When I was young and in the military I was stationed at MacDill AFB near Tampa, Fla. I bought a home in a community that was an HOA and the main feature for the community was a very nice swimming pool. Our home backed up to the pool and one day a couple of the Board of Directors came to me and said that one of the directors of the association had resigned and would I fill the position. I told them that I was in a special operations unit and didn't have much free time but I would do what I could for the neighborhood.
It wasn't until after I had agreed to serve that I discovered the board had frittered away the association funds and was almost broke. To compensate they put me in charge of the pool and reduced the hours of operation. It was required that a lifeguard had to be on duty for members to use the pool. The lifeguard came to me and said they couldn't work any more unless they were paid. I started to look into the finances and found there was little records and that pool suppliers had not been paid either.
There was no way to track down records as they were kept by the other board members and I found the association was out of funds. The other board members would not return my calls or advise who even had the financial records. I had no option but to close the pool down until we could afford again to keep it going. When that happened the members refused to pay dues. Most in the community were young professionals with children and like myself were attracted to the community because of the swimming pool.
As I tried to reconstruct the demise of the association it was easy to see how it went down. Those entrusted with the funds either ended up with them themselves or spent association money on frivolous non essential things that did not benefit the association. I was a witness of seeing a HOA meet its death. The pool area soon was overgrown and unusable. Some of the members (including myself) tried to get the members to reopen the pool but none were any longer interested. It was a very sad thing to witness.
3 comments:
If ever I can sell my place and buy again I will make sure there isn't an HOA!
And you mention this why? Is there a elephant in the room (Colorado) That we should know about? Asking for a friend.
I am going to do a series of posts about the slow decline of an association from my point of view. We have been in associations that get better and better each year and also some going the other way. When the decline hits the tipping point I can't tell but it does happen. Watch the next four posts to see what I have a do observe. Once they start to slide down hill (appropriate pun) the farther they go the harder it is to bring them back.
Post a Comment