If you are in the market for a house or have purchased one in the psst few years, you are likely familiar with the Homeowner’s Association, a fixture in the management of neighborhoods for over 62 million Americans.
In theory, the Homeowner’s Association collects your fees, maintains the neighborhood common areas and amenities, and makes binding judgements about problems that detract from the neighborhood’s value or breach the rules.
In reality, although that is accomplished, the process to get there is often more political than people realize when they buy into the neighborhood. In many cases, in order to have a voice, it is necessary for residents to organize politically, creating a coalition of neighbors around a specific issue.
Here is a look at some of the types of politics that can detract from you having a normal say in what the homeowner’s association decides:
Election of a Cabal: Most HOA business is fairly mundane. Yet there can be times in the dynamics of your neighborhood where similar groups of people eschew the notion of serving like a statesman on the board and coalesce around an issue that favors a narrow portion of the community. According to Triquest Management LLC, “Once this happens, you will likely not have much of a voice in the actions that they take that are related to their goal. If you want to have a say, you will have to rewind to back before the election and try and block this type of configuration from coming into power in the first place.” One affluent neighborhood in Laguna Hills saw the end game that came from this type of election when the board moved to chop down all the mature eucalyptus trees in the neighborhood, accomplishing a long-term goal for a lot of the homeowners who live on top of the hill and had paid more for their land, only to find out that the trees blocked their view.
Police were called in after a shotgun was brandished by a tree lover that was upset that the board quietly voted to chop the trees down immediately. Many of the neighbors were also angry and vowed to make board changes as soon as possible because they did not feel the HOA had acted in the best interest of the entire community.
Oversight is for Homeowners: In this type of scenario, although the board is fairly powerful when it comes to dictating the changes that you can make to your own property, they have sort of a mental gap when it comes to understanding that they should be spending community money and resources on community needs only. On the positive side, your voice in their presence will remain the same in most cases, unless you broach the topic of their spending habits, whereupon things could become political. One Texas homeowner ended up having trouble with his board when he started questioning all the purchases of alcohol and pet food by the board. In order to forestall this type of activity, it makes sense to push for open meetings that have published notes so that there are no surprises for any of the homeowners.
Executive execution: Many homeowners go for years without having any trouble with their HOA. There is a fine balance between not paying that much attention to them and staying really involved in neighborhood politics that defines many. For those that choose not to stay involved, the consequences can sometimes mean a total loss of your voice when the board has determined to be more corporate in transacting business. One woman in Houston, Texas had her home foreclosed on by the HOA after she failed to pay $876 in homeowner’s fees that she apparently wasn’t aware of because her husband passed away and the notices were sent in his name. After being evicted with one change of clothes and living as a homeless women for one year, the community group that helped her fight back brought up the notion that maybe the board should have arranged to stop by and talk to her before they foreclosed. Her party won in court and the HOA bought her home back for her and paid her $300,000 extra- making a strong case for board decisions impacting residents to be a little less corporate in their execution.
