse about themselves.

Is that Machiavellian? I definitely became more Machiavellian while on the board. /evil-grin

You know what else I've found helpful? I regularly read the Ask a Manager blog. The site tends to skew female, but there are plenty of men there as well - and business problems generally affect everyone and can also apply to what goes on in HOAs. I'm occasional surprised at how much management know-how I've absorbed just by reading all the time.