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Yeah, there are tons of people that want to change/help the world and communities we live in (including myself) so over the past couple years I have become more active in community matters. So a basic FAQ on joining a (local) board: 1) Email the president. Within a few days you'll probably be assigned a role that someone dropped out. More on that later. For the record I serve on two boards. My HOA and the other is a local charter of certified world-wide professionals. My mother also serves on a board for the local SPCA chapter. All three are wildly different on how they handle matters and treat the board. I will just say, when I did join the HOA board I just wanted to see how sausage was made. The stories I could tell. Been with it for around 6 months and by far it is drat complicated. In short, volunteering for a board position (and participating actively) does present quite a bit of work. Rewarding? Depends on your personality. Prepare to get poo poo on via Nextdoor. Rant/ask away if you have questions.
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Oct 1, 2019 17:09
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C-Bangin' it 
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See, told you this would be boring.  I'll talk to myself because just had my HOA board meeting this past Monday. Let me preface by saying that yeah, life in the midwest isn't exactly pleasant for scenery and weather...but there are advantages with cost of living. Ain't called flyover for nothing. Anyways, PSA, if you buy a house read the covenants and by-laws. You always read the stories on the news such as "veteran told to take flag pole down" type stuff. Fortunately mine isn't like that, we don't go out looking for stuff like that. And when I say "like that," you aren't going to get a fine if you forgot to take your trash dumpsters from the curb. But at the same time we have three sets of by-laws depending on which section you live in. But anyways, I digress. One thing that boggles my mind the most is the amount of apathy of the general public.
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Oct 9, 2019 21:09
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How does the money management work? Are there checks and balances? I live in a co-op building in New York and the fees/dues are incredibly high for the owners. Who gets to decide where all that money gets parked? You sometimes read about accounting scandals and I'm wondering how common that really is...
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Oct 16, 2019 00:26
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HOAs usually have the perception of being a bunch of soulless rules-mongers who apply rules inconsistently and punitively fine people with fine-print infractions as a way to drive them out if they're suddenly an unwanted element and that property value trumps all other concerns. Have you had to deal with that negative perception from the residents? Outsiders? Friends and family?
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Oct 16, 2019 15:29
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Belbos Computer posted:How does the money management work? Are there checks and balances? I live in a co-op building in New York and the fees/dues are incredibly high for the owners. Who gets to decide where all that money gets parked? You sometimes read about accounting scandals and I'm wondering how common that really is... SubnormalityStairs posted:HOAs usually have the perception of being a bunch of soulless rules-mongers who apply rules inconsistently and punitively fine people with fine-print infractions as a way to drive them out if they're suddenly an unwanted element and that property value trumps all other concerns. Have you had to deal with that negative perception from the residents? Outsiders? Friends and family? Great questions from both of you. Granted, I live in flyoverville in the midwest in suburbia so equating this to New York is probably an apples/oranges type comparison. And of course, sorry for the delay of my post. Let me preface this by saying we are easy going on stuff...as in not looking to loving people over. If you leave your trash can out past midnight? We don't care. Unless the edge case where it's been sitting there for a week and your grass is 2 feet high around it and someone complains. Or a boat is parked in your yard. There's tons of more stories on those types. And then we bust out the by-laws on what we can do. Addressing the financials: Man it is sort of easy to 'see' once you see it sort of thing. Hard to explain, and the reason I joined the board. I wanted to see how sausage was made so to speak because I had concerns. And yeah, depending who I meet will blast me for what the dues are. As for checks and balances we have a retired CPA on board that does them (who lives here and is treasurer). And unless you have an absolute corrupt board you bet your sweet bippy we look at funds/spending and we always have questions. And he is a tight rear end. In short, you have to have some sense on random costs, service costs, fair labor rates, reading quotes, capital expenditures, etc. before a check is written to make a motion to approve a purchase. Yeah, boring stuff. Most of our meetings take around 2-3 hours believe it or not because there is a lot to discuss. tl;dr Most board members on any board work their asses off. poo poo you read on the news with the pompous ones are the ones that make the headlines.
