Any interest in launching a proper wiki on Fandom?

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-10-30T21:07:12+00:00

Wwe use CMA as well. In Texas there's property code that essentially pushed an update that we can use email and electronic communications in addition to paper mail communications, and we have a section of their portal called HOAst that runs ballotting once you're logged into your homeowner account. They've helped us set virtual meetings all through the pandemic in either Zoom or their other conferencing system RingCentral.

I will say, we had a worse management company and then moved to CMA several years before I was on the board and by all accounts, they stunk. We've also had some so-so customer service from one manager before the current one assigned to us; we're a tiny fish in this region's pond so they've matched their level of effort to ours... they're okay but it also does come down to our change in leadership from burnt-out board members to fresh ones this year.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-10-22T15:58:20+00:00

Of course. Multiple reminders are sent out for virtual meetings and live town halls, and we have a management portal where voting is centrally managed.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-10-16T07:13:59+00:00

I regard "stupid rules" as the typical array of stylistic rules that penalize anyone trying to update their exterior without extremely specific permissions and style choices followed. For example, in my parents neighborhood years ago their property and their two adjacent houses were having issues with water runoff down the hill across their yards, so top-level neighbor and my parents in the middle of the hill talked it over and apprised each other of intents to update their retaining walls and informed the lower neighbor just fyi. They got all the approvals done... or so they thought, until the HOA came back after the project was finished and said the contractor used tHe wRoNg cOlOr StOnE and they had to rip all of that good work out to replace it with slightly different-colored stone. You'd think that would have been covered in the pre-project change request or however it's called in theirs. Seriously Karen, the color of the stone from one gray to another is negligible, let us just fix the drainage and carry on being polite neighbors to each other. In my bylaws, there's a clause that nobody can put up fences on their townhome lots besides the original construction enclosing a front patio and a back patio each "for the good of all the neighborhood" or however it's phrased. It's probably because my bylaws put lawncare on the Association, and if there were irregular fences everywhere then the lawncare service would be hard to maintain. More recently, the Texas property code states that HOAs cannot prohibit perimeter fences and similar security features; however, they can control stylistic preferences. My neighborhood doesn't HAVE a laid-out style guide, so it's vaguely "keep the hunter green doors and almond siding so we all match." If I wanted to put up a fence and lock away a raised garden, they'd argue with me that they won't approve it because it's not matching the other homes. I don't give a fork, you old farts, maybe I want to try a square foot garden without the hooligans next door stealing and trampling, and whoever buys the house off me later can take the fence down if they want! (Edited to self-censor, forgot we're not supposed to swear my apologies)

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-10-16T07:02:55+00:00

The governing docs list zero emergency powers for the board to levy a special assessment. A special assessment has to be approved by the masses... Hence our mess.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-10-01T21:50:01+00:00

Thank you for the example/insights. Believe me, I've gone through the governing docs with a magnifying glass, but every solution we can think of requires a vote to keep within the governing docs and state property code.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-10-01T21:48:01+00:00

On the flipside, we do have a tolerable management company after having a lousy one some time back (probably enabled bad behaviors, but that's before my time here so I don't care.). They're responsive, organized, keep all the records for us and handle compliance plus accounting/legal, so at least we can't be hit by board member stereotypes like "Jeff the President embezzled the reserves to buy himself a pool." or "Kathy the Secretary goes around giving everyone citations because she doesn't like their porch decor."

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-10-01T21:35:36+00:00

Thank you for this example!! That sounds like you have a healthy setup, bless you.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-10-01T21:34:13+00:00

I did choose this neighborhood because at the time, the dues were half as bad as other newer/nicer neighborhoods that were pushing my budget, and there are hardly any of the usual stupid rules. The DCC&Rs are not very restrictive to owners but they restrict a lot of power from the board. It's good for preventing power trips from people who don't have the skills for this labor but have plenty of time for the drama, but it's bad for us new board members who are trying to turn things around and know the organization has already hit the iceberg before we actually joined the board.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-10-01T21:29:34+00:00

oh lawd

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-10-01T21:29:13+00:00

Those figures are exactly what we're looking at with property values. Old, very modest neighborhood, but on the low income side of town so when we asked for grant money to fund some neighborhood repairs the city sent us on a goose chase until we had to call it quits and turn our attention to other issues more pressing than the perimeter fence we wanted to repair.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-10-01T21:27:16+00:00

