I will be shopping for a home soon, and have been leaning toward a condo, as I’m not a gardener or home maintence type person. But my sister is talking about getting out of her condo because of the goofy association.
For instance, this is a six building (4 units per building) complex, and one of the six buildings has occasional basement flooding as a result of some bad landscaping design. There’s an estimate that it will cost about 10K to re-landscape, and as it involves common grounds, it is an expense that the association would have to cover and divvy up among all 24 owners. And since it’s in a “major expense” category, the entire ownership needs a majority vote to approve it, which they haven’t managed in 3 years. The four owners directly hit by the flooding want to share the costs among themselves, but that would require changing the associations bylaws, and they can’t get a majority to do that either. And my sister wonders what will happen if a big storm comes along and rips off only ONE roof, maybe hers.
On paper the association rules seem entirely reasonable, it’s the voting that renders them unreasonable. And as I shop and ask various owners questions, the odds favor me finding people generally either uninterested or satisfied with the status quo.
On a related thought, I wonder whether any disclosure laws regulate the acivities of condo associations? Do I have any right to look at condo voting records if I am not a member, or even if I am? Are they even required to maintain such records? If it matters, I am in Wisconsin.
Also, can anyone tell me whether condo associations fall into the category of “quasi-governmental organizations” that would make them subject to Wisconsin’s Open Meeting Law? This is an extremely serious state about open meetings. The state supreme court debates and votes its decisions in sessions open to the general public.
I suggest you go to a meeting. Condo associations are what make a Conod+ “all the disadvanages to buying your own howm combined with many of the worst of renting”.
I would second attending a meeting. Further, strike up a conversation with the most disagreeable person there to see what the gripes are. If you do buy into a condo, get on the board.
[annoying political commentary]
Yep. And this is why our Founding Fathers gave us a Constitutional Republic instead of a pure democracy. They recognized the latter offers no protection to the minority, and thus leads to tyranny.
[/annoying political commentary]
The disenfranchised minority are free to sell out and go buy a house where they can live by any rules they want. When you buy into a planned community, you have to take the good with the bad. Hopefully it doesn’t get too awful, but that’s why you have annual elections.
There have to be limits on the association’s power. Surely you don’t suggest that the owners can vote and enforce any damn rule they want. What it they vote to rule out sales to Chinese people, or Baptists? Or Chinese Baptists, for that matter?
Well, there are some things which are illegal after all. Fair housing and all that.
Otherwise, the Board can do any damn thing authorized by the governing document of the association that they want.
I lived in a condo for 10 years. I don’t regret doing it. I would never do it again.
My advice is that if you want to see if the neighborhood has a quirky association, find out if it has an association.
Seriously, though, go to a meeting. Your real estate agent should be able to tell you about open meeting laws and what has to be disclosed. I doubt that anything helpful is required by law to be disclosed. They may have to disclose that there is an association, they may even have to provide you with a copy of the bylaws. But there is simply no way to legislate whether the association has a history of being pricks.
One thing you can look at is the enforcement tools that the board has. In the condo where I lived, we did not pay any water bill. that’s because it was supposed to be subsumed by our association dues. Additionally, however, the board has some power to shut water off to homes where assesments were not paid. My grandmother on the other hand lived in a neighborhood (houses, not condos) with an association also. They had no dues and no enforcement powers. They also never did anything odd or distastful. They were simply there as a sort of meeting place for the neighborhood. It was the closest thing I’ve seen to living without an association.
Think of it this way. If you lived in a neighborhood of say around 100 people. If you were to select say 5-10 of those people based on a willingness to “work for the neighborhood” for nothing. So they’d have to have a certain level of life outside the association. What do you think the odds are that you will find at least 2 of those 5-10 people to be true assholes.
Phew. I didn’t think I would rant quite so long on this topic. Sorry if it was too long. And thanks for the opportunity.
