Posted on 11/28/2022 7:20:39 AM PST by george76
I own a second home in Pagosa Springs, CO. A couple years ago the HOA for Pagosa Lakes went full dictator and declared war on short term rentals in Pagosa Lakes. We home owners were not able to vote on this; they simply declared it with minimal input from the owners. When I sent a scathing letter that included the “damn” word I was informed of another policy they enacted without input. If they don’t like your correspondence you are subject to a $500 fine for the first offense, $10,000 for the second and $20,000 for the third. Gee, what kind of message is that sending?
You can still offer up your home in Pagosa Lakes for a short term rental, but first you must buy a special expensive permit from the HOA and the county assessor will reassess your home at TRIPLE the market value and you will be taxed accordingly. Mission accomplished: most owners opted out of short term rentals.
When I bought my place five years ago approximately 70% percent of the homes in Pagosa Lakes were second homes for people living elsewhere (mostly Texas, according to our real estate agent), and I doubt that has changed much. This is what is called a resort community. Many of us purchased homes here because we wanted the option of short term rental income. The Board of Directors for the HOA laughably tried to rationalize their decision. The real reason is pure NIMBY; they and their friends can’t stand Texas riff-raff in Pagosa.
The Board says local workers cannot find affordable housing due to the homes being used for AirBNB. Sorry Board, not my problem. You are my HOA, not a social outreach program that I sponsor with my dues. I drove an hour each way to my job for most of my life and I had roommates until I was forty years old. You want to live in a resort community or other desirable place you got to suck it up.
Does the Board REALLY think those AirBNB homes will convert to long term rentals? Of course not! Those idiots know we want to visit our second home frequently and don’t want someone living there full time (whoops, give me a minute while I whip out a check for 500 clams, or am I up to ten grand?).
So how has this played out? No post-Covid recovery for Pagosa. The short term renters used to come in and spend like drunken sailors. It being a vacation they would bring extra money. They’d load up at the pot shops and the liquor stores because you can’t get pot in Texas, and because beer, wine, and liquor costs 30% more in The Lone Star State. They would ski at the nearby resort, because, you know, skiing sucks in Texas and they would enjoy the famous Pagosa hot springs. Imagine the rage this causes the Board. Texans in our hot springs! Gross!
Now the small businesses still surviving are largely up for sale. On top of that, 70% of the homes and businesses going dark in Pagosa attracted the tweakers from Durango, Sante Fe and Taos. Our home was recently broken into by a pair of meth heads from Taos, one of whom is currently in jail there. They lived in our shed for a week or two getting high on hand sanitizer and leaving a pile of cigarette butts and beer cans and broken glass on two doors. The responding sheriff’s deputies said this problem spiked shortly after the Board’s decision to eliminate short term rentals and is a continuing problem throughout Pagosa Lakes.
...
So the geniuses solved the worker rental housing crisis by eliminating many of the jobs. I picture the Board members sitting blissfully on their deck in the pines, wearing their masks, relieved at not having to hear rednecks or local workers living it up next door.
I offered this story to two “newspapers” in Pagosa Springs and received no replies. It probably radiated like nuclear waste from their screens, a veritable Cleveland Steamer. You see, advertising (i.e., survival) for these corndog wrappers comes mostly from the huge number of real estate firms in town. God forbid word gets out to potential buyers that the local HOA is fascist as Hell and does whatever they want with YOUR home and your home is not safe from tweakers.
It distresses me that I cannot ask these town newspapers to pursue important stories that affect their community. Their interests lie elsewhere.
All it takes is the right combination of people on the board to turn it into a nightmare. Usually after the originals homeowners die off and a younger, more militant group, takes over.............
By your definition, only monarchs and dictators own property.
Didn't George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the founders of this country pay taxes?
If the Current HOA leaders houses burn down. I expect the next batch will be more thoughtful about their approach. Just a thought. Lightning strikes are a big cause of home fires. So are idiots who run HOA doing their own home repairs.
As a residential renovation investor, I deal with HOAs or nosey neighbors (or both) just as soon after I buy my flips. It’s sexist, but I stand by it: the men are great to work with but the women are very difficult and never happy.
It’s so frequent that I’ve learned to use a little semi-charm and smile when I’ve been pushed to my limit, by saying (in a nice, sing songy way) “Mrs Neusbomb, you’d better be nice to me as I have total control over who the owners of this house is going to be...” (Just as effective: “Mr HOA Man, well you’d better tell Mrs Nueseybody that if I have any more of these nit-picky delays, I’ll just turn it into a short term rental!”)
Now, what I’m saying is total bull****, but they always buy it and they do finally back off. It’s remarkable! I imagine they think I have a list of buyers I can just pull from who might not be the right color or class level or gawd only knows... but their fear is real.
Yes, but I don’t know if the feed store is still there.
Summary
Definitely struck a nerve or two there. Don’t hesitate to tell us what you really think.
For the record, 44 years farm owners in central Florida, no HOA. Here in Colorado just over a year, HOA does community water and irrigation water supply. And does neither well. Can’t get a quorum for anything but handwringing. Four months no domestic water,( we’re on top of the hill with buried community tank), and plenty of irrigation water when it rains. Fire hydrants for show.
Drink beer, cider, bourbon. Buy ice. Hot springs in town. View from the decks are fantastic , but stay the blue away. ( and i haul our own water.)
I agree HOA’s can be difficult. Pagosa Springs is a beautiful place, so there is that.
I assume that your main complaint with them is that you can’t make money off this property when you are not there, and this income was one of the reasons for your decision to purchase the property in the first place.
