Jthanks Nancy I am facing the same problem. I would to find and advocate also.

HOAs are not the norm in older, more affluent neighborhoods or condos in northeast. I have owned or co-owned five properties. One was an old house in an established inner-city neighborhood in Minneapolis. The city and the neighbors minded their own business unless you were posing a public hazard or nuisance.

Properties 2-4 were condos in Boston. We were self-managed, all of us had access to the financials, and if something was broken we worked together to hire competent help to fix it. We paid nothing out of pocket—all maintenance came out of reserves. Rarely there would be a minor assessment increase for large assessments, but they were always small.

My fifth property is in Chicago. It is no larger than my last property in Boston with 12 units and one rental, but is “professionally managed.” It has been a nightmare. The Board is corrupt or stupid or both. They fix nothing, but when they do, ythey defer to the management company which hires substandard contractors that over charge us. My monthly dues have skyrocketed. The building is dilapidated and my unit is damaged so badly that I will not be able to rent or sell.

Property Management Companies control a powerful lobby and they bribe judges and politicians to protect them. Their goal is to make homeownership untenable so that owners will be driven to deconvert (they will buy you out, sometimes forcibly) or forced to sell home at a loss due to poor maintenance and neglect.

HOAs are not the problem. Property Management Companies, HOA attorneys, corrupt politicians, and inexperienced owners are the problem. Also, investors are a problem. My advice: 1. Avoid property management companies. Require owners to take a self-management course. Hire your own cleaning services and contractors using Angie’s List. Learn to communicate with your neighbors. Use reserves only for necessary repairs and maintenance. Make all transactions transparent. Hire a CPA once a year to audit your books. 2. Impose rental caps and vet renters. 3. Do not permit sales to investor-owners. 4. Require all owners to attend meetings. Record all meetings. 5. Don’t be an asshole.

Matt,

there are greater than 9500 HOA’s and Condo’s in Arizona. About 5000 are professionally managed by Management companies that belong either AACM or CAI . The remainder are either managed by management companies without professional affiliation and many times training and certification. The remainder are self managed. Where the board does the work them selves or simply hires a CPA to do the financials and a secretary to manage the records. While professional management with organizations certified by one of the two trade organizations is better than the fly by night organizations I’ve seen too many incompetent certified community managers to put much faith in them. Being self managed by board members that truly want to help the organization and do things in the best interest of the community would be far better than trusting your money and community to the fly by night management companies.