"Gloom and Doom in Condo Industry?"

I saw that article yesterday and agree things are going to get worse before it gets better. The line about HOAs going bankrupt really concerns me, because I think that's the next shoe to drop in this enviroment. I know I'm really concered about my HOA (I'm treasurer) because I spoke to our president yesterday while grocery shopping and she told me of still another tree root/sewer line disruption that erupted about a week ago (I spoke of this problem in another thread a month ago).

The kicker is that the unit is owned by a guy that owes the Association a considerable amount of money. I suppose some people would say "well, tell him the repairs can't get done until delinquencies (like yours) are eliminiated," but raw sewage bubbling out of the ground gets really smelly, it's a serious health hazard, and the people who do pay would also be affected. Our president asked the guy if he'd called a plumber to check if the problem might be on his end and he said, "uh, no - I think this is the association's responsibility).

(good thing he said that to her instead of me - I might have choked him!)

Nonetheless, this isn't the time to wring one's hands - HOA boards everywhere will have to get creative with problem solving and keep the residents in the loop. I'm always amazed when I read people on this forum talk about rouge boards, not giving financial reports and such to the membership - don't they know that if you want lots of power, it also comes with lots more responsibility? For my part, I've always believed that knowlege is power - let folks know what's happening and why. If they don't like what they hear, come up with some solutions and VOLUNTEER to help implement them. I think HOA residents are about to get a hard lesson in what happens when they say "I can't go to the annual meeting - American Idol is on tonight!"

By the way, George, I saw in yesterday's Indianapolis Star that there are supposed to be hearings somewhere in the state legislature this week about foreclosures and what can be done to reduce them - think a discussion of HOA foreclosures because of delinquencies will get a mention?

Shelia,

You wrote:

>>>HOA boards everywhere will have to get creative with problem solving and keep the residents in the loop.<<<

If only. But as we've all seen here at HOATalk, many BODs will do neither.

As I've mentioned on other threads, our BOD bombards Membership with so much info that the only complaints we get are along the lines of:

"Is it really necessary to tell us all this?" "Could you keep the Updates shorter?" "How about fewer attachments?" or the observation "Whatever you (the BOD) wants to do is fine."

Despite that, we get few Thank You(s) and fewer Volunteers. Not that we signed up for praise, nor to cajole Membership into putting in their hard-earned(?) free time.

But since we, our first pro-active BOD, took the reins a year ago via self-management, we haven't had to assess a single Member for late dues, or for anything else. We (slightly) lowered dues for 2009, expect to meet our 2009 Budget, and have built up our rainy day Reserve account to around 40% of this year's annual dues while increasing services and undertaking a big project - cleaning our 4 ponds of invasive weeds & related "ugly green floating stuff."

So I agree. Tell 'em everything + more, and a hopefully contented, stable HOA will be the result.

Shelia,

Basically, our S-M resulted from a new BOD that didn't think 33% of dues should be spent on our PM and was willing (mostly moi) to take over the nuts and bolts stuff, though my 2 fellow BODers pitch in whenever asked. We only have 21 SFDs. Three vendors and electric bills to pay. Few problems to handle. S&M is not for everybody.

The ponds will be a costly undertaking - say, +20% of this and 2010's annual dues, but they are our most valued common assets so we tightened up in other areas (mostly landscaping reductions in some months) to cover the initial clean-up (after which we'll only require maintaining them properly). Letting them go further into the dinger would be irresponsible.

Good luck.