Do you live in a condominium community? Or even a single family home community that has an association? Does your HOA have an annual meeting? Better question might be….
Do You ATTEND your Annual Homeowners Meeting?
Cornerstone Village Midtown Atlanta 2015 Annual Meeting
I had the opportunity to attend the Cornerstone Village Annual Meeting earlier this week. In most HOA communities, you must have a 2/3 attendance (via in person or through a proxy vote) to conduct official business. In the case of Cornerstone Village, with 310 homes, if my math does me correct, there has to be approximately 207 owners present at the annual meeting in order to have a quorum and conduct business. I attended because two owners that I manage their rental condos for, asked me to attend, and I did so by having their proxy vote.
But, there was not a quorum. Nope. Not enough owners attended (or turned in a proxy vote) to do any business.
So what you say? Say WHAT I say?
You OWN a home in this building. You have a financial interest in how the association is run, or the building is maintained and presented. But you don’t bother to come to the annual meeting. Tisk Tisk.
Here’s the most scary part of this….There were numerous people interested in running for the HOA Board of Directors. People that have “stepped up to the plate” to offer their time and talent into running and managing the community (along with a great Property Manager!) But none of those people were elected. Because an election could not happen without a quorum of owners.
So what happens now? The current Board of Directors will hand pick and select the NEXT Board of Directors. How’s that for democracy?
Now, I happen to be writing about Cornerstone Village, but this is an all too common occurrence at many annual meetings for the HOA. Not just this building. You have a financial interest in this building. If the lobby looks bad, or the association is not managed properly, you could have problems in the future, be it in the form of a special assessment, or a challenge selling your home because of excessive rental units, poor reserves, condition of the amenities…and more.
You need to pay attention to what happens in your building. And if for some reason you don’t THINK you should go, or care about the annual meeting, then give your proxy to an owner that does.
