State specific?

Started by MistiH • 7 replies • 1844 views

💬 Join us to post & get advice from 50,000 HOA & Condo leaders.

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in

MistiH (Texas)
Posts: 52

Posted:

Roger, I love this web-site and gained a lot of useful information and ideas from you and the other posters. Thank you!!

I have an idea that I'd like to toss to you. Because legalities change from state to state, perhaps different forums for different states would be nice? And then the general forum for miscellaneous topics? I've had to really dig to find items of pertinence for Texas.

What do you think?

Loving Life in Texas!
Misti

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Misty, I agree with you that it would be best if everyone with a question listed their state since laws can vary from state to state. When I first found this site people were more careful about posting their state.

I am glad you are getting lots of useful info. I too appreciate it and have learned much from the other posters. FYI I am not associated with the people who run this site. I'm a contributor like you with many years experience serving on Boards and as a Managing Agent.

NancyM2 (California)
Posts: 249

Posted:

MistH, I too have found this web-site to be informative, and helpfull ~ Thanks to the many posters. I like the idea of having it be state specific. As laws do change from state to state. Here in Calif we have the "Davis Sterling act" which is nice, however when the HOA breaks the rules, there is no place to go with it. Unless you want to hire your own attorney, and many of us can't afford that.

Nancy M

LuciusD
Posts: 139

Posted:

I am very sensitive to the fact that laws and even problems are state specific. But I think a lot would be lost if the everything was sorted by state. I'm in Colorado, but I've learned a great deal from what folks in Florida, Texas and California are concerned about.
My suggestion, instead of "segregation" by states, is that a protocol be devised to "flag" posts by state. For example, I subscribe to a health related list on which everyone is asked to append their state abbreviation to their signature. On that list I sign my posts as "Lou Day - CO". Or list management could append the state abbreviation to the names that are shown to the left. Lou - CO

LuciusD
Posts: 139

Posted:

Posted By NancyM2 on 07/09/2006 8:16 PM

MistH, I too have found this web-site to be informative, and helpfull ~ Thanks to the many posters. I like the idea of having it be state specific. As laws do change from state to state. Here in Calif we have the "Davis Sterling act" which is nice, however when the HOA breaks the rules, there is no place to go with it. Unless you want to hire your own attorney, and many of us can't afford that.

Nancy M

Nancy M, Are you not acquainted with the efforts of your Senator Alan Lowenthal to enact legislation to give you a place and procedure for for dealing with non-compliant HOA's? California and New Jersey seem to be at the forefront in trying to enact "ombudsman" legislation to deal with complaints out of court. Try searching on "SB551" or possibly "AB 770". Lou Day - Colorado

NancyM2 (California)
Posts: 249

Posted:

Thanks MistH ~ I do know about "SB551" I have been following it very closely ~~ to have an impartial Ombudsman oversee the HOA's ~ I was very disappointed when it lost by just one vote. In my previous postings I stated that our HOA has hired a Ombudsman/homeowner in excess of $82,000.00 a year. I don't feel he could be impartial as he is a friend of the board. I wished that bill would have passed. Thank you for your posting.

Nancy M

GeraldT1 (<Not Specified>)
Posts: 519

Posted:

North New Jersey (NNJ) here. I agree with LuciusD that a lot would be lost if everything was sorted by state. I think the replies from people in other states provides a good persepective.

Maybe HOA Talk could have items posted to a general log (as it is now) and also have each log backed up in a State database. To do this, maybe a "Residing State" field in between the "Subject" and "Message" fields would work? Replies would only be possible in the general database. Only posts of those that reside in the same state would be posted in the state specific site. Then anyone looking for replies from state residents would be possible. Might provide some good statistics for HOAtalk as well.

GeraldT1

hoatalk (California)
Posts: 599

Posted:

Thank you for the suggestions. There is not a simple way to display the state in the forum software we currently use. We are hoping a new version will allow us to offer the members this feature in the future.

We have also considered splitting the forums and decided against it because it would dramatically cut down the number of views each post would receive. That would lead to fewer replies for each member's question. One big forum has it's disadvantages, but the major advantage is higher likelihood of actually getting an answer to one's question.

Another enhancement on the list is a message browser feature where you could easily find all messages that are specific to Texas or other topics like collections, meeting rules, reserve planning, etc. The only way to implement this will be to manually categorize each message into multiple categories. At the present time that will take 50-100 hours of work to complete, considering we have over 900 topics now. We may need volunteers to help with this, if anyone is interested.

Thank you all for your support!
HOATalk.com

HOATalk.com, A free service of Community123.com
Provider of Upscale Community Websites
CLICK HERE to get a FREE trial community website
*See legal notice below (end of page)

🎯 You've read this entire discussion

Join the conversation with 50,000 HOA & Condo Leaders:

✓ Ask follow-up questions
✓ Share your experience
✓ Get expert advice
✓ Access 350,000 discussions

Create Free Account →

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in here