I-Team: Embattled HOA President Talks
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- čas přidán 24. 03. 2016
- by Dana Fowle
Aired March 25, 2016
East Atlanta, DeKalb Co. -
The high price of a neighborhood gate has cost an East Atlanta community it's peace.
"I am kind of a take charge kind of person. I like to get things done," said Brighton Village board president Michael PIllow.
It's the kind of personality you need to make a leader. But Mr. Pillow instead just faced his angry neighbors who held a vote to oust him from his volunteer post.
"This is just not the type of neighborhood we're used to having," board member Brianna Gage told the Fox 5 I-Team.
Brian Thompson, a neighbor chimed in, "There just hasn't been a lot of transparency."
And that complaint of a lack of transparency became an issue when this East Atlanta neighborhood's gate project became a reality. But what really fueled the anger in this neighborhood is the increased price tag for it that many neighbors now say they would not have approved if they'd had a voice.
"I feel like I've done a lot for the community. I feel like a lot of the improvements we have seen of recently have been because of me," Michael Pillow said.
Like getting the gate project moving along. Homeowners on all sides agree attempts to install a gate at the property's two entrances have been talked about for close to 10 years. Finally, in the Fall, after Michael Pillow got involved, construction started.
But, and here's the big problem for many, the cost jumped up to $135,000. That's a 50 percent increase over the original budget. The Brighton board treasurer said he spoke up.
"I questioned how we are going to pay for this," said Derick Montgomery.
The treasurer was unhappy when the president dipped into the neighborhood reserve account to pay for it.
Mr. Pillow pushed back.
"My understanding then and now is that we were going to pay with it from our reserve account and pay back into it with the special assessment."
Pillow blames the rising price of the gate on paving and landscaping costs that were not included in the earlier, much lower, estimate. He says neighborhood newsletters were clear about the price going up.
The vote to remove Mr. Pillow and others from the board came up short, but re-election is looming and the board president says he may just take his 'take charge' style and walk away.
"They think that we've mismanaged funds. They think some shady dealings have been going on. None of that has happened. Everything that we have done is above board," he said.
NEVER EVER live in a HOA. YOU WILL REGRET IT.
For sure
I live in an HOA and it's not too bad. It keeps the slums out, enforcing homeowners to take care of their homes.
Why do you need a raising gate to enter a gate?
especially one that you can just walk around and get into the place. Seems like a neighbor watch would work just as well and cost a heck of a lot less
😂😂
I'd never live in an HOA. It's like having a landlord for my property that doesn't have to pay to maintain it
Close to the end of the video, 2:42, the true use of the gate is explained. It’s to not allow residents that are behind in their dues to drive in and park at their house. They would have to park elsewhere and walk to their house. She said that it was not an uncommon action for HOAs.
That is ridiculous. I bet those gates “break” a lot
So baring them from their homes. Boy get out.
What better way to get them to get up to date on the dues. Better than foreclosing/lein/auction their house for $2k or more shortfall.🤷♂️. Can't complain about not having a gate then complain you got one 🤦♂️. Costs for raw materials and labor costs do go up every year.
That is very uncommon and illegal. Possible violation of the ADA.
Some HOA's give out fake fines as harassment to build up big debts for homeowners. And then prevent them from parking at their homes. I will never live in an HOA community because people in general are greedy. I only trust the trust worthy. That means I trust no one until I know they are worthy of my trust. Blind trust is stupid.
Drove into a HOA community and it looked like a ghost town. So the rules are No parking on the street, no parking in your driveway, must park in garage, children can play in the backyard only. Homes for sale were close to a million. Absolutely beautiful neighborhood- just sterile and fake looking. Perfectly manicured lawns and roadways.
My neighborhood sits on the front porch. Crime is low and friendship is high
people who like these, and there are many, some had issues in old neighborhoods with neighbors not mowing lawns , keeping yards clean, basket ball hoops in the street being played at late at night , cars torn apart in driveways.
This happens in nice neighborhoods, and so they move to these areas, with a hoa. Also I have looked at some desert Communities and the ones with HOA, all it does is a membership in the Country Club , golf, pool and gym, and the area is noticeably nicer than the non HOA areas
Therese Ward. All those fake, sterile communities look like they're in lockdown.
@@califdad4 What's wrong with playing Basketball till late in the night,at least their not watching TV or on here, their exercising their body and mind,
@@sammyhoy7838 keeping the neighbors from sleeping
@@califdad4 we never played past 11, and it was only in the summer,
This is a great example of journalism. Well done, ma’am.
130 thousand for a gate? No. Just no.
He's a glory seeker and a me, myself and I guy...it backfired big time.
There's no way it cost $135,000 to build a gate.
You sir clearly have not built anything before. Also don't for that it is two gates not just one. Add a main frame system to control both gates, along with infrastructure for both gates (Power lines, networking lines, etc...). This is also a commercial gate, so all of the parts have to be topnotch to prevent downtime. Then yes $135,000 is not unreasonable, maybe a little on the high side but no so much that it screams fail play.
Could build an entire house for that!
repaved road too
And plant 300 Japanese maples
Never done government work, eh?
Hence... why I do not live in a HOA community.
