Sam and Maria Farran. Photo courtesy The Washington Post

Homeowners associations can get into big trouble by picking the wrong fight with the wrong homeowner.

Want to infringe on someone’s First Amendment rights? Think you can bully someone into taking down a political sign because they disagree with your politics? HOA boards need to be careful who they pick on.

Check out this story in the Washington Post.

It tells how an HOA board in the Olde Belhaven community in Washington D.C., picked a fight with Sam and Maria Farran over an Obama for President sign they put in their yard  in 2008.

The sign was  four inches taller than the maximum limit allowed by the association’s rules. One HOA board member, Don Hughes, took a hardline stance against the couple. He wrote a letter threatening to ask the HOA board to put a lien on their townhome unless they complied.

But Sam and Maria Farra refused to take it down. They argued their right to display the sign was protected by the Constitution. The board initiated fines in the hundreds of dollars. The couple sued, calling the fines vindictive.

Now, more than four years later, the HOA is being forced to pay Sam and Maria Farra’s legal costs as well as their own. The tab is $400,000 and the legal battle has ruined the HOA’s finances.

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HOA GOES BANKRUPT FIGHTING OBAMA SIGN is a post from: Side Streets

Colorado Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora and incoming Senate Majority Leader

When Sen. Morgan Carroll sponsored the Homeowners Bill of Rights in 2005, it turns out she was just getting started in her efforts to rein in rogue homeowners associations boards and property managers who abuse HOA residents.

Stricter reforms followed.

Now, as the 2013 Colorado General Assembly opens this week, Carroll is poised as incoming Senate Majority Leader to tighten the state’s grip on HOAs.

Carroll, an Aurora Democrat, said bills will be introduced in the Democrat-controlled House designed to give homeowners a powerful new ally in their battles with dictatorial HOAs by creating what I’m calling a state HOA czar.

Carroll said she wants to energize the HOA Information Office and Resource Center beyond its current role collecting data and informing people of their rights.

She hopes to transform the office and its leader, HOA Information Officer Gary Kujawski, into a robust investigative and enforcement agency.

Lawmakers, led by Carroll, created the agency in 2010. It spent 2011 registering HOAs — single-family neighborhoods, condo and townhome associations, voluntary improvement associations, property owners associations. And its staff fielded dozens of calls each day from HOA residents reporting claims of abuse.

Early in the 2012 session, the agency delivered a devastating 24-page report to lawmakers chronicling the complaints and sparking calls for strict regulation of the state’s 8,000-plus HOAs.

“When we created the HOA Information Office, we were wanting an ombudsman with investigative authority and enforcement authority,” Carroll said.

“This year, we’re definitely looking at making the HOA info office more robust. There’s a list of things we can do to put more teeth into the office.”

Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver and incoming Speaker of the Colorado House

Carroll said it’s only fair to give HOA residents someone to call when going up against well-funded HOA boards and property management companies and their attorneys.

“Even with the law on their side, most people don’t have time or money to go to court,” she said. “It’s a  minimum $10,000 investment.”

Another bill would require individual property managers be licensed by the state. She prefers it to licensing management companies as a sunrise review recommended in 2012.

“We think it would go a long way toward better compliance with state law,” Carroll said.

“Managers are more likely to advise them to run open meetings, to comply with disclosure laws and produce documents as required if they know their professional license is at stake.”

Carroll has more ideas for protecting the 2 million Coloradans living in HOAs.

And she’s hopeful of winning passage, given the predisposition of House Speaker Mark Ferrandino toward HOAs. (See Saturday’s Side Streets column.)

“I’m really looking forward to this session,” Carroll said.

This could get interesting.

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HOA CZAR ON AGENDA FOR 2013 GENERAL ASSEMBLY is a post from: Side Streets

Incoming Speaker of the Colorado House Mark Ferrandino

Incoming Speaker of the House Mark Ferrandino brings a very personal perspective on homeowners associations to the Colorado General Assembly when it convenes next week.

He’s not a fan.

In fact, when I mentioned HOAs to Ferrandino during his newsroom visit Thursday, he had this response:

“Don’t get me started!”

Seems the leader of the Colorado House had a rude introduction to life in covenant-protected communities. You know, neighborhoods with volunteers to enforce architectural and landscaping rules to maintain community standards and protect property values.

“When I lived in an HOA, I thought of my HOA as being paid as part of my mortgage,” Ferrandino said. “Our HOA fees were $25 a month. They didn’t do much so it wasn’t really a lot of money.

