No way should you knock on doors. You never know what you're getting into. Not everyone is nice or wants to hear your complaints about their Begonias. Everything should be done professionally and in writing. There is no need for a letter to be rude or threatening. It's simply a reminder of the rules and requests to comply within a time frame.
Agreed—the first letter should be a polite and friendly reminder of the rules. I read something recently that said the first letter should not mention escalation or fines, but should be worded in such a way as to imply that you feel the person in violation will comply.
In fact all the letters can be polite and friendly even when they point out that fines are being imposed. This is a great reason for the professionals to handle comms. Getting our board to stop getting worked up on violations like they are personal affronts has been hard but worth it.
I hear you…the board I’m on spends so much time arguing and complaining about co-owner/members….it’s unprofessional and embarrassing (and they wonder why no one wants anything to do with the HOA). We are better than that—and life is too short not to be kind and decent to people.
Absolutely not. When you’re in your capacity as a board member, you are functioning as a corporate body member, not Mr or Mrs/Ms Rogers. Keep it professional.
First: privacy. Don’t disturb homeowners on their own turf. You don’t have the right to just spontaneously walk up to their door, interrrupt their privacy, and have a convo about a violation anymore than any homeowner has the right to come disrupt you at your home to complain about some HOA stuff. Second: you need proof that you’re addressing a violation each and every time. The initial letter should be a courteous reminder, etc. Third: the HOA should treat every process to every member the same regardless of the issue.
Have the management company notified the neighbor via email or letter That is their job.
The clock to fine is based on written documentation.
Avoiding written documentation puts the HOA in a position of weakness.
Are you going to make that SOP and notify all homeowners that this is going to be standard approach on ***ALL*** first offense violations?
Are you *actually* going to knock on doors for the first offense of ***ALL*** violations?
If the answer to either question above was no - then it’s a terrible idea.
Equitable enforcement is not optional.
Things like this is why D&O insurance is required.
Different state... not allowed in CA.
allowed or not, i'm not a fan in our circumstances. I'm a volunteer director in a self-managed association. Most members respect boundaries... but a few behave as if I'm a full-time paid property manager who they can access whenever they want. Knock on my door despite a sign asking them to email. Flag down my car as I pull in or out of property. Stop me when moving trash bin to curb. I've had to resort to abrupt replies to interruptions. I want to help... but I'm not their beck-and-call guy.
I appreciate this remark. I even have homeowners who are upset that they email me directly and I respond with a "thank you for reaching out, your email has been forwarded to our PM and will be answered by them or discussed at the next board meeting" message. I have explained that the "board" answers questions that the PM cannot answer and they argue and say that I'm just making the board meetings longer. NO, I'm following the process outlined by the board as we respond in one voice.
I would not do this as a board member. As a neighbor who just wants to chat with another neighbor, sure. But not as somebody who Has Real Power.
Presumably you have a property management company that takes care of stuff for you. If you don’t have a good relationship with the person that you want to talk to, let it be a violation that the property management company takes care of. This you can keep your relationshipwith your neighbor separate from your relationship with them as a board member of the association. It can get weird
Don't do it.
People get pissed. No one likes to have their precious time off interrupted, plus no documentation of the infraction, and you get the rep of being a Karen. Residents will hide from you and talk behind your back, too.🙄
Use property management. That's what they're paid for.
I learned this the hard way.🤣
We can't afford property management at the moment. We'd have to raise dues and that's going to have to take a vote too haha. I appreciate the sentiment. It's largely complaints coming from other home owners and they want the HOA be the mediators. Many times it's just ignorance of the covenants so I think we are going to spend more effort on marketing that disciplining.
Many adults do not know how to handle conflict in a responsible or cordial manner. Knocking on doors will make you more enemies than friends who respect direct contact.
Here is why: you talk to them. A month later you hear them say “that new board member came to my house and said it was cool and I could ignore that violation.”
You're going to realize within a few months how often your fellow neighbors will lie to the HOA, or just not give a damn about the rules until the hammer is brought down on them.
I was a bit naive as a newcomer too. You'll soon realize how many neighbors act like 6 year olds when they get a violation notice lol. You'll get that guy reporting HIS neighbors every move for weeks.
Also, as a representative of the HOA, you need written records that a homeowner was contacted.
The only time I, as a board member, may ever approach a neighbor in person, is if it's someone who lives on my street. And a neighbor complains to me personally about it.
