Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
$275 condo fee, is that per month or yearly ?
That's per month and really cheap by today's standards.
Well, maybe cheap is relative, right? We looked at other, more expensive condos with much higher condo fees, but some of those places included a gym, pool, etc. We didn't want to live literally right next to our neighbors, like in our apartments at the time, for house kind of money. We also knew we'd never use the gym, nor the pool or any other amenities, and also that I'd be miffed for every little bill that any of these amenities might require.
The fee for our current condo covers house-keeping and maintenance-type things, with some left over for the reserves. I don't have the experience to saw for certain that improvements could be made, but I feel it.
Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
That's per month. Our next home, which we plan to buy after our family grows out of this one, will be a "forever home". Even a moderately more expensive home would cost a lot more, and we didn't find any of the small, cheap single-family homes to be acceptable. There are other reasons for choosing a cheap condo, but that's for another discussion.
I'm still new to condos and home ownership, so I still have a lot to learn. If any one has experience, I'd be very receptive to any advice when it comes to working with associations.
simple: OLD PEOPLE Psychology...and lots of patience
i saved one neighbor 2 times from forgetting the lights on on the car and another neighbor from blowing us all up (that part of the building). instead of having firefighters blow trough his door and cut his gas, i call the building engineer and he handled including a nice speech about community safety. still got yelled about it...
Some are old, as people tend to get after living somewhere for long enough, but some are also simply less educated. I know that makes me sound like a pompous ****, but it's true. There are people here who have trouble affording their current bills, including the condo fee, but they don't (or maybe can't) show up to the annual budgeting meeting where the condo fees were raised, and don't show up for meetings where special assessments will cost them money they may not consider prudent to pay, but not having voted 'no', they have no choice for what the board votes 'yes' to.
I don't get that.
Originally Posted By: MNgopher
So, what did the contract say?
My honest advice is to be patient, but persistent if you want to learn. It is possible that if you moved into a long established situation (ie: older condo and board who's been involved for a long time) that this is routine business for them, as they have been there before. Not cronyism or nepotism, just routine business.
As a former townhome association member and board member, there were things that became routine as the years went by. Snow removal was one of them. We had a long established relationship with our contractor - there were a few misunderstandings along the way, but once we both settled on what was in the contract (with a few tweeks through the years) it was routine.
The contract effectively said what my OP states (plow >= 1", pre/post salting, clearing walkways,) but does specifically preclude snow removal from the premises, which most of you figured.
The board president has been so for a while now, though I don't know exactly how long, but when I asked her, she mentioned past issues with flooding, but also that she leaves these matters to the paid management. The management, when asked, did not respond to any of my questions or suggestions, but did send me the contract. Today, the snow still remains piled up next to the complexes.
Having learned of the potential for flooding, I did dig out my basement window and create a down-hill path from it to the parking lot for the snow to hopefully melt into. My window is above ground though, while others are lower and probably at much higher risk.
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Its funny watching people who have zero experience in this area argue about something so mundane.
Tight parking lots require snow removal, its a fact of life. Why would the board waste so much time discussing something so basic? If someone with some experience saw the lot its possible the contractor is not banking the snow enough but without seeing it who knows, that's beyond this forum.
I don't get why people who live in condo's get ragged on for no reason.
Am I the funny person you're talking about or do you mean others jumping to conclusions in this thread? I admitted to having no experience, which is why I'm here for advice.
I work in a field where procedural compliance is paramount, but experienced-based tribal knowledge makes the difference between someone who is excellent at their job and someone who is just ok or worse. With that said, when mistakes are made, it is sometimes found that things were done a certain way (possibly wrongly or possibly in a way that bred complacency) it was because it had always been done that way.
If our condo association has, in the past, paid a grand or more each time it needs to remove snow, because the plow company said that's what it cost, then I'd like to know that. If they had previous explored other options that didn't work as well or quickly or whatever, then I'd like to know that as well. Why? Because it's my money as much as ours, and if we can save X% on this, then there may be X% savings to be had in other areas that haven't been discussed thoroughly either.
As I mentioned, the board president stated that she didn't know the details, that she voted yes because it needed to be done, and that the management took care of things like this. My wife, who just recently volunteered for the board, also voted yes, because every one said it needed to be done.
I'm not necessarily questioning whether something needs to be done, but the process by which it is decided that it needs to be done...is done. If the board members vote on something that they don't understand, because someone told them simply that it's required, then I'd like to know why. I asked very simple questions that could (key word: 'could') produce a solution that could save the members of this condo complex money.
I'm also not being combative with the association; I've just got questions that aren't unreasonable to be asked, IMO. If you have experience with a board, I'm here to read about them, if you'll share them.
Thanks for all of the help provided thus far.