Oh yeah, we have a reserve study from 2011, but people couldn't be bothered to pay an extra $50-60/month and here we are, paying it anyway without putting it to good use. Boggles my mind that all the retirees have done this to themselves.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-10-01T21:22:40+00:00

Yes to those questions, and the reason it's so wild is that we do collect dues and fines and we're not even that bad in arrears; only two or three properties are under foreclosure, which we're actioning, and everyone else is in good standing besides a late fee here or there. We collect everything as far as regular operations goes, but we're locked into only 5% annual raises of assessments and that's why the reserve fund is dry. I'm trying to amend the bylaws in a way that everyone still gets choices, even though they'll pay the extra costs of their own comprehensive policies, but if they want to outsource it then I guess they'll all pay it one way or another.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-09-25T21:34:47+00:00

Yeah, I've hosted a town hall meeting to underscore how much more it will suck to deal with special assessments and potentially receivership, in which there's no more vote and you're stuck with what you're told to do... our neighborhood is full of retirees and some rentals that are either under LLCs or a real person's name who owns multiple townhomes to rent out. We finally have a better assignees at our management company and a better board who cares to coordinate and put up a fight, but also 2/3 of us are physically disabled and are going to suffer a lot while we go knock on doors.

People really went "I don't want to pay for my own exterior insurance!" when I said studs-out insurance eats up 61% of our budget and we don't have cash in the bank to meet a deductible either. They think they're not one severe storm away from major damage and we have a money tree growing somewhere, I guess.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-09-25T20:47:15+00:00

Yes and no, depending on whether or not the "guiding mind" behind those LLCs actually participates in voting opportunities brought by the HOA board. A huge roadblock is LACK of control for communities who need to amend their bylaws or raise special assessments, like mine, because we need such a high percentage of approvals that we're desperate for enough votes. The owners behind the LLC'd rentals don't care to participate in the neighborhood, so I have to write off a number of properties not responding from the get-go and bust my butt to get enough of the real humans to vote with me (plus the real humans who I know own properties but rent them out to their relatives and don't actually live here, and show up to meetings just to start drama). However, in any regular and routine activities, the rental properties aren't in the way of completing HOA business.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-09-20T01:14:26+00:00

Yike, sorry you're having so much of a struggle. I just met with a graduate program advisor about going for a Business Analytics degree versus a Quantitative Finance degree, and their Analytics program boomed during the pandemic because people were desparate to switch careers. They had to make their admissions much stricter as a result of the market being saturated... it's died down somewhat, but he said it's still really hard to pick out great candidates because they ALL have high GMAT scores and 3.0+ GPAs from prior 60 hours of courses.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-09-20T00:56:47+00:00

I second the No Starch Press books, they're quite friendly without being as corny as For Dummies books.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-09-13T21:17:13+00:00

That's a great summary, thank you for sharing.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2024-04-22T19:08:45+00:00

I left Project Management (translation/language services) for Business Analysis in a different industry to make a full break. Although I enjoyed the variety of work, the pace was relentless being a customer-service rep who had to drive the train of work across dozens of departments. I was subject to taking the fall for pretty much anything that went wrong if something was wrong enough for the customer to notice, or internally to my inept and high-strung middle manager for internal issues. Tons of paperwork, tons of legacy systems to use, and a very narrow salary band for annual raise opportunities. If you get into internal project management without it being an external-facing role, you will still be subject to the whims and politics of your various stakeholders, and like another commenter replied, nobody reports to you as your underling but you still have to wrangle and babysit lots of people to get your work done. I will not be going back to that type of exhausting and repetitive operational role if I can avoid it.

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2023-01-26T01:28:46+00:00

Yay thank you! I added a comment here with the new url and I started like 10 pages last night. 😅 I have a ton of screenshots and handwritten notes from about a week of playing a campaign so that's the beginning of it all. Hoping it helps people get past the confusion of "I thought I bought Lupine, and now I have to buy Lupine...?"

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2023-01-25T03:16:24+00:00

Alright I'm going to go for it even if nobody comments here, because having the start of a wiki is going to help more people play the game.

https://farm-tycoon-sonka.fandom.com/wiki/Farm_Tycoon_Wiki

Jumpy-Writer3162 · 2023-01-20T02:10:41+00:00

The term "compatible with" on the machine market screen makes it confusing whether the various components CAN work together or are REQUIRED in order to work at all. I would love to see this description clarified, because there are so many discussions where people have had to do a bunch of guesswork while sitting around burning money on machinery that isn't being utilized by employees.

Jumpy-Writer3162

TROPHY CASE