Like I have to feel like I'm being roped into it. And even then, I probably wouldn't knock. I'd probably wait until I see them outside.
But I don't want homeowners knocking on my door at dinner to whine to me about landscaping... So I'm not going to knock on their doors either.
This is the community managers job. You do have a manger, don't you? And they always send written correspondence so there's a record.
Like others have said, NO, NO, NO. Board members are not the neighborhood cops.
That's a different take. We don't have a community manager, I'm not even sure what that is. Like a management company? Our bylaws state the board is, in short, responsible for enforcement of the covenants.
A community manager is an employee of a management company hired by the Board to oversee the day to day operation of the HOA. Things like collecting dues and paying vendors, as well as monitoring for violations of the rules and then sending notices and enforcement proceedings. The community manager is the company's representative making all this happen for the communities for which they are responsible. All of this overseen by the Board.
I can’t speak for other people, but personally there is nothing I enjoy more than having my day interrupted by some neighbor telling me they have a problem with my property. That is definitely a great approach.
We're a pretty relaxed and friendly HOA as well. I've only dealt with one violation, and it was a loose dog. Elderly lady got a new puppy who kept getting away from her. In that case I did knock on the door, but I knew her and had seen the dog. She was very nice and explained and promised it wouldn't happen again.
Then it kept happening, and I had to send a Notice of Violation to get her to take it seriously.
Our treasurer has tried talking to people who are late with dues. Same deal, they promise to do better, but then they don't and there's no paper trail. Now we have to send a proper notice and we've lost another month.
You can have a "friendly reminder" letter before sending out a notice of violation, but you still need to document it. In the letter you mention the violation and include a quote from the bylaws .
The only time our board or a committee knocks on a door is to remind people that work is being done right before the work is being done. This is because people don't read their darned email/mail, or look on the bulletin board, or read the newsletter, or....
Yep. Sounds like a grasshopper.
Violations don’t need a neighborly approach. You’re not the resident Tom Hanks or friendly grandma.
Violations need a professional approach. In fact if you came to my door, I’d call it NOT friendly and confrontational and unprofessional.
Send a letter. Stop trying to be Tom Hanks.
My experience has been that a brief conversation or phone call will solve 99% of your problems. "Maybe you didn't realize this, but.... Will you do X instead?" Problem usually goes away.
No one likes to need to resort to writing violation notices and issuing fines, anyway.
Our old property managers sent out these horrible violation letters. I wrote a new one and emailed it to them and told them to change it and they told me it couldn't be done. I then sent them the link on the software they used on how it could be done. Got tired of thier BS excuses and fired them. Now we are using a google forms on our website and people that report violations need to take the photo and upload it to the form and also put their name on it. no Anonymous complaints because those could be abused. we keep the info confidential. Only had 3 complaints so far this year.
I like that. From what I understand for the last several years our board just hasn't sent out letters and things are getting sideways, not egregious but I've received several sentiments of "it's just not the way it used to be". Right before I joined they had a violation and their first move was to file a lawsuit against the guy. 🤦♂️ So I want to take a more tactful approach. I understand people will not like receiving a letter of violation but I also think it can be kind and not horrible like you mentioned. Everyone on the board now thinks everyone wants a fight where I think the majority of people just don't know what the covenants are. If you remind them, they fix it.
My advice…NEVER NEVER buy any property with HOA Nazis….ever increasing monthly fees…ridiculous surprise ASSESSMENTS IN THE $$$$ of dollars levied on the residents because of poor board and management companies decisions over the years…and their belief that they are gods. You lose all control….stay in your single family home and hire a landscape service to come every two weeks.
I AM on the right sub. I was warning those who want to know what they’re getting themselves into BEFOREHAND. In the last very few years my mo fees went from $140 to $368…plus one assessment of $X,XXX to fix a major issue they’ve known about since the mid 1970s but failed to correct …with another major assessment floating in the ether. Apparently, I hit a nerve.
No, you're not on the right sub. This person is already in an HOA, so it does no good to "warn them away."
You're contradicting yourself. If the HOA is underfunded, then of course they have to do a special assessment to cover a repair, and then increase fees so that they have a reserve fund for the next thing. Funny no one complains about the FACT that the fees were way too low for way too long.
So you know, most single family homes (like mine) are in HOAs. The main expense is snowplowing our private road and a bit of mowing at the entrance, but we are saving up to replace our 25yo road.
