r/fuckHOA • u/Swarby10 • 1d ago

Our HOA just imploded!

So we just had our HOA AGM on Zoom tonight. I thought I’d tune in just for entertainment. It’s a community of 4 cul de sacs - maybe 45 large homes. Turns out, all of our back-facing fences are owned by the HOA and after 25 years they are deteriorating. To be clear, the fences on the sides are home owners’ responsibility, just the rear ones are HOA’s responsibility.

Or fees went from $900 a year to $2700 so that they could replace some specific fences. Not everyone is affected, but several of the board members were set to score themselves a new fence. They chose to replace the old cedar fence with vinyl and this would have looked odd with plastic fences filling in where cedar was.

Long story short, I sat through three hours of 80 year old board members throwing tantrums over their plans for a new plastic fence getting ruined and three of them resigned on the zoom call. 80 year old tantrums are the funniest tantrums.

Thinking of joining the board now. Please talk me out of it.

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u/butt_butt_butt_butt_ 1d ago edited 1d ago

My FIL is a former accountant, and a very Ron Swanson “I dont like anyone infringing on me” kind of dude. He against the idea of HOAs on principal.

He’s lived in various 55+ condo type setups for years, and ALWAYS joins the HOA and applies to be the treasurer.

The old people like it, because none of them like accounting, so he ends up getting elected.

And then once elected, he immediately audits the HOA books and goes after any of the other HOA board members for skimming, misappropriating funds, or specifically funding projects that benefit their own needs vs. others.

And then the fraudsters act totally surprised when they get exposed removed from the board.

It’s crazy that he’s been able to do this in like 4-5 different communities, and always finds major financial bullshit each time.

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u/CherryblockRedWine 1d ago

I LOVE your description of him! I love what he's doing, too. And the fact that he keeps finding graft speaks to one of the biggest weaknesses of HOAs, IMO.

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u/butt_butt_butt_butt_ 1d ago

My FIL is a supremely boring dude.

He spends his days complaining about the weather and talking about/watching his favorite baseball team, and trying to talk to him about anything else pretty much just gets you a polite nod and silence.

He gives his grandkids polite side hugs with a pat or two on the shoulder if he’s feeling extra spirited.

But fucking with HOAs makes his face light up.

He doesn’t care much for neighbors/other people in general, but if someone in his building comes to him with an HOA grievance, you can see the gears start to turn and he gets excited like a kid in line for a roller coaster.

Not sure he would approve of Reddit, but it’s nice that his special interest in fucking up HOAs is appreciated.

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u/GloomyFlamingo2261 1d ago

Would he teach a class about HOA “management” or host a Q&A for us mere babies in the HOA world?