ATTENTION BURNING TREE HOMEOWNERS - PART ONE

When I purchased my home in Burning Tree I was told at closing there was a homeowners association. The first years dues were taken care of at the closing, after that the assessment letter was mailed. I didn’t even know there was a pool or common areas. It took a couple of years to realize that the assessment was for the actual cost of maintenance, repairs, and up-keep of the common areas and the pool. Like most homeowners when the assessment letter arrived in the mail, I just wrote a check and sent it in, never questioning how or where this money was being used.

In 2010 when I retired due to health reasons, my neighbors asked me to get involved in the homeowners association. I had no idea what a homeowners association was supposed to be. Was I in for a shock! I asked a few questions and was informed that each subdivision was a separate corporation and had it’s own By-Laws, Covenants, and Articles of Incorporation. These documents spell out how each corporation should be run and the type of roofing, fences, etc. should be used in the addition. Then I started reading, and reading and reading.

I attended a couple of meeting of the Burning Tree Master Association. I was amazed at how these meetings were conducted, no order and an obvious lack of using the By-Laws. Votes of the residents were not taken on several items as the By-Laws state, only the board of directors. One of the first questions I asked was where can I see a CPA audit of the association? Another question was, why are we paying so much for mowing and are we paying the lowest bid price? Why are we paying so much for three insurance policies?

I decided to seek some of the answers to these questions on my own. I visited other area pools and was shocked to have them open their books to a total stranger. I saw that the average cost to run a pool comparable in size to ours is about $50,000.00 - $70,000.00 per year, depending on repair items. Mowing of comparable common areas was close to $10,000.00 less than what we pay. Insurance for the homeowners association I visited was on average $5,000.00 (we pay $10,000.00). I keep asking HOW this can be and WHY the residents allow this to happen.

There are 330 homes in Burning Tree. With assessments of $250.00 per home this equals $82,500.00 yearly.  Then you add the associate pool fees, at an average over the past five years, according to the records of the Master Association, of $16,000.00, and pool guest fees of $5000.00, and don’t forget those concession fees of $3,000.00. This brings the approximate yearly total of money available to Burning Tree Master Association to $106,000.00. Where has all this money gone? 

I understand that legally you can only go back 7 years from the time of discovery when you discover certain facts. The amount of money given the Master Association over the last 7 years is approximately $742,000.00. The only thing the homeowners have to show for this tremendous amount of money is the same old pool and the same common areas we have had from the beginning. Where has all this money gone? Why did the Master Association not have sufficient records for a CPA audit?  TRUTH IS THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A CPA AUDIT, NOT IN ALL THESE YEARS.

Continued on part two