wow...just had to ask if anyone of you guys are experiencing the "seinfeld" type drama associated with condo/group ownership.

we own a boat slip here in seattle which is part of a condo project....there is a seperate moorage commission and HOA commission.

there has been nothing but bickering, fighting, finger pointing and drama between the 2 groups and the really fun part is nothing gets accomplished.

any normal human being could see that this hostle enviornment could easily be settled with rational decisions and something called "leave the ego at the door"

now the moorage commissioners have decided to sue the HOA which means we all get to spend $$ on attorney fees and court costs

isn't life grand!

 

HOAs seem to bring out the worst in people. For some reason, rational people get very irrational when it comes to real estate.

I have seen a number of folks try to assume possesion of neighbors land and public land. Somehow in their minds they have ownership or control of it. Weird...

 

"Too many cooks spoil the brooth"

 

I have a 2nd home in Park City, Utah and understand frustrations with HOA's. We have 2 assocations: Master and then our Condo Assocation--we are a development of single family homes, townhomes, and condos. One Association is in charge of the club house/pool area and if a dog craps next to it, the other assocation has the responsibility to pick it up. Very minor things for the most part and not enough to sue. There are some really stupid things that go on and it turns into finger pointing, so I get where your coming from.

 

Oh, yeah, been there. I eventually decided it was better just to write the checks for whatever idiocy they dreamed up or fell for than going to the meetings and trying impose rational behavior. ("Yes, we were only able to find one company in all of California that would give us a bid for dry rot repair, so we had to take it.") Ugh, my blood pressure is going up just thinking about is. Must go to my happy place.

 

i know this boat slip ownership is going to turn me into even more of an alchoholic

 

Try your local Porsche Club Comittee of even more fun

S

 

You find this kind of behavior everywhere...It's a product of not having a real life...Brock Yates once wrote that if you put 3 SCCA members in charge of guarding a telephone pole, within a year they'd would have established a committee and a set of telephone pole with bylaws...So it goes...

 

When I bought my first house I read a book on purchasing real estate, the author recommended avoiding HOA entanglements. He said they are full of passive aggressive people that have no real authority in their lives and need to feel empowered someplace. After being a member, I think he was right on the money.

 

+1 on all that has been said. consider mediation. and not the mediation that lawyers recommend (apologies to any barrister Rennlisters!) but lawyers will make it too expensive and it doesn't need to be. there are a number of low cost or free mediation services - a good mediator will get the parties to have the rational conversation that can lead to a settlement. no guarantees but little to lose either.