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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: junbengreat]
#13057867
02/09/19 08:17 PM
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Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 12,106
BCBassCat
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Apr 2017
Posts: 12,106 |
Within a month of living at our house we got a picture of our trashcans being on the side of the house, saying this wasn't acceptable. 2 years later every house has their trashcans on the side of house. And there still is no pool.
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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: junbengreat]
#13057877
02/09/19 08:27 PM
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 31,155
HasBen
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 31,155 |
I always lived in a HOA neighborhood in my 30 years in Dallas. Kept the neighborhood nice and helped keep resale up. Wouldnt have had it any other way. When I moved to East Texas, did not move into an HOA and am fine with it, so far. No problem with any of the neighbors yet.
"Nothing spoils a good story like the arrival of an eyewitness."-Mark Twain
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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: junbengreat]
#13058215
02/10/19 03:18 AM
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 26,060
patriot07
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 26,060 |
We have a management company. Wish we did, but we can't afford it. 17 lots and $300 a year is only $5100 a year in total income. Ours has become a joke. A couple of idiots took over just so one of them could build a shop that nobody wanted. A couple of years before the shop was built, one of them built a fence 15' over his property line. I was chair of the Architectural Committee and enforced on them. They've taken all HOA matters personally ever since then. When the shop stuff came up, I tried to ask them to at least follow the rules, and I've been ostracized, called a liar, etc. in public emails that include the entire community. I respond with kindness and facts and assume that most neighbors really don't care, and the few who do can see through the BS that the officers spew. Just recently had another big issue - the neighborhood gate closed on my truck just before Christmas. It was damaged seriously a few months before but of course the officers got some unlicensed company to repair it and they jerry-rigged this thing up pretty bad. The damage is on the side of the bed of my truck and there is video evidence showing the gate closing on me. To avoid another public debacle, I offered to split the $1000 repair bill with the officers, but they told me that I ran into the gate and they wouldn't cover anything, and they wanted my insurance policy number so they could file against it for gate repair costs. I told them to give me the HOA insurance policy number, or I'd take them to small claims and make them look like the idiots they are. They eventually gave me the info, and of course the insurance company is paying for 100% of the truck repair costs. Long story short - HOAs are fine so long as you have a management company, but I'll never live in a neighborhood with a homeowner-run HOA again.
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. - Soren Kierkegaard
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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: junbengreat]
#13058222
02/10/19 03:28 AM
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 26,060
patriot07
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 26,060 |
Our hoa is getting sued. They replaced the old board a year ago and that was a legal battle in itself. The new board is trying to fix all the mess they inherited. They passed one vote regardless of how many lots you owned. One guy owned 200 and had 200 votes at each election. He is suing our hoa because he says the deed restrictions for his lots say he only owed $1.25 in monthly hoa fees. The old board raised it to $25 without doing it properly and he wants backpay for the last 10 years to the amount of $200k. Now they are in a rush to update deed restrictions to reflect price increase so there are no other lawsuits. If they keep getting sued they will have to declare bankruptcy and hoa will cease to exist. What a hot mess To address the OP - this sounds like a real mess. But the HOA can make special assessments to cover unexpected expenses. If I was a homeowner there, that's what I'd be worried about.
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. - Soren Kierkegaard
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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: patriot07]
#13058356
02/10/19 01:25 PM
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 4,091
Ranger Z21
TFF Team Angler
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TFF Team Angler
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 4,091 |
We have a management company. Wish we did, but we can't afford it. 17 lots and $300 a year is only $5100 a year in total income. Ours has become a joke. A couple of idiots took over just so one of them could build a shop that nobody wanted. A couple of years before the shop was built, one of them built a fence 15' over his property line. I was chair of the Architectural Committee and enforced on them. They've taken all HOA matters personally ever since then. When the shop stuff came up, I tried to ask them to at least follow the rules, and I've been ostracized, called a liar, etc. in public emails that include the entire community. I respond with kindness and facts and assume that most neighbors really don't care, and the few who do can see through the BS that the officers spew. Just recently had another big issue - the neighborhood gate closed on my truck just before Christmas. It was damaged seriously a few months before but of course the officers got some unlicensed company to repair it and they jerry-rigged this thing up pretty bad. The damage is on the side of the bed of my truck and there is video evidence showing the gate closing on me. To avoid another public debacle, I offered to split the $1000 repair bill with the officers, but they told me that I ran into the gate and they wouldn't cover anything, and they wanted my insurance policy number so they could file against it for gate repair costs. I told them to give me the HOA insurance policy number, or I'd take them to small claims and make them look like the idiots they are. They eventually gave me the info, and of course the insurance company is paying for 100% of the truck repair costs. Long story short - HOAs are fine so long as you have a management company, but I'll never live in a neighborhood with a homeowner-run HOA again. While I agree with most of what you said I don't agree with the management company. Our self managed HOA had very few problems. The neighborhood next to us went from self managed to a management company and their dues tripled. The rules became stupid and had two assessments added in the first six months. They made a mistake and gave them a three year contract. Some people actually sold due to not being able to afford to live there anymore. With self managed you usually know most everyone personally so your more likely to work with your neighbors. At least that's how we ran ours and it worked well for us.
Last edited by Ranger Z21; 02/10/19 01:26 PM.
