Tag: hoa issue

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The HOA Facebook Group Gets Heated – Time For The Popcorn!

I honestly thought the HOA facebook group wasn’t going to have much more fun stuff to post about, but boy was I wrong. The below is a full unedited version of the conversation that spun up the other day in the Facebook homeowners group. The hilarious part of this story is the fact that the individual who spun it up was one of the individuals who complained about me wanting to rent my place long term. And now she had the nerve to make this comment, and it lit a flare and a lot of fiery conversation!

Before hopping into this incredible exchange on Facebook, get caught up on everything that is going on! If you haven’t caught up yet, start from the beginning of the story to get the full craziness of this saga with my HOA!

Time For The Fun!

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The Message That Kicked Everything Off!

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Now the fun shall begin!

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First they begin complaining that the HOA turned off the lights at night at that was causing a large safety risk for the people who live onsite. Hmmm…interesting. Someone even mentioned they wondered what happened to the guests that arrived at the gate from my home. Since I haven’t posted anything in the FB group stating what happened, I am for sure certain people think I am still trying to force people in.

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Now the accusations begin coming in with accusing homeowners for breaking guests in “illegally” to the resort. Again, it isn’t illegal. I am allowed to rent my place 30+ days. Period. And this stall that the HOA on is insane.

 

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More accusations accusing homeowners in the resort who are investors whom are still renting out their homes.

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Okay, this is where I have to step in. This lady who is the one who posted on the top of the above picture is full of s**** and the biggest hypocrite I think I have ever seen. So first she complains for people’s safety in the resort for having strangers come in and stay for extended periods of time.

The day after she said all that, someone reached out to me with a link to a Facebook group and told me to check it out. The link ended up taking me to a Garage Sale Facebook group in the Orlando area where this same lady had posted 5 things every day for the last two weeks to sell. Not only had she posted 5 things, but she was openly telling people where they could meet up to complete the sale of her crap. 

Yeah, I laughed out loud for a good hour after I heard and read all that crap.

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More fun accusations!

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And now the head of the board weighs in. I lolled at this one as well.

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I won’t even give me 2 cents as to the nonsense I just read over again. The way they are going about handling this situation is, pathetic.

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Ok, there was my one comment above. I just couldn’t hold back anymore. My one and only comment in thread though! It was extremely hard to keep my fingers from hitting send on a few different comments I had queued up.

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So that is where this part of the story ends, but my fight and battle with the HOA is not over yet!

In tomorrow’s post, I will post a few different back and forths I have had with the HOA now. These back and forths have been extremely frustrating to say the least and how they have handled responding to email has been horrible. 48 hour response times is not acceptable. They continue to try to just drag this out till they have to let me rent my place out because then the “ban” will be lifted.

More to come…don’t worry. This is not where the story ends!

If you aren’t already, don’t forget to follow me on Instagram!

Thanks again for all the support and continuing to come back each day for new updates in this saga!

Checkout the next part of this saga at the link below!

How Much Clearer Do I Need To Make Myself – Asking The Same Question For The Third Time

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What I Think Of My HOA – The Unedited Version

My views on HOA’s before and after this saga is definitely interesting to look at right now. To give an update on where we are at in the story. I have been told that the Executive Order in place prevents me from renting my home as a traditional short term rental investment property. There are still other avenues that I have yet to explore which I will detail out in tomorrow’s post. In the meantime, I wanted to provide some insight into how I view HOA’s. Real Estate investing is fun and there is so much that goes into it. Just when you think you have the hang of things, COVID-19 hits and the economy gets flipped on its head.

Before jumping into my unedited thoughts on the HOA, get caught up on all the craziness in the saga! Links below to all the articles so far!

What I think of my hoa

Here Are My Unfiltered Thoughts On HOA’s Prior To The Saga

Okay. You waited for it. Now you are going to get it. Here are my unfiltered thoughts on my HOA’s prior to the saga.

I paid my dues on time in full every month. I never had any complaints from the HOA and life felt normal. No issues. No concerns. All things were good and I was happy to continue paying my dues.

