My 86 year old neighbor tried to recruit me to volunteer as a Board Member for our HOA. She said I was honest and had integrity and that’s what the Board needed.
I thanked her but said I wasn’t interested.
So then she turned up the sales pressure. When I was out walking Wiggles, she called me over to her porch. She said she was one of the original board members when she first moved here 20 years ago. She said there were all types of problems incur community that I might not be aware of including:
- The mulch around the trees in the park was too deep.
- One sidewalk down the street was blocked by overgrown hedges and trees and couldn’t be used.
- The flowers the HOA planted at the entrance weren’t pretty enough.
Then she pointed to her next door neighbors home, which needs some highly visible repairs and maintenance, and said, “A good HOA should be doing inspections and citing homes like that.”
She said, “If you stay here for 10 years and things keep falling apart, your home value will drop.”
She tried to close me by saying she had a stack of papers from her days as a Board member and she’d go get them to review with me. She pantomimed a stack about 2 feet high.
I laughed and said, “No way! I don’t want to see your papers. But maybe I’ll attend a Board meeting someday.”
The truth I told her, was that I would prefer not to be in a community with an HOA. I don’t care for others controlling things like what color you can paint your house, what type of mailbox you must have, what tree you can plant, how tall your grass can be etc.
It’s just that in Raleigh, any homes built after 1990ish, were required to be in an HOA community. Since my home was built in 2000, we have an HOA.
What I didn’t tell her was that I knew about the deep mulch around the trees in the park. It’s no big deal. And I liked the flowers at the entryway to the community.
I also know about the unable sidewalk with the overgrown trees and bushes – I had no idea that was public property! I assumed it was the two homeowners on the corner who were supposed to trim those. But since they never walk outside except to get in their cars, I figured they just ignored it. They probably haven’t walked down that stretch of sidewalk in a decade.
Instead of filing a compliant with the HOA or joining the Board, I grabbed my loppers, walked down the street and spent an hour trimming back the overgrown trees and shrubs. The sidewalk is now completely clear and usable.
As for the neighbor whose home needs maintenance, I am planning to catch him outside one day and ask him if he wants me to fix his gutter and fascia. It fell down months ago and looks terrible. If he’s willing to pay for the materials, I could replace the fascia board in an afternoon and I’d even replace his gutter for free. He’s an old, bent-over widower. There’s no way he can get up on a ladder and fix it himself.
As for his grass, I see his grandson cutting it fairly regularly and I’m not volunteering to take that over.
When I was growing up (some might say I still am), I lived in poor working class neighborhoods. We never had HOAs. Neighbors simply helped each other out. I remember clearing lots of weeds all weekend. Mowing lawns and shoveling snow for elderly neighbors. Loading up moving trucks. Building sheds. I even remember once when a neighbor had a spat with someone who brought a caravan of his “boys” up for a street fight. When four carloads arrived, I looked down the street and saw at least five different men sitting on their porches ready to jump in to even up the odds. (Thankfully there was no fight – just a lot of words. I was scared shitless).
As for the HOA, I pay my annual dues. I like the parks and the public areas. If something there needs repaired and they are unaware, I have no problem emailing them to let them know.
But in general, I’d rather land a hand helping my neighbors vs. narcing on them to the Board or even worse, citing them for infractions.