I hate my neighborhood association - your opinions welcome

[vespergirl]

We bought our house about three years ago, and live in a "cluster" in a very expensive neighborhood. We pay $1200 per year in community fees - $600 for the entire neighborhood, and $600 for our specific "cluster."

On Tuesday, we received an email from the board (5 people out of 20 homes) who said that in order to keep our cluster fee down at a low $600, they decided amongst themselves (without a cluster vote) that on Saturday mornings, 9 am, several times a year, we would have a 2 hour community "clean up and repair", which includes taking down tree branches (in front of one of the board members homes), repairing trails, doing landcaping of the common areas, and replacing another neighbors mailbox. We were just planning on not going, because we had other plans, and none of the work being done is in our neck of the neighborhood.

Anyway, I ran into the cluster president yesterday, and when she asked if we would be participating, I stated that we wouldn''t, because we already had other plans. She made some snotty comments that I politely ignored, but went home fuming.

First, we pay $600 specifically for them to hire contractors/landscapers to take care of this type of work. If it''s going to cost more than that, I would honestly prefer to pay an extra $50 per year per home to not have to sacrifice my precious Saturdays cleaning up other people''s yards. When we signed the HOA contract for our neighborhood, we agreed to pay the fees for maintenance, not spend all day trimming another person''s hedges. Also, some of this really annoys me because our house is on a "private drive" with 4 other homes (it''s really more of a cul de sac). When the entire nieghborhood was repaved right after we moved in, they decided not to pave our "private drive" that most of the people in the neighborhood use, which raised the ire of us 5 homeowners who paid fees to have everyone else''s road paved except hours. So, since none of the "improvements" never seem to make their way down to our neck of the woods, I feel far less compelled to help them over on the other side of the cluster.

It just really annoyed me that the woman implied that we should participate more - she lives on the opposite side of the cluster, and no idea that we actually particiate in keeping up our side of the neighborhood on a weekly basis, but out of a spirit of friendship with a neighbor here, not as a forced work detail. Our next door neighbor is very elderly and handicapped and lives alone. My husband mows her lawn every weekend, and shovels her driveway and paths avery time in snows. When she was recovering from an illness and surgery, I sat with her during the day, and brought her meals for a week. So, we already do neighborly things to help the disadvantaged in our cluster.

Any thoughts on this? I have decided not to participate in any of these cleanups in the future just on principle, because of the snotty attitude of the cluster board. If they had brought a vote to all the homes in the community, I have a feeling that most people would have voted to pay a little extra in fees instead of having to sacrifice several Saturdays a year. Since no one asked my vote, I choose to not participate. This is an affluent nieghborhood, and we can all afford a couple of extra bucks.

What would you guys do?

 

[tlh]

I would attend an HOA meeting to air out those grievances. If they don''t know your complaints, they cannot fix them. ESP. the part about the paving of their streets, and not yours. An HOA is not to landscape and do yard work for your neighbors. They can spend the saturdays doing their OWN yards... and vice versa. I would attend and ask these questions. I would feel that if someone''s yard is unkept... fine the owner of the house. Those fees should be for communal areas. Just my .02 -- best of luck!

 

[Shoopy]

IMHO It doesn''t really matter how neighborly you and your husband are. You are paying association fees for a reason. If you have to resort to doing all of that work yourself, then you might as well not even pay association fees. I wouldn''t volunteer my time either and I would probably even ask to hold a community meeting to discuss this vote that they agreed to without input.

I hate our association. We pay $250 a month for our condo. The fountain hasn''t been turned on in the lake in months so the whole thing is just nasty, the sprinklers don''t work, they only mow the lawn maybe once a month, we have one very tiny garbage dump area for 200+ units but they won''t pay to have the sanitary dept collect more than once a week, we don''t have security anymore, and I haven''t seen the maintenance guys do any work in ages. Oh and they have a habit of towing our car from the space that we own just because our wheels go a little over into the other space that we also own.

What the $250 goes towards...I''ll never know.

 

[purrfectpear]

Honestly? I''d see it as a chance to get to know other neighbors 5 or 6 times a year. Taking care of your elderly next door neighbor has nothing to do with pitching in to the communal good. It doesn''t have anything to do with affluence either.

It''s pretty common for HOA boards to set up communal fix-up days. It''s nice if everyone pitches in, but if you''ve decided you just don''t want to be a good neighbor you can''t expect not to get some

from it.