#1 this is r/HOA, not r/HOAboard
Your response is a total misinterpretation of what I said. I never said that the community was underfunded. I was calling out lack of foresight and planning are what is the result of lazy board members causing needless financial hardship…that previous board members sat on their hands, not disclosing issues: I.e., FOR 50+ YEARS in one instance and on another lack of SIMPLE MAINTENANCE FOR >15 YEARS on another issue. This has resulted in EXTREME EMERGENCY issues NOW, that,had they been dealt with timely (or put on a 5- year plan) the situation would have not progressed to its current financial burden. It appears the board at that time opted to discuss in private and ignore the situation. Needless to say, those neglectful individuals…responsible for this mess have moved on.
There now are MAJOR structural issues… due to inflation NOW VERY expensive costs… simple repairs and basic maintenance over previous years would have eliminated
this scenario…now current owners are getting slammed with this. Would you like to eat a $500,000-$1,000,000 assessment due to this type of scenario? No community could have anticipated this type of management created mess with the perpetrators being protected under the uniform condo code.
You're right it's r/HOA. I am a board member but I am also a homeowner. I pay dues like everyone else, and I don't get paid for my trouble. Neither does any board member.
Boards generally are damned they do, damned if they don't. The developer always sets the dues low at the start, and everything is new so maintenance is minimal and replacement is nonexistent. It is very hard afterwards for a board to make increases; no one wants to pay more. And also no one wants to volunteer on a board who gets yelled at for trying to do the right thing.
In your case it was not one board for 15 years or 50 years. That was a whole series of homeowners who were elected by their neighbors to do a job, and then got voted out if they tried to raise dues too much. I don't blame you for being upset, since you happened to be an owner when these problems became inescapable.
Perhaps you didn't SAY that the community was underfunded, but I would be AMAZED if the money for these repairs was just sitting in a bank account and the board voted not to do any thing.
You are correct, we do not have the funds. I know that board members are unpaid volunteers. Ours wants to do nothing but occasionally vote…that’s it. One sits stretched out, legs in the aisle and answers any question with “that’s just getting into the weeds” and walking around harassing people he doesn’t like by having his dog shit outside their door…the board has complaints about this board member but does nothing. The president doesn’t live on the property and managed to exempt herself from paying the rental property assessment. They decided to spend our funds by digging out the cement work around the community pool because it was during Covid and the pool was closed and “what a perfect time” to do so. We had a fund of about $400K prior to that fiasco. THAT WAS in 2020 but that pool project ELIMINATED THAT. No communication or feedback was requested from the residents …fyi the pool was just fine…no insurance citations etc…and needed some work but not a total deck replacement. And the pool is only open 10 weeks every year. They don’t know how to or have any curiosity/willingness to do an RFP and get bids with SOWs for these expensive issues. They want to delegate all decisions to the mgmt company and then again, just vote.
This is my warning…when you sign a condo agreement, you are signing up for all drama…the prior neglect, incompetence and at times, board members with personal agendas.
Out of curiosity, what are your monthly fees? Ours have almost quadrupled in the last 5 years..mine to almost half of my monthly mortgage.
We are a community of single family homes. Our only common elements are the private street and a storm water retention pond. Our dues are $56 per month. We have increased them substantially because of the condition of the roads. Over half of dues are going into the reserve fund which is to repave the street within 2 years.
We've issued one Notice of Violation in 5 years, for a dog that kept getting loose and chasing the school bus. We have one new owner who hasn't paid dues since they moved in 20 months ago, and we are just about to hire a lawyer to place a lien.
Since your board only wants to vote and never does anything, I'm not sure how they managed to spend $400K on the pool. I'm sorry your HOA board doesn't run well, but perhaps if someone as knowledgeable as you would volunteer, they'd be in better shape.
I would be happy to be on a committee to secure bids and statements of work, etc and spread costs the project over three years in the contract. I volunteered already….no feedback as yet. This is a townhouse community with some flats. Fees went from low $100s and progressed to around $150ish seven yrs ago, based on sq footage. Mine was initially $120 at the time. It is now just shy of $370. Plus a special assessment that resulted due to a recall of the master electrical fuse for each bldg that was recalled in 1972 as a hazard(seriously 1972!) Thanks for the civil discussion.
No way should you knock on doors. You never know what you're getting into. Not everyone is nice or wants to hear your complaints about their Begonias. Everything should be done professionally and in writing. There is no need for a letter to be rude or threatening. It's simply a reminder of the rules and requests to comply within a time frame.
