Residents Need to Ask What Master HOA Does For Them

By: Sharon Aron Baron

Residents have a chance to attend the annual meeting of the Woodlands Homeowners Association on February 9, and when they do, they may want to ask the board a few questions.

For instance: What exactly does the WHOA do for me? Why can’t our Section change our documents and operate independently, and save our residents money?

Or they can continue to follow like meek sheep and dole out money.

Let’s not confuse the WHOA with our Section HOA’s. Many of you have your own sections with your own documents, dues, and clubhouse. However, on top of that, you are paying a master association.

But why?

I asked this very question last year, and after reading the documents, I found out that two sections in the Woodlands were paying the master association for years and weren’t legally obligated too.

However, no one ever told us this.

One board member said he knew this all along and one former President of one of these sections told me he knew, but paid them to keep a sense of community. Problem is, he failed to inform his very own residents that they were not legally obligated to pay. Nice of him to be spending thousands of dollars of other people’s money each month, never giving them a choice….or notice.

This is not fiscal responsibility. This is a good old boy system.

And it’s wrong.

Many of our current board members are close friends. And they should be, after all they are neighbors. But they can be friends without being on the WHOA. Are they afraid they won’t be invited to the President’s parties that she throws herself right before election time if they secede?

Is being on an WHOA a social thing?

After sitting on the WHOA for four years, I can only remember one important vote that was ever voted on by the WHOA and that was the creation of the Woodlands Neighborhood Improvement District.

Other than that, they have been working on their documents for years and nothing has been done, they have produced a directory in which the head of that committee shut out all competing real estate agents and businesses they did not like, and they have managed to rack up legal bills with frivolous cease and desist letters regarding this website. They also spend thousands on mailings.  Tons of them.

And then there’s the roving patrol.

The WHOA sets the budget for the exorbitant cost of the BSO roving patrol which will soon be turned over to the WNID if it is passed.  Now that Sections 3 and 4 have discovered that they are not in the master documents, they will no longer pay for roving patrol through the WHOA.  However, when the WNID is passed and security is part of our taxes, then we will resume.

After finding out Sections  3 and 4 weren’t legally part of the WHOA last year, they even went to their lawyers demanding payment from the two. Imagine that you paid a bill for 40 years and then found out you were never obligated to do so, then getting a letter from an attorney saying they STILL wanted your money? This is how your WHOA works and you are paying for it.

Besides the two sections, there is a group of homes located inside of Section 1 that are not part of the WHOA. Are they any different than anyone else?

Nothing has changed. Representatives no longer attend monthly WHOA meetings, but if you’ve ever been to one of those, then it is no great loss.

Related: Is the WHOA Still Relevant in our Community?