“After living there about six months, I get a notice that there’s a lien on my property. I didn’t realize I wasn’t paying my HOA.”

The Denver Democrat was echoing a complaint I’ve heard often by folks who felt ambushed by the very existence of an HOA in their new neighborhood and the need to pay dues.

Ferrandino was shocked that his HOA board would take such a predatory approach to a new neighbor.

“The president of my HOA wasn’t smart enough to just walk down the street, knock on my door and ask for a check,” said Ferrandino, a fiscal analyst who has a master’s degree in economics. “I could have just written the check for $75.

“I was good for it.”

Instead, he ended up spending upwards of $500 to cover the court costs and legal fees associated with satisfying the lien.

“So you can understand my attitude toward HOAs,” Ferrandino said. “I actively look for areas that do not have HOAs where I will live.”

It will not surprise anyone, then, that Ferrandino welcomes greater regulation of HOAs, their managers and volunteer boards and expects several bills to be introduced.

“There needs to be much more accountability and transparency in HOAs,” he said. “We’re supposed to be a democracy. But sometimes they have dictatorial authority within communities.”

So I asked how he felt about giving the new HOA Information Officer, Gary Kujawski, power to investigate and enforce the 2005 Homeowners Bill of Rights as well as subsequent efforts by lawmakers to rein in HOAs, led by Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora.

“I’m open to it,” he said with enthusiasm. “I’d love to see a bill that gives people in HOAs a way to enforce their rights. So they have someone to complain to that can hold HOAs boards and managers accountable.

“We can pass all the laws we want, but if people don’t have a way to complain and enforce those laws, they aren’t worth the paper we printed the laws on.”

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Please follow this link to a December 2012  Side Streets column about recent changes in HOA law.

To read a May 2012 blog about the HOA Information and Resource Center, click here.

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HOAs TO TAKE CENTER STAGE IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY is a post from: Side Streets

Hello, neighbor!

Time again for one of my favorite topics: homeowners associations, or HOAs.

The HOA Information Office and Resource Center just released a year-long study of Colorado’s HOAs. Results are not pretty.

The HOA office fielded 3,053 inquiries, of which 478 were complaints.

Guess what area produced the highest number of complaints.

The Pikes Peak region, of course, with 21 percent of all complaints!

Are we a bunch of whiners, or what?

Not really, says Aaron Acker, the Colorado HOA Information Officer.

“We started with the presumption we’d get a lot of ticky-tack complaints,” Acker said. “We were wrong. Most of the issues were major ones.”

Complaints like HOA boards and managers hiding financial and governing documents.

“Transparency is a big issue,” Acker said. “Homeowners trying to get information are getting significant blow-back from their management companies or HOA boards.”

Aaron Acker, Colorado HOA Information Officer, spoke to a group of Pikes Peak region property managers and HOA board members on Feb. 15, 2011.

“People want to know what’s going on with their money. And HOA boards have a legal obligation to produce records at the behest of members. But we’re seeing a lot of complaints about them not responding, producing incomplete records, fighting requests or charging very high fees for documents.”

Access to HOA board meetings came up often in Acker’s study, as did failure to listen to homeowners — whether by property managers or HOA boards.

“These are pretty major issues, in my estimation,” Acker said.

Acker and his office were created by the 2010 Colorado General Assembly.

Upon opening the office last January, Acker was told to find and register all Colorado HOAs.

 (I used that abbreviation to describe single family resident neighborhoods, condo and townhome associations, voluntary improvement associations, property owners associations.)

So far, he has registered 8,037 asssociations, representing 838,211 homes, condos and townhome units and 2 million residents.

Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region are grouped in the South Central category, which has 661 registered HOAs. That’s about 8.2 percent of all HOAs registered. In other words, that 8.2 percent accounted for 21 percent of all complaints!

 (Industry experts believe upwards of 25 percent of Colorado HOAs remain unregistered.)

Acker said he hopes HOAs will use his findings as a wakeup call to reform how they interact with homeowners.

Lawmakers are digging into the data, as well, and likely will use it to decide whether it’s time to license property managers or give Acker greater power to police HOAs. Stay tuned!

Here is a link to a column and blog I wrote recently about the issue of licensing property managers.

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PIKES PEAK REGION LEADS STATE IN HOA COMPLAINTS is a post from: Side Streets

Aaron Acker, director of Colorado's new HOA Information and Resource Center, speaks Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011, in Colorado Springs to the Southern Colorado Chapter of the Community Associations Institute.

