Complaint Review: The Ridge At Launani

I'd first like to say thanks for your comments and I'd like to clear a few things up.

What I had said about this condo being an apartment was so that people didn't think it was a high rise building.

My car is a Pontiac Firebird - nothing on it is altered. It's completely stock - no fancy rims, no special lights, not even a brand name sound system and definitely not lowered.

The trash issue - I was doing minor renovations to the condo. Mainly pulling up the carpet and laying down vinyl tiles. I was told I had a 2 bag trash limit - so I had to pile up carpet from a 120 square foot room for about a week and a half. Shouldn't there be exceptions?

As for the dog. Yes, he would bark when someone came to the door - what dog doesn't? But barking all hours of the day or night? Nope. I was a stay at home wife then, so I was home most of the time.

Condos ARE apartments. Sometime during the 90's, "townhouses" were called "condos" because nobody wanted to live in a townhouse. Sort of like wetlands vs swamp. One is expensive, the other needs draining, both are the same property. Condominium was just a fancy name for "We can't raise the rent and we don't want to fix anything, so if you want to stay, you have to buy your APARTMENT".

Speed bumps are designed to keep people from driving full speed through the parking lots. If everyone would drive with a little bit of sense, they would be unneccessary. You drive a lowrider. If your car was at the stock ride height, you would have no problems. The trash is picked up pretty frequently. How much trash can you and your husband produce in a day. You pay the same amount to the Association that was in your purchase contract. Everything is spelled out.

If the Association is not living up to their end of the agreement, force the issue. You got rid of a dog. Amen to that. I'm sure the neighbors are happy to be able to get some peace and quiet without a dog barking all day/night. Don't even try and say the dog doesn't bark.

The neighbors take you newspapers because you let them. If they fear you, they will leave you alone. Watch for them a few days. When you catch them doing it, call the cops and press theft charges.

They will spend more to fight it than the subscription is worth. Nobody steals anything from me, and I don't bother with cops at all. As for how/why they can tell you what to do? Easy. You belong to a Homeowner's Association. That is what they do.

If you want it changed, get the rules changed. Most places have a clause in the rules stating how to get rid of it altogether. All it takes is a majority of votes.

Some bedwetting dogooders tried to set one up where my house is in NC. That went over like a brick. Every time they sent out fliers whining about how much fun they are and why the "village" needs to be in charge of everyone's lives, I'd send out more that explained why people buy in the first place.

So they cannot be told what to do with their private property. This went on for about a year and got very ugly. They wound up getting attorneys to take me on. They'd file complaints claiming I was violating some silly ordinance. I'd return fire by showing them my build and purchase contracts along with ALL of my closing papers.

None of their ordinances applied to my contracts. They'd do their thing and I'd do mine. Eventually, I pulled the trump card. Since my house was there years before any of them even thought about building around me, I showed them how I was exempt from their stupidity anyway. NC calls it "Grandfathering".

I knew this all along, but I wanted to make sure enough people were informed of the nightmares of letting their neighbors run their lives for them. It came to a vote and out of over 200 homeowners, only the original bedwetter wanted to have one. Funny stuff. It went from me being against, to everyone being against.

A little determination works. Nobody has ever tried to do it again. I told the attorneys right then that if they were ready to continue the fight, I'd be glad to go to court now. I have not heard from them in over 15 years. Show the homeowners the outrageous costs that are associated with it.

Everything can be done much cheaper if it's not done through a committee. Having a property management company hired on to serve as the middleman and treasurer is one way. Everyone still pays a monthly fee(much lower than what you do now) and the property manager takes care of the place.

They know if they don't, they'll be in breach of contract and be fired. This also puts the decision making for repairs in the hands of a neutral party. There will be less chance of someone's buddy getting the "hookup" at an inflated price. Your husband is overseas. This should give you something to work on while he's gone. Become the leading force in getting things done. Good luck.

Condos ARE apartments. Sometime during the 90's, "townhouses" were called "condos" because nobody wanted to live in a townhouse. Sort of like wetlands vs swamp. One is expensive, the other needs draining, both are the same property. Condominium was just a fancy name for "We can't raise the rent and we don't want to fix anything, so if you want to stay, you have to buy your APARTMENT".

Speed bumps are designed to keep people from driving full speed through the parking lots. If everyone would drive with a little bit of sense, they would be unneccessary. You drive a lowrider. If your car was at the stock ride height, you would have no problems. The trash is picked up pretty frequently. How much trash can you and your husband produce in a day. You pay the same amount to the Association that was in your purchase contract. Everything is spelled out.

