New Here But Not New To The World of HOAs

Hello Fellow HOA Members,

I happened across this website and look forward to learning and sharing with each of you.

Briefly, my HOA background: 8 year HOA member. HOA with 513 homeowners. Dues $230 per month. Age of community 30-35 years. Property manager payroll over $400,000.00 per year. Maintenance provided but has not been done leaving the community in shambles with over $10,000,000.00 (yes, 10 million)unaccounted for, a dead president, self-dealing by board members, a one million dollar loan, six pending lawsuits, a recent lawsuit that set a national precedent for violation of the Kansas Consumer Protection Act, multiple breach of contract lawsuits, insurance that has been canceled once, and property values that have plummeted with owners paying tens of thousands of dollars to sell their homes. Homes that should sell in the mid-$150's are selling for as low as $45,000 to $68,000.

I worked with the Kansas legislators and was successful in getting the Kansas Uniform Common Interests Owners Bill Of Rights Act passed, effective January 1, 2011. I continue to be an HOA activist. I've heard HOA stories from all across America. The learning never ends. I've read nearly every HOA book on the market. I've found three to be very helpful. The most recent one I read was written by a 40 year investigative reporter in the television broadcasting industry. He retired and wrote this book full of stories and helpful information. I wish it had been available when I purchased my place 8 years ago. This book is a MUST read by all board members and all homeowners or potential purchasers.

I did not realize when I purchased in an HOA I was signing away my US Constitutional Rights and subjecting myself to the liability of all debt my HOA board created. With the rampant lawsuits in our community we could all end up financial wiped out and losing our homes to foreclosure. Sadly, none of this should have ever happened. It was all avoidable.

I would strongly urge all HOAs across America to work all disputes out without litigation. Hire a professional mediator, if necessary but avoid the legal battle. Nobody wins except the attorneys.

I've found property managers are good snake oil sales people. I would suggest hiring professionals to help in areas where you do not have expertise among board members but turning the entire management over to a property manager has proven to be a massive waste of money in my community. And we supposedly have one of the best in the business of HOA management.

I'm looking forward to reading all the posts and will offer suggestions to those I think might find my experience and information helpful.

NDR

Welcome to our dysfunctional family.

Good Morning Steve,

I've learned one thing over the last 8 years of living in a homeowners association: their slogan should be "Dysfunction At It's Finest!"

When JC Nichols started the HOA concept in Kansas City years ago, I doubt he would have ever dreamed the nightmare he was creating would destroy so many lives in the coming years. Now, with 335,000 HOAs across America 1 in 5 Americans are living in an HOA and the nightmares are getting worse. Or should I say the HOAs are becoming more and more dysfunctional?

Hello Glen,

I catch your drift there BUT there are exceptions.

I have personally invested more time and money into my HOA than all the board members put together. I'm about trying to build a community not about seeing if I can bully my neighbors until they move or shut up....or try to bankrupt them with frivolous lawsuits.

The people that are making noise about problems and trying to make changes and trying to learn details about the financials are not at home watching reality television shows. If you've read any of my other postings you'll see I have invested massive amounts of time, energy and money into learning about mine and other HOAs across America. I can't tell you the last time, I watched an entire television show. I don't even have cable because I rarely turn it on.

I do agree, far too many people are not willing to get involved. They move in, shut the door, click the lock and they never want any part of the HOA. When they do come to the board meetings they are behind by years on the dealings of the HOA. Notify them of an assessment and they show up angry as a pit bull who hasn't eaten in five days!

Most people do not realize that every neighbor they have is their business partner because an HOA is a business. I recall one board meeting I attended and asked about the financial records and mentioned with over one million dollars a year in dues coming in, etc....and one of my neighbors (who had lived here for over 20 years) whirled around and said, "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT...A MILLION DOLLARS IN DUES??? WE DON'T HAVE A MILLION DOLLARS IN DUES COMING IN!!!!!!!!!!!" I asked if she owned a calculator to which the lady next to her pulled one out of her purse. I said...oh, great...you can help her with this...type in 513 (number of homes) x $205.00 (monthly dues) x 12 (number of months in a year) does that equal over one million dollars? Well, YES she says...it's over 1.2 million. This is the kind of stupidity I'm dealing with from my business-partner-neighbors. I call them the ill, elderly, and the ignorant. Still I respect that we are living in this nightmare together and one way or another we must survive.

So many HOAs today have become anything but a friendly place to live. They are war zones. Often times those who seek board positions have zero business experience, no social interaction skills, have never held a position of power and suddenly they are holding power over their neighbors as if they are holding a loaded AK47. Make one wrong move and they have their finger on the trigger. This type of behavior is rampant among today's HOAs. Homeowners with legitimate complaints are being ignored to the point they are becoming violate, use social media to expose the Nazi board members, and many have developed HOA Syndrome. The stress of dealing with ignorant bullies on my HOA board has caused me to lose all the pigment in my skin. My doctor says I have a form of PTSD. In 8 years of living in an HOA I am a different person. All because I cannot believe what I am experiencing and witnessing around me. I'm living in a war zone!

You'll see more details in my other postings. You'll no doubt understand why I do not attend board meetings. I am kept fully aware of the happenings by others who attend. In 8 years nothing has changed except the bullies think they are smart enough to self-deal and not get caught. They think they are smarter than the district court judges...even though they have lost every single case against them. And, they think every word out of the mouths of their attorney and property manager are gospel and these guys are doing nothing but making a fortune off their ignorance.

Please know not every homeowner who isn't at the meeting doesn't care. Respectfully, deal with those who are and honor the folks with complaints with some of your time by listening and solving the problem. Agreeing to be on a board is work. It doesn't come with a paycheck and if people skills are a shortage in your list of attributes possibly it's best to let somebody else start warming your seat on the board?

Take care and thank you for expressly your feelings.

NDR