HOA Management company scandle

SCadaddle · 11-12-2019, 12:24 PM

So far in a weeks time, 3 large subdivisions and now the Ritzy condo. If you are on a HOA or live in property subject to one, you might want to take a closer look at the books than these associations did.

Jackson Jambalaya: Up Next: The Barrington

http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2019/11/bridgewater-goes-for-freeze-bridgewater.html

legion · 11-12-2019, 12:26 PM

Not surprised. I lived in a house with an HOA for one year. It was an obvious scam.

john70t · 11-12-2019, 02:17 PM

Some are owned by for-profit international companies.

Attend an owners meeting, talk to neighbors, and have an attorney review that master deed carefully..
Look and then leap.

masraum · 11-12-2019, 05:04 PM

For 17 or 18 years, we lived in a neighborhood with an HOA. I think the dues started at $50/year. I can't remember for sure but they may have gone up to $75/year by the time we left. I think in that time, someone was caught embezzling.

I've heard of HOAs that charge hundreds of dollars a month. EFF that!

I've heard many stories over the years about HOAs and the twats that run them getting on power trips.

Rawknees'Turbo · 11-12-2019, 05:12 PM

^^^

The peeps of the DFW area must love giving money away as HOAs with yuuugggeee monthly dues are very common. I consider them nothing more than legalized extortion and a way for those with serious personal inadequacies to feel like they matter.

biosurfer1 · 11-12-2019, 07:57 PM

Geeze, some of you had some really crappy HOA's. I've been a part of two and while there are some whining here and there, overall they have helped way more than hurt, repairing common areas, providing great amenities and keeping the neighborhood clean.

Buck Tooth Bill might think his front lawn is for RV parking but no one wants to live next to that and having an HOA takes care of it.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

I go back and forth on this. I've been in my current HOA for 10 years with no complaints or headaches from them. The condo I had in VA was run by HOA-Nazis, people who had never had power before and suddenly got it and wanted to exercise it. But I also work in the hood and see how awful so many properties look due to there being no HOA. Everyone's a Libertarian or HOA-hater until your neighbor stops cutting his grass, parks his cars in the front yard and leaves transmissions and engines around the yard. I see it every single day in my job.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Ours runs quite well. 1100 homes in a square mile subdivision. Budget is about $1.5M, and usually we underspend. Money is used to maintain the grass, flower beds, sports equipment, security staff. And we have a healthy contingency fund.

T77911S · 11-13-2019, 02:51 AM

I refuse to pay some retired A$$ hat to tell me what I can and cant do to my house and yard.

yes unfortunately in every neighborhood there is some guy that wont cut his grass, leaves garbage outside. my last neighborhood there was a guy that did AC work and always had broken units out by the road.
but, he had a gorgeous wife with long beautiful legs that use to walk her dog, perhaps it all evened out.

porsche tech · 11-13-2019, 04:14 AM

4000 homes in our hood here in Hilton Head. The HOA fee is about $1200 dollars/year and worth every penny as far as I'm concerned. We have a paid staff with volunteers on the board (people who live here), full time security force that guards the gates and patrols (will come jump start you if needed), swimming, tennis, etc. etc. it's my first experience with a gated community (takes getting used to) and HOA. While the rules and regs get a little much, it's what keeps this neighborhood looking so nice. Plus HHI is a beach, golf, tennis vacation area so the gate slows down the tourist traffic. Wife and I love living here!

legion · 11-13-2019, 04:46 AM

My HOA in Georgia was $500 a year. That went towards the maintenance of the pool. That means the HOA management company collected $200,000. I'd be willing to accept that just maybe, they might have spent as much as $50,000 a year on maintenance. (Basically mowing the common area near the pool and cleaning the pool.) That means that 75% of the fees just went to the HOA management company, to keep.

When I moved in, I got a 400 page book of covenants. Basically, what it boiled done to was that I couldn't do anything to my property or the exterior of my house without prior HOA approval.

Every house I've had in Central Illinois has been without a HOA. I've never had a problem.

HOAs are established by builders so that the neighborhood looks a certain way until they sell all of the units. They set the initial rules and contract a management company. After all of the units are sold, the builder turns the HOA over to the homeowners, where it is almost always dominated by an uptight busybody (or group of them). The rules never change and the management company just gets renewed year after year with little scrutiny and accelerating fees.