What Are My Thoughts Now? I Thought You Would Never Ask 😉

Here are my thoughts now on HOA’s. Do I think HOA’s can be good? Absolutely, I think they can be good.

Do I think HOA’s can have the ability for the board members to have power trips and think they are above the law and can do anything they so please to do? Absolutely, I feel like many members of HOA boards are just yearning for a sense of power. They maybe have never had a position of authority prior and love the power being on a board gives to them.

Do I think HOA boards are typically made up of the right people? Generally, I would say no. I don’t believe HOA’s are made up of the right mix of people. I feel like there are cliques that are created in communities and usually one clique will try to gain all the control on the board. They typically are the group who is the most vocal and has nothing better to do with their time than complain about things to people until they get their way. Oops, yeah, I guess I said it. That is how I view HOA’s.

How I View This Saga

Here is how I view the current saga I am in. This HOA is on a power trip. Here is where I believe the true problem lies though.

This community was originally designed only for short term rental properties. So 100% of the owners in this community were investors. In 2014, a new Bylaw was updated allowing people to live in the community long term as a owner occupied property. Since 2014, 20% of the homes in the community are now owner occupied. That means that 80% of the homes in the community are investors.

I am a firm believer the 20% of owner occupiers have been and are banding together. They have all lived there for many years and they have all made a pact to always do what is best for them and not the investors. I caught word the other day that they once tried to get the HOA to put in a $150,000 dog amusement park in the resort, until logical investors flipped and told them no.

I have an opinion that these 20% of individuals got together and immediately went to the front desk to speak with the GM of the resort as the COVID-19 break started to worsen. I have an opinion that they begged and pleaded to the GM to no longer let any new guests into the community no matter what. They wanted to keep their own “fortified” neighborhood where they were the only ones allowed in and out of the property. They continued to go to the GM everyday until they finally sent an email out telling all homeowners that no new guests would be allowed to check in effective immediately.

Detailing Out The Three HOA’s I Currently Have

I want to clearly articulate my thoughts on HOA’s before and after everything that has been going on. So time to clearly articulate the before.

I currently own 4 different homes. Three of the homes have HOA’s and one of them (the new triplex I just purchase) does not. The first home I ever purchased had an HOA.

The community is a nice community. It has a community pool, playground, dog park, softball field and small soccer field. The HOA charges $150 per month, but here is the amazing thing. The $150 a month pays for all lawn and pest control on my home so that is something I have never had to worry about! The HOA also provides access to all the amenities and maintains each. For $150 a month, I think this is well worth it. I have never had any issues with the HOA and I pay my dues on time every time each month.

Now comes my other two communities I own in, the first two sole Airbnb properties I purchased. The first property has an HOA running at $351 per month. This HOA is a little bit different though. It includes:

  • High speed internet in my home
  • DirectTV in my home with HBO and over 1000 channels
  • Clubhouse with a sauna, movie theater, workout facility and staffed front desk
  • A resort pool with a tiki bar!
  • 24/7 gated security
  • Exterior maintenance, exterior paint, and replacement of roof once needed

For $351 per month, I feel like it is a steal. A bunch of things that are add ons for the property, and internet and TV provided. Not too bad.

The last of my properties costs $251 a month which includes 24/7 security, clubhouse workout facility, resort pool, resort hot tub and resort kids water play area. A little pricey all things considered for what it offers, but I wanted to try a different community in the area.

Read the Facebook posts again. It is clear to see who the owner occupiers who live there are versus who the investors are.

I leave you with this cliffhanger.

Less than 5 hours after I sent my political response email back to the HOA (can be read again at this link), guess what happened?!?

Magically, they sent out an email to all the homeowners. MAGICALLY! Hmm…looks like my coaching up that I am doing for them is in the smallest way working.

In tomorrow’s post, the fun continues…you will not believe what they had the nerve to end the email with!!!!!!!

And you thought things had just settled down! Oh no, no no no. You are thinking wrong now!

Thanks again for reading the blog and staying up to date! Want to support me and get some extra content each month? Subscribe to the blog!

If you aren’t already, don’t forget to follow me on Instagram!

