Month: April 2020

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The HOA President Responded With The Board Decision – Prime The Popcorn

The HOA President responded with the board decision. It is now time for some fun to begin.

Before going into the response from the HOA President with the boards final decision, there is too much going on in this crazy story to not start from the beginning! Below are the first five parts to this wild story. Make sure to read to get caught up prior to reading this post!

Time For the HOA Response

At this point, I am getting butterflies in my stomach each time a new email comes across. I have never gone through anything like this and the reality is I don’t want to have to seek legal action against the HOA. The last thing I want to do is cause any problems or issues. My interpretation of the executive order is that I can rent my home out for more than 30 days. Again, I could be reading the document entirely wrong. I am not a lawyer and I don’t plan to become one anytime soon.

So here we go. I received a response from the GM of the Resort. Butterflies are racing in my stomach. Hands started to get a little sweaty. I had no idea what to expect as a response. This could be the email response that leads me to go down the path of filing a lawsuit to seek damages of rental income for the resort HOA not abiding by what I believe to be the law.

GM First Response

At this point, I have to believe that the GM realized from reading my email that a lawyer helped me put it together.

Time To Take A Deep Breath

It was now time to sit down and relax a little bit. There was nothing I could do to control what the board comes back with in an email response.

It was now a waiting game.

Woosah

 

8 Hours Later…A Response From The Board

8 hours later, I received a response. However, this response was from a different email I had not seen before. It was an email directly from the HOA on an email address I had never seen before. Again, the butterflies are going in my stomach.

Here was the response

Board Response

There you go. Dagger. According to this email, the HOA board reached out to their attorney and confirmed that I am reading the state executive order wrong.

Why do documents of law have to be so complex. I went back to read the state executive order again and at this point I need to stop making my own opinion on what the executive order says and I need to get a local attorney to review.

At the end of the day, as I have said before, I want to follow the law. And I have interpreted the law as I can rent my place for over 30+ days.

Next Steps!?

Now that I have officially received a response from the HOA, it is time to speak to a local attorney to ask for guidance on the executive order. I simply want someone to be able to tell me what I can and cannot do based off this law.

There is additional research I still need to do. One thing I do want to research is what is considered a long term rental in Florida and see if I can abide by that as the executive order (I believe) makes it clear that long term rentals are fine.

Check  back tomorrow to see how the conversation goes with the lawyer! This has been a wild journey so far. I am continuing to learn new things every day this continues.

I am looking forward to how this makes me stronger as an investor moving forward.

Again, THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT AND MESSAGES! I have been trying to document this journey so hopefully others can learn or at least gain insights into some of the real challenges that come with real estate investing. Probably learning a few things about not wanting to buy in neighborhoods with HOA’s as well haha.

I will post in the coming week on my overall viewpoints on HOA’s. I am sure you have developed your own opinions of them 🙂

Want to continue reading? Next article in this series posted below!

Part VII: Time For Legal Advice From A Local Florida Attorney – Will See What Guidance They Provide

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Lawyered The S**t Out Of The Final Email To The HOA & Board

I lawyered the s**t out of the final email to the HOA & Board. That is right. The last thing my friends lawyer told me was to send one last email to the HOA & Board. She high level outlined the different things to put in the email and then asked me to send it over to her for final approval. Let me just begin by telling you this. The final email was 100000000000 times better than the original email I put together. This is one of the benefits of knowing someone who has a wife as a lawyer! You can get some free legal council.

Before you go into reading the email I sent to the HOA & Board, make sure you are up to speed on everything that has transpired to this point! Here are the links to each of the first four articles I have written about this crazy situation I am that has led me to a potential lawsuit:

Time For The Email!

This is the exact email I sent over to the HOA. Again, my first draft of the email sounded much less lawyery than this final draft! I couldn’t have done it without the help of my friends wife!

Here we go…get the popcorn ready..enjoy 🙂

April 5, 2020

Good afternoon Conrad and Board,

I wanted to take a few minutes to follow-up per my latest emails beginning April 1st till April 3rd and events that happened this morning at Terra Verde where one of my guests (staying for 31 nights) was not allowed in.

I am emailing again to request  the HOA to adhere the exception granted by the Office of the Governor in Executive Order # 20-87, dated March 27, 2020, permitting rentals for 30 days or more.   To date, I have had to cancel three separate bookings to rent my  property, at *my address*, for 31+ days as a result of the HOA refusing to adhere to the Governor’s Executive Order # 20-87. I have included the link to the Executive Order below, which clearly states that any rental of 30 days or more are not prohibited under this order.

https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/orders/2020/EO_20-87.pdf

The Executive Order provides for  three different exceptions for short term rentals. I have taken a snip of these exceptions and pasted it below.