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Oct 29, 2019 20:09
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So just to share a little bit more, we oversee 1,100 homes and around 3,000 people. A small city, so crazy stuff happens. So what's your pick? 1) Chronic public masurbator moves back in with in his GF after serving some sort of time. 2a) Drunk people taking a poo poo next the club house. 2b) Relates to #2; we have a great pool complex and people hop the fence after hours. 3) Our old angry maintenance man gets into fisticuffs with a lovely vendor that we have a legal feud over. 4) A resident of our community that shows up an hour late to discuss problems with our golf pro and course conditions. And he didn't want to leave. Take your pick. They are all fun.
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Oct 29, 2019 21:01
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Is it possible to remove yourself from a home owners association? Or is this a forced membership you have no choice in and have to pay for forever, because that seems illegal and I never understood how HOAs in the US could do that.
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Nov 1, 2019 18:27
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My Spirit Otter posted:Is it possible to remove yourself from a home owners association? Or is this a forced membership you have no choice in and have to pay for forever, because that seems illegal and I never understood how HOAs in the US could do that. Typically a neighborhood is established and all the lots are members. HOA rules may allow you to leave but the HOA typically has to vote to allow you to leave. The main reason for a lot of HOA formations is to share the maintenance responsibilities for a neighborhood (stormwater ponds for example) so they typically don't want anyone to leave and stop paying dues.
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Nov 2, 2019 03:41
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What's the best way to go about suing my HOA for failing to disapprove my neighbors landscaping plans that involve 50' view blocking pine trees? Sue just the HOA? Sue the neighbor and the HOA? Sue the individual Architectural Committee members?
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Nov 2, 2019 15:47
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My Spirit Otter posted:Is it possible to remove yourself from a home owners association? Or is this a forced membership you have no choice in and have to pay for forever, because that seems illegal and I never understood how HOAs in the US could do that. This happened in my HOA before I lived here. It's 640 houses that were built very slowly (like over 30 years) up the side of a hill. The older houses at the bottom of the hill voted themselves out of the HOA a long time ago.
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Nov 2, 2019 15:50
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bird with big dick posted:What's the best way to go about suing my HOA for failing to disapprove my neighbors landscaping plans that involve 50' view blocking pine trees? Sue just the HOA? Sue the neighbor and the HOA? Sue the individual Architectural Committee members? Hire a lawyer, but you should make sure there is an adopted rule that specifically prohibits the trees first.
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Nov 2, 2019 16:38
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As a non-American, what delineates the responsibilities handled by the HOA vs Local City Council? Everything so far described I'd either ring the City Council or Police to deal with here in NZ, so I'm not seeing the value-add in this setup.
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Nov 3, 2019 23:07
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Jomo posted:As a non-American, what delineates the responsibilities handled by the HOA vs Local City Council? Everything so far described I'd either ring the City Council or Police to deal with here in NZ, so I'm not seeing the value-add in this setup. HOAs are civil (private) agreements. It varies by area but there are some places where a lot of the improvements are maintained by a private organization but the most typical cases they mostly just act as a way of enforcing adopted neighborhood rules. Again, some places have very restrictive rules that are zealously enforced other places don't do anything at all.
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Nov 4, 2019 01:02
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My Spirit Otter posted:Is it possible to remove yourself from a home owners association? Or is this a forced membership you have no choice in and have to pay for forever, because that seems illegal and I never understood how HOAs in the US could do that. Short answer: No. At closing when you signed the 49 pages or whatever you agreed to covenants and bylaws. And that is basically the rule of law in your newish domicle. bird with big dick posted:What's the best way to go about suing my HOA for failing to disapprove my neighbors landscaping plans that involve 50' view blocking pine trees? Sue just the HOA? Sue the neighbor and the HOA? Sue the individual Architectural Committee members? A good question. As a board member, we have indemnity. Otherwise, we wouldn't take the job(s). My advice, if you have an issue with that then phone in, schedule and say "Hey, I got a problem with this horseshit going on, when is the board meeting?" Show up a little early present your case, and it will be talked about. And honestly, proper actions will be made (if your HOA voted the right people in). But to be honest, it sounds shall I say "a little under the radar" type stuff. Get involved. Takes time, but it is a mini-congress of sorts.
