Home Owners Associations, #HOAs, are usually governed by a #boardofdirectors made up of #volunteer owners who were voted in by the other owners of the homes in the given #community to represent them. This board facilitates making decisions for the HOA and enforcing the rules established by the community. It’s a #representative form of government with elected officials serving terms to encourage limits for needed breaks and change of #leadership.
These individuals who volunteer to serve on the board commit to read, review important documents, and attend regularly scheduled meetings where the community at large is usually only expected to attend the annual meeting. Since it is a volunteer effort most HOAs hire a community manager and or management company to facilitate the processing of the #communitybusiness.
These management companies often get hired by HOA’s because they offer services at a low bid estimates. So the person who winds up answering the phone for these communities may not be compensated very well, trained, much less care about the neighborhoods needs. This individual may even be overwhelmed with managing other communities at the same time. This is the first challenge.
The second challenge is usually when owners/residents are motivated to call the management company it is because they have a complaint. Who wants to listen to people whine? Especially if they are going to do so rudely.
This all spills over to what it means to serve on the board of directors. It also tends to be a thankless job that subjects them to bullying, yelling, and screaming that spews out from unhappy community members, but it’s a VOLUNTEER one. This is addition to the time it takes often leaves open positions rather than lots of competitive candidates that are motivated to serve their community to make it a better place.
These were all known challenges to getting along and living in community with other, but add into this technological needs to administer a business that constantly are changing that opened up the possibility of virtual meetings after 2020 has complicated matters even more.
Take for example Palmetto Pines HOA. It’s a decent sized community of single family homes off of Palmetto Park Road West of 441. I recall looking at two different homes for sale in 2021. Since I haven’t had the best experience with HOA’s in Miami, FL and North Bethesda, MD, I really hesitated to put a contract on either home. But if I were going to buy a house in Boca Raton, it was almost needed as very few parts of this town are HOA free.
So, I called to see if I could review the bylaws. I was baffled at the answer. I was denied by the company because they were only permitted to give them to the owner. Thankfully, the owner’s selling the house I was most interested called, got them, and gave them to me.
Then the question comes how nit picky is this community in enforcing the rules? Is someone going to inspect my lawn weekly with a ruler to measure the height of my grass? Will I be harassed if I leave the garbage can out too long?
I wound up buying and settling in this community. I’ve taken time to introduce myself to my neighbors and get to know them. In turn, I’ve found that some are happier and/or more helpful than others, but overall they’re pretty good people who just want a nice respectful neighborhood to live in.
But, we’re all pressed for time to bring in a buck, care for our families, and maintain our properties. So it makes it hard to keep track much less attend the HOA meetings to stay involved. Then to add to it, who has time to establish their account, remember their login password etc. to be able to participate in quarterly Zoom meetings only to run into more obstacles like:
Who is going to type in that meeting address and password? I think my one neighbor who I reached out to probably copied and pasted it to be 1/2 residents who logged in with a total of 7 people in the meeting. Now, that may make for a quick and efficient meeting, but it doesn’t encourage much community involvement, responsibility, or accountability.
I know from the one Zoom meeting I that had enough time and energy to attend a few years back I decided to follow up on one of the items discussed. I rode my bike over to the section of the neighborhood that apparently had a parking problem. What I found was inconsistent with what the management company reported. But, do. you think any management company is going to turn themselves into the board for not doing a good job?
Thankfully, I knew where the president of the board lived. I took photos of the reality I saw. I reported that the signs were already there just required a little cleaning which I did, and hopefully, he was able to save the community money on further action on the situation.
The problem is, I’ve not had enough time or energy to do anything else, much less really get to know the board members so that they know I’m just trying to keep our costs down and neighborhood nice. To add to it that president whom I gave the information that I witnessed sold his house and moved out of state so I lost my contact.
So I’m pretty much back to where I started except let’s hear it and give three cheers for the one neighbor who was able to log in and listen in on the meeting! Remember it only takes one person to make a difference!!!
Recall how Janet Jackson was dressed for that SuperBowl Half time show. Barrett’s attire finally gives our girls a good role model on how to dress and carry themselves!
American Culture and known for quality lyrics as opposed to the stereotypical rebellious, sexual, angry, and violent lyrics of Rock, Hip Hop, and pop music.