Executive Order

Pursuant to Section A (i), rental of any house, condominium, cooperative or dwelling unit… “Which is rented for periods of less than 30 days or 1 calendar month, whichever is less are prohibited.

The three rental reservations that the HOA have refused to allow my guests entrance to the property, where all rentals of 30 days or more, which is clearly permitted pursuant to the referenced Executive Order, the current law regarding the rentals of properties in Florida. Please advise whether the HOA and Board is abiding by Section A (i) noted above as it reads. If not, please advise as to what law permits the HOA to disregard the Governor’s Executive Order permitting rentals of 30 days or more.

I would also like to briefly touch on the email sent to homeowners by the HOA Board on 3/30 shown below

Terra Verde HOA Email

The above calls out specific concerns to anyone from out of state areas of high infection, must self-quarantine for 14 days after arrival. This leads me to believe the main reason for not allowing new guests is the safety of not allowing people from highly infectious areas to stay in the resort.

I would like to outline the very specific scenario from this morning. I had a guest who was supposed to arrive today (4/5/2020). This guest was scheduled to stay at my home for 31 nights, checking in on 4/5/2020 and checking out on 5/7/2020. These guests’ reservation was for $2,100. A little background on these guests. The guests were a father, wife, and 12-year-old son. They have been in Orlando for over 3 months for the winter, thus not coming from out of state.  During their time in Orlando, they have been staying at Airbnb’s long term rentals. They are now displaced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevents them from going back home to the northeastern side of the country.

These guests arrived at the gate today, April 5, 2020  around 10:28 am local time. Upon checking in, they were notified that they would not be allowed into the property and were turned away. The guests called me, very frustrated, which is when I went out to speak with the on duty manager. The on duty manager informed me this decision is final and there is no exception as he is doing his job as directed by Conrad and the board (I really like the on duty manager, good guy).

Below are questions I have for the HOA:

  • Are there new HOA Bylaws or Declaration documents that have been signed into order that I am not aware of stating the HOA has the authority to perform the actions that have been performed to not abide by the Executive Order put in place by the Governor on March 2, 2020? If there are, could I please receive a copy of the new Bylaws and/or Declaration documents?
  • Please advise whether the HOA and Board is abiding by Section A (i) noted above in the executive order as it reads.

I will be moving forward with seeking damages as a result of lost income based off the actions from this morning which prohibited my guests, rental for over 30 days, to enter the premise. I have also had to remove my listing for all rental sites causing even more damage and loss.

My intent is not to circumvent the laws and restrictions set in place for our public safety.  In fact, I respect and appreciate all of these measures being implemented for our safety.  I am simply trying to adhere to the law and help people who are currently in the state of Florida, but displaced due to the pandemic until they are able to make more permanent arrangements.  Again, all of my guests’ reservations were for the permitted period of 30 days or more.

Therefore, I request that the HOA and Board reconsider its decision as the requested action is clearly permitted under that Governor’s Executive Order and the County “Stay at Home Act.”

Thanks for your time, I look forward to hearing from you soon regarding this very important and time sensitive matter.

Sincerely,

TheYoungRetireeBy33

Property Owner

Talk About A Email Having Some Lawyered Up Amaizingness In It

I was amazed after she sent back an edited version of the first draft I sent over to her. I had to add a few dates and clarifications and it was ready to send over to the HOA and Board.

It is now time to wait for the response from Conrad and the board. And boy do I have my popcorn out and ready for the response.

I am a firm believer that the HOA president and board think I am just blowing smoke when I say I am going to move forward with seeking damages as a result of lost income based off the actions from this morning which prohibited my guests, rental for over 30 days, to enter the premise.

It all started with being belittled by the President of the board and other homeowners who live in the resort on the Facebook page after my post. If you thought the last five posts have been juicy, I can’t wait to continue documenting this journey.

If you haven’t already, checkout my Instagram page and follow the blog! Thanks for all the support and messages from everyone over the last two weeks going through all this. It has been amazing to see all the people reading along and getting all the feedback!

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT!

This story doesn’t end here! Checkout the next post at the link below!

To read Part V of this crazy story, click the link below!

The HOA President Responded With The Board Decision – Prime The Popcorn

 

 

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Lawyer Time – I Spoke With A Lawyer Over The Weekend, And Here Is What They Said

What a wild weekend capped off my a crazy afternoon on Sunday talking to many different people. I spoke with a lawyer over the weekend, and here is what they said.

Just a quick recap for those just tuning in to everything that has happened to this point. Below are the first three articles from this wild situation with my HOA. Check them out so this article makes a little more sense, links below.