Is there anything else?
I honestly don’t understand people who know full well what HOA’s are, are surprised when something like this happens. Some people WANT all the rules and regs. I want nothing of the sort, so would never buy into that type of situation.
Turns out she was the president of the HOA shopping out of town buying some of the things the HOA didn't allow others to have.
Hypocrite needed to be sent out of town on a rail.
Yes, HOAs are a two-edged sword. I have lived in two, and the last one I was President of the Board and of the HOA.
I could write a book. For a younger person in his or her career, being on the board will give you some broadening experiences that you will never get in your professional staff job.
I’d like to believe I was one of the right people on the board, but I know there are neighbors who would both agree and disagree. Years later after I moved, I was at a party and was introduced to people said my name sounded familiar. Eventually we traced it to living previously HOA
/ neighborhood where I was Pres. I did not know them back but I knew their name, where their home was. They were “good citizens” during my tenure - paid their assessments on time, showed up at annual meeting, annual summer pool party, etc etc. No issues, never complained to HOA my entire tenure. Now when I see these people in public in town, they actually take steps to avoid me, turn away from me. My guess is they probably were friends with one of the HOA-trouble-making whiner neighbors on my tenure, and heard a belly-whopper , one-sided, libelous story about me.
I have no problem with the CO neighborhood taking on ABNB and restricting rentals. If significant majority of people who never read the HOA covenants and by-laws disagree, they can vote out the (usually unpaid, volunteer) board, then read the covenants and by-laws, to know what process needs to be followed to make the changes they seek.
As far as audit of HOA by CPA. We budgeted money / set aside for audit every 4 years. We had a capital project budget too. People would #itch and moan that their assessments were too high - we held them flat for 5 years and made joining the pool club optional? Bet you can guess how many non-paying pool members did not like that they were limited to two times, neighbor courtesy day use to the pool club provided a member-neighbor took them as a guest. Or other pool neighbors who thought their guests who didn’t live in the HOA neighborhood should be able to hang out with them at the pool M - F all summer because they paid for a pool membership. Bet you can guess which neighbors who decided to move would advertise in their real estate ads GREAT NEIGHBORHOOD POOL AND TENNIS CLUB!!
Final point - I don’t blame CO HOA for restricting rental property if said action is permitted under the governing HOA documents. Exccept for a prison, freight railroad or chemical plant being built contiguous to the HOA, rental properties can really harm property values in HOA neighborhoods and desirability to live in a neighborhood atmosphere / conditions. Even 10% rentals can have a big impact. Article said these were “second homes”. I emphasize the word “homes” here. If the owner is looking for rental property - there are plenty of coastal areas with HOAs that allow rentals where they can invest their money.
A couple of things I'd add to my previous (generally supportive) comments about HOAs ...
1. I am not fond of an HOA whose jurisdiction includes anything other than streets and open spaces for stormwater drainage or similar functional purposes. Pools, tennis courts, playgrounds, clubhouses, and golf courses (to a lesser extent) bring nothing but potential trouble.
2. The most troublesome HOA owners I've known are people who probably have no business owning a home in a civilized community in the first place.
Caveat emptor.
Owned a home with an HOA once before, but never again.
Unless an HOA is reformed to require all decisions by majority vote of all HOA owners/residents, with no board of directors dictates on anything, it will become a fascist organization.
… at least they are older and retired and rent the units for 3-4 month and treat the complex like they live there, not something to be abused and discarded like the weekly summer renters.…
Amen.
Sorry y’all are having to deal with this, but, congratulating your good fortune of being in the original building.
I hate HOAs! Up in Maine where we (my parents) had a cabin (4 bedrooms 2 1/2 baths) the HOA of this resort area (nice lake) got in and tried to ban motors over 10 horsepower. Most of the cottage owners were there to enjoy boating, butthe HOA Board were retirees who hated waterskiiers. (One idiot used to ‘fish’ in the middle of our waterski course.) We decided to vote them out a month later when there was fraud going on...
It always goes back to the governing documents (convenants and by-laws), state laws, state and federal constitutions. One wants a board that knows their documents inside and out, and some institutional memory so some of the potential legal issues an be passed on, unless it is necessary to have the HOA attorney or property manager to come in to make a presentation.
For example, my past HOA neighborhood had restriction on satellite dishes, which when the covenants were written were huge in size compared to today. With the so-called deregulation of cable television and some court cases, that covenant could no longer be enforced. And as good fortune would have it, the size of the dishes were getting smaller. Therefore, placement of the dishes to preserve required architectural standards needed to be developed, written, presented and discussed publicly, modified, re-presented and avote of the board. Then once passed making sure the VOLUNTARY architectural review board was able to respond quickly enough to resident applications for satellite installation review.
I made further comment in #91 above this post. Including most people don’t read the covenants / by-laws .... before they buy, and many don’t read them after they buy. Like many good Americans, they don’t care, just give them what they want now ... except they’ll be the first to call the HOA president on Friday at 10 pm because of something their neighbor is doing.
HOA boards attract Karens like a picnic attracts ants.
I have limited sympathy for rental owners myself.
Unless they actually live in the community they could care less as long as that rent money keeps coming in.
An hoa is the only thing keepin’ ‘em in line.
Did they? Certainly, some form (not income or sales tax!) They went to war over taxes. I believe the point stands; don't pay your taxes (property or income) or your HOA fines and see how much property you own.
Small government at work. I wouldn’t want my property devalued by a bunch of kids partying under a short-term rental next door.
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