Colorado’s new HOA boss, Aaron Acker, came to Colorado Springs with a clear message for homeowners association board members and professional property managers: he and the new HOA Information Office and Resource Center are not the enemy. 

“We’re not going to be condo cops,” Acker said Tuesday in a speech to the Southern Colorado Chapter of the Community Associations Institute, the trade group for property managers and HOAs. 

“We are not a regulatory agency,” Acker said. “And we are not in the business of mediating disputes. 

“We are strictly an information-gathering agency and resource center for homeowners and for associations.” 

The crowd of more than 100 seemed wary, however, and even a bit suspicious of Acker. 

Acker said about 3,500 HOAs had registered so far, covering about 250,000 homes in Colorado. But he said many more need to get registered by logging onto his web site and paying the $8.95 fee. 

HOA BOSS FACES QUESTIONS FROM HOA MANAGERS is a post from: Side Streets

It took three years, but the furor over the Great Wall of Cascade Avenue appears to be over and it has been lowered to comply with Colorado Springs building codes!

Disgruntled residents of homeowners associations, or HOAs, will soon have a state agency to turn to for help.

And the battle for control of the Crystal Park HOA rages on, even after a special meeting appeared to result in a recall vote ousting six board members.

First, the wall.

The wall around the Old North End home of Holger and Sally Christiansen has been lowered in response to a judge's order. The city granted the couple permission to let their decorative columns, called pilasters, exceed the maximum wall height of 6 feet. The chainlink gates appear to be temporary in this July 14, 2010, photo.

It’s been three years since a furor erupted in the Old North End Neighborhood, north of Colorado College, over Holger and Sally Christiansen‘s wall.

In July 2007, neighbors started complaining to the neighborhood association and the city. Public meetings were held. Hearings. Eventually, the dispute led to lawsuits filed by the city and the couple.

The Christiansens lost and were ordered to lower the wall to achieve compliance with city codes limiting it to a maximum 6 feet in height.

They complied. But they received one favor from the city. They were allowed to leave their decorative columns, called finials. They exceed the maximum by about a foot.

The three-year battle over the wall built by Holger and Sally Christiansen around their Old North End Neighborhood home seems to be over. The wall has been lowered, at a judge's order, to comply with city building codes which set a maximum height of 6 feet. This is a July 14, 2010, photo.

Here’s a link to an earlier story on the wall.

And this link will take you to prior blogs on the subject.

The HOA Information and Resource Center will open Jan. 1, 2011, thanks to action by the Colorado General Assembly.

Here’s a link to previous columns about the center.

And this link will take you to blog postings.

Lastly, Crystal Park remains in a furor over its HOA board of directors.

After months of campaining, dissidents in the private, gated community succeeded in gathering sufficient votes to oust the board.

They claimed 184 votes to recall the board. They needed 181 votes for a majority of the 360 members of the community above Manitou Springs.

Not so fast, said the existing board. It deemed the meeting and vote illegal.

I’m guessing this puppy ends up in court where only the attorneys will be the winners.

Here’s a link to an earlier column on Crystal Park.

Read my related blog post at this link.

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UPDATES . . . HOT UPDATES HERE! is a post from: Side Streets

Colorado’s General Assembly is taking a hard look at homeowners associations again.

Starting in 2005, lawmakers began trying to reform HOAs after more and more complaints about abuses by HOA boards surfaced.

Colorado Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora

Leading the charge then and now is state Sen. Morgan Carroll, an Aurora Democrat, who co-sponsored the 2005 Homeowners Bill of Rights which made sweeping changes to how the state’s estimated 12,000 HOAs operate.

The law, and subsequent amendments, addressed common HOA abuses such as secret meetings, hidden financial documents, mishandling of money, selective enforcement of covenants and hidden meeting minutes.

Now, Carroll and a fellow Aurora Democrat, Rep. Su Ryden, are trying again to give homeowners help in their battles with HOA boards.

Colorado Rep. Su Ryden, D-Aurora

They have co-sponsored House Bill 1278, which is working its way through the legislature.

Originally, it would have created an HOA Ombudsman office, similar to a concept pioneered in 1997 by Nevada and subsequently copied by Florida, New Jersey and other states.

The idea was to give folks a place to get their conflicts resolved through mediation instead of automatically forcing people to sue in civil court.

Nevada is able to resolve half its complaints without going to court. I wrote about its office in January.

Here’s a link to my January column about the HOA ombudsman in Nevada.

