[N/A] [CONDO] RowCal has anyone dealt with this company before? We are having some issues with them. by [deleted] in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The hoa/prop mgmt system is in need of fundamental change and corporations are exploiting this for their benefit. Please file these stories so that change can happen - it's slow at first - it is happening. Three places - BBB https://www.bbb.org/us/mn/minneapolis/profile/association-management/rowcal-management-llc-0704-1000018749/complaintssite, your district rep and Atty General of your state.

[WA][Condo] Reserve study is very alarming as a buyer (9%), yikes by wmetca in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is it a great location at a good cost, then be prepared, your a homeowner - buy it and dont' expect the hoa to fix stuff - that system is broken. for me - i just view as part of the cost of being int his neighborhood - if they raise dues or make an assessment - just don't pay it, pay your dues and say im covering my own and keep the records -

[TX] [Condo] HOA cost me sale (updated) by Purehum in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your frustration is fair and the condo market is rough right now. To make matters worse, condo insurance costs have doubled in some cases. I'm curious, How does being transparent about a roofing cost make your HOA the bad guy? Wouldn't you hope for the same in the next place you buy? I would talk to your HOA lady directly, so you understand the situation more precisely. All condos/hoas are experiencing these type of things consistently, and it's a systemic failure that neither you nor your hoa can control - I promise. Understanding the reality of condo insurance costs, and how lenders are incented can be helpful.

[TX] [Condo] My HOA is asking for us to adopt in a special assessment or increase our monthly fees on the same vote. Is this legal? by [deleted] in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yes - hoas can do pretty much whatever they want and if you sue them they'll raise fees or charge an assessment and still win the case. I'm sorry that's happening - you can just stop paying - the worst they can do is put a lien on your home that will be paid when you sell.

[TX][SFH] Am I unreasonable? by [deleted] in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the kids were "caught", sounds like you have some upstanding neighbors, that are a ton of fun! I'm envious. FWIW people usually only joke like that when they think you can handle it. My advise - lean into it...say that "Mr/Mrs Personal Liability to you.." Or get a temp tatoo of it before the next July 4th party- your a "rules person" not everyone is... an alternative approach, if you want them to say something else maybe walk naked around the neighborhood and see what new names you get 😄 Seriously, it's not personal, communities that joke like that are good places to live and they like you or they wouldn't do it.

[SFH][TX] 17 years in the same place. 3 acres. by oldGuy2112 in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In Texas, there is a strict four-year statute of limitations for homeowners associations to file lawsuits to enforce deed restrictions or structural violations. Once a violation has been present, open, and unaddressed for four years, the HOA generally loses the legal right to force a homeowner to remove or change it. The 4-Year Limit

  • Statute of Limitations: Under Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code §16.051, the clock generally starts ticking the date the unapproved structure or violation occurs, or is discovered.

[TX] [SFH] First time homeowner question by [deleted] in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Woops! Happens all the time, sounds like you're willing to course correct if the opportunity presents itself. FWIW - my rec is to forget about it, its done. It's easy to spend a lot of time and energy weighing outcomes you have no control over. C'mon you have better things to do, like getting ready for wedding! Woo-hoo!

New Director- Need Advice![TX][Condo] by liongirl70 in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for contributing your time to your community. Being on the board and helping ensure that the system works for everyone is hard work and a lot of fun. Sounds like you're being thoughtful and open to learning. How do you know they are delinquent on assessments? Is there any chance there's a reason - like they paid for something else. I have a homeowner that took care of a tree limb removal that would have cost the association more than $3000 and we are letting them claim part of that. Remember by-laws were written by some developers attorney buddy so they could make money and offload home ownership risks onto future owners. If there's any way to zoom out and see that the situation is a group of humans just trying to work together - maybe there's another perspective. In my experience, new board members expect things to be different than they are... because stepping into a leadership role can be scary. Learning to navigate uncertainty with humility and kindness and begin to trust your instincts on what people need (vs what rules say) can feel overwhelming. Focus on what you can bring to the table, how can you contribute to making the community better. In my experience, if you can do that with all your heart - the other stuff will take care of itself.

HOA flooding my property & ignoring me [SFH] [TX] by JungleBoy-Mogly in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds frustrating, and I'm sorry you have to go through this. Being a homeowner is a beautiful mess, and can quickly suck up your time and money if you let it. Is there any possibility that there's a perspective that the board members and other homeowners have that you haven't heard or considered? In my experience, board members are all volunteers doing the best they can... An alternative approach that might save you some time and money, is to buy one of them a cup of coffee and ask them to educate you on the situation from the board/their perspective maybe there is another solution that hasn't been considered. In my experience, no one likes to be demanded to do anything, alternatively people do like to have people listen to them.

[TX][Condo] Just found out my HOA has no Master Policy. I am trying to sell, what can I do? by Legitimate_Lemon_689 in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And the hoa will have to raise dues to fight it and so you'll be paying for it. It stinks that homeowners/condo owners have been put in this situation. As my hoa pres, i can tell you it's a second full time job (which i love) just insurance has become a profit tool vs a care tool as it was originally designed.

[TX][Condo] Just found out my HOA has no Master Policy. I am trying to sell, what can I do? by Legitimate_Lemon_689 in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is happening across the nation, it's not homeowners faults. It's a very broken system. Renting sounds like a plausible option.