 

[Octavia]

I agree with tlh, I would bring this to the attention of the neighborhood board, not the cluster board. The cluster board has very probably violated the terms of the HOA contract, which the full board should know about. Moreover, the cluster board and/or the individual property owners could be exposing themselves to liability in the event someone gets hit over the head with a tree branch or chops a finger along with a hedge. ESPECIALLY if people are bringing children along. IMO, raking leaves or planting pansies is one thing, but anything that requires certain skills or is potentially dangerous should be hired out.

ETA: PP, it would be one thing if this was part of the HOA contract, but it sounds like it was just a few people on a power trip, coming up with projects to benefit mostly themselves, and imposing it on everyone else in the cluster. And if I were in vespergirl's shoes, I'd be opposed less to the substance of what they're doing and more to the form by which they do it. Full vote, project gets the thumbs up? Fine. Being told that you have to give up time on a specific day to do work you never agreed to do, and having no say in the matter? Not fine at all.

 

[Ara Ann]

Our HOA is a pain too...doesn''t help that the assoc. president lives across our cul de sac from us. What is it with power trippy people, he''s the assoc. president (ran unopposed) and he thinks he can tell everyone what they can and can''t do, to the point of being ridiculous. And it wouldn''t be AS bad, if he actually followed the HOA guidelines himself!

And if he enforced the same rules for his friends...really ridiculous.


About the ''volunteer'' cleanup on Saturdays...I''d have to agree, I would not do it either. You ARE paying for those services, if they need to increase your dues, then increase them. You live in a neighborhood, not a commune...that''s not what you signed up for. It is nice to be neighborly, to get to know your neighbors, our HOA organizes BBQ''s and block parties for that reason, but you should not be expected to do WORK for them, or be made to feel guilty if you opt out. What if you and your husband worked on Saturday mornings? Or had other commitments? To expect people to give up their Saturdays is beyond neighborly. For those who can and wish to, more power to them, but it shouldn''t be a mandatory event.

 

[AmberGretchen]

Date: 4/24/2009 10:28:07 AM
Author: tlh
I would attend an HOA meeting to air out those grievances. If they don''t know your complaints, they cannot fix them. ESP. the part about the paving of their streets, and not yours. An HOA is not to landscape and do yard work for your neighbors. They can spend the saturdays doing their OWN yards... and vice versa. I would attend and ask these questions. I would feel that if someone''s yard is unkept... fine the owner of the house. Those fees should be for communal areas. Just my .02 -- best of luck!

Ditto - I think the HOA is not doing its job properly, and therefore a meeting of the HOA is the best place to air these (entirely legit, IMO) grievances.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

If you guys have plans, why don''t you offer to do your share on another day/weekend? Two hours isn''t much time to dedicate and it keeps the neighborhood looking nice.

If you don''t want to participate, why don''t you take that additional amount of money you would be willing to shell out, and use that to hire someone to do the two hours work? That is what I would do. Rather than creating negativity between you and your neighbors. Take it from me, who just moved due to that, once that happens, it''s impossible to go back.

 

[Italiahaircolor]

I hate my HOA too!

I wouldn''t go...you have plans! Clearly Saturdays aren''t always going to work for everyone. I would visit your next HOA meeting and let them know that you book your weekends up in advance and you''d be happy to pay a bit more to compensate for your absence.

 

[Steel]

Why should you have to pay & DIY?

Is there any chance of having a quiet word with somebody influential?

 

[strmrdr]

I would never join a HOA nor buy a property that has one.

 

[vespergirl]

Thanks for your input, everyone. Part of the reason that I have such a problem with this is because first of all, my husband works 14 hour days M-F and is up at 5 am every morning. Sat. & Sun. are the only days he gets to sleep in past 5, and I don''t want to push him out the door to do someone else yardwork, especially because the weekends are the only time that we have to do our own yardwork. The are also the only mornings that are family gets to see each other in the morning (we are asleep when he leaves every other day). The other thing is that I have a 2 year old, and when I mentioned that I would need to stay home to watch him, they said "bring him along." A lot of the work being done is on a stretch of public land right next to a busy road. The entire time, I would just have to be standing there watching him like a hawk, and preventing him from running into the road. I don''t see how our being there helps the project along. Finally, we actually do have plans with some friends to go to a children''s park 1/2 hour away that morning. When I mentioned that I already had plans to the cluster prez, she said, "well, we put out a calendar in the beginning of the year with our "volunteer" clean-up days, so we really didn''t just tell you about it this Tues."

