Okay, so my last post about our home owner’s association (HOA) covered some letters I was receiving about cars being parked in the street for more than 6 hours, weeding, and stuff like that.  Well, it’s now worse.

Thought It Was Wrapped Up

I thought all of our main troubles had been wrapped up:

• I have been to both HOA meetings since my post in February (they are every other month).
• I explained my personal frustration with the system and letters.  They really didn’t have any sympathy for that but did those nice nods and noises that polite people do.
• So I volunteered to be the welcoming committee for our neighborhood to help future people avoid the stress.  I actually made an info sheet that I’ve been hand delivering along with a map and some sort of welcome food to the new home owner’s.  I’ve delivered 5 so far and have 5 more to do this Sunday.
• And more importantly for our HOA, we have been parking all 5 of our vehicles in our driveway and garage religiously.  We just deal with the crappiness that is the Chinese Fire Drill…swapping the cars around as necessary.
• Lastly, I was impressed by the board members during both meetings – especially how they handle money decisions.  So I thought there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Since all of that in mid-February, we had only received two letters.  One was about edging, which was being done the very next Tuesday (3 days later) by our lawn guy anyway.  That was the beginning of April, so he was just starting his biweekly schedule.  Hopefully they notice we have a guy every other week now.

The other was about a patio we were building (which we weren’t since our back porch area was part of the house), and they apologized at the first meeting I attended for sending the letter to the wrong address.  The management company also gave me a written reply that it was a mistake and not on our record.  That is also when I found out that our next door neighbor on the other side of the utility easement, was the one reporting us most of the time.  Great.

Not Done Yet

Anyway, like I said, I thought it was all wrapped up and they would be happy to leave us alone.  Nope.  Yesterday I received an emailed letter that is also being sent via USPS that asked if we were still renting out a room of our house since that was against deed restrictions.  They also wanted to pass along the concerns of someone that we were having too many parties and the street was being parked up too often (like 2-3 times a month).

Here was their letter:

June 5, 2013

Re: Renting Rooms

Dear Ms. Stemberger,

At the Board of Directors meeting on March 21, 2013, the board shared their concern that you were renting out rooms in your home. As you learned at the meeting, this activity is not permitted under the deed restriction and you told the board they would be leaving in about two weeks.

Can you confirm that you are no longer renting out rooms and your tenants have moved out?

Additionally, there is concern regarding the frequent events or parties at your home which create an excess of onstreet parking. The parties seem to occur 2-3 times per month and presenting a nuisance to the surrounding area.

Efforts to decrease this activity are appreciated.

I look forward to your response regarding the renting of rooms soon.

Sincerely,
D

Here was my response:

Dear D,

My younger sister is still renting out a room of our home (which the board was fine with when I asked at that meeting, let me know if that changed), but our two friends moved out and had to come back due to family problems. But they are not tenants while they look for more permanent accommodations. As it is our private home and they are our friends, I assume this is fine too. They just need a safe place to stay and we don’t mind.

But all 4-5 of our vehicles (we park the truck on a public lot occasionally when possible to try to appease our board members) have been kept completely in our driveway on a day-to-day basis religiously, so that part of the board’s concerns have been handled too. And we are making sure not to block the sidewalk as often as possible as well.

As for our get togethers, we throw one potluck a month with 10-15 people attending. It’s generally on the second Saturday of each month. Other than that, we sometimes have friends over for board gaming but that is not more than 5 or so, so I doubt that is the car issue that anyone has noticed.

But we do live next to the utility easement that is used for extra parking for the whole street, and at least two of our neighbors throw large get togethers once a month too, so maybe that is being blamed on us as well? In any case, I certainly hope it isn’t against deed restrictions to have friends over to your own home. Please verify.

I hope this resolves both issues. If not, I need to know now.

Sincerely,
Crystal Stemberger

Don’t Know What To Do

Like I said in my response, our friends stopped renting from us after I found out at the first meeting that I couldn’t rent out rooms.  My sister still rents a room but they said that what happens between family is not their business.  So that shouldn’t be an issue anymore, but obviously it is.

And we have one potluck a month with a big group (10 or more people), but our friends do come over other times in smaller groups (4 or so)…are they seriously telling me that is not allowed?  What the hell is the point of owning your own home if you can’t have visitors?!   I mean, what if they are talking about all 2-3 times a month that more than one of our friends comes over?  What can I do?

Feeling Like Crap

I’m frustrated, angry, scared, and worried all at the same time.  The management company dude only does his drive through check once a month during the week days, so we are being watched and reported by one or more of our own neighbors.  That is insane.  We board game and eat food inside the house.  Once in a while, a handful of us will talk and laugh while we walk around the lake.  That’s the whole gist of my friend group.  No loud music or anything like that.  The cars are parked along the double-wide street in a single file so traffic is never blocked.  The same strip is used for everybody else’s parking when they host events.  And it’s only a big potluck once a month!

In short, we could eventually be fined or worse if I can’t figure out how to appease either my next door neighbor that reported me before or someone new that I haven’t pinpointed yet.

I don’t want to spend money on legal stuff if we don’t have to, but I’ve already introduced myself personally to all of my neighbors and am trying to fit in.  It’s not working.  We are one of the younger couples in this neighborhood and have no kids…is that making us a target?

I still don’t understand why having cars, especially visitors’ cars for a day of board gaming, parked neatly along a wide public street is an issue anyway.  But there is a deed restriction that says no parking anywhere other than your own driveway for more than 6 hours.  I asked soon-to-be neighbors before we moved in about how strict they are about that restriction since we do have friends, but only one neighbor said that the HOA would care and only if it was habitual.  After our first letter about it late last year, I asked the management company and then the board at the first meeting about it, and they both said it was to keep people from parking in the street overnight and that occasional guests were fine.  Apparently not…

I will hopefully get on the board when their next annual meeting takes place this September or October, but that won’t solve anything unless whoever has us in their line of sight eases up a bit.  They seem to be annoyed with us to the point that they are looking for problems as opposed to just reporting things that affect their own property values.  Or just talking to me…that would be nice.  Everybody seems so friendly to my face, so I have no idea which ones are so upset.

They are making me sad to live here even though I thought this neighborhood was perfect for us.  I’ve cried, I’ve gotten mad, I’ve tried to make nice…what the hell do I do now?

Any ideas?