Thanks again for all the support and continuing to come back each day for new updates in this saga!

To checkout the next part to this saga, click the link below!

Part X: HOA Sent An Email To All Homeowners To Pay Up!

 

 

 

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My Decision On Moving Forward With A Lawyer – To Pay Or Not To Pay, That Is The Question

I haven’t decided to pay a lawyer just yet to look further into my case. There are a few different reasons I have not moved forward with the lawyer. Before we get into those, let’s take a quick look at where we are at with everything going on. As a real estate investor, dealing with things like this will be a common occurrence. It might not always be a HOA that you have to deal with, but there are always things popping up that will cause issues.

Many individuals won’t buy in communities with HOA’s. I completely understand and respect that real estate investment strategy. Especially when you are going through and reading all of this, it doesn’t make you want to buy a property with a HOA. In my opinion there are good and bad things about HOA’s. The HOA haters will point exactly to this and say this is why nobody should buy in a HOA. I will give my limited view on HOA’s in a later post.

Paying A Lawyer

Time To Jump Into Where We Are In The Saga

The latest and greatest update was the response email I sent to the HOA. The response outlined my disappoint in the HOA and how they have handled the situation. This is an unprecedented time for the entire world. I am a firm believer that you learn more about people during tough times than you do when things are going well. To that point, these are tough times and the HOA and Board have been exposed to how they will handle tough times.

If you haven’t been fully caught up yet, start from the beginning to get all the craziness and context of everything that has happened to this point. Links below!

Trust me, it is worth the time to get caught up and hear the story from the beginning.

Why I Am Not (Yet) Moving Forward With A Lawyer

I have never been in the situation I am currently in. It has been a tough situation for many reasons. First, you have everything going on with the virus and the media. This has definitely scared a lot of people and rightfully so. Second, we had a governor who wrote and signed into law one of the most confusing Executive Orders signed into law in Florida. I thought my 8th grade reading level would be able to interpret a document of law, but I was wrong.

Lastly, I am trying to deal with a HOA that has historically been very difficult to deal with and horrible in their communication. I hadn’t seen any of that until going through this experience. An article I will write tomorrow will show even more into how horrible they are at communicating.

Here is why I am not planning to move forward with a lawyer just yet. At the end of the conversation with the local lawyer I asked for her advice on what to do. She immediately scrolled down to the bottom of the Executive Order to see when it was set to expire. The expiration date of the Executive Order was set for a few days out. She told me there wasn’t much point of paying her $385 per hour (or a “cheaper” associate $220 per hour) to dig further into the law and my HOA Bylaws to see what could be done.

The lawyer did mention there is a chance the Governor of Florida signs an extension of the Executive Order prior to expiration. No need to fret. She said to let the time pass and reach back out to her on the day after expiration.

How Much Would A Lawyer Cost

If I were a betting man, I would say the lawyer would use 4-5 hours of billable time to go comb through all the documents they would need to.

For the high side of that, at $385 per hour, I would be looking at $1,925 in money spent for the lawyer to look through everything and provide her assessment of the situation.

There are a few other loopholes I have not explored yet which I will write about in a later post. This could go a few different ways, so I don’t want to write about it until I have a clear understanding if I am going to explore that option.

In The Meantime, We Wait

For now, we wait. There isn’t much worth doing until the Executive Order expires.

Want to hear something crazy though?! Just 5 hours after my email response to the board telling them how horrible their communication has been…..guess what happened?

An email was sent to all homeowners. And boy did the f**k up another piece of communication.

In tomorrow’s post, I will share the entire email to you. Let’s just say I was amazed about how bad they are getting their wires crossed. Not only that, but how they ended the email was absolutely laughable! JUST WAIT!

Things are still heating up!

Thanks again for reading the blog and staying up to date! Want to support me and get some extra content each month? Subscribe to the blog!

If you aren’t already, don’t forget to follow me on Instagram!

Thanks again for all the support and continuing to come back each day for new updates in this saga!

To read the next blog post in this saga, click the link below!

Part IX: What I Think Of My HOA – The Unedited Version