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Nov 4, 2019 07:38
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Colostomy Bag posted:See, told you this would be boring. Or, be a smarter person and never, ever buy into an HoA unless you're living somewhere like row townhomes or condos with shared roofs and major mechanicals. HoAs in single-family freestanding neighborhoods exist to let developers control who's allowed to buy in, and inevitably turn into petty tyrannies of the busybodies with nothing but time on their hands to make everyone else miserable in the name of keeping their property value up. My Spirit Otter posted:Is it possible to remove yourself from a home owners association? Or is this a forced membership you have no choice in and have to pay for forever, because that seems illegal and I never understood how HOAs in the US could do that. To expand on this, US HOAs also generally have title encumbrances on every property in the HoA. Meaning they can place liens against your house for fines they levy, and in extreme cases force a foreclosure sale of the property. They are also often a mechanism of systematic racial redlining, as one of the selling points implied in many places is that they are a way to keep 'undesirable people' from buying into the neighborhood. Never, ever buy into this bullshit. Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 09:34 on Nov 4, 2019 |
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Nov 4, 2019 09:26
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Yep. We're not like that (given my previous posts) but if you don't pay your dues there will be a lien filed. As far as I know we haven't kicked anyone out.
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Nov 4, 2019 22:52
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Liquid Communism posted:Or, be a smarter person and never, ever buy into an HoA unless you're living somewhere like row townhomes or condos with shared roofs and major mechanicals. Not all HOAs are like this. In my parents' neighborhood, dues are optional and pretty much go towards maintaining the entrances, keeping the streetlights in good repair, organizing social events, and hiring a cop to patrol the main thoroughfares on Saturday nights. I'm pretty sure the only "hard and fast" rule they actually enforce is no fences along street frontages because they don't want people turning their property into an ugly rear end gated compound. e: although granted, a lot of the nuisance stuff that usually falls under the purview of an HOA is actually handled by municipal code enforcement here, like mow your grass, roll your trashcans in, don't park on your lawn, etc Coasterphreak fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Nov 4, 2019 |
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Nov 4, 2019 23:26
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Yeah, that's the boring stuff. Easements, water drainage, fences out on the common ground, blah blah.
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Nov 5, 2019 16:04
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Colostomy Bag posted:Short answer: No. At closing when you signed the 49 pages or whatever you agreed to covenants and bylaws. And that is basically the rule of law in your newish domicle. I was trying to just get some information from them and getting absolutely nowhere (two months of mostly ignoring emails and not calling when they said they would). I was trying to be kind of chill about it and just deal with it somewhat informally at least at first and that apparently doesn't work at all, because I realized this could end up being an actual lawsuit so on Monday I did the formal thing by filling out the HOAs complaint paperwork and citing the 6 different places in the HOAs rules and regs and CCRs where it mentioned protecting views and yesterday the property management company that handles customer service for the HOA emailed me and now I have an appointment with some of the board members to come look at the situation. The PM customer service guy initially tried to weasel out of this by saying "None of the lots in your neighborhood are specified as View Lots" and "maybe they're just talking about protecting the view out of the back of your lot and not to the side of your lot" and I asked him where in the CCRs it had any qualifications even remotely like that and he shut up and then I said Thats Right Bitch and pantomimed dropping a microphone which he didn't see because it was a phone call.
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Nov 8, 2019 15:51
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Jomo posted:As a non-American, what delineates the responsibilities handled by the HOA vs Local City Council? Everything so far described I'd either ring the City Council or Police to deal with here in NZ, so I'm not seeing the value-add in this setup. Last house I lived in had a list of rules and regulations but didn't have an HOA. The rules included things like "You can't store your 50' motorhome permanently on the street." My understanding was that it's not an actual law so the police don't give a poo poo, and you can theoretically call up your "Town Planner" or architect or whatever and maybe they'll send a sternly worded letter but they probably won't and even if they do there's no real method of forcing people to comply. Whereas with the HOA you sign a piece of paper that says if you don't follow the HOA regs they can charge you thousands of dollars of compliance fines and put a lien on your house and force your children into indentured servitude etc.
