The HOA Festival

Posted on Thu 03/30/06 in South Florida

Last night I attended our homeowner association’s annual circus meeting. Most of the content was laughable. I found comments made by one new resident to be especially ridiculous, and here is a summary of her comments:

1. She requested the HOA rules to be put on one sheet because she is not going to read them if they are more than that. (This was her reasoning for not knowing ANYTHING about the rules, yet she was complaining about all of them).

2. She “knows” that what the management company is saying about the insurance they have is not true, but she cannot provide any written documents to disprove.

3. Following the previous comment, she proceeded with her impromptu job interview of the management company’s representative. She wasn’t impressed that they manage 130 HOA’s in South Florida.

4. This was my favorite… she said that she didn’t feel that she was properly welcomed to the neighborhood by the HOA board members. One of them responded, “Would you like me to come knock on your door every morning?” And the woman answered, “Well, maybe you could like send out Easter cards or something.” I left shortly after that one.

BONUS: Three generalizations about HOA meetings:

1. The residents always complain about stuff, and they complain even more when their dues are raised to accomodate their requests.

2. Being a board member is for suckers.

3. Nobody really knows the rules.