Time For Part 4!

Here we go. So here is where we currently stand from yesterday. After I finished the conversations with Jose, I decided to go back to my place to do a couple of things. I proceeded to call the guests who were just turned away and apologize again for everything going on.

My guests let me know they were driving down to Miami because they weren’t allowed to check in. I could tell they were very frustrated and wanted to stay in Orlando, but they were already on the road. Luckily, this is a guy who I randomly got partnered with last week while I was golfing and he was understanding.

Quick sidebar from a text I received from the guest later last night. He sent me a snip of the law, the exact one that I have been showing the HOA every single day for the past week. Not going to lie, I kind of laughed when he sent it to me. I told him I know man, they aren’t abiding by my interpretation of the law.

Here were his direct words in the text after the picture:

“Either way im calling the GM who is Conrad and im giving him a piece of my mind… But no matter what I should be good after April 10th. Im definitely going to fax over a copy of the order to him and let him know I had to travel to Miami cause he doesn’t understand how to read an executive order…Have a good day and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

I love my boy Alfred. Not only was he understanding, but he has that NY fiery attitude that I miss sometimes.

Next Steps For Me – Find Someone To Speak With

Now, for my next steps. Yesterday, I did two things.

First, I reached out to my real estate agent and asked him if he had a good attorney that I could speak to. My real estate agent asked me to send him a synopsis of what is going on and he would get back to me. I sent him an email with all the details and he let me know that he will set me up with an attorney he has used and they should reach out this morning. So I am awaiting an introduction email and will talk to a local attorney who will sit down to review the case.

Second, I reached out to a good friend of mine I work with. His wife is a lawyer so I had one thing I really wanted her to look at. I reached out to my friend and asked if his wife could review the executive order by the governor and interpret Section A (i). For reference, this is a snip of that section and a link to the entire PDF.

Executive Order Why I Wanted An Opinion On The Executive Order

There was one reason why I wanted the opinion on the verbiage of the executive order. One, I am not a lawyer and don’t understand half of what was said in this document. Two, I want to make sure I can read properly and I am interpreting Section A (i) as stating rentals over 30 days are allowed. I also wanted to make sure it was an unbiased opinion. I have a dog in this fight, so I am biased to read the law how I want to interpret it.

Here Is Exactly What The Lawyer Said

An hour after sending everything over to my friend, his wife called me. She asked me to outline the situation of what was going on. I outlined everything for her and then she asked a few clarifying questions (bringing out that lawyer in her).

After 30 minutes of discussion, these are the exact words she said to me: “YRB, I want you to know one thing before I say what I am going to say. I hate giving the advice to sue someone. Mostly because it is very costly and most of the time not worth it. But, in this scenario, the law is so black and white that you should sue seek damages and sue as this has already impacted your business.”

There was one thing she asked me to do. Documentation is key in lawsuits. She told me to draft up an email to send to the HOA and board that details out everything going on along with the executive order and details of what happened at the gate. In my next post, I will show you the exact email I sent to the HOA and board last night. I put together the first draft, sent it to her, and she lawyered the shit out of it hahaha. If you don’t know what that means, it means she essentially made it 1000000000 times better by adding lawyer verbiage. So, if they thought I was joking previously about the lawsuit, now they should know I am talking to lawyers.

Here is the thing. I think deep down I wanted her to say that, but at the the same time I didn’t want to actually hear her say it. If that makes sense.

Time To Determine Path Forward

I now had one attorney’s interpretation of the law. It is now time to follow-up this morning with my real estate agent to get in touch with the attorney who live in Florida. He is going to do an introduction email and then I will hopefully get on the phone with them this afternoon.

By no means did I think I would want to be in a lawsuit at this point in my investing career, but there are a few reasons why I feel this is the right thing to do:

  1. The law is clear. And I received an interpretation from an attorney that I was reading it correctly.
  2. Financially, I have been impacted by this situation. I have had to cancel on three different guests and even had one guest arrive at the gate and be turned away.
  3. The HOA isn’t above the law. No matter how much they try to be. I have had multiple homeowners reach out letting me know this HOA has been extremely difficult and not representative of investors.  It sounds like it is time for an investor to be on the board…I might be the one nominated based off the passion I have shown in the facebook group.

Final Words

Time for some more fun. Here is the thing I am taking away from this entire situation. This is a learning opportunity for me. I am extremely happy to be going through what I am going through and think that I have learned a lot already to this point.

If you view everything as a learning opportunity, nothing sucks.

Want to see what I emailed the HOA and Board? Checkout the link below for the next post!