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Nov 8, 2019 16:00
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Liquid Communism posted:HoAs in single-family freestanding neighborhoods exist to let developers control who's allowed to buy in There's no method by which the HOA I live in could even do this and my neighborhood looks like a Benetton ad.
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Nov 8, 2019 16:02
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bird with big dick posted:There's no method by which the HOA I live in could even do this and my neighborhood looks like a Benetton ad. In the United States these rules are unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable. There are still some neighborhoods that still have these rules on the books however which sometimes screws up sales because the new owner doesn't want anything to do with an organization that would have such a rule on the books.
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Nov 8, 2019 17:07
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I know HOAs absolutely used to exist to be able to keep "those people" out (with many definitions of those people) but from what I know they now dont really have anything to do with the developer and there is literally no mechanism by which your typical HOA could disqualify anyone no matter what. They're only involved after the sale not before or during. Like hate on them all you want for being busybody assholes but i dont think theyre reviewing applications and denying all the black and gay people or whatever. And they can have some legitimate purpose because hopefully the one I'm in is going to maybe possibly stop my neighbor from decreasing the value of my property by 20,000 dollars by destroying my view with his stupid rear end trees.
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Nov 8, 2019 20:55
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bird with big dick posted:I know HOAs absolutely used to exist to be able to keep "those people" out (with many definitions of those people) but from what I know they now dont really have anything to do with the developer and there is literally no mechanism by which your typical HOA could disqualify anyone no matter what. They're only involved after the sale not before or during. Like hate on them all you want for being busybody assholes but i dont think theyre reviewing applications and denying all the black and gay people or whatever. And they can have some legitimate purpose because hopefully the one I'm in is going to maybe possibly stop my neighbor from decreasing the value of my property by 20,000 dollars by destroying my view with his stupid rear end trees. Ok, sounds like we have a mess going on but at least you have an "appointment". Which is bullshit. Should have 15 minutes of public before the board closes the doors. One caveat, how many homes do you estimate under your association?
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Nov 11, 2019 17:17
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so by my understanding a hoa in the us handles common area landscaping and tries to act as the local city council over planning rights for any factored properties? what is the annual cost per factored property? where i'm from (uk) there's a somewhat similar arrangement with housing associations controlling areas separate from the local council. but a HA over here doesn't go further than small outbuilding alterations and control is ultimately held by the council over planning given the hoa won't have any other functions i gather they pay contract in professional advice versus having it in-house as a city council would? i gather that the informal legality of a hoa means there are no legal obligations outside of a basic contract as well? if you're altering communal lighting who is in charge of regular emergency lighting tests, fire risk assessments, asbestos management, etc? where is any of this stored and who's responsible for collating, verifying, disseminating and making a judgment on repairs and long-term planning? what is the organisation structure of one? is it entire voluntary, are there full-time employees for handling ad-hoc repairs and site visits? what are the hours involved? do you cover car mileage and use for business use? is there any regulatory oversight at all, or is the board as far as any paperwork goes? any rules on board structure (#/% of factored owners/professionals/outside volunteers)? what training do the board members receive and how is this financed? how's the catering? just a couple of thoughts
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Nov 12, 2019 00:12
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Everything is going to vary by state and location. You keep mentioning local city council but here in Texas we have a poo poo ton of land and neighborhoods exist outside of city limits. I understand the hate for HOAs but I did a year on the board to oust the idiots who weren't putting any repairs into our common areas like the pool and 4 acre park. Led by this cool older women she found a cool half a million available to us by our municipal utility district that the previous HOA president had refused. We had to amend the by laws which required getting 75% of the home owners to agree. It was a pain but the new park was built and it's constantly used by everyone. The old boomers who did the board in the past still bitch about it on nextdoor.
