Recent Articles

SPA NOISE - WHAT IS REASONABLE!!

Beth Grimm
January 06, 2009 04:34

Having to endure noise from the neighbors? The pre-eminent question is: "What is reasonable noise and what is not?" I like the "take it to the judge rule" using the small claims forum, if you cannot get any relief in working with the neighbor. However, there are steps that should be tried, first....

Time To Sharpen the Saw!

Beth Grimm
January 03, 2009 05:07

I am sure you all enjoyed the holidays may have commenced the web surfing for information. I wish you all the very best of everything in 2009. Life probably won't get alot easier, however, here is something to remember. You can have a good attitude, or you can have a bad attitude, it takes the same...

FORECLOSURE, BANKRUPTCY, HOW DO WE COLLECT HOA FEES??

Beth Grimm
January 03, 2009 04:56

It's 2009, and I am still ready to answer the hard questions. To be sure, HOAs had a hard time this past year collecting assessments with so many economic woes, foreclosures and bankruptcies (and its likely to continue). I have written on the subject of assessments time and again and done all that...

TERMINATING AN HOA IN CALIFORNIA, HOW HARD IS IT?

Beth Grimm
December 29, 2008 05:10

Many people ask about terminating an HOA. Often, it's because the owner is tired of the Board, or upset with what the Board is doing, but they do not want the job. Newsflash! If there is no HOA board then there are likely to be problems in getting the money needed to maintain the property that is...

THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BANKRUPTCY

Beth Grimm
December 27, 2008 04:57

I am in the process of working on a Primer that tells readers what to expect when a homeowner account goes into bankruptcy and the HOA is trying (hoping, pleading, whining, threatening, etc.) to collect the outstanding assessments. But I told a reader who is anxious for some information right away...

Who Can Serve On The Board? Wife/Husband? Brother/Sister? Convict? Minor?

Beth Grimm
December 14, 2008 21:49

Who Can Serve On The Board? Wife/Husband? Brother/Sister? Convict? Minor? Someone by Proxy? Someone by Power of Attorney? The HOA Landscape Company Owner? the HOA manager? the developer? The local dogcatcher? The Governor? A Board Member who owes the association back dues? An undocumented or...

MAY AN HOA BOARD OPEN A CREDIT CARD ... WHAT IF THEY TAKE THE STUFF?

Beth Grimm
December 14, 2008 19:42

Lots of HOAs have credit cards - and they use them to allow board members, maintenance personnel and landscape people, etc to purchase things for the HOA. Some HOAs purchase or pay for cell phone minutes so that Board members can communicate, in HOAs where the Board members do not live on site. A...

HARD SURFACE FLOORS - NOISE ISSUES - THINGS NEVER STAY THE SAME

Beth Grimm
December 10, 2008 18:56

People send me complaints and also proposesd solutions. Consider the following emails: "I found you articles on noise interesting. The noise issue has been taken to such an extreme by our HOA that it requires all architectural change application regardless the amount of noise level it might create...

RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Beth Grimm
December 10, 2008 18:45

Sometimes an HOA Board forgets that homeowners have rights too, and sometimes homeowners forget that along with the rights come some responsibilities. This message from CAI (Community Associations Institite) sent out recently is a reminder that if the persons sitting on both sides of the table have...

HOA Management, What Designation is Acceptable?

Beth Grimm
November 24, 2008 20:10

People gravitate to my site for all kinds of reasons. I get a lot of email questions about what it takes to be CID (common interest development) manager, and complaints about managers acting badly, or not knowing what they are doing (at least in the eyes of the beholder - the owner who sent the...