[stomachmonkey]

I'm in a love hate relationship with my HOA.

A lot of the hate stems from them simply not having the resources to monitor a 4,000 home community.

Our community is larger than many of the towns around here so a lot of the letters they send is the result of your neighbors dropping dime which is even worse because some people just don't have lives and are just *******s in general so you end up dealing with bull**** letters.

I love it because the HOA is very strong and the community was well thought out.

It's nearly 20 years old now and the place is immaculate.

No ****ty lawns, dilapidated fencing, odd paint schemes, etc....

I appreciate how well they preserve my property values.

Now HOA's can be silly.

Maybe 8 or so years ago we were having issues with mail delivery and I did not get my renewal notice for some fee so it got paid a month late. No big deal.

They tried to hit me with a $35.00 late fee so I called them to have it waived.

For some reason they refused.

OK, fine. So once a month I get a bill for $35.00, tear it up and toss it in the trash.

The absolute worst that can happen is they attach a $35.00 lien to my house. Meh.

The plan is when I sell next year, I'll send them the $35.00 along with a note and the calculation of what it cost them to collect it.

I imagine mailing out 120 or so "reminder" notices has cost them well in excess of $35.00.

Other than that, nothing wrong with a good strong HOA, it's just finding one that's the challenge.