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Nov 12, 2019 06:40
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bird with big dick posted:I know HOAs absolutely used to exist to be able to keep "those people" out (with many definitions of those people) but from what I know they now dont really have anything to do with the developer and there is literally no mechanism by which your typical HOA could disqualify anyone no matter what. They're only involved after the sale not before or during. Some HOAs still have power to approve/reject buyers. As long as it's not explicitly for protected reasons, they can get away with it. DangerZoneDelux posted:The old boomers who did the board in the past still bitch about it on nextdoor. Nexdoor exists solely for people to bitch about, "oh things are changing it used to be so nice here until everyone moved in and built the place up" and, "BEWARE SCAMMER GOING DOOR TO DOOR I THINK THEY'RE CASING HOUSES TO BREAK IN TO" whenever a non-white person walks around.
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Nov 13, 2019 17:15
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DaveSauce posted:Nexdoor exists solely for people to bitch about, "oh things are changing it used to be so nice here until everyone moved in and built the place up" and, "BEWARE SCAMMER GOING DOOR TO DOOR I THINK THEY'RE CASING HOUSES TO BREAK IN TO" whenever a non-white person walks around. It's free invasive surveillance for the police, hth.
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Nov 13, 2019 17:18
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DangerZoneDelux posted:Everything is going to vary by state and location. You keep mentioning local city council but here in Texas we have a poo poo ton of land and neighborhoods exist outside of city limits. I understand the hate for HOAs but I did a year on the board to oust the idiots who weren't putting any repairs into our common areas like the pool and 4 acre park. Why did they refuse 500,000 dollars to build a park?
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Nov 14, 2019 00:09
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Slim Jim Pickens posted:Why did they refuse 500,000 dollars to build a park? Because of the implications....yeah argument floated by the HOA president was a new park would bring crime and undesirables. The last straw was when he told a disabled person at a meeting to learn to walk when said person raised concern about not being able to use the sidewalks around the common area. Dude was a poo poo head and it was hilarious when they called a sheriff because he refused to give up his position after he lost the vote 200-12. It was a pretty high turnout for a neighborhood of 750 homes.
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Nov 14, 2019 00:16
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DaveSauce posted:Nexdoor exists solely for people to bitch about, "oh things are changing it used to be so nice here until everyone moved in and built the place up" and, "BEWARE SCAMMER GOING DOOR TO DOOR I THINK THEY'RE CASING HOUSES TO BREAK IN TO" whenever a non-white person walks around. As with anything, this really depends on the neighborhood, and I think two of the larger factors that affect the noise ratio are proximity to public transit (buses) and number of rental properties. Around here most of the homes are occupied by the owner and the nearest bus stop is a couple miles away and not particularly accessible, so 90% of the posts on Nextdoor are people looking for home maintenance, babysitters, petsitters, tutors, lost pets, or discussion of community social events. Only occasionally will you see someone bitching about speeders/stop sign runners/panhandlers/break-ins/abandoned properties.
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Nov 14, 2019 00:59
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DaveSauce posted:Some HOAs still have power to approve/reject buyers. As long as it's not explicitly for protected reasons, they can get away with it. It's hilariously sad old people with nothing better to do blast the "NONWHITE PERSON WALKING AROUND" alert on the NextDoor for my neighborhood. My majority black neighborhood. No poo poo there are black people walking around, Karen.
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Nov 14, 2019 02:28
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Coasterphreak posted:As with anything, this really depends on the neighborhood, and I think two of the larger factors that affect the noise ratio are proximity to public transit (buses) and number of rental properties. It's funny because we don't have any public transportation nearby and we constantly get people freaking out about someone rang my doorbell or there is a minority walking outside. The owner occupied is another dog whistle that gets thrown out on nextdoor. "Omg this neighborhood went down the drain it's all rentals" meanwhile we have the actual stats and it's 5% rentals. From my time on the board I learned that the majority of the homes with deed violations were homes that were not rentals.