And follow this link to my blog related to that column.

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Lawmakers take on HOAs GONE WILD!!! is a post from: Side Streets

State Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument

Rep. Amy Stephens, a Monument Republican, has introduced a little bill in the 2010 Colorado General Assembly that would have a big impact on small homeowners associations.

Stephens’ bill, House Bill 1290, would allow small HOAs to exempt themselves from the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act, a law enacted in 1992 to govern condominium and townhome complexes as well as large neighborhoods that have jointly owned parks, trails, open space and covenants.

She calls it a matter of “common sense” because large condos and townhome

Jan Doran

complexes and sprawling subdivisions like Woodmoor with its 3,000 homes have much different issues than small single-family neighborhoods that were commonly build in the 1970s and ’80s.

To Jan Doran, administrator of the Discovery neighborhood homeowners association in Rockrimmon, it’s a matter of fairness.

Her HOA collects just $30 a year in dues from its 329 homeowners. That’s not even $10,000 in annual revenue. She said the HOA can’t afford all the government mandates handed down in recent years by the General Assembly.

It maintains a Web site where it posts all its covenants, bylaws, budgets, audits, reports and meeting minutes. But then there are the reports the HOA must produce for real estate agents and prospective buyers in addition to Discovery residents.

Attorney Lenard Rioth says an oversight in 1992 led to older, smaller HOAs to remain under the rule of CCIOA while newer, smaller HOAs were exempt. He said it’s time to allow the older, smaller HOAs like Discovery to opt out, too, if they like.

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SMALL HOAS SEEK FAIRNESS FROM COLORADO LAWMAKERS is a post from: Side Streets

Have we heard the last of Jan Jackson, Colorado’s leading activist in the fight against homeowners associations and assorted other anti-government, anti-Obama, Tea Party, “patriot resistance“ causes?

Jackson spent much of the decade fighting HOAs, as they are known. She has engaged in intensely personal attacks on her own HOA board and her neighbors at the B Lazy M Ranch south of Florissant in Teller County. And she carried on a statewide, even national crusade.

For years, she was a prolific anti-HOA crusader, writing hundreds of articles and Web postings like the one below.

Last spring, in the wake of a major legal victory in which an appellate court lifted a lower court-imposed gag order on Jackson, she disappeared.

Turns out, Jackson had fallen ill and was hospitalized. Then, she suffered the loss of her husband, Richard Thomas, who died July 3 leaving her a widow after 27 years of marriage. The personal tragedy clearly changed her. She has quit her Web radio blog and stopped posting on state and national anti-HOA Web sites. And she has given up efforts to amend the Colorado Constitution to abolish HOAs.

Jackson said she thinks she has done her part, warning the nation about the evils of HOAs. And she intends to remain on the sidelines of future HOA wars unless she really feels the need to get involved.

Here is a link to a previous blog I wrote about Jackson. I’ve written several columns about Jackson over the years. Here is my March 19, 2009, column. Before that, I profiled her on Nov. 12, 2007.

Here’s a link to Jackson’s HOA radio blog site where you can listen to past broadcasts. This takes you directly to an archived broadcast.

 Here’s Jackson’s page on ResistNet, a site for gun owners and the patriotic resistance.

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HAVE WE HEARD THE LAST OF THIS ANTI-HOA ZEALOT? is a post from: Side Streets

I asked. You answered. Below is what we learned.

I’ve posted two lists.

One is an alphabetical list of 80 or so homeowners associations and their cousins — community, neighborhood, recreation, condo and townhome associations. All are from the Colorado Springs region.

The second file contains a numeric list, ranking them top to bottom by amount.

On the alpha list, I’ve included comments I received in e-mails from you, the source of the information. However, I have not included any names or e-mail addresses.

If you find this interesting, informative, valuable or wrong, tell me. Shoot me an e-mail at bill.vogrin@gazette.com. Then stay tuned.

In the very near future, I will be creating a more formal questionaire about HOA dues. It will ask you to click through the amenities you recieve for your money and even comment on the quality of your HOA.

I’m hoping the database will even include a map feature.

There are two ways to look at the database. You can either read the alphabetical list posted below or follow these links to the list: Alphabetical list and Numeric list

Alpine Glen at Peregrine

38 homes pay $305 master plus $345 to the sub-division or $650 a year

Aspen Leaf Townhomes Condominium Association

20-unit townhome complex with nonthly dues of $120 or $1,440 a year

Autumn Heights Community Owners Association

Dues 223$ per month or $2,676 a year.  This gets you a clubhouse, spa, all lawn care, trash, community watering costs, fence repair, snow removal, road & sidewalk repair, external walls and roof repair, on all townhouses.  Everything inside the walls is your problem.  This HOA is down along Star Ranch road & Broadmoor Bluffs.

