All I have to do is pay the bill...

[susandennis]

My Home Owners Association is getting ready to take on three major projects - fixing the 100+ year old brick on the front, redoing the roof and fixing the 100+ year old brick on the back. All three items are desperately needed and enormously expensive and a royal PIA to coordinate, manager and get done efficiently and correctly. This is an historic building and the outside is subject to city design review so this adds a layer of politics, too. All I have to do is pay and I am very grateful.

In the next couple of days everyone who owns a unit will be getting a letter telling them that they will need to pony up $6-$8K this year. (The units are various sizes and the bigger ones own more of the association and so pay more.) This will come as a giant surprise to most of these people as they pay zero attention to what goes on around here. Honestly I'd be in mostly dark if I didn't attend the board meetings and generally they draw an audience of about 1% of the population.

We have no good way to easily communicate - no forum, wiki, or mailer. The management company has a VERY crappy website and posts the minutes of board meetings about 6 months after the meeting. So really attending the meetings is the only way to find out stuff. I've made suggestions, past board members have made suggestions, common sense says communications is really good. The board does not disagree, they just don't do anything about it. So while they are all good people and smart and run a tight, efficient ship, doing it in the dark is not going to end well, I don't think.

When 108 unit owners get letters saying they need to pay $6,000+ now with no warning, the board is going to get the shit kicked out of them. Maybe it will help them understand that surprising the populace isn't a good thing.

I knew this info was coming out soon but I wanted to know my exact number so I sent an email to the treasurer and he was kind enough to tell me. I have a meeting with Tyler, my financial adviser next week and I wanted to have all my $$ ducks in a row. I'm going to see if now is a good time to pay off my mortgage. I have only 10 years left on it and a not terribly high interest rate (3.8%). I'd love to be out from under. Thankfully, I have someone who understands what makes the most fiscal sense in my case so all I have to do is ask.

More dolls from today.

Comments

[stress-kitten.livejournal.com]

So... long story short, I ended up being president of our Strata (seems similar to an HOA) in order to get my damned roof fixed. 68 units, and by gosh and by golly was it a good thing I'm a professional communicator. In fact, after one particularly cantankerous meeting, I had a couple of women come up to me and ask what I did as a living. When I said "elementary school teacher" one woman said "knew it!" and the other laughed and said they'd figured I was either a teacher or a social worker from how I handled the more thorny members.

It took all my considerable skills in actually LISTENING to the concerns presented, patience, and clear and constant communication to get a new roof funded, done, and finished with minimal head and heart-ache. (we wouldn't be able to pass something requiring a Special Assessment above Condo Fees without a Special General Meeting to vote on it, with quorum required and a 75% yes vote) People were very happy with us and the work we'd done at the end, but the constant, CONSTANT communication was so very necessary.

[susandennis]

kudos! Fortunately, we do have an excellent board and when called upon, they do listen and communicate. I just think they need to get out in front of something like this and lay some ground work. Plus, I think it would be fun to have a forum for home owners to swap spit on.

I've volunteered to set something up or even, godforbid, head up a committee to do so numerous times as have others, but they just aren't interested.

Funny. We have to have one of those 75% yes votes on many things (like allowing email for association correspondence) but not this. This, the board can do on their own.

[stress-kitten.livejournal.com]

Seems bizarre to me that, of all things not to have a vote on, large expenditures in on that list. No wonder people seem to hate their HOAs so often! Our annual budget, any change to our rules, and any special assessments all have to pass 75%, either at our AGM or a SGM.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Has the board decided if the entire amount is due all a once ... or are they breaking it out over a set time frame? The management company should be posting board notes as quickly as they can, although it's up to the HOA secretary to take notes and for the HOA manager to get them posted and keep updates. One of my boards had a volunteer who maintained the HOA website.

[susandennis]

I have no details. The last time we had an assessment they gave us 4 or 5 months to pay it and offered low interest installment programs to anyone who wanted it. It was very fair all the way around but as you can imagine, that did not stop the bitching.

We so need a website.

[nanila]

Ow, that repair work coordination sounds like a massive headache. As you say, it's nice "just" to have to pony up the cash, but I don't envy those to whom it's going to come as a complete surprise.

This latest doll in glasses is so sweet. The matching buttoned collar is perfect.

[susandennis]

Thanks!

[badrobot68.livejournal.com]

OUCH! That is a rather large bill to be presented with, whether you're expecting it or not!

[susandennis]

Yep. Home ownership can come with the occasional financial surprises.

[fauxklore]

That large a special assessment suggests to me that the board has not been keeping adequate reserves.

We have a yahoo group, which was set up by a former board member. The management posts to it with reminders on things like when garage washing is happening, but people also use it for recommendations for servicepeople (e.g. housecleaner or plumber) and the like. It isn't super active, but it seems to work.

[susandennis]

Maybe you are right about the reserves but two of the three projects were not expected or expected so soon. So more likely the historical advice (on the condition of the brick) was off by some years. They did consider raising the HOA dues substantially but decided to go assessment route instead.

A Yahoo group would would work well and I suggested that as well as a sub reddit and a private ebbs. While everyone always says 'yes, we really should do that' but when I say 'why don't you just let me get it going?' I get, let us discuss it first with the board. And that has happened once or twice to no end. Sigh.