If the Association is not living up to their end of the agreement, force the issue. You got rid of a dog. Amen to that. I'm sure the neighbors are happy to be able to get some peace and quiet without a dog barking all day/night. Don't even try and say the dog doesn't bark.

The neighbors take you newspapers because you let them. If they fear you, they will leave you alone. Watch for them a few days. When you catch them doing it, call the cops and press theft charges.

They will spend more to fight it than the subscription is worth. Nobody steals anything from me, and I don't bother with cops at all. As for how/why they can tell you what to do? Easy. You belong to a Homeowner's Association. That is what they do.

If you want it changed, get the rules changed. Most places have a clause in the rules stating how to get rid of it altogether. All it takes is a majority of votes.

Some bedwetting dogooders tried to set one up where my house is in NC. That went over like a brick. Every time they sent out fliers whining about how much fun they are and why the "village" needs to be in charge of everyone's lives, I'd send out more that explained why people buy in the first place.

So they cannot be told what to do with their private property. This went on for about a year and got very ugly. They wound up getting attorneys to take me on. They'd file complaints claiming I was violating some silly ordinance. I'd return fire by showing them my build and purchase contracts along with ALL of my closing papers.

None of their ordinances applied to my contracts. They'd do their thing and I'd do mine. Eventually, I pulled the trump card. Since my house was there years before any of them even thought about building around me, I showed them how I was exempt from their stupidity anyway. NC calls it "Grandfathering".

I knew this all along, but I wanted to make sure enough people were informed of the nightmares of letting their neighbors run their lives for them. It came to a vote and out of over 200 homeowners, only the original bedwetter wanted to have one. Funny stuff. It went from me being against, to everyone being against.

A little determination works. Nobody has ever tried to do it again. I told the attorneys right then that if they were ready to continue the fight, I'd be glad to go to court now. I have not heard from them in over 15 years. Show the homeowners the outrageous costs that are associated with it.

Everything can be done much cheaper if it's not done through a committee. Having a property management company hired on to serve as the middleman and treasurer is one way. Everyone still pays a monthly fee(much lower than what you do now) and the property manager takes care of the place.

They know if they don't, they'll be in breach of contract and be fired. This also puts the decision making for repairs in the hands of a neutral party. There will be less chance of someone's buddy getting the "hookup" at an inflated price. Your husband is overseas. This should give you something to work on while he's gone. Become the leading force in getting things done. Good luck.

Condos ARE apartments. Sometime during the 90's, "townhouses" were called "condos" because nobody wanted to live in a townhouse. Sort of like wetlands vs swamp. One is expensive, the other needs draining, both are the same property. Condominium was just a fancy name for "We can't raise the rent and we don't want to fix anything, so if you want to stay, you have to buy your APARTMENT".

Speed bumps are designed to keep people from driving full speed through the parking lots. If everyone would drive with a little bit of sense, they would be unneccessary. You drive a lowrider. If your car was at the stock ride height, you would have no problems. The trash is picked up pretty frequently. How much trash can you and your husband produce in a day. You pay the same amount to the Association that was in your purchase contract. Everything is spelled out.

If the Association is not living up to their end of the agreement, force the issue. You got rid of a dog. Amen to that. I'm sure the neighbors are happy to be able to get some peace and quiet without a dog barking all day/night. Don't even try and say the dog doesn't bark.

The neighbors take you newspapers because you let them. If they fear you, they will leave you alone. Watch for them a few days. When you catch them doing it, call the cops and press theft charges.

They will spend more to fight it than the subscription is worth. Nobody steals anything from me, and I don't bother with cops at all. As for how/why they can tell you what to do? Easy. You belong to a Homeowner's Association. That is what they do.

If you want it changed, get the rules changed. Most places have a clause in the rules stating how to get rid of it altogether. All it takes is a majority of votes.

Some bedwetting dogooders tried to set one up where my house is in NC. That went over like a brick. Every time they sent out fliers whining about how much fun they are and why the "village" needs to be in charge of everyone's lives, I'd send out more that explained why people buy in the first place.

So they cannot be told what to do with their private property. This went on for about a year and got very ugly. They wound up getting attorneys to take me on. They'd file complaints claiming I was violating some silly ordinance. I'd return fire by showing them my build and purchase contracts along with ALL of my closing papers.