Broadmoor Resort Community

$3,360 – gated community above The Broadmoor hotel.

Broadmoor Village

Dues are $260.00 per month or $3,120 per year which covers lawn maintenance, water for the lawn, snow removal, gate and street repairs and just wondered how that compares with some of your research.

Carriages at Charleston Place

80 patio homes with dues of $181 a month or $2,172 a year

Cedar Heights Community Association

$602/quarter (or $2,408 annually) for Lot with House. Dues are lower for a Raw Lot. Dues cover operating costs and capital needs (like roads).

Community at Spring Creek

single-family homes pay $46 per month, or $552 annually for trash pickup, common area maintenance and not much else.

Cottonwood Creek Townhome Association

near the corner of Union and Woodmen currently charges $173 per monty or $2,076 per year. HOA dues include water, sewer, trash, recycling, landscape maintenance and snow removal. We maintain a swimming pool and tennis courts for the homeowners.

Discovery Homeowners Association

$30 a year, plus a voluntary $20 for police protection

Dublin Manor Condominium Association

managed by Haley Realty dues are  $ 2,254 per year or $286.56 per month.  This includes ABSOSLUTELY NOTHING!  No clubhouse, no swimming pool, no security checking the premises, no block get togethers, not even a playground of any sort for the children.  It has been painted one time since 1997.  They mow the grass and shovel the sidewalks

Eagle Rock Neighborhood, Inc.

charges a whopping $10/year HOA due.  For that we get an annual members meeting, which we held just yesterday, a real sense of community, a neighborhood watch and a board of 10 volunteers to address any member’s concerns.

Eagles Nest Homeowners Association

Dues 155$ per month or $1,860 a year.  This gets you commons areas maintenance, lawn care (however, water billing for sprinklers is your cost), fence repair, maintenance of drainages & thru-hood sidewalks & paths, and snow removal.    This HOA is up around the Vindicator & GardenGods zone, north of Intel. 

Erindale Townhomes

Erindale Townhomes (off Vickers & Academy behind Bally’s and Taco Bell). The complex is managed by Haley Realty. My dues are $191 a month or $2,292 a year and that covers water, sewer, trash, and all outside maintenance. The dues were $169 last year but took a huge leap due to the increase in water costs. The complex is well maintained and the association has initated some xeriscaping this year but I still wonder if my HOA dues are on the high end, especially since my complex has no ammenities beyond RV parking and a basketball hoop, both in an undeveloped corner of the complex.

Fairways Springs Ranch HOA 

Dues are $174.00 a month and $2,088 a year.  They started at $135 a month when the HOA was in legal dispute with a builder in 2003 . I was told because of legal fees. What is included: snow plowing, snow shoveling the walks leading to our door, lawn care (postage stamp sized yards in the back only), insurance on the outer structure, painting when it’s needed (around every two years) and legal fees.  There is no recreation center, and although we sit on a golf course dues are not included. It is so utterly frustrating I can’t stand it.

Fifteenth Fairway Townhome Owners Association

Near Valley Hi, dues are $125 a month or $1,500 a year

Fountain Valley Ranch  Home Owners Association, Filing 4A and 4B

 We have a five member Association board of directors that looks after all the areas of responsibility.  We have 76 homes  in our association.  Annual dues per home owner is $66.50.  There is also an Association funded Neighborhood Watch Program with block captains in each of four sectors with a Neighborhood Watch coordinator  who maintains a  liaison with the Sheriff’s Department.

Flying Horse Master HOA

$900 a year

Friendship-Crescent-Mesa Neighborhood Association (FCMNA)

Dues are $35 a year for the association of 70 single family properties near the intersection of Fillmore/Fontero Drive and Mesa Road (near Holmes Middle School).  We do not own common property. Activities include an annual picnic, winter party, yard sale, FireWise yard clean up days, and a few social clubs.

Gleneagle North

$100 per year

Gleneagle Filing No.3                                                                       75 homes in the neighborhood, dues are $300 per year. 

Gold Hill I HOA Inc.
Dues: $200.00 per month or $2,400 a year.

