Withdrawl from association

I'm sure it can't be this easy but I found the following in my CC&Rs:

9.3) The approval of eligible mortgage holders holding first mortgages on lots the owner of which have at least fifty one percent (51%) of the votes in the associatino allocated to owners of all lots subject to first mortgages held by eligible mortgage holders hall be required to add or amend any material provisions of the declaration, articles or bylaws which establish, provide for, govern or regulate any of the following: ... expansion or contractino of the project, or the addition, annexation or withdrawl of property to or from the project.

9.8) Any first mortgagees who receives a written request from the board to respond to or consent to any action reqireing consent of the first mortgagee shall be deemed to have approved such action if the assocation has not received a negative response from such first mortgagee within thirty (30) days of the date of the association's request.

So if i want to annex my lot from the assocation, I need to get the board to put it to a vote of the assocation, if 51% of the people either don't respond or don't vote against it, i'm gone... i just need to word it that the vote is to let me leave not to keep me in the assocation.

i'm probably missing something obvious and just reading through some stuff so just wondering what everyone though.

Have fun driving that car off the cliff.

We don't have a darn thing on OUR common areas, either.

But guess what, they are UNSELLABLE TRACTS.

No one can buy them.

The city will likely not take ownership, which is probably what's going to happen with you.

Again, good luck driving that car off the cliff instead of fixing it.

Fixing stuff is hard.

Shoving them off cliffs is easy.

thanks glen, you seem to be the only person with some real advice.

I guess I should have just asked to have the definition of "mortgage holder" explained as i think that's what the real confusion is on my part. And I figure that I'd rather get some free advice (disclaimer has been read) rather than jumping into paying an attorney.
I understand fully what you are saying as far as the bank being the mortgage holder, however, it's just not clear in our definitions. I would think that I would be the mortgage holder. The bank owns the actual property but I hold the mortgage.

"eligible mortgage holder" means a first mortgagee....
"first mortgagee" means holder of any first mortgage
"First mortgage" means any mortgage or deed of trust on a lot which has priory over all other mortgages and deeds of trust on the same lot.

guess i just misinterpreted the terms.

i also understand that no one forced me to buy here, and i should have done more research on the existing HOA, however from the surface it appeared to be funcational. no cars on blocks, landscape well kept, no pink and yellow striped houses. Without waiting for the annual meeting to see the actual participation i'm not sure how much i could have done (realistically). i talked to people in the area, i visited at night, and all seemed well. and while my issues aren't life threatening or harmful i'd just wish things would be handled differently.

And really the economy is keeping me here (along with 90% of the homes in my association, the other 10% are in foreclosure). we bought our home for 210k, and there is an identical house right next door which has been on the market for 3 months for 90k. welcome to arizona real estate. the house next door is owned by an elderly retired lady and we helped her move just last week and is in just as good if not better shape as our home. absolutely nothing wrong with it. maybe the potential buyers ARE looking into the HOA and not moving in. (also a foreclosure just was sold for 69k, about 1.5 times the size of our home. smaller lot, but yeah, that's AZ real estate)

Adam,

As Glen pointed out, the section you quoted pertains to mortgage companys. Actually, once you buy a home in an HOA community you are stuck until such time as you sell your home. A member in a mandatory HOA cannot just "opt out" and I believe if you look closely you will find that stated in your CCRs. From my CCRs:

Under Assn Membership: "Immediately upon inc. of the assn., each and every owner by virtue of being an owner, automatically shall be a member of the assn and shall thereafter remain such for as long as he remains an owner."

Under Imposition of Lien; owner's agreement: "Each owner, by becoming such, for himself, his heirs, executors, administrators, trustees, personal representatives, successors and assigns, covenants and agrees (regardless of whether such covenants or agrements are expressed in his deed and regardless of whether he signed the deed): (a) that he will pay when due all assessments and charges against his lot; (b) that he acquires his lot subject to all assessments and charges and the assessment lien; (c) he shall be, and remain, personally liable for any and all assessments and charges assessed against his lot during his being the owner thereof, and (d) that he waives the benefit of any homestead or exemption laws with regard to the assessment lien."

And, with regard to Michele's remarks; she is right on the money. The common areas you mention contain water retention basins which can only be used for that purpose. This is a county law enacted a number of years ago. Unless a parcel of land has a stream running through it, water retention basins are required to contain any groundwater runoff. You will be hard pressed to find an HOA that doesn't have a water retention area somewhere w/i the subdivision. If the members want to take action to dissolve the HOA one major thing that must be done is to find someone to take over the common areas. In most cases, the city/co in which the HOA is located will NOT want to do this thereby making dissolution almost impossible. Reason: whoever takes deed to these areas must also maintain them and they cannot be used for any other purpose -- nothing can ever be built upon them. Bottom line: it is really worthless property! I live in Glendale and know that some HOAs even have a provision in their CCRs stating termination of maint of the common areas cannot take place w/o the written consent of the City. And, I know for a fact, they will NOT give this consent.

I see no problem with the poster testing the waters for either opt-out or dissolution.

Like other posters say, opting-out or dissolving is usually very hard or impossible but there is no harm in the poster doing a little research and talking to other homeowners to find out for himself. I think that the other posters are being unduly harsh: he's not a bad person for wanting out of a HOA nor for merely being willing to put a little effort into seeing if he can make that happen.

Adam
Its rather hopeless trying to leave. You may have better luck getting your property to secede from the united states before you are successful in leaving your HOA. (wink)

Your mandatory membership in the HOA is likely on your deed and not in your CCRs.