Neighborhood Associations
10-30-2003, 07:04 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Neighborhood Associations
In keeping with the General format of this forum, I would like to hear some of our member's opinions of neighborhood associations, both good and bad.
I was "drafted" into being the VP of our Neighborhood Association, which encompasses about a hundred homes on approximately 1 acre lots, in a rural-surburban area. Ours is a somewhat "up-scale," (not "snooty") development, with all custom homes...no 2 alike. We have an annual meeting once a year, which usually turns into somewhat of a shouting match among neighbors regarding the compliance/enforcement of Deed Restrictions. We had our 2003 meeting last night, and only about 15 homeowners bothered to attend. Surprise: NO ARGUMENTS!!!
My questions:
What are the annual dues for Associations in your area? (Ours are a measly $25 a year, which our executive committee is recommending increasing to $100 a year, so that we can have some reserve, plus do some overdue maintenance on common areas)
How do you enforce Deed Restrictions? How do we put "teeth" into ours?
How often do you meet?
How do you correspond with your fellow homeowners?
Do you have neighborhood social events...Picnics, mixers, kid's activities that are paid from the dues fund?
Any other comments you may have.
I'd like to have some insight from others who may have experience in this matter. I'd really like to keep our Association heading in a positive direction in spite of the 10% who don't seem to understand that all we're doing is trying to maintain our property values and keep our neighborhood a desirable place to live.
Thanks for your help!!
I was "drafted" into being the VP of our Neighborhood Association, which encompasses about a hundred homes on approximately 1 acre lots, in a rural-surburban area. Ours is a somewhat "up-scale," (not "snooty") development, with all custom homes...no 2 alike. We have an annual meeting once a year, which usually turns into somewhat of a shouting match among neighbors regarding the compliance/enforcement of Deed Restrictions. We had our 2003 meeting last night, and only about 15 homeowners bothered to attend. Surprise: NO ARGUMENTS!!!
My questions:
What are the annual dues for Associations in your area? (Ours are a measly $25 a year, which our executive committee is recommending increasing to $100 a year, so that we can have some reserve, plus do some overdue maintenance on common areas)
How do you enforce Deed Restrictions? How do we put "teeth" into ours?
How often do you meet?
How do you correspond with your fellow homeowners?
Do you have neighborhood social events...Picnics, mixers, kid's activities that are paid from the dues fund?
Any other comments you may have.
I'd like to have some insight from others who may have experience in this matter. I'd really like to keep our Association heading in a positive direction in spite of the 10% who don't seem to understand that all we're doing is trying to maintain our property values and keep our neighborhood a desirable place to live.
Thanks for your help!!
10-30-2003, 02:36 PM
#2
Registered User
Gene,
We have a homeowners association. Our dues are $100 per year, which is pretty modest. To contrast, we pay association fees of $365 per MONTH for our condo in Myrtle Beach.
. Granted, it's in a resort peoperty and includes water and CATV but still.
We don't have a pool or tennis courts in the development here in Ohio so I believe the dues are used for:
a) landscape maintenance of the two entrances into the development.
b) the block party
c) insurance
d) welcome baskets of goodies for new people
As far as enforcing rules. We have an architectural review board in the development that is in addition to our city's, which is already pretty strict. But we wanted to maintain a consistent look and feel for new construction in the development. And we wanted good materials used. Plus there are rules about no fences, no out-buildings (i.e. sheds), landscape appearance etc. All of these are targeted at one thing. Maintaining property values. And I'm all for it!!! We even have rules that kids play sets have to be in the back yard and in the shadow of the house. The rules are enforced because the association is an entity of some kind. I don't know if it is a legal entity or not, but something like that. The deed restrictions are part of purchasing a lot/home. So you buy into them when you move here. You sign your name. You are accountable to those. We could take someone to court to enforce them if we had to.
They tried to draft me too but I said "no way". I volunteered for the "beautification committee" and we got a landscape designer/contractor to re-do our 2 entries. Other than that all we did was award the yard of the month (gift certificate to a nursery) in the spring/summer/fall and awards for holiday decorations. Hope that helps. LEt me know if you have any other questions. I can find out more.
We have a homeowners association. Our dues are $100 per year, which is pretty modest. To contrast, we pay association fees of $365 per MONTH for our condo in Myrtle Beach.
. Granted, it's in a resort peoperty and includes water and CATV but still.We don't have a pool or tennis courts in the development here in Ohio so I believe the dues are used for:
a) landscape maintenance of the two entrances into the development.
b) the block party
c) insurance
d) welcome baskets of goodies for new people
As far as enforcing rules. We have an architectural review board in the development that is in addition to our city's, which is already pretty strict. But we wanted to maintain a consistent look and feel for new construction in the development. And we wanted good materials used. Plus there are rules about no fences, no out-buildings (i.e. sheds), landscape appearance etc. All of these are targeted at one thing. Maintaining property values. And I'm all for it!!! We even have rules that kids play sets have to be in the back yard and in the shadow of the house. The rules are enforced because the association is an entity of some kind. I don't know if it is a legal entity or not, but something like that. The deed restrictions are part of purchasing a lot/home. So you buy into them when you move here. You sign your name. You are accountable to those. We could take someone to court to enforce them if we had to.
