Ok here's what triggered this... I was tasked with recommending the equipment list for our community gym (an upscale community)... also note I'm in Europe
So after spending several days of effort over a few months came up with the proposal... and over 100 pages of analysis, reports, tables, etc to back it up... put it all on a Wiki.
Now have to deal with various community members... cheap MoFos that want to get the cheapest gear on Amazon (which is why we have to replace the entire gym in the first place), folks that think all equipment is about the same based on a spec sheet, etc.
Then there's folks like our Hungarian lawyer who thinks because he's a lawyer (does that even mean much in Hungary?) and drives a Maserati he's a Wile E Coyote super-genius (by the way if you bought a recent Maserati that's already a sign you're a Class A idiot)
Declarative statements about every (stupid) opinion he has, disagrees with everything because anything out of his mouth is pure gold. Have you read the report on the Wiki about the multistation evaluation for Lat Pulldowns? "No, I don't need to I know what we need".
Anyway I just want to call this pompous idiot (and his tax advisor wife who's just as bad) in the community meeting. We give people like this way too much runway and it's a huge reason the world is in the mess it is... of course you better make sure you've got your facts straight before pulling the trigger, but in this case I'm good to go and it's time he gets the spanking that he's overdue for in front of the entire 150 people that will be at the community meeting.
It's time to Make Idiots STFU Again (MISA)
you're absolutely right. I'm in the US and in my HOA we pay $100 for a year. That's it, just $100. People complain about it , refuse to pay, etc. and then demand the HOA hire snow plows. like seriously...you think we can afford $250-$300 per hour snow plows for the winter when you only pay $100 for a whole year? We only have 260 homes so total income is $26,000 per year for the HOA. That's all and barely enough to cover the required expenses as is but yet they want snow plowing for $100. Plus, the city plows half of the neighborhood anyways so we'd be paying someone for double work. It's bonkers what people complain about and expect to receive while being cheapskates.
Lived in a medium sized city where we didn't get enough snow to plow but once every 3 to 4 years (we get a lot more ice then snow). As a consequence they only budgeted 80k/year for snow removal. I was watching the news and we got just over a foot of snow and the city blew through the entire 80k budget in one day. That same storm my company paid 5k to a private company just to clear the parking lot so we could stay open. People do not realize how expensive snow removal can be.
I live in a medium city as well that gets sometimes can get anywhere from 6 inches to 2 feet total over the winter. They messed up last year and didn't have enough plows or drivers and the citizens raised holy heck about being trapped in their neighborhoods for a week that they had to hire private contractors so people could finally go to work. They have told us they hired more drivers and bought more plow trucks so we will see. Even shoveling can get pretty damn expensive. Some people were charging $100 bucks or more for a single car, short driveway.
Wait till you run into the fuckers that are just mad and will spend twice the money just not to give it to someone they don’t like.
Worked for a company with a single owner. He had been in business 40+ years and had a long list of companies we were not allowed to use for any reason. Doesn't matter if they got put on the list 40 years ago and had changed ownership and would do the work for 20% less we still couldn't use them.
Since the board is always from the community, I would argue it's always the community. The reason people hate HOAs is they give the community power.
Just reply with “Thank you for your input, we’ll take it under advisement.”, then move on.
Seeing as boards are typically under control of the community (incomplete developments in the US are usually under effective control of the developer) I would say you are right.
Yep..had I known the sheer power stupid people voting en masse could have on my home life, I never would have signed up. My HOA is a clear example of not a board problem but a stupifying ignorance of the community mixed with a good dash of Ill do what I want boomeritis.
Indeed... in a meeting now and the sheer stupidity of the majority of these people is simply astounding (to be fair there are some intelligent, reasonable people, but it's at most 25%)...
Thing is this is the most expensive, upscale community in the area (and these are second holiday units that are seven figures) and you wonder how the heck stupendously stupid folks like this ever earned enough to afford this place... tells you that intelligence and wealth are not linked (though they use that rational to backup their ridiculous, declarative nonsense)
Usually, the board is from the community
Since the community elects the board, I would argue that is always the community!
This is why democracy doesn’t work. You need a People’s Democratic Dictatorship.
Ok calm down USA
Meetings: None of us is as dumb as all of us together.
OP, you pretty much just described our HOA in Georgia, USA. We pay $1200/year. In the last five days, I’ve heard two residents complain that the property manager doesn’t collect enough in fines: “we pay good money to get more fines collected!”
I feel your pain! I'm on the board for a 55+ co-op. We must purchase our units upfront, no finance or mortgage. We have operations (maintenance) staff and office staff. We pay a monthly maintenance fee that includes trash & recycle pick up, road maintenance, snow removal on community roads & common driveways (we have 4 units to a building), outside repair (roofs, siding, gutters), lawn service & landscaping, tree removal, repair/replace boiler & hot water heater, property taxes, municipal water, septic (repairs,pump outs), insurance on the structure (insurance of contents is stockholders responsibility), insurance on all corp property & vehicles, payroll & benefits for staff, utilities and maintenance for office, club house, rec hall, office supplies, funding account to purchase/maintain corp vehicles, community owned bus, attorney services, corp accountant. The current fee is $486 a month in a state where rents average $2500 a month and average mortgage payments are $4000 a month. All we hear is other communities are cheaper and "we don't get much for what we pay". Communities with cheaper fees... owners pay their own taxes, home repairs, insurance, water, sewer, lawn care & landscaping. Bottom line, you can't please everyone!