Little update and I apologize in advance for my rambling...
HOA meeting was last night...was very 'interesting.' Basically a bunch of people jumping to conclusions. I.E.: "If we don't change our covenants someone can put a mobile home on a lot"..."um no, ever heard of zoning? We have it and you can't do that here" ... "but someone could put a mobile home in the subdivision!"
Here is the jist of everything.
- Original builder is the executor(?) of the SD covenants. Original builder is defunct so supposedly no one can enforce the covenants. B/c of this people are not paying their yearly dues, probably around 1/4 to 1/3 don't pay.
- We have to retain counsel to see if the HOA can incorporate and then replace the old covenants that are not enforcable.
- The HOA's excuse not to communicate over the past 3 years or hold one single meeting is "we were busy and didn't want to bother everyone."
- Several people sent emails saying they opposed everything dude to the wording on the memo that went out prior to the meeting. This memo was the one that said "if you don't show up your vote will be counted as a yes." The HOA still doesn't understand (even though I told them) that this really hurt them. Carrot before the stick people!
- I went toe-to-toe with a lawyer who was a homeowner. He, along with others, kept saying that the old covenants were "boilerplate builder covenants" and worthless. I had to point out that the old/legal covenants were basically the same as the new ones the HOA wanted to pass. "But they don't say anything about parking in the street"..."-clears throat- actually they do - see section 4.0.1"
- The HOA Pres couldn't believe that people were still buying houses and being supplied with the "old" covenants. "Lady - the old covenants are the legally binding covenants, are filed at the courthouse and are therefore what matters." Her response "but the HOA board passed the new covenants in 2003!" My response "Lady, the new covenants are not worth the paper they are written on since they were never filed"..."But we passed them in 2003!"
- The meeting was basically a CF (a little acronym I use...figure it out) with people knee-jerking and jumping to conclusions. I did my best to slow everyone down and I really think I was successful. I had to give a little but I gained a lot. People were getting ticked off at the smallest thing. One neighbor built a very small pool house (about 6x8 maybe at the largest). The pool house looks exactly like their house and they have a 6' privacy fence around their pool area so all you can see is the top of the roof. The HOA (which I remind you does not legally exist) wants to make the guy remove the pool house. I think this is absurd - it looks nice and fits in well with the surroundings.
- Then we returned to the "but someone will put a mobile home in the subdivision!"
and then we returned again
and again
- We had 14 homes represented at the meeting out of appx 52 in the SD. Several people, and especially the lawyer, could not figure out why it mattered that we try and include anyone that was not present and also why I was concerned with people who did not show up. I explained that just because someone was not here does not mean that they do not have a legal standing against everything that is essentially illegal that the HOA is doing. I was told "if they are not here they do not care and they will not do anything." It shocked a few people when I explained that I had already retained counsel and have a solid legal basis to sue if the HOA went forward with most of what they had outlined in their memo. Everyone looked like this:
. "But why would you do that????" they kept asking...."Because what you are doing is WRONG!!!
- All in all I felt like I was shoving my head against the wall constantly. No one could keep on one subject to get it resolved before they jumped around to something else. "Roberts rule of order" were not followed.
- The HOA voted to spend up to $10,000 on legal counsel to get incorporated and implement new covenants. One problem though folks - we only have $4800 in the bank.
- When I showed up almost everyone wanted to hang me. They were tying a knot and one guy even went to get a horse. When I left I was on the HOA Board along with a neighbor who has a very similar stance to me. I'm on the Board until we get incorporated which might be a few months to a year. At that point everyone will go back up for reelection and I'm in for VP and my neighbor is in for P. That will be interesting...
I'm sure I left a ton of stuff out but I've got work to do...I'll reread later and update.
