"Remote" HOA Participation

I can't tell you about HOA'S, as the property we have for sale doesn't have one. However the condo we own has an annual owners meeting in which you can either attend, which I do, or you can have another owner vote your proxy, or have the President vote your proxy.
In our association by-laws, a quorum of owners must be represented either in person or by proxy. If this is not done, the meeting can't be held.
I would strongly suggest that you attend the first meeting. Otherwise you might find rules you would not want to live with.

Terry,

Thanks for your comments and advice. I am not sure exactly when the founding meeting will take place, but I assume it will be soon. I don't believe I would be able to attend if that is the case simply because I was just there for a week last month, and even though I could find room in my budget for the trip, I still work (not retired yet), and my vacation day "budget" probably won't allow it.

Can anyone else add anything further?

Thanks,

jogetz

We don't have a HOA but a Road association to care for and pave the roads in our Subdivision. There are @70+ lots and evry land/lot owner is charged a maint fee.If they don't pay we lein them after 2 years. The deeds for the lots have covenants which loosely set rules for what can happen. Out of the 70+ lots only @12 are built on. Our members are contacted once a year. They get a bill for maintenance and a proxy ballot to vote on anything that needs to be decided. It's been working well for 6 + years.

i would love to see a HOA here in Lavallee,but i fear the resistance from the people that live over in the Village would be too great, there are probally close to a 100 junked cars over there mixed in with all the overgrown bush, i feel sorry for all the people who live above that area and have to look at all that crap everytime they look at the sea.

As a "homeowner" you will have a "say" in how the HOA is set up and established (assuming the HOA has not yet been established at the time of your land purchase) . It's a complex procedure but normally the group forming the HOA hires an attorney to draft the By-Laws that establish how the HOA will operate. These are then circulated to the homeowners for comments and/or approval. Once approved, the HOA is formed and the Board of directors is elected. The Board then drafts up the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&R's) that will govern the specifics of what is allowed within the Association's boundaries. These are then circulated to the homeowners for comments and/or approval. During each of the above processes it is not unusual for the organizers or Board to hold "open" meeting to get input from the homeowners. Once the CC&R's are adopted everyone in the HOA must abide by the established guidelines. Annual meetings are required to be held to review the HOA operations and to vote on budgets or changes to the By-Laws or CC&R's. The By-laws will govern the frequency of any additional meeting, how many homeowners must be present to form a quorum, how many votes are necessary to either pass or reject a proposal, etc.

A homeowner can attend the meetings in person or by proxy to vote on any matter or proposal brought forth to the Board for consideration. As an absentee owner, more than likely you will do you voting by proxy.

From you post I gather the formation process is someways along so you probably can't object to anything that "been approved" already. You would only have a say in anything that takes place after you acquire title to the property and become a " voting homeowner". Your vote does count so it's in your best interest to be thoroughly familiar with all pending matter before you actually cast your ballot.

and so which lawyer would have the best experience establishing a HOA on STX, say i wanted to try and do this here in Lavallee,who would i contact?

trw I thought that there was a HOA for the Lavallee area. Which area does the Cane Harbour Homeowners’ Association cover?

not sure,i've owned the house since 2000 and we've never heard of one, maybe cane bay has one,i seem to remember something like that when mosler chased joe and vickie out of the can bay beach bar

Afriend,

Thanks for your very thorough response. At this point I believe the HOA filing that is taking place is just a basic filing to establish the HOA's existence. I don't believe any guidelines have been set up as to how it will function. It appears that its just some type of a "bare-bones" filing right now.

With your response as well as the others, I am a lot more at ease as to how accommodating these associations can be for those who own property, but who are not actually living on the St. Croix. They are positive signs that a neighborhood is getting serious about its upkeep and appearance, and it is a big advantage to have one available. I am looking forward to sharing the responsibility and just want to make sure that I am able to provide some input as to how I would like it to function for us "mainlanders".

Thanks again.

jogetz

I had a neighbor renting the condo above while ha was getting ready to build a "dome house" on his property. His HOA turned down his plans, and he is selling / maybe sold by now the property. Don't ASSUME anything.

was this the east end? i ran into a guy a while back that wanted to build a dome home and he ran into problems with the inspectors, he tried to pay them off and was told his payoff was not enough, czm told him to put up the fence thing and he did and he made it longer than they required and they fined him and thats when the whole bribe thing happened and so he said the hell with it

It was the East end by Divi, but I was told it was the HOA by him and one of his neighbors. The neighbor said their main objection was the colors his wife wanted to paint it more than the dome. There may have been other issues as well.

That's the good and the bad about any HOA. They maintain standards -- whose standards is both the question and the problem.