HOMES ASSOCIATION DUES

"What are they and why must I pay them?"

From the time we buy our homes here in Brookhaven, every homeowner has to pay Home's Association dues of $90.00 a month.
(This amount to begin July 1st 2004). It is NOT A CHOICE.
It is written into the real estate contract
and applies to every owner.

From this fee the various necessary neighborhood services are maintained.

These services are only geared to
the upkeep and maintainance of the Exterior.
We must maintain the interiors ourselves, as any homeowner does.

The exterior responsibilities include,

Trash Pickup
Parking Lot
Lawn Upkeep
Snow Removal
Exterior Painting
Roof repair and replacement
Gutters

Porches and Sidewalks
Gutter and shingle upkeep
Legal work (collecting of late dues 3mo late)

"What happens if I don't pay my dues?"

Lots of things...........
We cannot stop your getting the benefits.
Your grass will still be mowed,
Your trash will still be picked up,
You will still be able to park on the parking lot that the dues paid to refinish.
Repairs to your roof, shingles, gutters etc, will still be made.

To stop these services to you means the rest of the
complex would look bad, and we can't do that.

Worst of all, your neighbors (the one's who ARE paying the dues)
will be paying for you to have the same services they are paying for.
Consider that you are STEALING these services from them.
That's not very neighborly, or honest.

We will take you to court.
We will put a lean on your house.
We will get money out of your paycheck. (Guarenshee your wages).

We will spend lots of time, and lots of money to lawyers
to collect those dues.

If you sell your house, we will get the back dues first.

"But what if I can't pay for awhile?"

Notify the Board.
Things happen.
We all have periods where our finances have upsets.

Let the Board know and we will work with you.
Temporary setbacks are a fact of life.
The Board understands that.

What upsets us are the members who never pay
for months and YEARS.
We have had some owners that owed, $12,000.00, $7,000.00, $3,000, etc.
That is alot of unpaid dues
and part of the reason we have been unable
to move forward with needed projects (like painting the buildings).

We are working to collect these dues but the legal fees
are extremely expensive. (Less money for Brookhaven.)
In most cases, these people have never communicated with the board
and do not appear to care about the hardship they have worked on their neighbors.

If we had had all the money due us, when we had to redo the roofs
we would not have had to finance the job.
We would not be making high interest payments that prevent us from doing other needed projects.

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