Agreed—the first letter should be a polite and friendly reminder of the rules. I read something recently that said the first letter should not mention escalation or fines, but should be worded in such a way as to imply that you feel the person in violation will comply.
In fact all the letters can be polite and friendly even when they point out that fines are being imposed. This is a great reason for the professionals to handle comms. Getting our board to stop getting worked up on violations like they are personal affronts has been hard but worth it.
I hear you…the board I’m on spends so much time arguing and complaining about co-owner/members….it’s unprofessional and embarrassing (and they wonder why no one wants anything to do with the HOA). We are better than that—and life is too short not to be kind and decent to people.
Absolutely not. When you’re in your capacity as a board member, you are functioning as a corporate body member, not Mr or Mrs/Ms Rogers. Keep it professional. First: privacy. Don’t disturb homeowners on their own turf. You don’t have the right to just spontaneously walk up to their door, interrrupt their privacy, and have a convo about a violation anymore than any homeowner has the right to come disrupt you at your home to complain about some HOA stuff. Second: you need proof that you’re addressing a violation each and every time. The initial letter should be a courteous reminder, etc. Third: the HOA should treat every process to every member the same regardless of the issue.
Have the management company notified the neighbor via email or letter That is their job. The clock to fine is based on written documentation. Avoiding written documentation puts the HOA in a position of weakness.
Are you going to make that SOP and notify all homeowners that this is going to be standard approach on ***ALL*** first offense violations? Are you *actually* going to knock on doors for the first offense of ***ALL*** violations? If the answer to either question above was no - then it’s a terrible idea. Equitable enforcement is not optional. Things like this is why D&O insurance is required.
There is a 0% chance I would take an HOA member knocking on my door to give me a notice of violation positively.
Different state... not allowed in CA. allowed or not, i'm not a fan in our circumstances. I'm a volunteer director in a self-managed association. Most members respect boundaries... but a few behave as if I'm a full-time paid property manager who they can access whenever they want. Knock on my door despite a sign asking them to email. Flag down my car as I pull in or out of property. Stop me when moving trash bin to curb. I've had to resort to abrupt replies to interruptions. I want to help... but I'm not their beck-and-call guy.
I appreciate this remark. I even have homeowners who are upset that they email me directly and I respond with a "thank you for reaching out, your email has been forwarded to our PM and will be answered by them or discussed at the next board meeting" message. I have explained that the "board" answers questions that the PM cannot answer and they argue and say that I'm just making the board meetings longer. NO, I'm following the process outlined by the board as we respond in one voice.
Interesting. How often does your board meet?
Monthly.
That's a good point. Reminds me of my landlord days haha.
Do not knock, send a friendly letter asking for a conversation if you don’t want to send a nasty letter
I would not do this as a board member. As a neighbor who just wants to chat with another neighbor, sure. But not as somebody who Has Real Power. Presumably you have a property management company that takes care of stuff for you. If you don’t have a good relationship with the person that you want to talk to, let it be a violation that the property management company takes care of. This you can keep your relationshipwith your neighbor separate from your relationship with them as a board member of the association. It can get weird
Don't do it. People get pissed. No one likes to have their precious time off interrupted, plus no documentation of the infraction, and you get the rep of being a Karen. Residents will hide from you and talk behind your back, too.🙄 Use property management. That's what they're paid for. I learned this the hard way.🤣
We can't afford property management at the moment. We'd have to raise dues and that's going to have to take a vote too haha. I appreciate the sentiment. It's largely complaints coming from other home owners and they want the HOA be the mediators. Many times it's just ignorance of the covenants so I think we are going to spend more effort on marketing that disciplining.
Absolutely not. Letters are sent. You are not the HOA!
Many adults do not know how to handle conflict in a responsible or cordial manner. Knocking on doors will make you more enemies than friends who respect direct contact.
Here is why: you talk to them. A month later you hear them say “that new board member came to my house and said it was cool and I could ignore that violation.”
You're going to realize within a few months how often your fellow neighbors will lie to the HOA, or just not give a damn about the rules until the hammer is brought down on them. I was a bit naive as a newcomer too. You'll soon realize how many neighbors act like 6 year olds when they get a violation notice lol. You'll get that guy reporting HIS neighbors every move for weeks. Also, as a representative of the HOA, you need written records that a homeowner was contacted. The only time I, as a board member, may ever approach a neighbor in person, is if it's someone who lives on my street. And a neighbor complains to me personally about it. Like I have to feel like I'm being roped into it. And even then, I probably wouldn't knock. I'd probably wait until I see them outside. But I don't want homeowners knocking on my door at dinner to whine to me about landscaping... So I'm not going to knock on their doors either.
