HOA members are volunteers

After owning a house for 34 years in a community without a HOA (and having a neighbor who never planted grass and had knee high weeds that whole time), I was determined to get a townhome in a HOA managed community when I decided to retire and downsize to a townhome. I also wanted someone to care for the exterior since I like to spend time in the mountains and traveling.

One of the primary reasons for choosing the community I bought in was how beautiful and well maintained it is. The HOA is so well managed, they have never had a special assessment in the almost 50 years of existence.

My father was a volunteer on the HOA board where he lived and it made an impression on me. I want to give back to the community I live in and decided to volunteer for the HOA board as well. It is a lot of work and takes a lot of my time, but everyone comments on how nice the neighborhood looks.

Unfortunately, some people have a negative perception of HOA’s. They forget we are all neighbors and it’s important to be a good neighbor. When a homeowner wants something special or particular done, they don’t acknowledge that they are asking for their neighbors to pay for it. There is a disconnect between asking for more amenities and not expecting the monthly assessment to increase. The board is always looking for volunteers, but we have trouble even getting a quorum for elections. Homeowners like to complain, but they don’t want to help. Homeowners that rent need to take more responsibility to communicate with their tenants about the covenants and pertinent information that is decimated. Homeowners complain about not being informed, but they refuse to give email addresses to the management company.

I’m concerned about some of the recent regulations that have been passed. It might be helpful to a few homeowners, but it hurts the community when covenants aren’t enforced. There is a process for homeowners to modify or change the covenants if they don’t want them. We have some homeowners that have never paid their monthly assessments. I guess they expect a free ride from their neighbors. The HOA needs to be able to recover these funds. It’s only fair to the homeowners who have been responsible. There is nothing wrong with using a lien as a tool. Certainly there is a better way of recouping the money than to sell the house for less than market value. That is something that could be legislated and is beyond the scope of the HOA.

To close, the HOA board works very hard to provide a clean and safe environment. They are under appreciated. I’m sure there are some boards that take advantage of their position, but this is probably the minority.