In the South? Downright dirty? What kind of issues are you guys having?Do tell...

I apologize for my earlier post about my HOA. I am just having a difficult time understanding why they will go out of their way to avoid answering a simple billing question, but have zero problem foreclosing on their lien for a debt of a little over $500. My mortgage is current and we have no desire to get out paying our annual dues. We were just looking for a simple answer regarding why we were showing a small balance from the previous year.

@awriternot: Have you paid your annual dues for this year?

Who is your management company? Contact them direct. You should have receipts or payment confirmations for your payments last year and for 2014.Send a certified letter to the management company with copies of the receipts to prove your payment status is current.If they attempt to take any further action against you at that point, have your attorney take charge for you.

The collection policy is pretty strict. Assessments are due in January. If you owe any Assessment fees or late fees after April 1st, they assign the collection process to the attorney. You can only deal with the attorney at that point and the attorney fees are charged to you. I think the association had to get strict on the fee collection a couple of years ago. There were quite a few foreclosures in the South and many fees were going unpaid. You can find a copy if the collection policy on atascocitasouth.org. Look under documents, then on policies.

If you are behind in making a payment & I am not saying you are , most of the time they are able to for late payments charge some stiff fees . At least in ACIA they can & do .You really do need to send a letter certified mail to the management company .

Seems a little strange that they would go through a foreclosure for just $500... State laws are pretty tight when it comes an HOA being able to foreclose... There has to be a series of notifications that have to be gone through before you can even start the foreclosure process... I think it's like a nearly 2 year process before you can get to the point of actual foreclosure... And A state judge will not even listen to a foreclose proceeding without all of the prerequisite steps having been followed...There is definitely something missing from this story... I would visit the CAM office (that's their management company) and ask for a statement of your account and a history of the letters that they have sent you over the last two years...To answer your questions about getting on the HOA board... It's a pretty simple process... There are generally elections every year.., in our HOA we have three residents on the board... Each board member is elected to a 3 years term... Which means 1 board member is up for election every year... You just need to find out when your annual meeting is ... And there is generally a deadline for declaring that you want to run for office... Which is usually about two month before your annual meeting...Now, while I understand you and your husband are understandably upset over the HOA supposedly foreclosing over $500... Just understand what you are getting yourself in for... No one ever calls the board members to say how great things are in the neighborhood... Just being on the HOA board... Most of your neighbors will just assume you are a "nazi"... Until their next door neighbor parks his truck in front of their house making it difficult to get out of their driveway... That's when they have no problem calling at 7:00am wanting to know what the HOA is going to do about this guy LEGALLY parking his truck on a public roadway...Having said all of that... I definitely encourage you to at least serve one term on your HOA board... It's an eye opening experience for most people... Generally after the first year the most common phrase for rookie board members is "I had no idea what I was getting in to"... But it is a good experience... You get to see where your money is spent... And understand why... And sometimes it's just good to see thing from the other side of the fence...

@Bturney:
I believe!!!! No thank you I will pass on a rookie year.

Not to throw more of a damper on this, but CAM is the worst management group I've ever dealt with in my life and that includes Texas and Pennsylvania. That being said, if you can get any information from them about your account, good luck. Not only do they not keep their books up to date, but they waste money from our membership fees (duplicate letters sent out same day or a day apart, not kidding exact same letter sent twice). I had to request a corrected account balance several times before getting it and the excuse I finally got for the delay was new person in charge of my HOA. There must be a lot of comings and goings if this is the case, because every time I send an email I eventually have to send to the general office one and get told I have a new manager. I've been told by other people that CAM is the best there is around. If this is so, then why have we all sat back and permitted them to produce such low performance work. I know of no position I've ever held that slow response times, wasting money sending the same mailings twice in one day, and my books not up to date would have ever kept me employed.

I am a member of the board of directors of the Atascocita South Community Improvement Association. awriternot, I encourage you and your husband to contact the management company, Community Asset Management, Inc., or "CAM," if you have any question about a balance on your account. Their number is (281) 852-1155. Additionally, please note that the board meets the first Tuesday of each month at CAM's office, 9802 FM 1960 Bypass West, Suite 210, in Humble, Texas. Our meetings start at 7:00 pm. Unfortunately, the office building's management company locks the doors at 7:00 pm, so it is a good idea to email one of the board members to let us know you are coming so that we can send someone down to look for you at the door if we don't see you by 7:10. We welcome all residents to come to our meetings and give us input on the decisions we deal with at our meetings, as well as letting us know of problems or complaints of which we may not know.Additionally, please note that our email addresses are posted on the Atasocita South Community Improvement Association's website (www.atascocitasouth.org) under the "Board" tab. Please do not hesitate to email any of us if you wish to report a problem or complaint. Please understand that we are all unpaid volunteers, and it may take some time to respond to your emails.Our association does not wish to foreclose any property. It is expensive, burdensome, and in most cases would be unnecessary if residents would respond to the management company's letters or the attorney's letters. Texas law requires several notices before collection actions are started. When ANY resident receives a letter from CAM stating their account is delinquent or receives information about a charge they do not understand, the first thing he or she should do is come talk to the Board at the next meeting. We would much rather resolve issues amicably by agreement WITHOUT the need to hire an attorney to pursue collections. Our biggest problem has been that that most residents who are behind or have balances do not respond to the letters until a constable is either serving the citation in a lawsuit or until a foreclosure sale is conducted. At that point, our options are limited to resolve the issue. Come see us at the beginning of the problem before the law limits out flexibility to work with you to resolve this issue.DISCLAIMER: Please note that I am merely an unpaid volunteer member of the Atascocita South Community Improvement Association board of directors. As such, I am not an officer, employee or agent of either the Atascocita South Community Improvement Association or Community Asset Management, Inc. Should you wish to contact the Atascocita South Community Improvement Association or its managing agent, Community Asset Management, Inc., you must do so pursuant to the methods allowed by applicable law for such contacts. As one of the five members of the board of directors, I have no authority to bind the Atascocita South Community Improvement Association or its managing agent, Community Asset Management, Inc., by any act or omission. All residents are invited to attend any open meeting of the Atascocita South Community Improvement Association board of directors which are ususally held at 7:00 pm on the first Tuesday of each month at the offices of Community Asset Management, Inc., located at 9802 FM 1960 Bypass West, Suite 210, Humble, Texas 77338-3501. The telephone number for Community Asset Management, Inc. is (281) 852-1155.