Fort Myers, FL
I was talking to an H.O.A. President yesterday who was telling me how they were also "working" with people who say they have financial problems paying their quarterly membership dues. That H.O.A., just like Daniels Preserve, cut the person a break. And, my reaction to that deal is the same to the Daniels Preserve deal...If you're going to make deals available to one homeowner you need to make it available to all. It's only fair.
Put it in your newsletter and your website that it's available. Print it in a letter and deliver it to every homeowner. Or find ways to cut your fees so everyone gets a break across the board. The reason H.O.A.'s won't do this is because they know just about every person will try to find a way to pay less, giving them less money which leads to less power. How many people have tried to get their mortgage lowered despite the fact they were able to pay it or the reason they were underwater was because they took out a home equity line? Many. It's human nature.
The reason for that is because people are taxed and fee'd to death. They will try to find a way to lower their H.O.A fees because they don't feel like they get what they pay for and they'd like to keep more of the money they work so hard to earn. Management companies are legal scam artists that produce nothing positive in any neighborhood. I saw a post on one of my stories the other day defending management companies. The person was claiming the only reason they do what they do is because our neighbors make them do it. What a crock that is. Measuring our mulch and checking our roof gets you people higher than a Friday night Mushroom-fest at the dog park. All common sense goes out the window when management company employees start snooping around our homes.
The same people who lecture me about how YOU MUST follow the rules or neighborhoods will have purple houses, commercial vehicles and hot tubs in the front lawn are the same people bending the rules as they see fit. And they do it without telling anybody. Too many personalities are involved. Too many ego's are involved.
I understand that up until a few days ago the Gateway Greens H.O.A. was listing unfixed infractions, including names of homeowners, on a public bulletin board, for everyone to see. Now that was very neighborly. How demeaning can you get? Can you get any more ridiculous with your power? Can you not find a more useful project to do with your time? Do you think doing that to someone is going to get them to run home and fix what you think is out of place? Get over yourselves. Those people are going to let it go as long as they can just to prove a point. And then you'll waste more money writing them letters and telling them you are going to auction off their house at the court house.
People are out in my neighborhood, and probably yours too, every weekend, mowing the lawn, planting flowers or putting in mulch. They're doing whatever they can with the time they have and the money they have left. And every once in a while someone has a backyard party or a driveway get-together or the kids are playing basketball with an unauthorized illegal 10 foot 6 inch high rim purchased at Costco. So what. That's what make a great community.
H.O.A.'s always claim that home value's in their neighborhood would be worthless if it weren't for them and the tough job they had keeping every single home looking spotless, not to mention identical. Can we blame our home value's on you now then? Of course not. Home values are where they are because of the economy. And when the economy picks up those homes growing weeds through the pavers will be scooped up for a bargain, cleaned up and new residents will enjoy living here. That is until they find out they have a Notsie H.O.A. and a scamming Management Company waiting in their bushes with a white glove ready to give their home a rectal exam.