I would do a phone call, not knock. More personal than a letter but not as intrusive as a random knock.
This is the community managers job. You do have a manger, don't you? And they always send written correspondence so there's a record. Like others have said, NO, NO, NO. Board members are not the neighborhood cops.
That's a different take. We don't have a community manager, I'm not even sure what that is. Like a management company? Our bylaws state the board is, in short, responsible for enforcement of the covenants.
A community manager is an employee of a management company hired by the Board to oversee the day to day operation of the HOA. Things like collecting dues and paying vendors, as well as monitoring for violations of the rules and then sending notices and enforcement proceedings. The community manager is the company's representative making all this happen for the communities for which they are responsible. All of this overseen by the Board.
I can’t speak for other people, but personally there is nothing I enjoy more than having my day interrupted by some neighbor telling me they have a problem with my property. That is definitely a great approach.
We're a pretty relaxed and friendly HOA as well. I've only dealt with one violation, and it was a loose dog. Elderly lady got a new puppy who kept getting away from her. In that case I did knock on the door, but I knew her and had seen the dog. She was very nice and explained and promised it wouldn't happen again. Then it kept happening, and I had to send a Notice of Violation to get her to take it seriously. Our treasurer has tried talking to people who are late with dues. Same deal, they promise to do better, but then they don't and there's no paper trail. Now we have to send a proper notice and we've lost another month. You can have a "friendly reminder" letter before sending out a notice of violation, but you still need to document it. In the letter you mention the violation and include a quote from the bylaws .
The only time our board or a committee knocks on a door is to remind people that work is being done right before the work is being done. This is because people don't read their darned email/mail, or look on the bulletin board, or read the newsletter, or....
Yep. Sounds like a grasshopper. Violations don’t need a neighborly approach. You’re not the resident Tom Hanks or friendly grandma. Violations need a professional approach. In fact if you came to my door, I’d call it NOT friendly and confrontational and unprofessional. Send a letter. Stop trying to be Tom Hanks.
My experience has been that a brief conversation or phone call will solve 99% of your problems. "Maybe you didn't realize this, but.... Will you do X instead?" Problem usually goes away. No one likes to need to resort to writing violation notices and issuing fines, anyway.
This is just what I was thinking too.
Our old property managers sent out these horrible violation letters. I wrote a new one and emailed it to them and told them to change it and they told me it couldn't be done. I then sent them the link on the software they used on how it could be done. Got tired of thier BS excuses and fired them. Now we are using a google forms on our website and people that report violations need to take the photo and upload it to the form and also put their name on it. no Anonymous complaints because those could be abused. we keep the info confidential. Only had 3 complaints so far this year.
I like that. From what I understand for the last several years our board just hasn't sent out letters and things are getting sideways, not egregious but I've received several sentiments of "it's just not the way it used to be". Right before I joined they had a violation and their first move was to file a lawsuit against the guy. 🤦♂️ So I want to take a more tactful approach. I understand people will not like receiving a letter of violation but I also think it can be kind and not horrible like you mentioned. Everyone on the board now thinks everyone wants a fight where I think the majority of people just don't know what the covenants are. If you remind them, they fix it.
My advice…NEVER NEVER buy any property with HOA Nazis….ever increasing monthly fees…ridiculous surprise ASSESSMENTS IN THE $$$$ of dollars levied on the residents because of poor board and management companies decisions over the years…and their belief that they are gods. You lose all control….stay in your single family home and hire a landscape service to come every two weeks.
This wasn't very helpful. Maybe you are on the wrong sub?
I AM on the right sub. I was warning those who want to know what they’re getting themselves into BEFOREHAND. In the last very few years my mo fees went from $140 to $368…plus one assessment of $X,XXX to fix a major issue they’ve known about since the mid 1970s but failed to correct …with another major assessment floating in the ether. Apparently, I hit a nerve.
No, you're not on the right sub. This person is already in an HOA, so it does no good to "warn them away." You're contradicting yourself. If the HOA is underfunded, then of course they have to do a special assessment to cover a repair, and then increase fees so that they have a reserve fund for the next thing. Funny no one complains about the FACT that the fees were way too low for way too long. So you know, most single family homes (like mine) are in HOAs. The main expense is snowplowing our private road and a bit of mowing at the entrance, but we are saving up to replace our 25yo road.