Golden Hills HOA

in Rockrimmon, with covenants recorded in 1972.  Dues at that time were $75 per year, and at this time continue at that same rate.  While an effort is ongoing to increase those dues to cover escalating expenses, nothing has been changed at this date.

The dues cover maintenance of the Association common area, which covers slightly over 80 acres, insurance, mowing, community signs,various supplies, several events such as a semi-annual garage sale, a summer event (this year an ice cream social and magician), Halloween Trunk or Treat event, Chirstmas lighting contest and lights in the association park.  A community web-site is hosted plus a newsletter that is mailed 4 times each year.  Attorneys fees are a necessity, especially currently when an owner is suing the HOA claiming ownership of a portion of the common area (that belongs to all deed holders) through Adverse Possession. We have an involved and informed board of directors of 8 people, plus a number of volunteers who assist with many services.

Greencrest Homeowners Association

northeast Palmer Park, pays $30 per year, and dues are voluntary.

Grove at Briargate Townhome Association

Pay $230 monthly dues or $2,990 a year

Hearthwood Townhomes

pay $136.50 a month or $1,638 a year. The property manager is MSI.

Highlands at Springs Ranch

278 houses where dues are $130 a year

Indigo Ranch at Stetson Hills

Dues are $200 a year and that includes around $100 for trash service. Hammersmith Management Co.

Kings Deer Master

King’s Deer HOA is $300 a year. This income from our 531 lots provides the HOA with a full time business office with one employee to manage the HOA business, including covenant enforcement, managing the common area maintenance, records management, finances, etc. The dues also pays for maintenance of our common areas which I estimate at about 60 acres; this includes a sports field and playground. King’s Deer also maintain six nicely landscaped entries into the community.

Kissing Camels

dues for a single family residence in the master Kissing Camels Property Owners Association is $170 per month or $2,040 annually

Knolls at Spring Ranch

298 homes with dues of $150 per year plus a $40 annual special maintenance assessment

La Bellezza at Peregrine

47 homes pay $305 master annual dues plus $275 monthly or $3,300 a year for a total $3,605, landscaping and private street maintenace

Lexington Park HOA

Dues are $125.39 a month or $1,504.68 a year. operated by Z & R Property Mgmt

Mirrillion Townhome Association

Mirrillion Townhomes is a 14 unit townhome complex with dues of $130 a month or $1,560 a year. It’s at the top of 20th Street off of Unitah.  There are three more units in the first stage that are new with plans to build 8 more units shortly, which will probably be set up as condominiums, but will be the same as the townhomes.

Mission Cove Townhome Owners Association

A gated townhome community of 20 units that pay dues of $285 a month or $3,420 a year

Mountain Shadows Community Association

Voluntary master association requests $25 a year

Northgate Highlands Homeowners Association

Dues are $95 per quarter or $380 a year which includes trash pickup, common area maintenance, and administration. We also pay $62 to Wasson Properties which maintains the common area median from Interquest to Northgate along Voyager but not within our HOA community. They do not maintain the street or remove the snow.  The “fee” was recently raised from $37 to $62 under the pretext that the cost of watering was to increase. The neighborhood consists of 321 homes, built from 2001-2007.  The dues cover maintenance and landscaping of all common areas, weekly garbage pick-up (including use of a large wheeled garbage can), insurance, neighborhood community events (advertising for our annual garage sale, movie nights, Sky Sox games, etc) “Yard-of-the-month” awards, “Best holiday lights” awards, “Welcome baskets” for new neighbors, a quarterly newsletter, all community governance (yes, this means covenants are enforced!) and the small salary paid to our very competent Administrative Assistant.

North Range at Springs Ranch HOA

 Springs Ranch has about 11 separate HOAs under one master HOA. This is where it gets complicated:  
 Some 511 home comprise North Range, one of the separately managed HOAs, and our dues total of $130 a year.  North Range is presently charged $40 per home as our portion of the master association maintenance (SRMA). So our management company attempts to collect $130.00 from each home (can we say the economy stinks and foreclosures abound ?) and sends $40 of that sum to SRMA, leaving $90.00 to North Range for all other expenses: Management, insurance, maintenance and repair of the 5 easements that lie within North Range, newsletters and homeowner info, etc.
  North Range at Springs Ranch HOA, Inc is managed by Courtney and Courtney and pays in full each year the SRMA portions as they become due regardless of state of our internal finances and needs. We post online, send budget reports with each letter that invites all homeowners to the Annual Meeting, post and openly welcome any homeowner to the regular meetings, and enforce the CC&Rs to maintain the value of the area.
 