None of their ordinances applied to my contracts. They'd do their thing and I'd do mine. Eventually, I pulled the trump card. Since my house was there years before any of them even thought about building around me, I showed them how I was exempt from their stupidity anyway. NC calls it "Grandfathering".

I knew this all along, but I wanted to make sure enough people were informed of the nightmares of letting their neighbors run their lives for them. It came to a vote and out of over 200 homeowners, only the original bedwetter wanted to have one. Funny stuff. It went from me being against, to everyone being against.

A little determination works. Nobody has ever tried to do it again. I told the attorneys right then that if they were ready to continue the fight, I'd be glad to go to court now. I have not heard from them in over 15 years. Show the homeowners the outrageous costs that are associated with it.

Everything can be done much cheaper if it's not done through a committee. Having a property management company hired on to serve as the middleman and treasurer is one way. Everyone still pays a monthly fee(much lower than what you do now) and the property manager takes care of the place.

They know if they don't, they'll be in breach of contract and be fired. This also puts the decision making for repairs in the hands of a neutral party. There will be less chance of someone's buddy getting the "hookup" at an inflated price. Your husband is overseas. This should give you something to work on while he's gone. Become the leading force in getting things done. Good luck.

Condos ARE apartments. Sometime during the 90's, "townhouses" were called "condos" because nobody wanted to live in a townhouse. Sort of like wetlands vs swamp. One is expensive, the other needs draining, both are the same property. Condominium was just a fancy name for "We can't raise the rent and we don't want to fix anything, so if you want to stay, you have to buy your APARTMENT".

Speed bumps are designed to keep people from driving full speed through the parking lots. If everyone would drive with a little bit of sense, they would be unneccessary. You drive a lowrider. If your car was at the stock ride height, you would have no problems. The trash is picked up pretty frequently. How much trash can you and your husband produce in a day. You pay the same amount to the Association that was in your purchase contract. Everything is spelled out.

If the Association is not living up to their end of the agreement, force the issue. You got rid of a dog. Amen to that. I'm sure the neighbors are happy to be able to get some peace and quiet without a dog barking all day/night. Don't even try and say the dog doesn't bark.

The neighbors take you newspapers because you let them. If they fear you, they will leave you alone. Watch for them a few days. When you catch them doing it, call the cops and press theft charges.

They will spend more to fight it than the subscription is worth. Nobody steals anything from me, and I don't bother with cops at all. As for how/why they can tell you what to do? Easy. You belong to a Homeowner's Association. That is what they do.

If you want it changed, get the rules changed. Most places have a clause in the rules stating how to get rid of it altogether. All it takes is a majority of votes.

Some bedwetting dogooders tried to set one up where my house is in NC. That went over like a brick. Every time they sent out fliers whining about how much fun they are and why the "village" needs to be in charge of everyone's lives, I'd send out more that explained why people buy in the first place.

So they cannot be told what to do with their private property. This went on for about a year and got very ugly. They wound up getting attorneys to take me on. They'd file complaints claiming I was violating some silly ordinance. I'd return fire by showing them my build and purchase contracts along with ALL of my closing papers.

None of their ordinances applied to my contracts. They'd do their thing and I'd do mine. Eventually, I pulled the trump card. Since my house was there years before any of them even thought about building around me, I showed them how I was exempt from their stupidity anyway. NC calls it "Grandfathering".

I knew this all along, but I wanted to make sure enough people were informed of the nightmares of letting their neighbors run their lives for them. It came to a vote and out of over 200 homeowners, only the original bedwetter wanted to have one. Funny stuff. It went from me being against, to everyone being against.

A little determination works. Nobody has ever tried to do it again. I told the attorneys right then that if they were ready to continue the fight, I'd be glad to go to court now. I have not heard from them in over 15 years. Show the homeowners the outrageous costs that are associated with it.

Everything can be done much cheaper if it's not done through a committee. Having a property management company hired on to serve as the middleman and treasurer is one way. Everyone still pays a monthly fee(much lower than what you do now) and the property manager takes care of the place.

They know if they don't, they'll be in breach of contract and be fired. This also puts the decision making for repairs in the hands of a neutral party. There will be less chance of someone's buddy getting the "hookup" at an inflated price. Your husband is overseas. This should give you something to work on while he's gone. Become the leading force in getting things done. Good luck.