With 3 out of 4 new homes built as a Common Interest Community "CIC" (i.e., Condominum Cooperative, townhouse and single family homeowners associations) and more than 1 and 6 existing homes already part of one that means over 80 Million Americans are in a CICs and we are going to blog about what is wrong and sometime right in them.
A September letter from HOA property manager Nicki Williams to homeowner Jennifer Lowery-Bell states the board opened an account with Ameriprise and made the initial one-time investment in September 2007 of more than $80,000. As of July 2009, less than $77,000 was in the account, posting a more than $14,000 loss as of July 31.
Lowery-Bell said she learned about the investment in late July from board member David Bosworth, a Campus Way South homeowner who joined the board in September 2007. Bell then wrote two letters to Williams in August and September 2009 inquiring how the losses will be refunded and if any other investments have been made.
"They said they would assess the situation and get back with us, and it was never done," Lowery-Bell said of the board's comment at a September meeting about the situation.
The 321 homes in the community each pay $76 per month in homeowner fees, a total of $292,752 per year, said Lowery-Bell, who also is founder and coordinator of Campus Way South Homeowners Neighborhood Watch Program.
Williams, who collects the HOA fees and provides financial management to the board of directors, said she believes the board is acting in the best interest of the homeowners and that the board decided to invest the money in the Ameriprise account because interest rates at the time were low.
"$14,000 isn't a loss unless you want to retrieve your money today. I can't say it's right or wrong [to invest the money]," Williams said. "There was never any real thought that what they were doing was wrong."
