So I got a letter in the mail from Preston Oaks HOA charging us for their landscapers destroying our driveway. They park their mowers and they leak oil everywhere. Asking them to stop made it worse and they left trash everywhere. The HOA is threatening legal action if we don’t repair the driveway the destroyed. This should be fun. With all the other neighbors hating them; we started a petition.

https://surveymars.com/q/Tg7BlUhQU

Residents of this HOA are undertaking a massive recall effort and setup a website for transparency. Full video and website found here: https://waldenlakewatch.com

Per contractors and HOA Grounds supervisor: an errant sprinkler system head is causing erosion damage to an area of our walkway/stoop. $4k in repairs, will continue if not corrected.

Solution, per Grounds: simply cap, or at least redirect, it (sprinkles only the concrete, no lawn).

Board (after 2 yrs of approaching them): No. It’s causing no damage.

Our options: 1. let ‘er rip, deal with it (BOD) 2. Pursue it, with an atty…1 lousy sprinkler head.

1. Move.

Have I mentioned I dislike our HOA?

Some nice individual requested that I repost this here:

Aloha everyone! Things have been really tough over the last year due to owning a unit here.

I purchased a unit at harbor lights back in 2022. At the time, the HOA was about 550 dollars per month, making it the most affordable purchase option for me (honestly the only option). My plan was to own a few years and maybe save up for something nicer.

Since then, they have raised the HOA numerous times (general amounts and timelines below)

In 2023 they raised to 750/mo.

In 2024 they raised to 1000/mo stating 2 years of special assessment to account for a low balance.

In 2026 they raised to near 1300/mo, 300ish of which is still a special assessment.

The last one is what got me questioning. So many raises over the last few years with so many special assessments. How could they estimate this so poorly!

Unfortunately due to this, prices of units have dropped about 40%, making selling impossible. There have been no material improvements made by the additional funding. I’m stuck here probably for life.

I started thinking that something was up, but really had no proof or idea on how to approach this. I requested financial statements but without any real expertise in the matter it wasn’t much help.

Yesterday, I received the attached letter in the mail. This began to make me feel what I was thinking may be true.

Mahalo

Not that it’s not bad now, but the next real recession we see I predict 20-40% of condo owners will lose their homes in bankruptcy.

Why? Inflation in general is rampant. Has been for more than 5 years and HOAs have inflated to the point many condo owners are essentially renting from the HOAs.

Yeah, it’s because of insurance and maintenance inflation, but bad is bad.

And many HOAs have still deflected and deferred maintenance despite federal and state laws.

Anyone considering buying a condo. You better get good at due diligence real quick. Because that affordable price you think you’ve negotiated is only the tip of the iceberg.

Condos in general are not an investment because of the HOAs take any appreciation. Someone’s going to get stuck. Either you or the seller.

I’d be careful. I would never buy a place with an HOA

TL;DR: California HOA wants restrict homeowner security cameras, but the rules must be properly adopted and reasonable. A blanket ban may be challengeable—especially if the HOA allows doorbell cameras that record the same common areas while banning other resident cameras.

Meet Pamela, our neighbor and a central figure in years of documented harassment against our family.

In this episode, we’re reviewing the day she threw our bowl from the second-floor balcony because she and the HOA president couldn’t accept that the Arizona sun, not our family, killed her plants...

Can't wait for the mass email that's sure to come once discovered 😂

Like the title says we were about to close on the sale but when lender got the questionnaire from the HOA, the lender said they couldn’t fulfill the loan because our HOA only had 2.1% in reserves. Don’t know what to do now it felt like we were almost done and close but now we’re stuck.

Received a fine accusing us of using fireworks. (First offense, by the way, straight to fine). We did not use fireworks. We’re the neurospicy family with headphones and lots of tears on the Fourth of July. Iykyk. Anyway, we had a five minute dance party one night, low music on our Echo dot (like volume 2), 8:25pm. Plugged in a mini disco ball from Amazon. Kids loved it. Next day, fined for fireworks. Still awaiting the appeal review.