They tried to draft me too but I said "no way". I volunteered for the "beautification committee" and we got a landscape designer/contractor to re-do our 2 entries. Other than that all we did was award the yard of the month (gift certificate to a nursery) in the spring/summer/fall and awards for holiday decorations. Hope that helps. LEt me know if you have any other questions. I can find out more.
10-30-2003, 02:53 PM
#3
Thread Starter
Carmen,
Sounds like our two communities are very similar. We have exactly the same committees and restrictions as yours, including the buy-in when you move in. The problem is, several people have been allowed (by inaction) to violate a couple of the restrictions for 3 or 4 years. We are now trying to clamp down and make them comply. We try to appeal to their sense of community, but for some people, that doesn't work. The next step is to take them to court, which I guess we will have to do.
Why does there always seem to be the 5% or so who just can't go by the rules and get along?
Anyway, thanks for your perspective.
BTW, I like your development's idea for a "yard-of-the-month" or holiday decoration award. That might spur some in ours to become more active, although people generally keep their landscaping neat.
Again, thanks for answering my questions. Knowing that other communities make it work gives me a little hope!
Sounds like our two communities are very similar. We have exactly the same committees and restrictions as yours, including the buy-in when you move in. The problem is, several people have been allowed (by inaction) to violate a couple of the restrictions for 3 or 4 years. We are now trying to clamp down and make them comply. We try to appeal to their sense of community, but for some people, that doesn't work. The next step is to take them to court, which I guess we will have to do.
Why does there always seem to be the 5% or so who just can't go by the rules and get along?
Anyway, thanks for your perspective.
BTW, I like your development's idea for a "yard-of-the-month" or holiday decoration award. That might spur some in ours to become more active, although people generally keep their landscaping neat.
Again, thanks for answering my questions. Knowing that other communities make it work gives me a little hope!
10-30-2003, 03:26 PM
#4
Registered User
We had one family who was here for a long time and still had the stones in his driveway from the construction phase. And NO landscaping. Ya know what the funny part is? He's a landscaper 
. He was grandfathered into the development and built prior to all the restrictions. So he held that over the association. I think they started out by sending "formal" sounding letters and then I think it progressed to getting letters from lawyers. They finally complied.
This is why I didn't want to be on the BOD. I don't have the heart to go tell one of my neighbors that they need to move the kids swing set.
What surprises me is that people don't see the connection between a $30 bag of fertilizer and the value of their $400k home.
. He was grandfathered into the development and built prior to all the restrictions. So he held that over the association. I think they started out by sending "formal" sounding letters and then I think it progressed to getting letters from lawyers. They finally complied.This is why I didn't want to be on the BOD. I don't have the heart to go tell one of my neighbors that they need to move the kids swing set.
What surprises me is that people don't see the connection between a $30 bag of fertilizer and the value of their $400k home.
10-30-2003, 04:11 PM
#5
E.W.A. and I lived in a loft in New York City for a number of years. Our building was a co-op. I spent many years on the Board of Directors. While this entity is different, many of the problems are the same. A co-op loft building or a co-op apartment building in the city is really just a vertical version of your community.
In order to safeguard our building and to protect the value we had a strictly enforced prohibition on subletting. This insured that only owners were living in the building. We felt that because the residents all had a vested interest in the building, the building was better cared for. I think it was a good policy in spite of the fact that it cost many of us, myself included, money.
We had a managing agent to take care of issues like collecting the maintanence so this task did not fall on us. Unfortunately, our problems consisted of petty squabbles among the residents such as the sharing of joint roof space, playing of loud music and other nonsensical issues.
Our other task was to set building policy and interview and evaluate applicants for addmission into the co-op.
To agree with Carmen, being on the Board of Directors was a thankless job, and any decision we made angered and upset someone.
My experience was similar to both of yours in that 5% of the residents caused 95% of the problems.
In order to safeguard our building and to protect the value we had a strictly enforced prohibition on subletting. This insured that only owners were living in the building. We felt that because the residents all had a vested interest in the building, the building was better cared for. I think it was a good policy in spite of the fact that it cost many of us, myself included, money.
We had a managing agent to take care of issues like collecting the maintanence so this task did not fall on us. Unfortunately, our problems consisted of petty squabbles among the residents such as the sharing of joint roof space, playing of loud music and other nonsensical issues.
Our other task was to set building policy and interview and evaluate applicants for addmission into the co-op.
To agree with Carmen, being on the Board of Directors was a thankless job, and any decision we made angered and upset someone.
My experience was similar to both of yours in that 5% of the residents caused 95% of the problems.