Old Broadmoor Road Condominium Association

50-unit condo complex where dues are $250 per month or $3,000 a year (Manager: Courtney & Courtney) which includes structure insurance, exterior maintenance of homes except decks which are owner’s responsibility, lawn care & maintenance, and trash pickup weekly.  I am amazed that some HOA residents do not know more about their HOA Budgets, etc.  They should attend meetings or run for a Board Vacancy or ask for a copy of their budgets to learn about where their money is going and why.  They need to know about escrows for future expenses, and many other items.

Parkside at Mountain Shadows

$107 per month or $1,284 a year.

Peregrine Master

$305 a year for the master association which counts 850 homes. Three sub-associations bring the total in Peregrine to 1006 homes.

Pinecliff Homeowners Association

$30 per year voluntary dues, 30-year-old neighborhood of 600 homes

Pinon Glen HOA

across Pinon Valley Road from the Rockrimmon Post Office.

We have 72 homes in our development, and our dues are $165 a month or $1,980 a year. When the development started 10 years ago, dues were $120, then $150, and about 3 yrs. ago went to $165. 

 For that we get:  All yard maintenance, including water for the sprinkler systems, trash pickup, snow removal, all maintenance for the exterior of our homes which will eventually include roof replacement.

 The HOA has recently done mud-jacking of driveways and sidewalks that needed it, and replacement of concrete where needed.  We have a small clubhouse with a full kitchen which can be used by anyone if the event is open to all residents.

Pinon Springs Condominium Association

located off Picturesque Circle in Village Seven. Dues are based on the square footage of condominium design. The largest unit pays $239 per month or $2,868 a year; next in size pays $225.00; $215; $208 and the smallest which is a nice ranch style is $156 or $1,872. These are current rates having gone up on November 1, 2008. This was a 10 percent increase.

Pleasant Valley Neighborhood Association

$20 annual dues, 600 homes, 150 members

Raintree Springs Association

Raintree Springs is a complex of 28 buildings with four townhomes in each building near Academy and Flintridge. Our monthly dues are now $154 or $1,848 a year, but are tentatively scheduled to increase to $161 next calender year or $1,932 a year. With that income we are maintaining a swimming pool and buildings that are approximately 35 years old. Dues include water, sewer and trash removal charges for the entire complex. Since I help put together the annual budget each year, I of course feel that we are keeping the dues as low as we possibly can, and still be able to maintain the complex.

Raven Hills Homeowner’s Association

Dues are $60 per year and cover mowing of a neighborhood park and other common grounds and maintenance of a playground

Ridgeview at Stetson Hills Master HOA

dues are currently $121 annually (just barely over $10 monthly).  Services include maintenance of the Common areas (landscaping, snow removal, trash removal, utility bills, fence replacement and staining, and so on, Property Management (billing, assistance with Covenant enforcement, infraction notices, etc…), Legal fees, a quarterly newsletter, maintenance of a web site, and some other miscellaneous items. 

Saddleback at Newport Heights Townhome

A 48-unit townhome complex with dues of $191 a month or $2,291 a year

Saddleback Townhomes

 at the corner of Austin Bluffs and Templeton Gap) dues are $185 a month or $2,220 a year, we don’t have any amenities like clubhouse, pool, playgrounds, etc. but do have substantial, park-like landscaping which costs us about $2000 a month year round PLUS snow removal extra.

Sanctuary at Peregrine

60 homes with annual dues of $305 master, $1,224 annual to the sub association or a total $1,529 plus $135 snow removal fee

Smoketree Townhomes in Briargate

Dues are $145 a month or $1,740 a year. No pools, no tennis courts, no annual parties, no playground.  Our dues include maintenance of common areas, repainting/paving the drives  

Stepping Stones HOA condos

north of 21st and Uintah, dues are $180 per month or $2,160 and include: water, management company fees, lawn maintenance/mowing, snow removal and sidewalk shoveling in winter, trash pickup, condo building insurance, roof repairs and general maintenance.

Spires Drainage HOA 

Dues 25$ per month oe $300 a year.  This was the original Spires area development company, for upper Cheyenne Mountain, and is now converted into a standard HOA.  They maintain & lawn care the commons areas (mostly like flag-lot corners), and are supposed to maintain the two-to-four large drainage system, which deliver & control flood waters from the mountain.  At present, they also have an ACC Architectural Control Committee which screens new house plans, and approves all major landscaping and external house modifications or changes.  This group still maintains liability insurance, and legal cover, for any future damages due to drainage failures.  The original Spires Development Corporation is now defunct & extinct, and only exists as an insurance entity, until their legal-liability time expires, in roughly 4+years. 

