Southern Walk Expenses Out of Control? $360 increased assessment for 2013!

For the most part, the SWHOA has done a good job of keeping homeowners informed of the lawsuit and pending expenses (i.e. special assessment) that was going to be levied. For those that oppose, let me ask you, have you gone to even one SWHOA meeting? Have you not seen the information posted to this very forum or the SWHOA Facebook page that has been repeatedly mentioned here? Did you respond to the surveys that were mailed? Have you joined the SW HOA Facebook page that has been mentioned on this forum numerous times? Its one thing to ask for more details, and if expenses are being audited, it is entirely another to all of a sudden claim you were never asked about a lawsuit, or had any input in to how the SW HOA proceeded.

I for one, support the lawsuit. I was asked, I gave my approval, and we are in the 4th quarter of this fight. I mean no offense to those expressing concern about $ out of control where lawyers are concerned but for those claiming no knowledge of a lawsuit or that they weren't asked when they were never even attended a single meeting is mind boggling to me, given the very large amount of hours dedicated by our SWHOA ELECTED board. The numerous areas that were posted with information here and on FB, and by mail, and at the meetings. In doing so, the SWHOA board members are now being sued directly. That's right. They were named in the suit.

 

I to am very ticked about the $30 monthly increase in SWHOA fees. I too am happy with my service from Open Band and have always had terrific customer service when I have needed to contact them. The last time I took issue with this lawsuit and special assessment cost, I was berated and told that those of us that are happy with service need to fight for those that are not happy. I'm told I need to attend meetings to see why I need to join in a lawsuit when I do not have any issues with the service or company we are suing, but it's my fault that I didn't go and get verbally attacked in person. Now my "cable/internet" bill is higher than ever for ZERO extra services and no end in sight. The "lets see what happens in early 2013" is a joke as this can and has dragged out for years and there is no incentive for anyone to set an endgame because you can write all the checks you want out of my account and there appears to be not a darn thing I can do to stop it other than move. I'm not sure how anyone is selling there home and explaining this to your potential homebuyers. This will continue to go on and all of us posting on this forum are wasting our time because if you don't agree with the lawsuit or don't like the "special legal" fees, it doesn't matter because the only opinions that are heard without attack and belittling are those that agree with the current course of action.

 

"The "lets see what happens in early 2013" is a joke..." Not true. OB is pretty much out of options if they lose the federal case. They can't just drag this out forever. With as much progress that's been made, wouldn't you want to at least see how the case goes? Why quit just months away from that happening?

In regard to you disagreeing with the lawsuit, this is how all governing bodies work. ALL of us disagree with how some of the money at the local, state, and federal levels gets spent. Same thing with HOAs. If we had to have 100% consensus to take any actions, nothing would ever get done.

Let me reiterate: The FCC, one federal judge so far, and the county (twice) have made major decisions that go against OB. That state has made it illegal for any contracts like this to ever be created in the future. Those are huge accomplishments.

 

Not everyone as a FB account.

 

That is if you plan to stay in the SW community for a couple of years. What about those of us who plan to move soon?

 

One way to look at this is we all are paying a special assessment to OB every month. OB charges the HOA...us....every month for houses that have forclosed, behind on payments, etc. Every month we are paying for those that have not/will not pay! Its like AT&T billing you because your neighbor refuses to pay their bill! Crazy!

Its also worth noting that many of you that are complaining about the lawsuit haven't even taken a second to learn anything about the lawsuit. Why are you talking about internet speeds? The lawsuit has nothing to do with that! Take a few minutes and read what the lawsuit is about. It honestly is not about our satisfaction with Openband...its about us being hostage to an illegal monopoly (as ruled by the FCC) and the terms of the contract that hold the HOA and us responsible to ensuring OB has no company risk while ensuring profits.

 

It is not about the effort but rather not all of us want our personal profile open for the world to see.

 

Exactly, so again I ask, why are those of us happy with OpenBand held hostage to this lawsuit that we do not want to be a part of. I paid the "one time assessment" fee last year. Now, I am being asked to pay another $360 this year. I understand that the lawsuit seems to be nearing the end, but no one has a crystal ball and we all know how the judicial system drags things out. Plus, we are setting precedence for the future and collecting more "special assessments" for this and that.

 

I certainly understand the frustration of people planning to move soon, but it really makes the most sense for the SW HOA to place their priority on the community's interests long-term. I believe continuing this fight (which again, I will add, has been going very well over the past year) is best for the community long-term.

 

Yeah, Here's where our money went

http://www.leesburgtoday.com/news/article_6ec0b142-58e7-11e1-813e-0019bb2963f4.html

 

The $360 is a relatively minor amount for the potential upside. Potential buyers in SW are no doubt very much turned off by seeing two HOA fees. I don't think many of them stop to think about what is included in those fees, they just don't want to pay them regardless. There is no doubt that the fees have been depressing home prices. I see homes near us selling easily for $30k+ less than homes of identical size, features, etc. elsewhere in Ashburn.

So if somebody asked me if I would pay $360/year for the next couple of years if it meant there's a strong possibility that OB will be gone and my home would be worth tens of thousands more, that seems like a no-brainer.