Right, because I check the neighborhood cluster calendar first thing before I ever make any plans - please. It was that attitude that made me not want to participate.

Basically, though, I just really agree with the posters that said that if I am paying fees to have someone else do this, I should not do it if I don''t want to. I don''t live in a kibbutz. If they are going to try to force me to do yardwork in parts of my neighborhood that I don''t spend any time in, then I don''t want to also pay $600 per year for maintenance.

It''s true that I haven''t been to any of the cluster meetings, but I will be going to the next one. We are a small cluster, and everyone is friendly with each other, but I really hate that they are trying to make people do something that we didn''t sign up for. I''m not much of an outdoor laborer - to be honest, my husband does all of our yardwork. But, I have walked several of my neighbors dogs when they were out of town, shoveled snow out of sick neighbors driveways, and I always bring hot home-cooked meals to the doors of neighbors who have newborn babies or are recovering from surgery - so I am a neighborly person, and I do contribute to the community. I just refuse to be bullied into doing yardwork that I have already paid someone else to do. Especially when none of the community funds ever pay for the common areas outside of my own side of the cluster.

 

[D&T]

Date: 4/24/2009 3:24:44 PM
Author: Steel
Why should you have to pay & DIY?

Is there any chance of having a quiet word with somebody influential?

ditto....seriously

 

[VegasAngel]

Date: 4/24/2009 3:24:44 PM
Author: Steel
Why should you have to pay & DIY?

Is there any chance of having a quiet word with somebody influential?

Another ditto.

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 4/24/2009 10:42:55 AM
Author: Octavia
I agree with tlh, I would bring this to the attention of the neighborhood board, not the cluster board. The cluster board has very probably violated the terms of the HOA contract, which the full board should know about. Moreover, the cluster board and/or the individual property owners could be exposing themselves to liability in the event someone gets hit over the head with a tree branch or chops a finger along with a hedge. ESPECIALLY if people are bringing children along. IMO, raking leaves or planting pansies is one thing, but anything that requires certain skills or is potentially dangerous should be hired out.

ETA: PP, it would be one thing if this was part of the HOA contract, but it sounds like it was just a few people on a power trip, coming up with projects to benefit mostly themselves, and imposing it on everyone else in the cluster. And if I were in vespergirl''s shoes, I''d be opposed less to the substance of what they''re doing and more to the form by which they do it. Full vote, project gets the thumbs up? Fine. Being told that you have to give up time on a specific day to do work you never agreed to do, and having no say in the matter? Not fine at all.

DITTO!!!!!

We live in a condo with an HOA, and our fees go towards landscaping and general repairs to the buildings. Once a year we get together to discuss if there is anything we want added to the property (last year it was more bike racks and further discussion on a grilling area) AND that''s it.

My dad pays ridiculous HOA fees, and they go towards the landscaping and security. If someone leaves their trashcan outside overnight, or there is a car parked outside for more than a night, or the bushes (it''s NM, we don''t have a lot of trees) get out of control, that neighbor has to take care of the problem THEMSELVES. None of this taking advantage of the neighborhood association/HOA to do it for them--FOR FREE!

I can only imagine the uproar that would occur if my dad''s neighbors were told that on Saturday morning they would have to get together and go fix a mailbox. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

Sounds to me like they are trying to get free labor.

 

[Steel]

Hmmm,

I wonder if there is more to this that meets the eye? If as you say, your cluster neighbours can *afford* to make this go away - why wouldn''t they?

Me thinks there may be one or two busy bodies (Bree type A''s)* who think it is a ''great idea'' to get the neighbours involved. Just a suggestion. If this were the case you should watch closely at the meeting to see who else disagrees with the squeaky wheels and wants to keep weekends as family time not clean up other people''s yards time.

I feel for your DH, he sounds like a hard worker - as do you. Why should you be forced or ''guilted'' into this. It is ridiculous.

*Oh yes, that is where I was going with the Type A comment. It may be a thought to ''suggest'' that you would like there to be an option of more neighbour involvement for those that want it and perhaps there could be a monthly activity for those who are free to participate? Like take the family to the park month, or bake and share a cake month? But that you regret you cannot offer the commitment to the neighbourhood tidiness that has been suggested but you would be happy to revaluate the contribution fee to ensure that everybody is satisfied that this work gets professionally completed on a regular basis. This, if I am on to something will give the nosey/lonely/interfering biddies something else to do that will not impact you.