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Nov 14, 2019 03:29
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DangerZoneDelux posted:It's funny because we don't have any public transportation nearby and we constantly get people freaking out about someone rang my doorbell or there is a minority walking outside. The owner occupied is another dog whistle that gets thrown out on nextdoor. "Omg this neighborhood went down the drain it's all rentals" meanwhile we have the actual stats and it's 5% rentals. From my time on the board I learned that the majority of the homes with deed violations were homes that were not rentals. sorry your neighbors suck, bro. (also Charlotte is 55% "minority" so while we have plenty of racists it's not nearly as bad as a lot of places)
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Nov 14, 2019 07:16
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DangerZoneDelux posted:Everything is going to vary by state and location. You keep mentioning local city council but here in Texas we have a poo poo ton of land and neighborhoods exist outside of city limits. I understand the hate for HOAs but I did a year on the board to oust the idiots who weren't putting any repairs into our common areas like the pool and 4 acre park. Heh, a couple thoughts on a ton of posts and my boring stint on our board: Nextdoor is hilarious. Like was said: "Car slowly driving around", "Lost dog", yada yada. Earlier this year when I got elected (and here is the kicker, out of 1,100 homes around 10 people voted. Yes around 10.) Hell I was notified I was on the board before the election because no one else ran for a vacancy. The level of apathy is astounding. So shortly after getting elected there was an "uprising" of sorts on Nextdoor bitching about dues, bitching about new street signs put in, bitching about everything. So we say hey (and of course we have the standard 15 minutes for the public to come in before every meeting to express their concerns) but we did a special one. Around oh I say 8-10 show up. It probably lasted over an hour hearing concerns. Funny thing was a woman from Texas complaining about people dumping their leaves in the street. More on that later. So anyways that quelled that short-lived rebellion. I kid you not apparently they created a secret group on Discord. My wife gets more pissed off at them than me. I find it humorous. Fast forward to a couple months ago. A resident sent an email to us which was nicely worded and had great questions. We responded in a kindly fashion with details and we think he was quite satisfied. Then we had two more that wanted to come to a board meeting. And again, everyone is free to attend in the 15 minute window. So one shows up. And he is an hour late. Bitching about the condition of the golf course (which is not included in our dues, it is a par 3 executive type course with a small club house.) He had some valid complaints, and our golf pro was at some conference which I would have liked to hear his side of the story. Haven't played it in quite some time due to a shoulder injury but it does get sketchy. Hey, for the price, it ain't bad. Anyways he gets done talking, we're done with our back and forth and thank him for his time. So what happens? He doesn't leave. So for several minutes we are looking at each other wondering what to do before he eventually leaves. That was an odd one. More later, bored you enough.
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Nov 14, 2019 15:28
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Yeah we have that secret group to which is lead by some crazy people and wife of the former board president who was appalled anyone dare challenge her poo poo head husband. And lol at the poster saying I have lovely neighbors. It's the same handful of dumbasses posting on nextdoor. I'm in Sugar Land, Texas which is diverse as gently caress. They got upset to see a group of people doing tai chi in the park every morning because change scares them. It's also hard for them to comprehend that our older neighborhood of average home price of $200k are considered the undesirables because we are surrounded by million dollar plus 8 bedroom homes now.
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Nov 14, 2019 16:13
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Yeah, it is fascinating. Sounds like yours was a tad different than mine. Well more than a tad. Basically I joined because I had concerns and actually wanted to see how sausage is made. Long story short, we only have one worthless board member (not me ). Problem is with a lot of "abuse" a couple are thinking of stepping down with quite an amount of experience.