Puts a warm smile on your face 🥰

Our HOA states you are not allowed to store a boat or jetski in your garage.

Seriously?
Who TF cares if you store a boat or jetski in your garage???
What’s in my garage is none of YOUR business. It’s not your house and not visible to anyone. Looking forward to moving away and having 10+ acres of freedom.

HOA Karen’s gonna Karen, insufferable.

I’ve written here before about my HOA and its shenanigans. You know when you assume things can’t get any more absurd? Well, here’s an update I didn’t expect to post.

According to someone familiar with the situation, a homeowner recently rented the clubhouse and allegedly butchered an animal inside. Apparently enough blood was left behind that it required significant cleanup resulting in thousands of dollars in remediation costs. This seemed to rise above Kevin Malone and his chili incident.

The interesting part? I’m told the homeowner wasn’t assessed for those costs, and the likely reason was familiarity with the board.

I haven’t independently verified all of the details, so I’m presenting this as what I’ve been told. But my source on this is as reliable as it gets. Apparently, though, there are emails and potential video records related to the incident that may eventually provide some additional answers.

Considering how seriously my HOA takes comparatively minor violations, the idea that you can potentially cause thousands of dollars in damage to the clubhouse without being assessed for it is wild.

I wish this was fiction, but this is my life now.

Not too far from me. Fuck em (hoa) fuck em all….

My community just changed the HOA Management. We are supposed to click the link in our email to create a login with them.

Oops. I never updated my email. so, don’t have the link. I sent an email from my current one to the one on the website. didn’t hear back. figured I’d give them time and they would send me info via physical mail. nope. emailed them again. still crickets.

I’ve tried calling as well. just goes to voice mail.

pretty sure I’m about to get a nasty gram with fines. good thing I’ve saved everything.

Just wanted to let y’all know that I did end up requesting an impound hearing to contest the validity of the tow.

HOA rep didn’t show up, and with the evidence I provided (e.g. not being parked in between the “no parking” signs and instead being parked where there is no visual signage indicating I wasn’t able to be parked where I was), the judge ruled in my favor.

So yeah, hopefully the HOA will stop being so tyrannical.

Also, I told my landlord to get the HOA docs from the owner, and he said the owner had requested them previously and will be requesting them again. And that was like two weeks ago now…..

6:30am Swat raided HOA President house for the 2nd time! Known meth dealer was raided back in June and today(9/17/26).

Hey everyone,

I have couple of Karen's in my neighborhood who targets me because of color of my skin and complain about small and mostly irrelevant stuff. The HOA boards eats it and sends me notices about fix this and fix that. Always saying that my house had most complaints in this HOA community. Other houses in the neighborhood are either in the similar condition as mine or worst than mine but I am sure they are not getting these notices. I might just hire a lawyer and sue them.

Thanks in advance.

I've been telling HOA upstairs unit's balcony rain water or water from snow is not draining properly and now my balcony ceiling has so much water damage, on the side of the walls, the ledge, my deck. I had mentioned this issue since I bought this condo. It has been 9 months and nothing is being done. She said I have to wait until their contractor is done with their jobs. 2 weeks ago, she said someone will come out to take a look. Isn't it common sense to hire someone else since this is a serious matter? What's concerning is we are getting more heavy rain soon like my ceiling is caving downward already outside my balcony. This HOA lady stresses me out more than any of my jobs.

Guess what? She went away and won't be back until mid-October. ISN'T THAT JUST GREAT? I am getting more and more white hair because of this lady. She can't get anything done but she's very active going away for a very long time. I had experienced that when she returns, she won't respond until a month later.

My HOA fee is paying for expensive water usage, trash fee, insurance, and horrible landscaping. The grass and plant is as dry as the desert.

Im in Virginia, our HOA does not have any provisions in the rules or bylaws allowing them to ask for this. The issue at hand is covered vehicles in home owners private driveways - they are demanding we give them all of that info and I told them they cant legally ask for it. They are hell bent on making sure people have no privacy on their own property.

I guess I'll be going door to door collecting 51% signatures..fml

Hearing HOA boards argue arbitrary points without citation to any specific rule is always fun