HOAs are a double edged sword.
Yes they can be jackasses that overreach and selectively enforce the C&Rs but at the same time they can keep a neighborhood from turning into a shithole.
The trick is to get the right people on the board.......and that certainly can be a neat trick to be sure.
In this case, they caused a neighborhood to become a shithole.
Yes they can be jackasses that overreach and selectively enforce the C&Rs but at the same time they can keep a neighborhood from turning into a shithole.
The trick is to get the right people on the board.......and that certainly can be a neat trick to be sure.
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Much like governments in general.
50% are worthless and inept
40% are hostile and corrupt
10% might actually be of benefit
Yes, HOAs are a two-edged sword. I have lived in two, and the last one I was President of the Board and of the HOA.
I could write a book. For a younger person in his or her career, being on the board will give you some broadening experiences that you will never get in your professional staff job.
I’d like to believe I was one of the right people on the board, but I know there are neighbors who would both agree and disagree. Years later after I moved, I was at a party and was introduced to people said my name sounded familiar. Eventually we traced it to living previously HOA
/ neighborhood where I was Pres. I did not know them back but I knew their name, where their home was. They were “good citizens” during my tenure - paid their assessments on time, showed up at annual meeting, annual summer pool party, etc etc. No issues, never complained to HOA my entire tenure. Now when I see these people in public in town, they actually take steps to avoid me, turn away from me. My guess is they probably were friends with one of the HOA-trouble-making whiner neighbors on my tenure, and heard a belly-whopper , one-sided, libelous story about me.
I have no problem with the CO neighborhood taking on ABNB and restricting rentals. If significant majority of people who never read the HOA covenants and by-laws disagree, they can vote out the (usually unpaid, volunteer) board, then read the covenants and by-laws, to know what process needs to be followed to make the changes they seek.
As far as audit of HOA by CPA. We budgeted money / set aside for audit every 4 years. We had a capital project budget too. People would #itch and moan that their assessments were too high - we held them flat for 5 years and made joining the pool club optional? Bet you can guess how many non-paying pool members did not like that they were limited to two times, neighbor courtesy day use to the pool club provided a member-neighbor took them as a guest. Or other pool neighbors who thought their guests who didn’t live in the HOA neighborhood should be able to hang out with them at the pool M - F all summer because they paid for a pool membership. Bet you can guess which neighbors who decided to move would advertise in their real estate ads GREAT NEIGHBORHOOD POOL AND TENNIS CLUB!!
Final point - I don’t blame CO HOA for restricting rental property if said action is permitted under the governing HOA documents. Exccept for a prison, freight railroad or chemical plant being built contiguous to the HOA, rental properties can really harm property values in HOA neighborhoods and desirability to live in a neighborhood atmosphere / conditions. Even 10% rentals can have a big impact. Article said these were “second homes”. I emphasize the word “homes” here. If the owner is looking for rental property - there are plenty of coastal areas with HOAs that allow rentals where they can invest their money.
I remember living with a friend of mine in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in a tightly controlled, HOA-run community. The community was a nice place, full of townhouses and apartments (we lived in a townhouse).
One evening, my friend, the homeowner, wanted to attend an HOA meeting with board elections, but couldn’t, due to other commitments, so he sent me over there as a proxy to vote (perfectly legal by their by-laws). He said I could vote for any candidate that I wanted (I could vote for several), except for this one woman.
Each home, you see, had two parking spaces assigned to it, with corresponding permits for the vehicles while parked. If a home had more than 2 vehicles, the remaining vehicles would park on the street, but if you parked in a space, sometimes, you had to get a permit from another vehicle to avoid being towed. So at an earlier HOA meeting, my friend asked why they couldn’t issue a permit for each vehicle in the household.
This silly woman answered that they would then have to assign or create more than 2 parking spaces for the home, which was BS, since you could issue any number of permits while leaving the same number of spaces, first come, first serve. So I went over there, did not vote for this dingbat, and fortunately, she did not win re-election.
We bought in an HOA thinking that it would stay as nice as it was when we moved in.
The HOA, the management company, the developer, and a builder are in a quadruple incestuous relationship. The entities have different names, but they’re all the same people.
In 2021, to take advantage of the good housing market, the developer sold lots to the builder. The builder built scuzzy little identitcal houses at warp speed, with little area between. They’re smaller than the minimum in the Covenants, and so many weirdos have moved into them.
A row of about 10 are directly across the street from us. We were certain one house was involved in drug dealing the way cars would come and go at 24/7. Cars would back in in the middle of the night with someone sitting in them, occasionally flashing headlights.
Now we think the place is used as Airbnb or similar. Short-term rentals are forbidden.
So we’re in a ghetto. We WISH the HOA would take action, but they’re the people causing the problems.
I miss our 3-acre rural property.