 

[vespergirl]

Date: 4/24/2009 4:06:19 PM
Author: Steel

Hmmm,

I wonder if there is more to this that meets the eye? If as you say, your cluster neighbours can *afford* to make this go away - why wouldn''t they?

Me thinks there may be one or two busy bodies (Bree type A''s)* who think it is a ''great idea'' to get the neighbours involved. Just a suggestion. If this were the case you should watch closely at the meeting to see who else disagrees with the squeaky wheels and wants to keep weekends as family time not clean up other people''s yards time.

I feel for your DH, he sounds like a hard worker - as do you. Why should you be forced or ''guilted'' into this. It is ridiculous.

*Oh yes, that is where I was going with the Type A comment. It may be a thought to ''suggest'' that you would like there to be an option of more neighbour involvement for those that want it and perhaps there could be a monthly activity for those who are free to participate? Like take the family to the park month, or bake and share a cake month? But that you regret you cannot offer the commitment to the neighbourhood tidiness that has been suggested but you would be happy to revaluate the contribution fee to ensure that everybody is satisfied that this work gets professionally completed on a regular basis. This, if I am on to something will give the nosey/lonely/interfering biddies something else to do that will not impact you.

I really like this idea. I would be happy to help organize a block party or something, but yardwork is not my thing.

The email that was sent around to everyone said that the reason that they were asking everyone to get together to do the yardwork was to keep our fees down to $600. If anyone asked us, we would have said, our time is more precious to us than money, we would rather pay an extra $100 per year to not have to spend our Saturdays mulching your cul de sac. No one goes to the meetings except for the 5 board members, so they made this decision without consulting the rest of the nieghborhood. I guess that I should start attending the meetings, and letting everyone know where we stand on this. We were hesitant moving into a neighborhood with an HOA, but when we read our contract, it seemed acceptable. I feel that it''s unfair that they are trying to add things to our contract that we never signed for when we bought the house. If the fees go up, they go up.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Vesper - sorry I didn't remember you have a 2 year old until you posted. . .this entirely changes the circumstances. Just hand the HOA lady a $50 bill and turn around and walk off. That way you've contributed.

 

[D&T]

The email that was sent around to everyone said that the reason that they were asking everyone to get together to do the yardwork was to keep our fees down to $600. If anyone asked us, we would have said, our time is more precious to us than money, we would rather pay an extra $100 per year to not have to spend our Saturdays mulching your cul de sac. No one goes to the meetings except for the 5 board members, so they made this decision without consulting the rest of the nieghborhood. I guess that I should start attending the meetings, and letting everyone know where we stand on this. We were hesitant moving into a neighborhood with an HOA, but when we read our contract, it seemed acceptable. I feel that it''s unfair that they are trying to add things to our contract that we never signed for when we bought the house. If the fees go up, they go up.

exactly!, fees/prices naturally will escalate

 

[Steel]

Date: 4/24/2009 4:21:00 PM
Author: vespergirl

I really like this idea. I would be happy to help organize a block party or something, but yardwork is not my thing.

The email that was sent around to everyone said that the reason that they were asking everyone to get together to do the yardwork was to keep our fees down to $600. If anyone asked us, we would have said, our time is more precious to us than money, we would rather pay an extra $100 per year to not have to spend our Saturdays mulching your cul de sac. No one goes to the meetings except for the 5 board members, so they made this decision without consulting the rest of the nieghborhood. I guess that I should start attending the meetings, and letting everyone know where we stand on this. We were hesitant moving into a neighborhood with an HOA, but when we read our contract, it seemed acceptable. I feel that it''s unfair that they are trying to add things to our contract that we never signed for when we bought the house. If the fees go up, they go up.

Mwuah Mwuah! Happy to be a sounding board.

 

[vespergirl]

Date: 4/24/2009 4:28:29 PM
Author: MC
Vesper - sorry I didn''t remember you have a 2 year old until you posted. . .this entirely changes the circumstances. Just hand the HOA lady a $50 bill and turn around and walk off. That way you''ve contributed.

No worries - I really did want everyone''s honest opinions anyway - I truly did want to get others'' perspective on this, and I appreciate everyone''s opinion. And you really do have a good point about the neighbor relationships - once they''re damaged, they''re damaged, so I need to work on being more visible in the cluster. Maybe I really need to start going to those meetings ...

