Top 10 HOA complaints. Per CO DORA newsletter.

[Mile High Trout]

Top 10 HOA complaints. Per CO DORA newsletter.

And that would be page 10; Top 10 HOA complaints in 2013.

http://cdn.colorado.gov/cs/Satellit...goBlobs&blobwhere=1252021883853&ssbinary=true

top link. Not sure if the direct pdf link above will work, but if it does the above is direct link, the below is the web link to documents.
http://cdn.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/DORA-DRE/CBON/DORA/1251654529210

Talked to a resident of a community the other day who told me a shocking story about the HOA. He said that the management company had a clause in there that the HOA contract could only be reassigned to another management company, if like 85% of all community members showed up in person to vote for new management. LOL! WOW!! Did not verify the info, but it certainly does not sound like a 'earn your loyalty' sort of engagement. More like a 'gotcha, now you can't leave!' sort of contract.

We went through hell and high water to avoid buying in an hoa community. The negative stories about these places just never end. Have some of my own from when I was renting. Not cool! I suggest to everyone in an HOA, to be part of the board or at least show up to every meeting, indefinitely.

Oh yeah, these state docs have loading time or something. Open it up and do something else for a minute. The document will become active shortly.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

I never understood the appeal of such associations but then again, I never did play well with others.

 

[TRESinc]

hoa associations, and the management companies that "work" for them, are usually crap. i serve on two condo boards and neither management company does enough, and they hardly even bother with a lot of requests. add to that the fact that most owners don't bother to come to any meetings and only write a letter (maybe) when the fees go up and it's a perfect storm to keep them in place forever.

one of the associations does not allow pets. several owners have asked about challenging that rule and the association by-laws, written mostly by the management company, state you need an 80% or more positive vote by all owners. we have had less than 10 people show up for the annual meeting over the last 3 years, and the same 2 people came to every meeting with one or two more each year. if the owners can't be bothered to show up they have no place to complain, and the cycle continues.

 

[Peter LeQuire]

There are times when maintaining a yard and keeping up with house repairs and routine maintenance make living in a development with an HOA that takes those chores seem attractive. Then I wake up............

 

[Tom Woolford]

My subdivision used to have a strong HOA because it was run by a bunch of Nazi's. I used to do a lot of Racing, and would build cars in my garage, usually with the door shut. That is not a good idea though when you are welding up a roll cage. One of the members of the yard police stopped by and said I could not build cars in MY garage as it was against the restrictions. Now I know there were at least 4 other people in the subdivision who also raced and kept their cars at home because I was scorekeeper for the SE district. I asked why he wasn't complaining about them and he said because they didn't do any welding, and that the arc was dangerous to drivers on the street 150 feet away. Uh Huh. Right. I picked up a piece of roll cage tube about 4 feet long and backed him out of the garage and told him never to trespass on my property again. He didn't. Later these masters of the universe forgot to renew the deed restrictions with the County, so the Grass Police are no more. Good riddance.

 

[Mile High Trout]

I've ran across one honestly caring, considerate and thoughtful person who ran an hoa management company. He was actively getting wedged out and over sold by the corporate schpeels and rainbow promises of the other guys.

The rest of them, are pretty dismissive and often times rather rude. If they're nice, they're still impersonal and are never responsive to suggestion and solution, or even concern about area qualities. I informed the hoa manager that the state of trash collection in this townhome development was abhorable and I saw little kids playing in trash, and trash piled 6 feet high in front of some unlucky residents front yards. Literally no place to put trash. The lady hung up on me for being concerned about it. Would not want to be a resident there, and I'd bet the salesperson rule is don't show this property from Monday through Thursday.

As a buyer, it seemed to be common place for me to be informed of an hoa, but never be able to access the documents and know what it was about, until after I'd submitted binding contracts.

All listed properties should be required to furnish copies of by laws alongside the listings. Buyers, especially first time buyers are constantly cought off guard by the yard police. LOL. I call them the do gooders, without a cause.

 

[Mile High Trout]

Oh yeah, earlier this year the city lady gave me a yard cleanup notice.

I was proud to have the longest grass in the area, but I guess that's not a very popular approach. And the pincher bugs and spiders turned out to be an adequate deterrent, so now I cut those weeds nice and short.

It was completely upsetting to have a stranger knocking on my door with notices. She was all courteous and stuff. Saying have a nice day.

"It was a nice day before you came over here and started harassing me about my lawn!" She yelled back at me and everything and I just snatched the notice and closed the door. Don't pretend to be nice to people while serving the violation notices. I'd prefer a stern 'get it cleaned up loser', or something like that.

Can't imagine having those people come back compulsively and such, taking personal aim against me. Our grandma was forced to take her American flag down, from her HOA home.

 

[Tim The Enchanter]

No way I want to live anywhere with an HOA. There are way too many horror stories out there. We already have city, county, state, and federal govts.
No need to jam another level in at the bottom.

I am glad the city does not try to regulate the color of your house. I am glad people have the right to paint the outside of their house Pepto Bismal pink if they want. I am glad that house is on the next street over, and not visible from my windows.

I think your weeds have to get really overgrown and probably your neighbors have to complain before the city will cite you for overgrown weeds. I wish people would maintain their lawn, but the city does not need to get involved, except if it's really bad. Maybe fire hazard bad.

They have laws about parking on the yard, but that doesn't stop some people from turning their place into an automotive graveyard. I'm not a fan of front yard junkyards, but I sure don't want to live behind some guard gate in some sanitized version of reality. And who wants a guard or doorman to see your every coming and going?

Just say NO to HOA's.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

The solution is quite simple....buy where there isn't an HOA. Sorry to say but lots of people live like pigs. If we didn't have an HOA here I can promise you property values would decline very quickly.

 

[Rick Stillman]

The solution is quite simple....buy where there isn't an HOA. Sorry to say but lots of people live like pigs. If we didn't have an HOA here I can promise you property values would decline very quickly.

Facts:
1) Pigs are among the very smartest animals on the planet.
2) Pigs have excellent parenting skills.
3) Pigs are very appreciative and happy almost all the time.
4) Pigs can maintain a sexual orgasm for well over 30 minutes.
5) A little bit of pig goes a long way in making baked beans really tasty.
6) Pigs could make excellent appraisers, except they don't have opposable thumbs, and they are too smart to work under the conditions and measly pay that most appraisers endure.

Some of my best friends are slobs, but I would never want to insult pigs by comparing to them as such. They just don't measure up to that standard.

We now return to our regularly scheduled topic. Blah, blah, blah... :laugh: