Let's Talk HOA

The Reddit Review: Real Comments, Real Answers

• Main Street Management Group • Season 1 • Episode 3

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If you want to know what people really think about Homeowners Associations, all you have to do is look at Reddit, Google Reviews, or Nextdoor. The internet is flooded with viral HOA rants, intense frustrations, and neighborhood mystery. But how much of it is true, and how much is just unfiltered emotion hidden behind a keyboard?

In this episode of Let's Talk HOA, host Kelly Hawkins sits down with longtime community manager Jennifer Cordell to do something a little brave. They pull real, raw comments and online reviews straight from the web and match them up against real-world industry reality.

Together, they pull back the curtain on the industry to break down:

  • The Emotional Holiday Dispute: The real story behind a zero-star Google review and how unrealistic expectations can boil over into online campaigns.
  • The Shadow Cabinet of Seattle: A wild Reddit thread featuring anonymous homeowners attempting to destabilize an association via WhatsApp and Zoom.
  • The Dangers of a DIY Board: The legal, financial, and logistical liabilities when board members try to fire professional partners and manage collections or construction corners themselves.
  • The $45 Dilemma: Why perspective and education are crucial when evaluating what your monthly assessments actually cover.

Key Takeaways for Board Members:

  • Understanding D&O Insurance: Why your Directors & Officers insurance might not protect you in non-monetary lawsuits (like architectural disputes) or court settlements.
  • The Danger of Moving in the Heat of the Moment: How online smear campaigns and local news threats actually decrease property values and damage the homeowners' biggest financial investments.
  • How to Present, Not Demand: Why coming to a volunteer board with solutions based on research yields better results than throwing an internet tantrum.

An HOA is only as strong, transparent, and healthy as the community members and leaders inside it. If your neighborhood currently feels like a shadow cabinet is running things, or you're ready to bring professional stability, compliance, and true financial protection back to your board, let’s talk.

Have a wild neighborhood social media post or crazy Nextdoor thread you want us to break down next? Submit it through our website contact form!

Learn More About Us:

  • Visit our website: Main Street Management Group
  • Follow us on our social channels for more insights and updates.
  • Subscribe to Let's Talk HOA on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Produced by: Main Street Management Group & Charlotte Content Marketing

SPEAKER_01

If you want to see what people really think about HOAs, all you have to do is log into Reddit or look at Google reviews. From neighborhood message boards to spaces dedicated entirely to HOA horror stories, the internet is full of viral rants, intense frustrations, and plenty of mystery. Today we're leaning right into it all. We're pulling real, unfiltered comments and actual reviews straight from the web and matching them up against real-world industry reality. Some of these complaints are completely valid, but others. Well, let's just say there's another side to the story. So grab your coffee and maybe some popcorn for giving real answers to the internet's biggest neighborhood gripes. Welcome to Let's Talk HOA, the podcast giving you an inside look at the world of community management in Lake Norman and beyond. Presented by Main Street Management Group. We're your source for relatable stories, expert information, and a transparent look at the industry. So if you're ready to get the inside scoop, kick back, grab a coffee, and let's talk HOA. Welcome back to Let's Talk HOA, presented by Main Street Management Group. I'm your host, Kelly Hawkins, and I'm joined today by longtime manager Jennifer Cardell. Hi, Jennifer. Hello, Kelly. Today we're doing something a little bit brave. We're diving into real posts and real reviews written by homeowners and board members online, and we're responding with what we wish we could say publicly. As managers, we have to remain professional and swallow our reaction, but not today. Today we're providing honest reactions and insights into the other side of the story. So I'm actually pretty glad today that this is the topic of our podcast because of what you and I went through yesterday. You know what I'm talking about. I did. Um, we had a vendor, a longtime vendor, we have a great relationship with. I consider him a friend. And he got mad about something, and his reaction was over the top. Yeah, I was gonna say unhinged. Unhinged. Yeah. Absolutely. So tell everybody a little bit, just a brief synopsis of what happened.

SPEAKER_00

So, you know, being the management company, we are the kind of go-between, right? Between the boards and getting work orders and things done. So we had given this gentleman a work order to come and evaluate a specific instance. He provided a quote. The board talked about it and then decided at the last meeting, hey, we're we're gonna approve this, but we need to go all in and we want to kind of get a soup to nuts, if you will. So we let this gentleman know, the vendor, hey, this is approved. However, they're gonna need the all-in budget to present before they can commit. And somehow the vendor misunderstood and heard me say it's approved and started the project. There was some misunderstanding. Honestly, at the end of the day, I think there was a little misunderstanding from the vendor, maybe some misunderstanding that the quote he needed to provide that they requested needed him to do some of the work. At the end of the day, honestly, both sides could have easily said, hey, I get the other's perspective, in which I did share an email and said, Hey, here's their version, here's what they're looking at, here's what the vendor's kind of coming in at. And my job is hopefully to bring the two together so they could come to, you know, one remedy to be able to pay for this.

SPEAKER_01

And so the only thing we said to him yesterday was, hey, we need to stick a pin in this for a minute. Yeah. Reevaluate the scope at the next and decide what we're gonna, how we're gonna do. Nope. And I think this is what made him mad. You said for the original quote was $3,700. Can it be $3,000? Because I don't think you did this little part.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

So we're talking about very small projects. Under $1,000. Yep. Yep. And he took that to mean that he was never gonna get paid, even though we've explained it to him several times. I can't tell you how many phone calls, emails, texts that happened yesterday. I it was he personally insulted us, yes, the board.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, it was borderline harassment.

SPEAKER_01

He's still emailing you today. Yes, yes. Even though we said just stick a pen in it, take a deep breath. We're gonna try to work this out.

SPEAKER_00

He has also threatened with leaning the property for the HOA. I mean, it's just an overreaction if I've ever seen one.

SPEAKER_01

That's and I told him that. And unfortunately, I think what's gonna happen is we're not gonna be able to use him anymore.

unknown

I know.

SPEAKER_01

And that's our relationship done.

SPEAKER_00

Honestly, $700. Right. At the end of the day, I think it was $750. If he would have just been patient, given them the time to discuss it at their next meeting. But because that solution or that answer he wanted didn't come instantaneously, he lost it.

SPEAKER_01

So I bring this story up because I think that is a good example of the reaction I think sometimes happens with homeowners, right? And they are so upset in the moment that they don't take a deep breath, they don't try to work it out with the board, they just go straight to Yelp, to Google, to Reddit, wherever they can go, Facebook, and they just spew their story.

SPEAKER_00

They're doing their feels, and that's the problem with social media today. You are in the middle of your feels. So what do you do? You want to, what's the first thing you do when you're upset? You want to pick up the phone and call somebody, right? So they go on social media, they throw it all out there. Before they've had in the, you know, back in the olden days, you know, like before they had automobiles and whatnot, they had to call us on the phone. And if we weren't there, we would call them back. But by the time that happened, you had two things. You had an actual exchange of conversation, live person to live person, and you had some time that went by. And during that time, what happens? Thought about it. You thought about it, right? The homeowner didn't come in so hot. They're not hiding behind a keyboard where they can just put anything out there. And things that would normally have just been resolved with a nice conversation escalate to what unbelievable amounts of what you said.

SPEAKER_01

And I I just think they immediately have to go find the choir they can preach to, right? So, and I also have noticed one thing about social media is that if you read a lot of the posts, they don't say why they're mad.

SPEAKER_00

No, they absolutely don't. Why is the HOA bad? They never really management's horrible, don't ever use them. The board is, you know. But why? There's to get into the details.

SPEAKER_01

They don't exactly, but the devil's in the details, isn't it? Right. Well, there's three sides to every story, right? Yours, yours, the side, their side, and the truth. So today I wanted to go through some of the posts that I found online. And I also wanted to give us the opportunity to react in the way we wish we could, because when we're in the middle of it and we're doing our job, we don't get to have any reactions. No, we don't. So the first one I'm starting with is an actual Google review of our company. And uh I think this says everything I it just sort of is an example of everything I just said. So I'm gonna read it verbatim. I would give them no stars if I could. I've lived in a community that they manage, and I use that term very loosely for 15 plus years. They have a long history of never calling back if you have a concern. Recently, I had a question that was not answered by our agent. So I called the owner. She proceeded to tell me that I was the problem and never took responsibility for her agents not returning calls. This terrible customer service obviously comes from the top and trickles down. No accountability. Okay. Wow. I know. But can you tell what what's her problem? Can you tell? What did I do?

SPEAKER_00

I have no idea. No earthly idea what you didn't call her back on, what the issue is. Other than the only thing she demonstrates here, I guess, is lack of communication, which so let me tell you what happened.

SPEAKER_01

She called our office in February because she wanted the board to pay for holiday luminaries the following December. So in February, she's calling you about holiday luminaries. Yes. Okay. Which we answered the phone. She she failed to mention. Okay. So she talked to us on the phone and we told her, hey, it's February. We'll tell the board your request, and probably they'll get back to you in the fall when we're closer to the end of the year, and we'll know if we can put those in the budget because they're not currently in the budget. She, so that's an answer, in my opinion. She got an answer. Absolutely. So she calls back in July and she gets basically the same answer. Well, that ticks her off because that's not, I'm gonna get my holiday luminaries.

SPEAKER_00

Right, because we all know come August 1st, there is not a luminary to be found. So she needed that answer, Kelly. We failed her, apparently.

SPEAKER_01

So she calls the office, she doesn't get the answer that she wanted in July. She's literally screaming at the managers over the phone, and she gets asked to speak to me. I'm at a conference for a week, so I don't get back to her.

SPEAKER_00

Wait, you didn't walk out of that conference and go call her back about the holiday luminaries in July, Kelly?

SPEAKER_01

No, I did not. Sorry, I know. So I call her when I get back to the office and she tells me what her issue is, and she's being pretty rude about it. And I say to her, you know, we did do our part, we don't make the decision. We did tell the board about it. You were given an answer that it'll probably be the fall before they can decide. Um, and she's just coming at me, so I made the mistake of saying, you know, we're trying to help you. And I every time you call our office, you're very rude. And I don't understand why you need to be rude. Well, that was it. Now I'm the worst. I don't do anything. I also suggested to her that if she wanted to escalate or get this expedite, she should write an email to me that I can give to the board where she explains the costs, how much she'd sell them for to each homeowner, that she volunteered to have everything delivered to her and that she would she would give it out, but she didn't do it. She still to this day has not sent me that email.

SPEAKER_00

No, because, and I will tell you, and this happens so often, homeowners love to present ideas to the board for them to have to do all the legwork, though. And what they fail to realize is they may not get a yes or even an answer on something because the board is dealing with the here and now, right? Plus their jobs, their families, their volunteers. So they may not, they're not sure if at that time they're going to be able to put the legwork into a an a project that you, a homeowner who's not volunteering, basically you're asking, you're volunteering the board to do this. So I think homeowners need to realize when they come up with these things, it's it's not unrealistic to ask them, hey, this is a great idea. Do you want to gain the details together? You know, do that initial legwork so that the board can make a better informed decision. Because then now you're not asking the board to do extra work. You're asking them to review something. Make a decision. Make a decision, which is what they are elected to do.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So I I like this review because it shows you that you don't know all the side. She didn't give a story.

SPEAKER_00

You don't the word luminary isn't here.

SPEAKER_01

No.

SPEAKER_00

And that was the highlight of the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01

Not only that, she did she she posted this on Google, on Facebook. I had to chase her around the internet answering to this and giving the other side of the story. And then she would answer back and call me lame. So it was a thing. But I just want everyone to see you should read all of these reviews very closely.

SPEAKER_00

Well, even with a grain of salt. Yes. You have to understand this is truly one side of the story. And then even in that side, you're not getting all of the information.

SPEAKER_01

No, they're mad.

SPEAKER_00

They're mad. They're just mad. And they're in the moment. They're in their field.

SPEAKER_01

All right. So this other one is uh something I pulled off of Reddit. It says, My Seattle suburban community is dealing with a coordinated blockade of our HOA by a group of six homeowners. Here's the kicker. Nobody has met five of them. They are like a shadow cabinet that has never revealed themselves. They are completely against meeting face-to-face and insist on Zoom meetings or WhatsApp discussions. Despite being total enigmas, they run a hyper-coordinated, vicious smear campaign against anyone brave enough to volunteer for the board. It's been remarkably effective. They have managed to force the resignation of two consecutive boards through intimidation and public slander. It seems like the ultimate goal of the group of six is to obliterate the HOA and not have any common obligations. That includes our public landscaping, parks, and common trees, some of which have fallen and caused damage that homeowners have paid for. Now one of the homeowners has decided they've had enough and has threatened to sue the board for damages from the tree about to fall. Unfortunately for us, it will seem that the HOA is actually incredibly negligent and everyone's gonna pay.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, I'm just gonna go there. What's up? I mean, isn't that something you use when you go out like when we went when I went to St. Lucia? Yes. We had to use what why what is the why is there no real good?

SPEAKER_01

I think because they can be anonymous.

SPEAKER_00

And why is this being allowed?

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. I mean, there's like so much to unpack here. Like, first of all, what are they trying to accomplish? They're only damaging their own property. If if no one will get on the board and care for and make decisions about the common parks and landscaping and trees, then everyone's going to suffer.

SPEAKER_00

Right. Their their entire biggest investment, their home, their community, their neighborhood, is going to obviously not maintain a standard. Right. And they're they're just shooting themselves in the foot at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_01

Not only that, if an as if an HOA member decides to sue the board, the board doesn't pay for that. The HOA pays for that.

SPEAKER_00

Explain this because this is something I can't explain enough. When homeowners say, Well, I'm just going to sue the board, and I try to explain to them, in essence, that they're suing the association. Right. And then who's the association? All of the homeowners, right? They think the board will be held to some monetary thing where they're going to take it out of their own pockets. It doesn't work like that.

SPEAKER_01

So well, if you have a good management company that's helped you understand insurance, every board should have excellent DNO insurance. Which is your director's and officer's insurance for the board. And you have to be careful because I like to say there's good and bad DNO insurance. You have to make sure that your DNO insurance covers your association and your board, even if you're sued for non-monetary reasons. So a lot of people want to sue for money, but there's some people that sue because you denied a fence and they just want the fence. And there's a lot of DNO out there that they're not going to cover you or your legal fees if all they want is the fence. That's huge. Only monetary.

SPEAKER_00

So if your management company isn't looking at your DNO, they're not doing their job. They're not doing their due diligence.

SPEAKER_01

Or at least tell you to.

SPEAKER_00

That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_01

And the other thing is, is a lot of DNO won't cover the settlement. Let's say you go to court these days, everything settles. Let's say they get $300,000 as their settlement. A lot of DNO only pays the attorney's fees. They don't actually pay the settlement. So now the association, you are trying to find $300,000 to pay yourself. I don't think anybody realizes that when you sue the association, you sit on both sides of the table.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I mean, you may very well may have a special assessment to have to pay for the lawsuit that you won. How crazy is that?

SPEAKER_01

I don't, I yeah, I just don't understand the ones that want to publicly out their association where their house sits, their biggest investment. How many times have you been told they're gonna call action nine?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, if I had a dollar for every time. It's such a popular thing to say. But the the consensus is the same. They're gonna go to some news station, yes, put their entire association out there and tell the entire viewing audience how bad it is to live here. To live here. But then they they're what's their end result? Well, I'm gonna sell my house. Not when not like now, not now. No, because what happens when you Google that address? That whole article comes up, right? And the video from action nine or whatever.

SPEAKER_01

I don't get that. And I would understand if if you had a really good reason, I would understand. But most of the time, these are the very same people unwilling to actually have a conversation or like the person in the Google review, bring something to the table that the board can decide on. These most boards are not bad people, they're just busy. This is a volunteer role. They need help, and you're part of a cooperative of people that have agreed to help maintain this community. So help. It's not you and them. But that's that's our last podcast.

SPEAKER_00

You're right. That's exactly the that's the feeling that we get constantly, you know, that the the board is there at their beck and call. They should be answering emails, phone calls, requests to meet in person immediately. And if they're not meeting that, they're failing as a board. And then we're failing as a management company because we're not making these decisions on behalf of the board and requiring them to do XYZ.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I agree. You we have to fill the experience gap for the board. We do.

SPEAKER_00

That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_01

If we're worth, if we're worth our money, we have to. All right, here's another one. I'm a new board member who was thrust into the role of acting president per our bylaws rules of succession. I spent the last week piecing together a narrative around a serious breach and fiduciary duty regarding not obtaining required construction permits. Yesterday morning, I sent an email to our management company asking some questions on our finances. Turns out the permit issue, while bad, is the tip of the iceberg. She said we are one of the worst HOAs they have seen. We did not do reserve studies in 2021 or 2022. We have not done an annual financial review, even though they are required by the state. We lost out on $35,000 in back dues because one of the directors decided to fire the HOA attorney and handle collections himself. These two directors brag about how they saved our HOA tens of thousands in professional fees by doing the financials themselves and hundreds of thousands of dollars in construction costs by using a non-bid contractor who cuts corners. Wow. So there's a lot to unpack here. But the first thing I noticed was I was thrust into the role of acting president by the rules of succession, which means he's been on the board this whole time. Oh, yeah, absolutely. And no one board member holds any more power than any other. So where's he been? Why have these two board members been allowed to run rogue? There should be a vote.

SPEAKER_00

You know why, because sometimes folks get on the board. They're all too happy when someone, someone, multiple people, whomever, want to take the reins. They're all too happy to sit back until there's a problem. That's true.

SPEAKER_01

We I you we've all seen you have a board of five, you get one or two that's sort of uh bully. Right. They were most you have a lot of board members that are just yes men, they don't engage, they just show up nod along. Right?

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. That's the honestly, I would say there's a good bit of boards that operate that way. They get in line behind the loudest, the most confident opinion. Doesn't matter if it's right or wrong, it matters how well they present the opinion. I always say often wrong, but always certain. That's exactly right. And then they get in line like sheep and just follow along. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So now he he was complicit in getting this community to where it is.

SPEAKER_00

He's one of whether it's five or seven, whatever, but one per fifth percentage of the problem that this was allowed to. Get to this point. And you know what struck me is so this other board member who claims to be an attorney was going to do the collections to save them all those thousands of dollars of fees. And the first thing that struck me was he, if this attorney's worth any, you know, salt, grain for salt or whatever the saying is, right? He, why would you want that liability as an attorney? Number one.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Well, also, another thing I don't think people get is that attorneys don't always all practice the same law.

SPEAKER_00

That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_01

You know, it's like I would not, if I had cancer, I would not go to a cardiologist. That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_00

But they're all MDs. Right? But that's not that's exactly right.

SPEAKER_01

Who knows what kind of law? He might be a tax attorney. That's exactly right. But this isn't what you do.

SPEAKER_00

It's astounding that this was allowed to go on by the other board members and nobody challenged. Here's the other thing. Why don't talk about a conflict of interest? No. Yeah. I mean, how would you not bring that up as another board member when they go? I volunteer to do this. I'm gonna save everybody thousands.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I don't know. I mean, maybe he's an HOA attorney, maybe, but maybe. Yeah, obviously not because he lost out on whatever thousands of dollars that he didn't do it right. There's a lot missing.

SPEAKER_00

There's a lot missing. We we're missing pieces to this puzzle.

SPEAKER_01

The other thing that stands out to me is the danger of a do-it-yourself board. Like you hire a management company who can give you the experience, can give you access to the right people, who understands that there are laws surrounding HOA collections. There are laws surrounding uh enforcement that you why aren't you using the management company to its fullest potential. Honestly, that was one of the first things too.

SPEAKER_00

I thought, who is this management company? Because why are you not? One of the things I think that we offer here at Main Street is when you become managed by us, you get this piece of gold, at least I consider it, because you are getting a pot of gold, because you're getting access to our vendor database. And these are just not, you know, people that we have used. These are vetted for the most part, unless, unless it's the first time, these are vetted vendors. Their insurance is checked and not just checked, but we look at their, I mean, there's a process. Is there not to becoming a vendor to be registered with us? So why would you go hand hire Joe the handyman when you don't know if he's insured, you don't know if he knows enough about permitting and whatnot. There's a lot. There's a lot that goes with this so much.

SPEAKER_01

When they said you're the worst board, worst association we've ever seen. I kind of felt that. Like I and a little bit get where they're coming from because no matter how much experience we bring to the table, you know this. If they're not gonna listen, we say it all the time, Kelly.

SPEAKER_00

You can lead a horse to water.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Right?

SPEAKER_01

You can't make him drink.

SPEAKER_00

We've we've said this, I can't tell you how many times for boards that we come in with our experience of guidance. You're right. If a board is set on doing something, we are not the decision makers. We have zero vote in this.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, unless you're being unethical or illegal, there's not much I can do except for what I'm told. I can try to push back and say, hey, that's not the right way to do it.

SPEAKER_00

But how many times does that does that make it in the meeting minutes too for the community to read? If the board's going one way and we're advising another way, when those minutes come to me, they almost always never put in what we were saying because they're they're selling an agenda, right? They're wanting their decision to be supported and look good. And as you know, if you push too hard, you get fired.

SPEAKER_01

Yep, 100%. So you have to walk a really fine line between trying to guide a board into the right decision and not getting fired. How many times have you have you thought, uh, if I can just outlast this board through the next election, then I can really help this community? Like, yeah, yeah, it happens. So I felt for them when they're like, they finally got someone that would hear him. This guy got in there and started asking the right questions, and they were like, Oh my god, thank God, you're the worst. You know, can I tell you everything that needs to be changed? So I I felt that a little bit.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I definitely do. But again, there's this just so many levels of of what could have, should have, didn't happen. You you gotta ask yourself, how do these things go on for so long like this? It's crazy. Because they're in charge. What happens when you put you think about it, you're putting layman in charge of a business, right? Nature weighs a business. Yeah, well that boards don't have to be qualified.

SPEAKER_01

And you have an eight, you have an attorney on there. I mean, it's not always even that you're smart, it's just that you have a personal agenda or you think you're just gonna do it your way, or you know, you say it all the time. So the last thing I would say about that is that they obviously have a board that went rogue. And I cannot, we talked about it in the last podcast, and I cannot say this enough. Homeowners, you have to pay attention, and you get to decide who the board members are. You have all the power. I think we cannot forget that you get to decide who the board members are, you get to decide what money they spend and what rules they create. And if they're acting like this, you need to take the steps to remove them or elect a new board.

SPEAKER_00

And if you don't know those steps, you should be reaching out to your management company to find out.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. All right, so the last one I'm gonna call the no story story. Um, and it's just it so epitomizes what I was saying about a ramble because we're mad that tells you really nothing that happened. So she says, I am an original property owner in, I'm gonna call it the village for roughly 28 years. It's been a very rocky experience. Some of the troublemaker HOA members have packed up and left. However, the community still has too many bias and unfair community leaders which enjoy focusing on certain homeowners or using harassing tactics. The HOA at the village is currently and has always been a huge, huge problem. I would not recommend purchasing a home in this community. Although it might appear small, neighborly, and appealing, the reality is the opposite of that. I still own property within the village, so this post is based on my honesty. It's a warning to interested prospective homeowners that are looking for a peaceful community based on consideration and respect that the village is definitely not the place to purchase. The HOA here had a reputation of destroying the peaceful home environment you want to build. You just won't have peace of mind from this overbearing HOA. The HOA Association operates more as a bully to extort certain homeowners. Save yourself the headache and purchase elsewhere. Do not purchase or invest your hard-earned money in the property at the village. You will automatically be governed and enforced by the village and experience pure dissatisfaction. I don't even know what to say to this.

SPEAKER_00

Why would you do this to yourself? You just threw a spotlight on your I hope she doesn't ever want to sell. Right.

SPEAKER_01

Well, not only that, what is her problem? I have no idea. It sounds to me like she got a violation letter. Oh, or a late fee notice because there's nothing here. There's no, there's no meat to this. No, this is all fluff. What are you trying to accomplish with this post?

SPEAKER_00

Clearly telling you how lousy a neighborhood she lives in, and never to buy a home in the village.

SPEAKER_01

But she never says why. But we don't know why.

SPEAKER_00

Why is it lousy? We don't know. She got no rewards overbearing, but in what way? We don't know.

SPEAKER_01

Because she got one late notice? Because she got one late fee notice. No, that's not a harassment letter. She probably isn't mowing her lawn or pressure washing her house or putting her trash can away. Maybe one time, maybe more times. But that is why you buy an NHOA because you want your neighbor to put their trash can away. You want your neighbor to mow their lawn.

SPEAKER_00

Really? You don't want your neighbor to park their, you know, huge camper in the driveway. Yeah. And have that sitting. Take the tires off and have an expired plate where the everything just looks like it's inoperable and this car's sitting there.

SPEAKER_01

I guess folks don't realize 100 pieces of yard art, every gnome and flamingo they can find.

SPEAKER_00

I think the biggest misconception is that homeowners truly believe that the board is trying to control them and to control their their decisions. When at the end of the day, all they're doing is upholding the documents that they were elected to do. And protect everyone's investment. Even theirs. Even that one homeowner who's saying you're trying to, you know, take control of my yard.

SPEAKER_01

My protecting the curb appeal. Right. Right. Yeah. I just thought that one was funny because it just goes on and on about nothing.

SPEAKER_00

I was gonna say, this is an I exactly what we see all the time though in Google. Is it not the way it's just all fluff and no meat? Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

I got one more just because I thought it was funny. This is their complaint. We pay $45 in HOA fees, and all we get is trash pickup and streetlights. I'm sorry, sir, but what do you think $45? What else do you think $45 is going to get? Where is this? I mean, yeah, I know for here you rent basically rent streetlights from the power company, and they're $35 per streetlight per month is the base fee. So even if there's a street light every couple of houses and the $45 includes trash pickup. Really, this is a street basis.

SPEAKER_00

Where we need to go in and get out, get some property in there as an investment. I just and they're complaining.

SPEAKER_01

I know. I thought that was funny.

SPEAKER_00

What's the point of that?

SPEAKER_01

I don't know. Be a part of the solution. That's all I can say as we wrap this up. Be a part of the solution, not part of the problem. Too many people today just run to the keyboard. Nobody, you know what I've noticed is that nobody comes to the table willing to debate what they want, right? Explain, bring backup, debate the situation back and forth. Let the board tell you what makes them nervous about it, and then you say back how that won't be true, or take into consider what they've said and alter what you want a little bit to maybe you didn't think about those issues because the board is operates with a lot more information than you do. Um, I just had my own community where I'm the treasurer. We just had uh an open meeting, and I have one homeowner. Um I adore him. He walks the community twice a day. He's 80-something years old. And every time he does that, we get a list of everything he finds on his walk, which I think is great. It keeps us on our toes. My problem with that is that he thinks that because he's told us that we have to do what he fix it the way he said, or we have to fix it in his timeline. Right. Or he has to give us a lecture about why why we have to do it. But he isn't operating with the same amount of information we have. I'm not gonna do that right now because I know we're taking a big project on in the fall, and I'm just gonna wrap that up when I do that. I'm not gonna replace the dent in the guardrail because the guardrail is very patinaed. Nobody can see the dent but him. And if I replace it, it's three grand. And now I'm gonna have a five-foot section of gray guardrail where the rest of my guardrail is, you know, brown and green and very patinaed, and it's gonna look ridiculous. But he says we thinks because I told him, he told me about that guardrail, I have to replace it right now. And so your opinions cannot always be the board member's priority.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, align expectations. It's great that you want to do that. And and but just when you when you do this as a as a homeowner, just keep in mind that you don't have all those finite details behind it to help the board or management company.

SPEAKER_01

You haven't thought about budget. You haven't thought about, you have no idea what big projects are still coming down the pike for the year. You don't know what where we might wrap that up. You you don't understand the whole thing. So be willing to listen, to understand, not just speak to be heard.

SPEAKER_00

Does that mean you said a really good thing before you said homeowners don't come to the table to debate, right? They're all you demand and they do most of their demanding from behind a keyboard. And I truly think that in this day and age, there are a lot of adult homeowners who are petrified of confrontation. They cannot bring themselves into a debate that's face-to-face because they can't that it's just it's the way we've kind of changed as a society that these folks they didn't grow up having to do things face to face. My own daughter, I mean, for to get her to order through a speaker at a fast food restaurant requires, I mean, I can't even tell you how long that it was like I was asking her to address Congress. And I just think we've seen a huge change in in the cadence of how society communicates. And where this generation coming up that are now today's homeowners and today's board members, they have a true fear of in-person confrontation. So that's why they rely on the keyboard. That's why they come in hot because they're not having that we talked about earlier, that time to cool down and perhaps take into consideration the other side, right? Or listen. They're doing everything in the heat of the moment behind the keyboard. And the thought of trying to solve this face to face and having to confront somebody who's going to have a different opinion than theirs is terrifying.

SPEAKER_01

I don't even think that it's a fear of confrontation. I just think that there is a lack of ability to make a point and debate because they there is probably this generation grew up with the iPad in right. So they have always been online and they have always dealt with everything through a TikTok or a reel or a comment or instant gratification. And they got instant gratification for their feelings. And there wasn't ever, I have to defend my point. Nobody comes to the table to defend their point. Like this is what I want. This is how I think it'll work. This is the budget. This is why I want it. And I think a lot of boards would just be open to that, especially if you come with some of the work done. Oh my goodness, you probably for sure.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah. I think boards would welcome that to do the legwork and go, hey, or if there's an issue, hey, I thought about this. You know, what do you think of this? There's no more compromise. It's my way. And then, you know, sometimes you get a board where they're saying it's our way. And then we're in the middle again, walking that tight rope.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So if I had to say anything, you know, come, come to make a point. Make a presentation. I remember my, I know you can do it because I have a teenager who wanted something. So I got a whole uh PowerPoint on bring your PowerPoint. Yeah. Make your presentation to the board. Yeah. Don't just demand and then have a tantrum on the internet when you don't get your way. Well said. That's so right. So if reading through real posts proves anything, it's that an HOA is only as strong, transparent, and healthy as the people willing to participate in it. When communication breaks down, rumors take over and communities fall apart. If your neighborhood currently feels like a shadow cabinet is running things, or you're ready to bring real corporate compliance and financial protection back to your board, we want to have a conversation. Visit us at mainstreetmanagers.com to learn how our boutique HOA management firm brings professional stability and clear data directly to communities in Lake Norman, Cornelius, and surrounding areas. We want to keep this going. If you have a wild neighborhood social media post, a crazy next door thread, or a question about a review you saw online, submit it through the contact form on our website. We just might be able to break it down on the next episode. Be sure to follow us on socials and don't forget to subscribe to Let's Talk HOA on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. For Main Street Management Group, this is Kelly Hawkins and Jennifer Cordell, and we'll see you next time.