Posted:
DonnaS
Want to know my biggest surprise about condominiums?
I'll tell you anyway.
Folks come hundred or thousands of miles to buy property on the Beach, and pay big bucks and big condo dues. They can live anywhere and have to keep up their dues and assessmnets, thousanda of dollars. Couple years goes by and they may rent or use the place for a second home or let friends or employees use it. Then one day they happen to notice a couple loose pickets on their deck or some noisy renter moves in with 15 people and 3 dogs. Now if you happen to live there and people recognize you, they might call you aside and ask about these things that are bothering them. So, being a good neighbor, you start saying words like Documents, Master deed, apportionment, rules of conduct, etc, etc, and you can just watch the curtain fall across their eyes. They may shake their heads and tsk, tsk, or laugh, or act surprized or not, and make promises they are going to find out about all this and definitly they will write the board, call the manager, and attend the next meeting. And that is the extent of their obligation to be part of the community and protect their investment.
This can go on year after year with absentee owners. You have somewhat of a captive audience if the live here and they usually end up getting involved it something. And if they do attend an annual meeting they want so bad to know everything is just find they will listen to some canned elevator music that the board spreads around. Have a big Bar b que, drink a lot, play golf and visit dream condos on display, avoid making eye contact when the meeting is done and they have no questions. Then on Sunday leave and go some where else. Then life goes on just like it did the day before the meeting. Oh yes, they don't seem to notice that everything is freshly planted, cut. and groomed and the flower pots are sitting around near stairways and elevator and the fire lanes have just been restriped, sometimes the paint is still wet. Last but not least, they want to know where you can find them a good reliable cleaning lady.