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Nov 14, 2019 17:00
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Wiggly Wayne DDS posted:what is the organisation structure of one? is it entire voluntary, are there full-time employees for handling ad-hoc repairs and site visits? what are the hours involved? do you cover car mileage and use for business use? i can tell you about my HOA. i live in a condo complex, meaning multiple homes in a shared building with some common utilities, so an HOA makes a lot of sense regarding my housing situation. when most americans complain about HOAs they're talking about communities of single family freestanding homes where HOAs have a lot less merit and turn into pointless dictatorships the purpose of an HOA is to act as a small scale community government. an HOA will have bylaws or a charter, collect dues from all members, and handle the responsibilities of the neighborhood in a democratic way. usually there's a yearly meeting where the board members of the HOA will talk to anyone who attends about projects, financials, take votes on community matters, etc. though there's nothing stopping you from calling up the HOA president and wanting to talk to them about anything. regarding regulatory oversight, anything goes. HOAs are not commonly subject to any specific law - some states have specific regulations for them, other states have none at all and HOAs are counted as any other non-profit corporation, aka just a group of people doing something and money is involved. my HOA is pretty good. i pay just under $300 a month in dues. in return, i get the following: -common maintenance of community property and structures. landscaping, tree maintenance (my complex is heavily wooded) infrastructure improvements, and the like. our parking lot got repaved, the HOA paid for that. we have a pool, the HOA pays for it. there were drainage problems and erosion due to rainwater, the HOA paid a handyman to dig it up and repair the drains. one of the old sewer lines was crumbling, the HOA talked the county into paying for the repair - it saved us $50k in construction costs. if a tree falls on the roof of my building, the HOA will pay for the replacement. the HOA also hires a for-profit community management firm which handles dues collection, interior and exterior cleaning, parking enforcement, etc -common utilities. all water and sewer fees are paid for by the HOA from common dues. where i live water is cheap but due to decades of neglect, the county wastewater system is a mess. the county charges high fees for this, around $100 a month which is insane. the HOA pays for it. the HOA also handles trash pickup, all i have to do is throw my garbage in a dumpster and that's the end of my responsibilities. easily half my monthly dues would cover water/sewer/trash fees -dispute resolution. there are some regulations around how you can decorate your unit but they're reasonable. my wife put a grow light for an indoor garden in our window. this is against the bylaws. it was also very bright. the HOA president shot me an email asking me if i would mind moving it, citing the bylaw. i moved it so that it was not in the window, but still visible (it's a bright purplish light). a week later i ran into her walking her dog and asked if the light situation was resolved, or if anyone was still complaining. she said yeah, the original complainant is still sending her emails about it, but since the light isn't in the window it's not violating the rules so it's not the HOA's problem anymore and complaining lady can deal with it the board structure is all volunteers. there's a yearly community vote to see who gets to do what. they don't get a salary or any benefits, it's more like a hobby for proactive or bored people to spend their time doing something useful. HOAs can often be the lairs of petty rear end in a top hat tyrants but my board is pretty good. the president works from home and she's the kind of person who schedules 14 hours of her day for productive labor, so this kind of job is no big lift for her. the treasurer is a retired woman who spent two decades running a small bank so her dealing with the cash is more of an old lady's idle hobby. there's a couple members at large, folks who just get tasked with various projects like negotiating with the county or overseeing a refurbishment of the common laundry room. overall there's a lot of ways HOAs can gently caress you over or turn into rotten organizations, but they're fairly transparent and small scale democracies also so just participating in the governance of your immediate neighborhood is the kind of thing middle aged adults really get off with
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Nov 14, 2019 20:11
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So anyways we are having a second uprising brewing on Nextdoor. And I knew it was coming as soon as I did my John Hancock to approve the dues increase last month. Said increase is $20 a year. I get it, I really do. Hell I have to pay them too. Oh, and I apologize to the person across the pond with his litany of questions and my delay... 1) We have an executive director. 2) The board. 3) Maintenance staff. 4) Combination of mowing/snow plowing of common areas with our staff and outside contractors. 5) And other support staff. I would lump lifeguards, front office folks into this one.
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Nov 15, 2019 05:39
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I deducted the cost of my roomba from my taxes because I glued a dildo to it and it motors around in the background while I’m broadcasting on my chaturbate channel. e: sorry wrong thread
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Nov 16, 2019 02:14
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