The tony Fifth Avenue South shopping district in Naples. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 6-9-2012.
“So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good-bye.”
– “The Sound of Music”
I have had the pleasure of writing this column for many years. I have really had fun with it, but this will be my last regular column for the paper. I am going back to Naples.
As much as I love Sarasota, I consider Naples “home.”
It is where I practiced law for 20 years and where I made a small contribution in helping shape the community through service on the Naples City Council.
Naples is also where my children were born and where many of my closest friends reside.
So I feel a little like Dorothy clicking the heels of my ruby slippers while repeating, “There’s no place like home.”
Or if you prefer, maybe I am trying to prove Thomas Wolfe wrong when he wrote that you can’t go home again.
So, my topic this week is home.
What does home mean to you? Your home should be your refuge, the place where you can breathe deeply, where you can sit on your couch and eat ice cream in your underwear if you want to.
This 20,600-square-foot beachfront mansion, left, on Gordon Drive in Naples, Fla., sold in March 2012 for $ 47.2 million. Staff photo / Harold Bubil; 8-8-2012,
Home is the place where you can be the king or queen of your castle. Although, as a frequently cited Florida Supreme Court decision correctly points out, the rights to complete control over a home become more limited in common-interest-property communities, such as condominiums and HOAs. This can be beneficial or can create the potential for disputes that disrupt the peace and tranquility that should go hand and hand with home ownership or occupancy.
Over the years, I have received many reader inquiries, and even though I could not respond to them all, I read every one. The majority of them could be divided into two categories, and in fact I grouped them into separate computer files.
One is named “boards gone wild.” The other is labeled “bat@#$% crazy owners.”
So, in giving my Top 10 suggestions for peaceful community living, I’m devoting five for boards of directors and five for disgruntled owners.
Here they are — drumroll, please:
To board members:
1. Know the rules. The law that applies to Florida condominiums, cooperatives and HOAs requires new directors to certify in writing that they have read all the community documents, rules and policies and that they will work to uphold them and faithfully discharge the fiduciary duties that directors assume when they take office. In lieu of the certification, directors may complete an educational course approved by the state.
Tree-lined Galleon Drive, Port Royal, Naples. Staff Photo / Harold Bubil; 6-10-2012.
Take the course. Most are available locally, free of charge.
2. Enforce the rules uniformly. Rules should not be different for directors and their friends than for everyone else. No self-dealing is allowed. So, just being on the board does not mean you can park anywhere you want or you get preferential treatment when your property needs association maintenance.
3. You are a volunteer, but it is a business. Always remember that the decisions you make affect others and that, as a board member, you are not just spending your own money, but that of others. Your decisions also affect the property values of the homes in the community.
4. Rely on professional guidance. Don’t be pennywise but pound foolish. Volunteers can’t be expected to know and do everything. Plus, an individual director is insulated from personal liability by relying on the advice of qualified professionals.
5. It is everyone’s home, not your fiefdom. Make sure your head fits through the door at all times. A “my way or the highway” mentality has no place in quality community living.
To owners:
1. Know the rules. So much discontent comes from owners buying and not understanding the restrictions that they agreed to comply with when they bought. Realize that you give up a certain amount of freedom to live in a planned community. If you realize that only after the purchase, you may well be stuck.
2. Be civil. As angry as you are, try not to raise a ruckus. If you lose your temper or make matters personal, you will lose credibility and allow yourself to be marginalized. Don’t create a shouting match at a meeting and don’t send rash emails to the board or other owners that you may regret later or that can be used as evidence against you.
3. Participate. Board service may not be for you, and that is fine. But I hear from readers all the time that their boards are made up of power-hungry incumbents. You live there. The more owner participation, the better. If nothing else, read what the association sends you or posts on their website, vote and attend meetings. If you don’t do those things, should you be heard complaining?
4. There is power in numbers. If you find yourself in a dispute that affects other owners, seek out your neighbors. The board is likely to pay more attention to your concern if it is one that is shared by others. Owners have the power to recall board members for any reason or no reason at all, but it takes a majority of the owners to do that.
5. It is your home, not a battleground. I am saddened when I see neighbors suing one another. Sometimes it is unavoidable, but try to keep things in perspective, and, if you find you are doing something just for the “principle of the thing,” stop and re-evaluate.
A PERSONAL NOTE
I owe the opportunity to write this column to the man who took a chance on a newcomer from Naples.
Harold Bubil, this paper’s esteemed real estate editor, is a patient man who regularly put up with the last-minute filing of my columns. He wanted it on Monday by 5 p.m.; I was doing good to get it to him Wednesday before midnight. (This week was no exception!)
Harold has always given me latitude to use my quirky sense of humor in my columns. But he was never afraid to tell me when I became mired in legal “gobbledygook” that would put to sleep even the most faithful reader, despite an infusion of Sunday-morning caffeine. He helped me learn to write in a more conversational style, and it has served me well.
I also want to thank Terry Galvin, the paper’s assistant business editor. His photo illustrations that regularly accompany my columns are always spot-on and have given me many a chuckle when I open the Sunday real estate section. I don’t get to see the illustrations before you do, and that has been fun.
I leave you with a quote from the author Orson Scott Card: “Home is anywhere that you know all your friends and all your enemies.”
Sounds like community association living to me.
Tamela Eady is a Florida Bar board-certified real estate attorney with more than 25 years’ experience, concentrating her practice on community association and real estate legal matters. The subjects discussed in her columns are not intended as specific legal advice to anyone and are subject to principles that may change from time to time. Questions not covered in this column will have to be answered by someone else.
