November 21, 2014
Dear Everyone:
We had our last
Homeowners meeting, for the year, this week.
It went fairly smoothly.
For one thing, absolutely no Homeowners showed up.
Not one, apart from those of us who make up the Board of
Directors.
This can actually been perceived as a Good Thing.
When no one shows up, it means everyone is reasonably satisfied
with the way things are going.
When I first bought my current
condo, I started going to the Homeowner
meetings before I even moved in.
I had discovered at my previous place that there are definite
advantages to attending the meetings.
For one thing, you find out what’s going on and what’s going to
happen next.
That was five years ago and “Riley” was the Association president.
Those meetings were “Standing Room Only” (SRO) and filled with
anxious, angry people.
Anxious, angry people make for interesting, if sometimes uncomfortable,
meetings. There were even a
few shouting matches.
This was at a time when a lot of people had just invested in their
properties, only to have the
general economy take a dive.
Suddenly that half-million dollar condo wasn’t worth what they
paid for it, much less what they could sell it for, if they needed to.
Plus, there were a lot of problems, like
dry rot, stemming from
the “benign neglect” practiced by the company that ran the apartments
before selling them to the company that was busily selling them as
condos before the economy took that dive.
“Riley” was the type of personality that saw a problem and fixed the
problem, regardless of who he had to run over in the process.
Goal-oriented; results-driven; take no prisoners.
Lots of ruffled feathers.
Got things done, but at a price.
Then “Riley” left the Board and “Maggie” took over.
Still lots of work to be done, but with smoother feathers all
around. Although I suspect
that “Maggie” and “Michaela”, the property manager, didn’t always see
eye-to-eye. Some of this may
have been because “Michaela” lives in
Las Vegas and, subsequently,
wasn’t always RIGHT THERE when “Maggie” would have liked her to be.
Then, earlier this year, “Maggie” saw an opportunity and jumped at it:
Sold her condo and bought into a
Retirement Community closer to
her daughter and grandchildren.
By which time I had joined the Association Board.
Since I live right across the street from the Association office, it’s
fairly easy for me to nip across to sign things and
fax them back to
“Michaela” when needed. That
helps keep things running smoothly.
Which is one reason no one shows up for the Association meetings
anymore.
Another reason, of course, is because all that hard work put in by first
“Riley” and then “Maggie” has paid off.
The boat is rocking a lot less.
Now we just need to keep a steady course.
Another reason the meeting went so smoothly is that “Riley”, who
rejoined the Board a few months ago, couldn’t make it.
His daughter had gone into labor.
Becoming a grandfather is much more exciting than any old
Homeowners meeting. When we
meet again in January, we will expect lots of pictures.
Love, as always,
Pete
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