Spring Grove Homeowners Association

the Spring Grove subdivision is located between Hwy 115/Spring Meadows (E & W sides) and Lake Avenue and Cheyenne Mountain Boulevard (N & S sides): townhouse or so-called row-houses, they havet partial common walls with neighbors – dues are $970.70 per quarter or $3,886.80 per year in HOA dues.  The principal elements of that amount comprise the landscaping, water costs (which went up significantly this year, thanks to CSU’s new water rates), road maintenance, snow removal and the night guard at the gate.

Spring Lane Homeowners Association

the 83 homes on Dawn Break Loop southeast side of Valley Hi Golf Course bordered by Chelton and Afternoon Circle are $70 per month or $840 a year, unchanged since they were raised from $65.oo in November 2006.  For that, members receive snow removal from Dawn Break Loop and all the cul-de-sacs, lawn maintenance, trash pickup,  and street maintenance.

Springs Ranch Homeowners Association

dues are $100 per year which is unchanged in 10 years 

Stonebridge at Cedar Heights

$3,133 annually

Stratton Pines

$3,600 annually

Stratton Preserve Estates

$2,208 annually

Sundance at Greencrest

dues are $2,280 a year to service 34 units. We have no clubhouse or pool. These dues cover everything outside the units, including the private street

Sweetwater Ridge Homeowners Association

Our dues here are $225 a month or $2,700 a year. We have 21 homes here finished & 23 vacant lots.

Toscano at Flying Horse

$6,000 a year

Townhomes at Rockrimmon The Residents

Our dues are currently $210 per month or $2,520 a year. The dues were $115 per month when I moved in June 1993. The complex has a clubhouse with pool, hot tub and game room, office and maintenance area; two tennis courts, not very much visitor parking a

Valley Hi Condominium Association

48 condos in four buildings catering to seniors, 55-years and older paying $212 a month or $2,554 per year 

Victoria Village at Colorado Springs Homeowners Association

$141 a month or $1,692 a year

Villages at Peregrine

49 homes pay $305 a year to the master HOA and $190.46 a month or $2,285.52 a year

Village Seven Homeowners Association Master

$250 annual dues

Villa Sierra Condominium Association

Our community at 1100 Fontmore Road is comprised of 200 units, one bedroom, two bedroom, and three bedroom.  Most are either 2 or 3 bedroom.  When the charter was first drawn up over 30 years ago, the dues varied according to the size of the unit.  Thus our fees currently range from $137 to $285 a month or $1,644 to $3,420 per year.  This covers water usage, insurance on the units, maintenance of the properties including the common areas, grass mowing, landscaping care, snow removal.  We have two full-time maintenance people plus some occasional part-time persons.  Also we have a guard on duty 24 hours a day at the gate.

Villas at Log Hollow

part of the Broadmoor Resort Community Association. A townhome community consisting of 41 units.  Our dues are $495 per month or $5,940 a year and cover insurance, yard maintenance, snow removal, and manned security at the front gate.

Wagon Trails Recreation Association

Dues are $250 a year, include pool, splash park, wading pool, tennis court, basketball court, green space, social events including movie nights, barbecue dinner, ice cream social for 948 homes.

Windjammer Community

dues are $75 per quarter or $300 a year for trash w/total recycling, maintenance of common areas, 2 yearly roll-offs, and scheduled private security patrol.  It also sponsors our yearly yard sale.

Windjammer Pointe Townhomes

Near Valley Hi Golf Course, dues are $130 a month, increasing $5 in November to $1,620 a year, 65 units, small playground, basketball court, couple picnic tables

Wolf Ranch Owners Association Master

Dues are $22 a month or $264 a year and includes trash pickup

Woodbridge Townhome Owners Association

64 units on 10 acres off Broadmoor Valley Road built in 1981 with dues of $265 a month or $3,180 per year

Woodmoor Improvement Association

Dues $209 a year, 2,967 residences, administrative staff of 3 fulltime and 1 part time accountant, one barn, ACC, common areas covenant protection and forestry, over 2,000 acres, 51 miles of roads, 7 fulltime public safety staff patrol 24-7

Woodmoor Park Townhomes

$125 a month or $1,500 a year, pays for snow removal and trash, no amenities

HOA DUES – where do your dues rank? is a post from: Side Streets