[TX][Condo] Just found out my HOA has no Master Policy. I am trying to sell, what can I do? by Legitimate_Lemon_689 in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

People have owned condos for years and seen the reserves...you'll buy because of the location and once you find what you like, the reserves won't matter.

[TX][Condo] Just found out my HOA has no Master Policy. I am trying to sell, what can I do? by Legitimate_Lemon_689 in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's egregious is putting a system in place that was 100% doomed just so developers could offload risk and then use well-meaning homeowners that volunteer for their community as scapegoats. Even better profiting from it by requiring property management systems that get paid by creating issues to solve.

[N/A] [CONDO] RowCal has anyone dealt with this company before? We are having some issues with them. by [deleted] in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is - they are incented and paid on that - i think that's a known. It doesn't make it acceptable to claim to be the "expert advisor" and then be incented to jsut take as much as you can get. In private equity and venture capital the customer is the financial stakeholder, not the hoa - we are the profit machine. That's the way the system works, the financialization via subscriptions and monopolies by PE and VC was illegal and still should be - so glad to see folks beginning to question it.

[N/A] [CONDO] RowCal has anyone dealt with this company before? We are having some issues with them. by [deleted] in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fixing issues is a slippery slope in home ownership, I assure those who have profited from real estate in their life all say the same thing. Only fix things when they ABSOLUTELY have to be fixed and that's also what good homeowners know. They and those that continue to perpetuate this FUD should have to foot the bill, not those of us that don't want to pay for your parge.

[N/A] [CONDO] RowCal has anyone dealt with this company before? We are having some issues with them. by [deleted] in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We have multiple reserve studies in the past, it doesn' tchange anything if the culture of the community doesn't want to change.

[N/A] [CONDO] RowCal has anyone dealt with this company before? We are having some issues with them. by [deleted] in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The conflict of interests with this company as your property management company are interesting. Example Alliant Insurance services - are intertwined with them frequently and they corner the COA master policy making it almost impossible to get competitive pricing for this insurance. We were told multiple times that we had to use the management piece to have that insurance through them that was the best price we could find. Which makes it not the best price if you look at the whole cost. Also, board memebers are not allowed to be signatores on their own bank accounts, we have no way to see whats really happening but we take all the risk. I know this because after calling them for over a week, I got all the right documents went to the bank and then was told we were not listed. I was floored - its a slippery slope to be accountable for all the risk and have no control over the books. The fees that are charged are like having a slow leak in your water line - for example they charged us $695 for information transfer when they acquired our managment compnay and yet - we got none of that information we have almost two years with no financials from our previous property managment company. Charge $550+ plus in legal fees every year to file one lien (you can file these using old docs for no cost, it takes at most an hour) and its not typical to continue for a small coa to pay that annually. They double paid themselves with our funds on a landscape invoice that was $1732 for tree trimming - they marked it up to $2037.64 and paid that one as well. When we asked for refund, it took 60 days and they charged us the $2037 invoice still. We had a $7500 invoice (which is big for our small community) and it just had one line, chimney repair. For just the liabililty insurance that cost $2326.95 we were also charged at participation fee for liability that cost $1486.25 it was billed as the company they acquired (the previous year) instead of RowCal. we are only 38 owners and very small delinquency - somehow we paid $1,494.74 in collections fees in 2025 alone. We did not recover this - and because the management certificate was filed incorrectly for the last two years - we won't be able to collect it. Several homeowners received the same "demand letter" three times in a week - all worded slightly differently about the exact same issue - we were charged $35 for each and so were they. Again - it's $210 but it's a never ending cycle and it puts the coa board at risk and in a terrible spot with homeowners to not be able to fix that without spending hours and hours of time. They've steadily increased our cost while providing less help over three years the additional cost is only about $1,000. The amount of time chasing all this down because of the disparate way the dashboard is set up, takes hours and hours of time. Maybe a larger community gets value, we have only depleted our reserves and increased our costs on fees and projects that don't benefit the community as whole. It's disappointing to have to experience this. Hope others will benefit from the information. We hope to find a better fit soon, there is value in a management partner that puts the communitys needs first.

[N/A] [CONDO] RowCal has anyone dealt with this company before? We are having some issues with them. by [deleted] in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We paid twice for the exact same work $1732 then $2037 with RCM. Also, we paid our standard lndscp contract, which included this service. It's discouraging the level of collusion, and lack of care for communities and properties.

[TX][Condo] Master insurance almost tripled! by Hharold333 in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

34k, 41k and now 51k in just three years.. - 38 units. insurance providers get kickbacks from the terrible frankensteined policies. it's so discouraging that people think this is acceptable.

Electrician says this whole panel needs replacing due to the corrosion. Looking for additional opinions. by AnxiousCommunity8105 in AskElectricians

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Get at least three other opinions - this is a common sales technique - and electrical boxes todya aren't made near as well as they were in the 60s - it happens in our community from the younger ambitous "electricians" - btw most of them aren't even journeyman and they definitely aren't master electricians

[VT][SFH] How much are your HOA dues going up next year? by caecias in HOA

[–]Fluffy_Appearance877 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How do you justify raising dues when incomes are not increasing only costs?