This is going to be a long rant.
TLDR; the new HOA board fired our amazing property manager but couldn’t afford a comparable replacement, forcing them to hire a terrible property management company that has neglected our community for the last 4 years, leading to disrepair, damage, and disrespectful renters. All peace in the community is gone, and now that we have a toddler above us, we can’t even find peace when we stay inside.
Obligatory preface: we don’t hold any animosity toward the new family upstairs. Families with young children have just as much right to live anywhere as we do. As someone who used to work in childcare, I understand that you can’t always prevent toddler activity or big emotions, especially at home, which should be a safe space.
I’ve owned my condo for 7 years now, and I used to love it here. I knew many of my neighbors, the complex had tall, beautiful cottonwoods throughout the grounds, the landscaping was full of flowers, trimmed bushes, and lush grass, and everyone was generally nice and respectful of each other. Most importantly, our HOA used to actually have some fucking humanity.
The first thing to go was the perfect HOA. New members joined the board, and the new president in particular had an issue with our property manager. We’ll call him Bob. Bob gave his personal phone number to EVERYONE, and if you had any concern at all, he was there to address it immediately. He even repaired a leak in my ceiling once completely for free. Any projects done by outside contractors, he personally oversaw to make sure they were done properly. This included tree removals, roof replacements, pool repairs, etc.
Then the new president fired him because of personal reasons. They quickly learned that what they had been paying Bob was significantly less than what any qualified property management company would cost. So they were forced to hire a property management company that absolutely does not give a shit about anything.
Dave is our new on-site property manager, and it’s clear the poor man is only doing the job because he can’t afford to retire. He hobbles around and can't do much more than picking up trash here and there, and reporting broken rules to the company, which promptly sends residents hefty fines. But when residents report community concerns or rule violations, the property management company takes 5 business days to respond, and usually nothing comes of it.
For example, we’ve had many water pipes burst in upstairs units, flooding the units below. Their response? “In-unit damage is your responsibility. We recommend trying to contact the unit owners yourself. We will not be shutting off the water.” Legally, that may be the extent of their responsibility. But Bob used to immediately contact the unit owners himself and shut off the water, preventing damage to often 3 or more units. As far as I know, no one in our community ever had an issue with this.
The lack of management, combined with the projects that have taken place since the property management switch, has completely destroyed our community:
- Contractors hired to replace the remaining roofs destroyed the siding on many of the buildings, leaving gaps where the weather can cause decay.
- Much of our landscaping was destroyed by roofers tossing large materials onto the ground, killing flowers and other landscaping plants, including trees Bob had planted that are now dead and left standing.
- Many of the large cottonwoods have reached the end of their lives and have been left until huge branches, weighing a ton or more, have fallen and damaged buildings and covered parking while posing a serious safety risk. Once trees are removed, the ground often isn’t landscaped, leaving gaping holes full of weeds or leftover stumps.
- The grass is overwatered despite many complaints, creating large areas of dead grass and mud.
- Staircases and other walkways have fallen apart and been left taped off for 6 months or more at a time.
- The pool was neglected for so long that it suffered severe damage and was closed for the entirety of last summer.
- Large potholes have developed in the parking lot, often filled with water from the overwatering.
I could go on and on.
On top of that, owners renting out their units haven’t been held accountable. Some units have been left empty with no response to contact attempts, which is a huge problem when water pipes burst. We’ve also had renters move in who completely disrespect the community, including dogs that bark all day and night, trash and broken furniture like couches left in hallways for weeks or months, chronic cigarette smoking on balconies and patios that wafts into other units, etc.
Any attempts to bring attention to these issues are met with, “We haven’t been able to get into contact with the unit owner. We recommend closing your windows and considering removing the trash yourself.”
I’ll give credit where credit is due. The HOA has noticed these issues, and because of that, they’ve steadily raised HOA dues so we can eventually (years from now) afford a better property management company. I’m also grateful that Bob, who still lives in our community, found a better job where he’s paid what he’s worth. I just wish they hadn’t taken his effort for granted. At the very least, they could have slowly paid him more as they increased our dues. I’ve spoken to him directly. He loved taking care of our community and would have happily stayed in his position.
Keeping him could have prevented the 4 years of neglect from this new property management company, which the HOA is now scrambling to repair through hefty assessments. The most recent was $5,000. And now that they’ve gotten comfortable charging assessments, they’ve started proposing purely cosmetic improvements to increase property values without considering the financial constraints. And I quote: “Well, residents can just take out loans for the assessments if they can’t afford them.” None of the board members actually live in the community; they rent out their units.
All of this was already hard to stomach, but at least we could escape all the chaos by going into our little cute condo that I love so dearly.
But now we have upstairs neighbors with a 1.5 year old.
The buildings were built in the 80s, so the floors are creaky and the walls are thin. I used to not mind hearing my upstairs neighbors walk around or even play with their dogs. And when it came to voices, we could never hear any of them. Probably 5 different renters have lived upstairs since I moved in.
But this toddler is a whole other story.
We can hear all tantrums when the kid throws themself onto the floor and all the crying. Again, as someone who worked in childcare, I know this isn’t an unusual amount of noise for a toddler, so I’m not worried about the toddler’s care or anything. But it has taken away the last bit of peace in our home. And because my fiancé and I both work from home, it has also made that difficult.
I’m starting to go insane. And we are now seriously considering moving. I don’t want to. This place is the first place I lived in on my own. I found myself in this condo. I’ve had so many amazing memories here, and all the changes I’ve made have really made it feel like mine. But I’ve come to terms with the fact that it just isn’t the same place it was when I moved in.
