I want to start by thanking everyone who was able to attend the first zoom meeting we held to talk about the proposal, and the way forward. There were some common themes from the conversation. I want to share some insights as well as what the path forward looks like for the foreseeable future.
First, I want to share that we did encounter a technical difficulty last night, and the Zoom meeting did NOT record. I went to check and try to edit the video and upload it, and for some unknown reason it did not record. In the future, we will take extra precautions to make sure the meeting is recorded in two locations from two different sources(applications) to ensure that we do have the video to share in the future.
One theme that was repeated all night as we talked and people introduced themselves, was that when the attendee bought their home, they were wanting a neighborhood without a HOA. There were similar feelings regarding that this was a minimalist HOA, and only $40 a year, and so how bad could it be. We have seen over and over that people could not find a home for sale that was not in an HOA, in the value range the homes here are, in the area that we live in, that the home was in the age range (built in the last 15-20 years). Those homes are like unicorns, good luck finding one.
Everyone at the meeting had been part of the neighborhood at least 4 years, and some since the neighborhood was developed. Pretty much we all agreed that while things had been good several years ago, in the last 2 years or maybe 3, the general feeling of quality of the HOA has declined, and in the last year, it has been on a free-fall spiral to the lowest level of happiness across the board. Add the general feeling to the fact that most people did not want an HOA when they bought, and right now the overall impression is that we are in need of major change.
What that change looks like still remains to be seen. Chris Condie had some very well constructed thoughts on the situation hoping that we could retain a HOA but limit it to morale inspiring endeavors exclusively, while stepping back to more or less city rules on function. The point being minimal restriction, only to prevent the worst of the worst from happening with regards to upkeep of a lot. This idea certainly shows promise, but for reasons I will list next, I see it as a far chance of a chance.
We discussed what it would take to disband the HOA versus amend the HOA. We discussed the logistics of obtaining a supermajority of consent to retain or disband. While I see no reason we could not reform the HOA, I feel that the odds are better across the board to simply disband and move forward. It would take 67 percent of all voting interests to modify the documents, or initiate the dissolution of the HOA. Even if it took 80% to disband, it is going to be more likely people are feeling burned by this, and likely to retain some hard feelings toward the HOA. I cannot predict how people will feel in the future, and am not willing to try.
As far as the path forward, we discussed timeline and needs for the immediate. There was some concern about meeting a voting total by the 18th, and I explained that our goal for the 18th was to let the Board know of the displeasure, and initiate the re-write process. That would give us time to try to inform neighbors so that they can make an informed decision. We want to make sure every vote has the ability to register their feelings on this topic and want everyone to be informed from all sides. We are in the process of requesting contact information from the HOA management. We should have that soon as there should be no reason to deny that info, as it is publicly available from tax records.
We concluded agreeing on the need to meet fairly frequently. I will schedule a meeting in the coming days and try to give plenty of time so people who want to attend the meeting and be part of the process can be there. This post is available on Facebook, Nextdoor and our website, www.disbandthehoa.com ASAP. Thanks for all your support!