The City of Carlsbad, California has found a new way to fill their tax coffers, while helping to add to the misery of the homeowners of the "Village by the Sea" as it has come to be known. The new misery is known as Vacation Rentals.
It's not just vacation rentals, but unbounded vacation rentals, where any homeowner west of El Camino Real can now rent their home by the day, week or month any time of the year simply by obtaining a no-cost permit from the city. Unless your Homeowners Association CC and R's expressly prohibit such rentals, the rest of the neighborhood is...well...screwed. This was passed by the City with no notice to the homeowners; such activity was prohibited in the past.
You will now be subject to all sorts of new people in and out at all times of the day, night and week, people that you don't know. In fact, people that the person who rented their home does not know! There is no vetting process; from what I have been able to determine, it's all done over the phone, not even a face to face meeting with the owner. Information is exchanged, credit card information taken, and the code to a lock box and, if required, an access code is provided for a gated community. Thus any semblance of security that the homeowners are paying for has now been destroyed as their gate code is in the hands of how many strangers?
And who are these people? Vacationers? Kids who have their parents rent the home for them? Party animals from some local or out of state college that will ruin your life for how long? Is the solution to call the police every night that they keep you up past midnight with loud partying when you have to go to work at 5 AM? Who cares about the security deposit when it's YOU, not the homeowner who rented the place that has to put up with the problems. He's somewhere else enjoying his peace and solitude. And, if the "vacationers" do damage outside the confines of the rental property, who will pay for that? I can see lawsuits where you have to sue your former neighbor due to his "vacationers".
Many people on vacation are truly responsible and there are hotels and homes on the beach that have been rentals for eons just for that purpose. So why did the City of Carlsbad allow this to happen? Greed! Just to collect tax revenue! The city officials claim it's good to open the doors for more tourists and places for them to stay, but not at the cost to the residents who actually live here and must be subjected to this nonsense. I'd bet if a vacation rental opened up beside one of the city officials homes, they would be quick to figure out a way to shut it down. Plus, these homes do not have to pass city inspection like a hotel! What about insurance? Do the insurance companies know these are being used as rental homes for hotel type occupancy? If there is a fire or liability loss, do these homeowners have adequate insurance coverage or, in the case of a Home Owners Association, will the HOA have to "pony up" because of insufficient coverage?
Lots of questions and few answers. Unlike how things used to be, you no longer have any expectations on who might be in the home next to you tonight...or tomorrow...or the night after.
My suggestion to the good homeowners who are the true victims of this governmental snafu is to call the police department when they are disturbed by loud parties or problems with these vacation rentals. Enough complaints will put the city on notice that we are not happy with this transgression. And, enough complaints will also let the vacation home renters send a message to the owners that we might not be the most welcoming community they could wish for. After all, we do not have to like what the City has shoved down our throats! Bad reviews by renters will result in vacation rentals dropping fast! Like they used to say...welcome to Carlsbad..now go home!
Showing posts with label Homeowners Association. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homeowners Association. Show all posts
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Homeowner Associations or HOA's..Boon or Bane?
There are good and bad points about living in a HOA controlled community I suppose. Your neighbor won't likely paint his or her home bright orange with purple polka dots because they just smoked some bad weed, and are having hallucinations. And, it's unlikely they will place their travel trailer on the roof to use as an extra bedroom for junior because it is the simplest way to expand the house. (Don't laugh...there was one house like that in coastal San Diego County, CA!)
The primary idea in HOA's is to provide some semblance of order and uniformity within a community and to maintain the community in a manner that provides a good living experience and quality of life for all the residents. Problem is, some HOA's do and some don't. Some spend more time bickering over the small things, and letting the major problems of the community slide, so that the community starts to look shabby. Some of the Boards of Directors sequester themselves so they can't be contacted except through the pseudo "management companies" they hire to oversee the landscape operations. They won't even publish their e-mail addresses so they can be contacted directly...makes you wonder what they have to hide? Don't think you'll go to a monthly meeting and air any complaints either; they usually require you submit your request to speak at some distant interval before the meeting, so they can be prepared to shoot down your concerns, or conveniently decide there is not enough time to hear your complaint at all.
Some communities turn from being occupied by homeowners, to a rental community, and, unfortunately, the owners then let the property downgrade, and the HOA's are lax at enforcing the rules and regulations regarding property upkeep. Thus the entire community suffers with property devaluation. You can keep your property painted and in pristine condition and the property next door or across the street can be a dump with no consequences to the owners it seems. After all, in Southern California, when you're getting two thousand dollars a month or more for rent, even a twenty-five dollar fine doesn't concern the owner, if they are fined at all. In some areas, the homes have needed painting for many years with no action on the part of the HOA at all.
So, if you're going to purchase a home in a HOA controlled community, before you sign on the dotted line, ask the neighbors and people in the neighborhood about the association and how they handle the rules and regulations, also known as the "CC&R's". Before you sink big dollars into a home that may deteriorate in value due to the laxity of the HOA, look at the streets and walkways, electrical and other common areas. How have they been maintained? Are you likely to get hit with a big assessment if work that is needed has been delayed? Is it an "aging" community, meaning one that is 15-20 years old or more? Usually they require more upkeep and maintenance costs will rise as the infrastructure deteriorates.