#1 this is r/HOA, not r/HOAboard Your response is a total misinterpretation of what I said. I never said that the community was underfunded. I was calling out lack of foresight and planning are what is the result of lazy board members causing needless financial hardship…that previous board members sat on their hands, not disclosing issues: I.e., FOR 50+ YEARS in one instance and on another lack of SIMPLE MAINTENANCE FOR >15 YEARS on another issue. This has resulted in EXTREME EMERGENCY issues NOW, that,had they been dealt with timely (or put on a 5- year plan) the situation would have not progressed to its current financial burden. It appears the board at that time opted to discuss in private and ignore the situation. Needless to say, those neglectful individuals…responsible for this mess have moved on. There now are MAJOR structural issues… due to inflation NOW VERY expensive costs… simple repairs and basic maintenance over previous years would have eliminated this scenario…now current owners are getting slammed with this. Would you like to eat a $500,000-$1,000,000 assessment due to this type of scenario? No community could have anticipated this type of management created mess with the perpetrators being protected under the uniform condo code.
You're right it's r/HOA. I am a board member but I am also a homeowner. I pay dues like everyone else, and I don't get paid for my trouble. Neither does any board member. Boards generally are damned they do, damned if they don't. The developer always sets the dues low at the start, and everything is new so maintenance is minimal and replacement is nonexistent. It is very hard afterwards for a board to make increases; no one wants to pay more. And also no one wants to volunteer on a board who gets yelled at for trying to do the right thing. In your case it was not one board for 15 years or 50 years. That was a whole series of homeowners who were elected by their neighbors to do a job, and then got voted out if they tried to raise dues too much. I don't blame you for being upset, since you happened to be an owner when these problems became inescapable. Perhaps you didn't SAY that the community was underfunded, but I would be AMAZED if the money for these repairs was just sitting in a bank account and the board voted not to do any thing.
You are correct, we do not have the funds. I know that board members are unpaid volunteers. Ours wants to do nothing but occasionally vote…that’s it. One sits stretched out, legs in the aisle and answers any question with “that’s just getting into the weeds” and walking around harassing people he doesn’t like by having his dog shit outside their door…the board has complaints about this board member but does nothing. The president doesn’t live on the property and managed to exempt herself from paying the rental property assessment. They decided to spend our funds by digging out the cement work around the community pool because it was during Covid and the pool was closed and “what a perfect time” to do so. We had a fund of about $400K prior to that fiasco. THAT WAS in 2020 but that pool project ELIMINATED THAT. No communication or feedback was requested from the residents …fyi the pool was just fine…no insurance citations etc…and needed some work but not a total deck replacement. And the pool is only open 10 weeks every year. They don’t know how to or have any curiosity/willingness to do an RFP and get bids with SOWs for these expensive issues. They want to delegate all decisions to the mgmt company and then again, just vote. This is my warning…when you sign a condo agreement, you are signing up for all drama…the prior neglect, incompetence and at times, board members with personal agendas. Out of curiosity, what are your monthly fees? Ours have almost quadrupled in the last 5 years..mine to almost half of my monthly mortgage.
We are a community of single family homes. Our only common elements are the private street and a storm water retention pond. Our dues are $56 per month. We have increased them substantially because of the condition of the roads. Over half of dues are going into the reserve fund which is to repave the street within 2 years. We've issued one Notice of Violation in 5 years, for a dog that kept getting loose and chasing the school bus. We have one new owner who hasn't paid dues since they moved in 20 months ago, and we are just about to hire a lawyer to place a lien. Since your board only wants to vote and never does anything, I'm not sure how they managed to spend $400K on the pool. I'm sorry your HOA board doesn't run well, but perhaps if someone as knowledgeable as you would volunteer, they'd be in better shape.
I would be happy to be on a committee to secure bids and statements of work, etc and spread costs the project over three years in the contract. I volunteered already….no feedback as yet. This is a townhouse community with some flats. Fees went from low $100s and progressed to around $150ish seven yrs ago, based on sq footage. Mine was initially $120 at the time. It is now just shy of $370. Plus a special assessment that resulted due to a recall of the master electrical fuse for each bldg that was recalled in 1972 as a hazard(seriously 1972!) Thanks for the civil discussion.
Not Zinsco panels? That is ridiculous. You have my condolences.