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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: junbengreat]
#13058405
02/10/19 02:30 PM
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 22,934
Hard Rain
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 22,934 |
Most decent towns have plenty of town ordinances so I will avoid any HOA like the plague.
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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: Hard Rain]
#13058565
02/10/19 05:52 PM
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 4,091
Ranger Z21
TFF Team Angler
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TFF Team Angler
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 4,091 |
Most decent towns have plenty of town ordinances so I will avoid any HOA like the plague. So you live in Flower Mound and no HOA? Must be an older neighborhood. I felt like you at one time but changed my opinion when I looked at our old neighborhood in Lewisville and all the renters and junk laying around. We got out of there just in time and the neighborhood was only five years old at the time and no HOA.
Last edited by Ranger Z21; 02/10/19 05:53 PM.
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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: junbengreat]
#13058635
02/10/19 06:55 PM
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 29,990
Moto-Moto
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 29,990 |
HOAs are for folks that don't know how to communicate or lack the fortitude to be able to confront someone.
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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: Ranger Z21]
#13059097
02/11/19 02:23 AM
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 26,060
patriot07
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 26,060 |
While I agree with most of what you said I don't agree with the management company. Our self managed HOA had very few problems. The neighborhood next to us went from self managed to a management company and their dues tripled. The rules became stupid and had two assessments added in the first six months. They made a mistake and gave them a three year contract. Some people actually sold due to not being able to afford to live there anymore. With self managed you usually know most everyone personally so your more likely to work with your neighbors. At least that's how we ran ours and it worked well for us.
I can fire a management company. I can't fire a neighbor. And my experience in this neighborhood versus my previous neighborhoods that were all company-managed is that neighbors take things personally, aren't reasonable, and will absolutely make your life awful if you don't get in line with what they want. I'm sure it's possible to have a good experience with either, but you can end a bad experience with a management company a lot easier than with bad neighbors. We've had several folks leave because of the HOA Board idiots, and I know for a fact they won't be gone in 3 years.
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. - Soren Kierkegaard
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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: junbengreat]
#13059113
02/11/19 02:34 AM
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Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 23,170
SteezMacQueen
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 23,170 |
Suburbanites!
Buy land and quit pleasing your [censored] neighbors.
Eat. Sleep. Fish.
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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: junbengreat]
#13059135
02/11/19 03:04 AM
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 21,734
junbengreat
OP
not so great
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OP
not so great
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 21,734 |
Looking for property as we speak. Im outta this hoa and gonna build.
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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: patriot07]
#13059323
02/11/19 12:56 PM
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 4,091
Ranger Z21
TFF Team Angler
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TFF Team Angler
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 4,091 |
While I agree with most of what you said I don't agree with the management company. Our self managed HOA had very few problems. The neighborhood next to us went from self managed to a management company and their dues tripled. The rules became stupid and had two assessments added in the first six months. They made a mistake and gave them a three year contract. Some people actually sold due to not being able to afford to live there anymore. With self managed you usually know most everyone personally so your more likely to work with your neighbors. At least that's how we ran ours and it worked well for us.
I can fire a management company. I can't fire a neighbor. And my experience in this neighborhood versus my previous neighborhoods that were all company-managed is that neighbors take things personally, aren't reasonable, and will absolutely make your life awful if you don't get in line with what they want. I'm sure it's possible to have a good experience with either, but you can end a bad experience with a management company a lot easier than with bad neighbors. We've had several folks leave because of the HOA Board idiots, and I know for a fact they won't be gone in 3 years. Not as easy to fire a management company as you might think. They all have contracts that aren't easily voided. I would much rather deal with a neighbor than dealing with a corporation. Management companies are also more likely to add assessments anytime they feel like it. Most of the time for very stupid reasons. A self managed won't do it unless it improves the neighborhood property values and is truly needed as it effects their bottom line also. Usually a neighborhood vote is required unlike a MC who can do as they please. To each his own.
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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: junbengreat]
#13059350
02/11/19 01:45 PM
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Joined: May 2014
Posts: 5,646
PondFish
TFF Celebrity
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TFF Celebrity
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 5,646 |
When I was looking for my first house I knew to ask about HOAs, didn't want one. Finally settled on a house in a neighborhood that had a voluntary HOA, really more of a big garden club. Being in the compliance area of the mortgage business I went a pulled the deed restriction on the subdivision before I closed on the deal. A couple months after we moved in I get a letter telling me dues are late, tossed it in the trash. Then the President of the HOA knocks on my door (this is the first time I ever met the guy) and tells me I need to sign up and pay dues. I pulled out my file on the house from closing and showed him my copy of the Deed Restrictions that clearly showed no mandatory HOA, told him no and told him good bye. Word got around that there had been a big fight. I told anyone that asked that there wasn't any fight, I simply set him straight and he didn't like it. .
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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: junbengreat]
#13059362
02/11/19 01:53 PM
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Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 25,234
ReelBusy
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 25,234 |
Deed restrictions are a good thing if you are buying small acreage in rural areas. HOAs/POAs can give the busy-bodys authority to meddle if someone with brains and a backbone are not involved to keep them in check.
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Re: HOA getting sued
[Re: junbengreat]
#13059406
02/11/19 02:43 PM
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 29,990
Moto-Moto
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 29,990 |
Looking for property as we speak. Im outta this hoa and gonna build. How much is acreage in that area? It's 25 to 30k per up here
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