Also, think about the way telecommunications are going. Many of us virtually never use the land line we are forced to pay for. Many people would probably prefer to just have an internet connection and watch shows on Hulu, Netflix, etc. instead of paying for cable. What about 5-10 years from now as these trends continue? There are going to be many folks who only want an internet connection yet are being forced to pay for tv and phone. Additionally, countless homes in SW have dishes, meaning they are pay double and clearly not getting the features they want out of OB and are instead paying double for tv.

OB's feature set is rapidly becoming outdated. I don't want to be living here 10 years from now and be stuck with 15-20 year-old technology. I want a choice.

In regard to precedence, if we win (of which there is a good chance), there is no longer the need for the SW HOA to exist at all. It will likely disappear, along with the SW HOA dues.

 

So you cherry-picked the one negative piece of news and present that as an argument?

What about the fact that Lansdowne won their identical suit? What about the fact that the FCC has sided with us? What about the fact that the state has sided with us? What about the fact that the BoS has sided with us twice? (the last BoS AND the current BoS)

 

WOW! Your home value goes up and you have to pay zero to the SWHOA for ever! I'm in however maybe someone from the board can post how the legal fees are being monitored/audited? Thanks

 

At the advice of the SW HOA attorneys: the SW HOA Board will not be providing any comments on this matter, especially on a public site, since each of us has been personally sued by OpenBand.

Please do NOT call the Broadlands HOA office, they have nothing to do with this.

You can find updates & discussion on the facebook group or you can contact a member of the SW HOA via telephone or email. Their contact information is listed on various websites.

 

How much did they charge us to tell us that? Note that I would have said the same thing if I were on the billing side.

Erica, I'm not a member of Facebook, nor will I ever be. Please stop with the Facebook nonsense.

The point of this thread is that we do not have a person monitoring the out of control spending. It's great that we have a few "wins." Honestly, I don't care how many wins we have. I don't care if OB was suddenly removed from SW Broadlands. I simply want to know that the community is not being used as a blank check for a few personal interests. $500,000 in legal fees for 2013 is ridiculous and a waste of money.

Let's organize a meeting were we can go over the monthly statements for the last 12 months. We need an accurate projection of the total cost of the litigations and we need to relay this information to the community NOW. Let's plan to have the attorneys present to answer questions. Have we even run an analysis to determine how many years and dollars we are looking at? This should not be a one person operation, hidden from our community, where a single person is making decisions that affect our short and long term finances.

Erica, Please post the date and time of the next meeting and please plan to have our attorneys present to answer our questions. There needs to be some transparency.

 

If you don't like using FB, then that is your loss. First of all, we are not able to post anything here due to SWHOA Attorney's advising against it because this is NOT a SECURE forum as many of us know. OB has access to this forum if you think about it. FB page is where everything is being discussed (to a point due to legal and confidential information that may not be shared publicly to protect our legal strategy, which I do understand as I have taken law courses before.

Secondly, Erica is probably not going to communicate anything on the forum as to schedules, money, legal bills, etc because its NOT secure on here so our other options is to use FB group which is locked down to only those that belong to SWHOA community.

Lastly, I recall the Broadlands HOA asking Erica to take the SWHOA Legal issues elsewhere because they, to the best of my knowledge, didn't want the forum to be used for that purpose so this is why Erica set up FB page.

To those that are upset over all the fees and such, why didn't any of you run for office back then when many of us were disgruntled with the way OB was serving us? When the going got tough, no one stepped up to the plate except for Erica and the rest of the board. They had the gumption to step up to the challenges and serve the community and protect our interests (e.g. protecting our investment in our homes (value-wise) as if we did nothing to try to remove OB's contract as you recall that FCC filed a legal brief with the court stating that what OB is doing is illegal, then buyers for our homes would either steer clear of us or knock down the prices due to the untenable contract that we have. We got screwed over by Van Metre when they CONTROLLED the SWHOA. Many of us want OUT of the contract due to the poor services and high prices we are paying.

Im willing to pay the additional $30 a month if it means an end to OB's contract--so be it. Its a worthwhile investment as the end of the contract means that my home value will go back up where it SHOULD BE!

IF you have a beef with the SWHOA, go to their FB web page and make it known in a SECURE area and BEGIN going to the HOA meetings. I have gone to several and NOT very many bother showing up to listen or to discuss what's bothering them. Only when they get a letter stating that the fee goes up is when they get all hot and upset over it. So I recommend that MANY of you get off the forum and DO SOMETHING about it. A homeowner suing the HOA isn't the answer and neither is not paying the HOA either--you will lose because you signed into the agreement when you got the homeowners documents and bought the house. When you buy the house, then YOU are legally bound to its regulations, rules, and terms/conditions. If you don't like it, then shouldn't have bought the house. There are plenty of other communities that don't have HOAs.

There, I've said my piece and Im sure some of you will lambast me. I don't care because this forum is not a correct place to air out the SWHOA's issues as thats where the FB page is for and I'll be there along with many others who have signed up to receive communications from Erica. We aren't required to use this B-lands HOA forum as you know the B-lands HOA has asked Erica to move it elsewhere.

Why the admin hasn't removed this thread surprises me.