10-30-2003, 04:34 PM
#6
Former Sponsor
When I lived in Larchmont, NY, I was president of the homeowners association in an area of about 80 homes called Howell Park. It was a fanastic volunteer job, although a lot of very hard work.
The association had existed since the early 1920s and a number of marvelous traditions had developed. We had an annual children's party during the summer with rides, games, and the like, and a steak party in June. Nearly everybody showed up. It was a real community -- we all knew each other, the kids all went to the same schools, and there was almost never any bickering. Although we moved out in 1991, we still have good friends there and visit occassionally.
We had an annual meeting and we could count on about 75 percent of the homeowners attending. I think it was pretty special. The homes were all 60 plus years old and some had been in the same family for a few generations. Almost everyone living there commuted on the train to NYC, so we saw each other every day. When a new family moved into Howell Park, the kids would all go by to say hello, and we'd send a delgation to welcome them and tell them about our traditions. The community was a mix of professional people -- lawyers, architects, investment bankers, physicians.
I don't think many newer communities have this kind of spirit and I really miss what we had there. When we came to Baltimore, we moved first to Ruxton, a very upscale kind of place. Nobody there ever talked to each other and there was no community of any kind. It was pathetic.
Now that our kids are out of the nest we live in a townhome community that is quite neighborly. We have an association, but it's all about enforcing regulations (what color we can paint our front door, ad nusuem), not community building. If an association is to be really effective, community building has to be its first goal.
The association had existed since the early 1920s and a number of marvelous traditions had developed. We had an annual children's party during the summer with rides, games, and the like, and a steak party in June. Nearly everybody showed up. It was a real community -- we all knew each other, the kids all went to the same schools, and there was almost never any bickering. Although we moved out in 1991, we still have good friends there and visit occassionally.
We had an annual meeting and we could count on about 75 percent of the homeowners attending. I think it was pretty special. The homes were all 60 plus years old and some had been in the same family for a few generations. Almost everyone living there commuted on the train to NYC, so we saw each other every day. When a new family moved into Howell Park, the kids would all go by to say hello, and we'd send a delgation to welcome them and tell them about our traditions. The community was a mix of professional people -- lawyers, architects, investment bankers, physicians.
I don't think many newer communities have this kind of spirit and I really miss what we had there. When we came to Baltimore, we moved first to Ruxton, a very upscale kind of place. Nobody there ever talked to each other and there was no community of any kind. It was pathetic.
Now that our kids are out of the nest we live in a townhome community that is quite neighborly. We have an association, but it's all about enforcing regulations (what color we can paint our front door, ad nusuem), not community building. If an association is to be really effective, community building has to be its first goal.
10-30-2003, 04:43 PM
#7
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Location: Denton, Texas
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Live in an area called Highland Shores. It is about 15 years old (almost finished building out) and has about 1700 homes. It is a great place that a very strong home owners association has helped maintain. We pay about $700 / year which is not bad for 3 pools, tennis courts, many miles of jogging/walking paths, green belt, etc.
In the covenants they are very specific as to what is and what is not allowed. The home owners assoc has no problem taking people to court if they will not abide by the regulations.
An example is when we put a pool in our back yard the HOA had to approve the design and construction. We also had to give them, the HOA, a deposit of $1,000 should the people who are doing the pool work damage any of the common property. The HOA gave the check back after their inspection to ensure that your pool was according to the plans submitted.
In the covenants they are very specific as to what is and what is not allowed. The home owners assoc has no problem taking people to court if they will not abide by the regulations.
An example is when we put a pool in our back yard the HOA had to approve the design and construction. We also had to give them, the HOA, a deposit of $1,000 should the people who are doing the pool work damage any of the common property. The HOA gave the check back after their inspection to ensure that your pool was according to the plans submitted.
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10-30-2003, 04:47 PM
#8
Rick - My ex MIL lives in Towson, very close to Ruxton. Beautiful properties there, but you are right. It seems like a cold place to me.
10-30-2003, 04:53 PM
#9
[QUOTE]Originally posted by mns2k
10-30-2003, 05:22 PM
#10
Thread Starter
Originally posted by OhioRacer
We had one family who was here for a long time and still had the stones in his driveway from the construction phase. And NO landscaping. Ya know what the funny part is? He's a landscaper .
We had one family who was here for a long time and still had the stones in his driveway from the construction phase. And NO landscaping. Ya know what the funny part is? He's a landscaper
.
My neighbor two doors down is a building contractor, and he still has Tyvec flapping in the breeze on the rear of his house (which he has lived in for 3 years). In addition, he started a deck last year and only completed about 1/4 of it, no railings, and more than that, no building permit that we can find. I guess the legend about the shoemaker's children has a lot of truth in it! Plus, he is an arrogant
who you can't reason with. His house backs up to a wooded area, so at least no neighbors have to look out their back door at him.I know where we're headed with him.
Thanks, everyone, for your posts. I now have some more ammunition to take to our BOD to prove that we're headed in the right direction.