In my year with the HOA: I saw a group of homeowners try to take over the HOA to personally benefit themselves. I saw my fees go up by another $100 with no explanation. I saw my neighbor, whose house was immaculately maintained, get fined by the HOA for "old pine straw" (she had a landscaper change it three times a year while I never changed mine once and I never got fined). I saw the HOA ignore the actual habitual offenders in the neighborhood. And I got to pay for that? No thanks.

Arizona_928 · 11-13-2019, 04:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T77911S

I refuse to pay some retired A$$ hat to tell me what I can and cant do to my house and yard.

Right?! if i want to leave a short block 302 cheb in my front yard. I'm gonnna do it.

My HOA is a akm chambered in 7.62x39.

masraum · 11-13-2019, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by legion

the builder turns the HOA over to the homeowners, where it is almost always dominated by an uptight busybody (or group of them). The rules never change and the management company just gets renewed year after year with little scrutiny and accelerating fees.

In my year with the HOA: I saw a group of homeowners try to take over the HOA to personally benefit themselves. I saw my fees go up by another $100 with no explanation. I saw my neighbor, whose house was immaculately maintained, get fined by the HOA for "old pine straw" (she had a landscaper change it three times a year while I never changed mine once and I never got fined). I saw the HOA ignore the actual habitual offenders in the neighborhood. And I got to pay for that? No thanks.

I had a buddy that moved into a fairly new neighborhood. The neighborhood was built with privacy fences. The rules said that all privacy fences were to be built at least 36" from public sidewalks. My buddy knew a guy that got written up for his fence being 34" from the sidewalk. The fence/sidewalk was like that when the house was purchased as new. The guy told the HOA where to go. He eventually got a subpoena to see them in court. He then took a camera, ruler and notepad around the neighborhood and measured all of the fences and sidewalks and found something like 10 more homes that didn't meet the 36" rule. I'm guessing the guy probably had a lawyer contact the HOA board and tell them, we'll see you in court, and you should include these other 10 folks. Apparently, the issue was dropped after that. I'm sure there's a little more to the story, but the way that it was relayed to me was that someone wanted to exercise their "power".

It reminds me of a manager that I had at a retail parts store when I was young. Our store would get a fedex envelope with our paychecks on Wed. The manager always handed the checks out on Wed. We were all hourly, so we were excited to get our checks. He'd often take the checks into his office and let them sit on the corner of his desk for a random period of time before handing them out. One day a new guy asked what he was doing. I said (loudly enough for him to hear me) "He's not doing anything with them. He just likes to mess with us, so he holds them a while before handing them out."

The manager responded with something like "watch it, Steve, or I'll hold yours until Fri." (the checks were actually dated for Fri).

About a year later, I was in a room with that manager who was telling people why he liked being a manager "because of the power." It all became clear, and it was everything that I could do to not laugh hysterically.

David · David's Garage

I've never had an issue with our HOA. They've always approved any addition or change I've wanted to make and it seems to be run OK for a bunch of amateurs. It's a working class neighborhood so I can only imagine what some of the rednecks would do without some restrictions.

One problem is our dues. They're too low. When the HOA was created in 1977 it was written that a majority of the owners were needed to change the dues. Not a majority of the owners voting but an actual majority. Good luck even getting a majority to vote much less vote for the same thing.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

When I moved out of my condo in VA, which I owned and was then going to rent out, the HOA said I had to pay a $125 "move out fee." I called the property manager and asked if he was going to send some people over to help carry boxes. He didn't think that was funny, said the fee was for any damage the moving truck caused like driving over grass areas, etc. So then I asked if it was a refundable deposit or fee. He said non-refundable fee. I never paid it and never heard about it again.

For a previous house, the HOA seemed to change mgt. companies every two years and payments often got missed or mixed up, going to the old one and not the new one. When I called the HOA pres. to ask where my last payment went and how to get it credited to the new mgt. co, he never returned my call. I got a certified letter from a law firm, telling me I now owed an additional $80 for their cert. letter and lawyer fee. The law firm happened to be one floor downstairs from my then office. I marched down there to see the lawyer and they wouldn't let me. I called the HOA pres. again, left a vm that I wasn't paying a dime more than my dues. He called back and said it was all taken care of. I love HOAs!