 

[DivaDiamond007]

Date: 4/24/2009 3:25:25 PM
Author: strmrdr
I would never join a HOA nor buy a property that has one.

+1

Honestly, it''s not your problem that your neighbors can''t find the time to pick up their yard or replace their mailbox. I''d be checking out the HOA contract and taking my complaints directly to the top of the food chain. Better yet, I''d move.

 

[Ara Ann]

Mailboxes are a sore subject with us and our HOA...we all have to have the same mailboxes, according to our by-laws. Our builder installed all the matching ''custom'' mailboxes as our homes were built...well, 3 years ago, someone vandalized about 15 mailboxes throughout the development and they needed to be replaced...but since we could no longer purchase the same style to replace the damaged ones, the HOA replaced ALL 200 mailboxes, charging the replacement cost to each homeowner...the replacement cost including labor was $460.00 per house...on top of our yearly dues. They did this without any approval from the homeowners either...they are decent mailboxes, but not close to $500 worth. IMO, our HOA should have had insurance that would have covered the vandalism...but I guess we weren''t covered for that...makes me wonder if there are other existing loopholes we aren''t aware of.

HOA''s, if they are implemented properly can be a good thing, it does prevent a lot of eyesores from cropping up, but if they are mismanaged or are run by power trippy people, it can make life miserable. I lost a good friendship with my neighbor when her husband became the HOA president...she turned into a major gossip and I couldn''t trust her anymore. Very sad.

 

[luv2sparkle]

We hate our HOA too. First one we have ever had in 27 years of home owners. They send us letters if our grass is 1/2 inch too long and one time we left our lawn
clipping trash can just outside our back gate for 12 hours before trash pick up because it was so heavy, and we got a letter. We have a power trippy association
too and it gets so old. I do love our house so I guess we are stuck for now. If I could just move the house to another lot.......

 

[ilovedogs]

As a memeber of an HOA myself as well as a realtor in Chicago (know the workings of an association in and out) this should be "voted" on. They can''t dictate a cleanup day. My husband is also the board president of our association and I guarantee if our board ever did that we would hear about it for days....

 

[risingsun]

Date: 4/24/2009 5:26:44 PM
Author: vespergirl

Date: 4/24/2009 4:28:29 PM
Author: MC
Vesper - sorry I didn't remember you have a 2 year old until you posted. . .this entirely changes the circumstances. Just hand the HOA lady a $50 bill and turn around and walk off. That way you've contributed.

No worries - I really did want everyone's honest opinions anyway - I truly did want to get others' perspective on this, and I appreciate everyone's opinion. And you really do have a good point about the neighbor relationships - once they're damaged, they're damaged, so I need to work on being more visible in the cluster. Maybe I really need to start going to those meetings ...

I think a HOA should take care of things that affect everyone. If an individual property needs tree trimming or landscaping, that comes under the costs of being a homeowner. Madame Prez needs to find better things to do than measuring the length of her neighbors' lawns. Good grief! Hang in there

 

[bee*]

I think that while it might be a nice thing to do with the neighbours, it would definitely annoy me that I would have to do the work that I put my hard earned money towards.

 

[CJ2008]

Date: 4/24/2009 1:13:22 PM
Author: MC
If you guys have plans, why don''t you offer to do your share on another day/weekend? Two hours isn''t much time to dedicate and it keeps the neighborhood looking nice.

If you don''t want to participate, why don''t you take that additional amount of money you would be willing to shell out, and use that to hire someone to do the two hours work? That is what I would do. Rather than creating negativity between you and your neighbors. Take it from me, who just moved due to that, once that happens, it''s impossible to go back.

I don''t agree with that at all...I think two hours for something you don''t want to do, and you pay for, is two hours too many. And that''s whether you have a child or not...

While it may be "nice" to help out, people should help out if they want to, and can...

 

[ckrickett]

we pay 1200 a year for our HOA fees and that goes towards landscaping 2 times a month, garbage pick up and maintenance. If they ever told us that we had to get up and do anything I would probably flip.
If it was up to a vote, and it said somewhere in our contract that we would have to recognize if the rules changed with a vote from our neighboors I wouldn''t be happy but I would go along with it. If some board members didn''t ask us anything and just said HEY you gotta DO THIS.. I would not be very pleased.