...at least it seems that way!! 
<Rant on>
Along with my own personal drama of late, I'm very frustrated internally with our HOA board as well as with a landlord who rents out property adjacent to us. And while I know I have to do my part to be a good neighbor, keep our HOA rules enforced and enforce boundaries, I feel like I'm turning into an old bat.
Deep breath, here goes:
I live in a wonderful townhouse complex in a nice Seattle suburb. We are small in number, so we are a self-run group and do not use a property management company. We do our own books. We are pretty low key as we do not have a pool, gym or clubhouse to maintain; other than the basics of insurance, garbage pickup, keeping our reserves at proper levels, etc, we focus most of our common efforts into our landscaping in the front areas and side yards. Gotta admit, it looks good!
I got elected to the Board about 6 months after I moved in here nearly 5 years ago. Most all of us in the complex, coincidentally, are single. The units are very spacious but the complex is not super kid-friendly...no huge backyards, for example. So, there are not of people to choose from when electing officers
. I figured sure, I'm here, I need to do my part to help out.
At the time, two of our board Officers were a married couple (one of the few couples who live here) and they are fantastic. They really cared about the complex, had lived here for years and were the real drivers in being proactive and looking out for things that needed repair or changing. They each really went above and beyond and our complex really benefited from that. The HOA would take a few bucks out of reserves every year so they could go out on the town and have a nice dinner as a 'thank you' from all of us. Pretty cool!
Well, things change. The couple is in the process of building a home of their own and after 14-15 years of keeping things moving along here they understandably now have other priorities. We have a new board as a result (I'm still on it). Let's just say it is very different than it used to be and we're still trying to get legs under us. One officer is a good GF of mine, super sharp, and the other two are, how shall I say it, EXTREMELY passive men.
one of the men is our president, at least on paper. He has no sense of urgency about anything and is a poor communicator. I have to constantly follow up and remind him about things that we need to address. He doesn't freely share info about quotes he's gotten for repairs or anything. He just keeps quiet until another board member asks hey what's the status on those quotes? It's just a difficult style to work with.
I have encouraged him to meet up with the couple who used to be on the board to get some of their 'tribal knowledge' passed on before they move out and it's too late. The other guy is our treasurer and while he may do a good job with the books I do not trust him. It's sad.
We're dealing with two big issues right now, and not very well I might add. One is internal: one individual in the complex took it upon himself to install large satellite dishes (3!) on his front balcony which is a HOA violation not to mention an eyesore. Rather than be accountable for his actions and take them down (and get cable or remount his dishes out of line of sight as others have done), he's now trying to make this the HOA's problem by whining that the contract termination fees are too high.
The other is external: next door to our property is a dump. OK, I'll rephrase: it's a rundown house which has been converted into multiple apartments. Thankfully we have a large row of trees which are a barrier so we don't have to look at it all day. The landlord is a slumlord. He doesn't provide garbage pickup service to his tenants. I'm sorry to sound snotty here but this is the SUBURBS, NOT CAMPING. It's deplorable. There are old boats and debris everywhere in their yard. You can imagine what the tenants are like. We have had problems down there with, among other things, them sneaking through and using our garbage dumpster and what have you (which means any overflow gets left behind on pickup day = big health hazard). I have had more nasty conversations with the landlord than I care to admit. I actually caught a woman red-handed sneaking through one day with her garbage while I was working from home. WTF?? You can imagine how startled she was when I called her on it!
We're likely getting a gate and padlock put on our garbage bin area as a result. It's sad but necessary.
What's my point here? I guess I am feeling like I'm being a nag and having such a negative undercurrent in my life these days and having to point out things that should be obvious. I feel I have to be the one to remind, follow up to get things done and that no one else cares. Have I mentioned I am a GIT 'R' DUN type of girl? I'm just tired of the mediocrity and apathy of late.
I don't want to be a nag or martyr here in wading through all this...am I just being whiney?