Look for signs of poor controls, such as wrong way parking, vehicles parked over sidewalks, heavy commercial vehicles, deteriorating property, cracked and damaged paving, electrical fixtures that need replacement, pools and spas that are old, poor landscape maintenance, (low cost bidding that results in shoddy work), deferred maintenance on fences, gates, walkways, and other common areas. Ask to speak to someone on the Board of Directors. If you can't speak to them before you buy, you'll likely not get to speak to them after either. You should ask for a copy of the CC&R's before your buy (you might be charged a fee) and a copy of the recent financial statements; question what you don't understand. After you buy and sign off is too late to realize you 'll be paying monthly fees for something you don't like, want or won't be getting value for.
Finally, realize the HOA fees only go UP! They can start low but they do go up. Some are relatively reasonable and some are ridiculously high. Having four or six tennis courts when you don't play tennis and two or three swimming pools when you don't swim is part of what you'll be paying for if that's in your community. And when those amenities need repair because kids toss chairs in the pool, or damage the spas, or run all over the tennis courts with street shoes, and the tennis players complain the courts need resurfacing, you'll be paying for that too. Even though you never use them. And the costs can be extremely high.
When the association decides to reseal or repave the streets, you can find they go with a company who does it all wrong. Then it needs to be done again in a few years and you'll be paying all over again. Remember, the Board has no expertise in most areas and takes bids from whom they consider reputable companies. They don't want input from the average homeowner and do things their own way, so when things go sour, the sitting Board takes no responsibility; the Board has usually turned over and it's someone elses' problem.
The primary idea in HOA's is to provide some semblance of order and uniformity within a community and to maintain the community in a manner that provides a good living experience and quality of life for all the residents. Problem is, some HOA's do and some don't. Some spend more time bickering over the small things, and letting the major problems of the community slide, so that the community starts to look shabby. Some of the Boards of Directors sequester themselves so they can't be contacted except through the pseudo "management companies" they hire to oversee the landscape operations. They won't even publish their e-mail addresses so they can be contacted directly...makes you wonder what they have to hide? Don't think you'll go to a monthly meeting and air any complaints either; they usually require you submit your request to speak at some distant interval before the meeting, so they can be prepared to shoot down your concerns, or conveniently decide there is not enough time to hear your complaint at all.
Some communities turn from being occupied by homeowners, to a rental community, and, unfortunately, the owners then let the property downgrade, and the HOA's are lax at enforcing the rules and regulations regarding property upkeep. Thus the entire community suffers with property devaluation. You can keep your property painted and in pristine condition and the property next door or across the street can be a dump with no consequences to the owners it seems. After all, in Southern California, when you're getting two thousand dollars a month or more for rent, even a twenty-five dollar fine doesn't concern the owner, if they are fined at all. In some areas, the homes have needed painting for many years with no action on the part of the HOA at all.
So, if you're going to purchase a home in a HOA controlled community, before you sign on the dotted line, ask the neighbors and people in the neighborhood about the association and how they handle the rules and regulations, also known as the "CC&R's". Before you sink big dollars into a home that may deteriorate in value due to the laxity of the HOA, look at the streets and walkways, electrical and other common areas. How have they been maintained? Are you likely to get hit with a big assessment if work that is needed has been delayed? Is it an "aging" community, meaning one that is 15-20 years old or more? Usually they require more upkeep and maintenance costs will rise as the infrastructure deteriorates.
Look for signs of poor controls, such as wrong way parking, vehicles parked over sidewalks, heavy commercial vehicles, deteriorating property, cracked and damaged paving, electrical fixtures that need replacement, pools and spas that are old, poor landscape maintenance, (low cost bidding that results in shoddy work), deferred maintenance on fences, gates, walkways, and other common areas. Ask to speak to someone on the Board of Directors. If you can't speak to them before you buy, you'll likely not get to speak to them after either. You should ask for a copy of the CC&R's before your buy (you might be charged a fee) and a copy of the recent financial statements; question what you don't understand. After you buy and sign off is too late to realize you 'll be paying monthly fees for something you don't like, want or won't be getting value for.
Finally, realize the HOA fees only go UP! They can start low but they do go up. Some are relatively reasonable and some are ridiculously high. Having four or six tennis courts when you don't play tennis and two or three swimming pools when you don't swim is part of what you'll be paying for if that's in your community. And when those amenities need repair because kids toss chairs in the pool, or damage the spas, or run all over the tennis courts with street shoes, and the tennis players complain the courts need resurfacing, you'll be paying for that too. Even though you never use them. And the costs can be extremely high.
When the association decides to reseal or repave the streets, you can find they go with a company who does it all wrong. Then it needs to be done again in a few years and you'll be paying all over again. Remember, the Board has no expertise in most areas and takes bids from whom they consider reputable companies. They don't want input from the average homeowner and do things their own way, so when things go sour, the sitting Board takes no responsibility; the Board has usually turned over and it's someone elses' problem.
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