<rant off>
<Rant on>
Along with my own personal drama of late, I'm very frustrated internally with our HOA board as well as with a landlord who rents out property adjacent to us. And while I know I have to do my part to be a good neighbor, keep our HOA rules enforced and enforce boundaries, I feel like I'm turning into an old bat.
Deep breath, here goes:
I live in a wonderful townhouse complex in a nice Seattle suburb. We are small in number, so we are a self-run group and do not use a property management company. We do our own books. We are pretty low key as we do not have a pool, gym or clubhouse to maintain; other than the basics of insurance, garbage pickup, keeping our reserves at proper levels, etc, we focus most of our common efforts into our landscaping in the front areas and side yards. Gotta admit, it looks good!
I got elected to the Board about 6 months after I moved in here nearly 5 years ago. Most all of us in the complex, coincidentally, are single. The units are very spacious but the complex is not super kid-friendly...no huge backyards, for example. So, there are not of people to choose from when electing officers
. I figured sure, I'm here, I need to do my part to help out.At the time, two of our board Officers were a married couple (one of the few couples who live here) and they are fantastic. They really cared about the complex, had lived here for years and were the real drivers in being proactive and looking out for things that needed repair or changing. They each really went above and beyond and our complex really benefited from that. The HOA would take a few bucks out of reserves every year so they could go out on the town and have a nice dinner as a 'thank you' from all of us. Pretty cool!
Well, things change. The couple is in the process of building a home of their own and after 14-15 years of keeping things moving along here they understandably now have other priorities. We have a new board as a result (I'm still on it). Let's just say it is very different than it used to be and we're still trying to get legs under us. One officer is a good GF of mine, super sharp, and the other two are, how shall I say it, EXTREMELY passive men.
one of the men is our president, at least on paper. He has no sense of urgency about anything and is a poor communicator. I have to constantly follow up and remind him about things that we need to address. He doesn't freely share info about quotes he's gotten for repairs or anything. He just keeps quiet until another board member asks hey what's the status on those quotes? It's just a difficult style to work with. I have encouraged him to meet up with the couple who used to be on the board to get some of their 'tribal knowledge' passed on before they move out and it's too late. The other guy is our treasurer and while he may do a good job with the books I do not trust him. It's sad.
We're dealing with two big issues right now, and not very well I might add. One is internal: one individual in the complex took it upon himself to install large satellite dishes (3!) on his front balcony which is a HOA violation not to mention an eyesore. Rather than be accountable for his actions and take them down (and get cable or remount his dishes out of line of sight as others have done), he's now trying to make this the HOA's problem by whining that the contract termination fees are too high.
The other is external: next door to our property is a dump. OK, I'll rephrase: it's a rundown house which has been converted into multiple apartments. Thankfully we have a large row of trees which are a barrier so we don't have to look at it all day. The landlord is a slumlord. He doesn't provide garbage pickup service to his tenants. I'm sorry to sound snotty here but this is the SUBURBS, NOT CAMPING. It's deplorable. There are old boats and debris everywhere in their yard. You can imagine what the tenants are like. We have had problems down there with, among other things, them sneaking through and using our garbage dumpster and what have you (which means any overflow gets left behind on pickup day = big health hazard). I have had more nasty conversations with the landlord than I care to admit. I actually caught a woman red-handed sneaking through one day with her garbage while I was working from home. WTF??
You can imagine how startled she was when I called her on it!We're likely getting a gate and padlock put on our garbage bin area as a result. It's sad but necessary.
What's my point here? I guess I am feeling like I'm being a nag and having such a negative undercurrent in my life these days and having to point out things that should be obvious. I feel I have to be the one to remind, follow up to get things done and that no one else cares. Have I mentioned I am a GIT 'R' DUN type of girl? I'm just tired of the mediocrity and apathy of late.
I don't want to be a nag or martyr here in wading through all this...am I just being whiney?
<rant off>