ELWATCH01 blog it
all condos have homeowner associations, I think this place is a mix of homes and Condos, , hence the HOA. A gate seems kind of odd, as all you can do is walk around it, who is that keeping out?
I wonder if "Mr. Take Charge" was required to disclose his ties to the contractor?
More like "Mr. Take Dick"
That gate is an eyesore, and I would sue for devaluing my property.
Whoever established HOAs shouldve been shipped to the Arctic. You cant give 1 person or a small group so much control. They will hoard then misuse the power given to them.
It's simple you get a chain and pick up truck and you rip the damn thing off
What's the point if that if the HOA (community) already paid for it and paying back I to the reserves? That's worse than not putting it up.
Basically paying rent for a home you own, how stupid
Almost correct. Actually the way it works is.....You rent a home, which you get to semi-call your own, that which the HOA totally owns.
Exactly! It's like owning a car but they tell you you can't paint your car! Fucking Nazis!
sounds like land taxes
Your commit is what a 3rd grade kid would post. Close your month too. Makes you look more stupid than you already look.
1Smoking Lizard totally wrong. HOA prevents hillbillies like you from trashing he place.
Reason why I along with the entire housing community, diminished this tyrannic group. So no mo HOA for me.
My brother sold his house dealing with a HOA and when I buy my first house my first rule will be no HOA
He likes the power and made a deal for construction taking some for himself
And now you know why I refuse to live in an HOA community.
Those blinds at the clubhouse are out of compliance
David Smith see how the guy walks like he's got a turtle head poking out...
"I feel like I've spent a lot of the money in this community..." would have been a more accurate statement.
did you catch that "pay it back with a special assessment"? Having been on one of these boards many years ago , I think he was out of line. The one I was on paid for outside building repainting , and even eventual new roofs (replacing old Shake roofs) for 58 buildings without a Assessment . If your homeowners association , needs a big assessment , someone is not doing their fiduciary duty as your board member
This guy actually seems all right
Sounds like good gym management software. You don't pay and the door doesn't unlock.
I can do, it will be cheaper including me coming from the UK, materials and labour and I will still take home a nice profit.
me and my scrappy van lads will beat your estimate and throw in some** tarmac. ;)
? Even with permits, electrical, sensors, raw material increases? High doubt that unless your talking about a chain link fence.
@@stevelozano9523
And of course they put up more then just one gate..
What do you need a gate for?
Did you see the welds and left over slag on that gate? That was no $150K gate...
I’m from the U.K., I just don’t understand why do you need a gate at the end of your road? And why do you need these committees telling you what to do. You do have freedom in America don’t you?
Spend a few bucks on some people to go and have a good chat with him. I know a few. 😉
Not sure how they can keep people out of their home with an electronic gate, just buy a scanner, find the right frequency, punch it in and the gate opens, even if they change yours, the gate thinks it is someone else's code, wash rinse repeat
That's not how it works. Their is commonly a keypad or RFID tag. a lot of 13.5Mhz and 125khz stuff out there, with a unique code, and it can all be secured. I like the secure RFID route since you can't easily decode the cards and create a copy.
but talking to people who live behind these gates, have admitted it really doesn't keep people out. About 15 years ago, there was a big car thief ring in my area , basically doing their deeds out of a bunch of gated areas in a upscale area about 4 miles from me.
Then they tow your car you can’t win with these types of demons
UNBELIEVABLE PRICE
Seems to me that, in America, a person who likes to bully, and to throw their weight around, has a choice between being a Cop or Security guard, or an HOA president. HOAs are one American idea which will NEVER take root over here in the UK!
It might not...but we don't pay for a TV license. That's crazy.
They might want to be a cop, but these days the psychological exam does a good job of weeding the bullies out.
crazy!!
135k for 2 fences isn't bad. Realistically he should have just done one within the budget and do the second one next year.
Is this some sort of "pimp my project"? "Lets have a gate behind the gate so we can wait while we wait".
"accidents" happen
Some people get a little power, then they go crazy.
How about eliminate the HOA and you take care of the property you own by yourself.
I can understand why the gate is needed
Ok got it, the residents haven’t paid fees, the Gpa is strong arming them by putting up a gate to attach parking rights to the fees and the residents are now ticked off cuz things are changing and protocol is implemented. Rules are not made to be broken. Change the rules to something you like and let the people who want more order go move to another neighborhood. But don’t get mad at someone who is there to enforce the rules. I’ve heard hoa horror stories but this one doesn’t seems to be one. If there are a hundred homes it’s literally just 1300 each which is 110 or so a month in hoa fees. Big wuup
Gay men can be Karen's too. This guy's an example 😂
Did you catch his last name…….Mr. pillow..🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
JUST DRIVE THREW THE DAMN GATE>
Get rid of the HOA,that's all.
NO.....YOU HAVE TO .....GET THE INCREASE....APPROVED!!
PAY YOUR BILLS PEOPLE!!
He went on camera he even discussed with HOA president and discussed in letters - it seems no one was paying attention- I don’t see a major problem - this happend in an HOA in our area after internal audit it was determined neighbors failed to follow up
So they first planned a gate 10 years ago. They got a quote 10 years ago. Then 10 years later to go ahead and build it. The owners should not be surprised that the 10 year old quote is no longer valid. Perhaps the city/county implemented new gate requirements that they have to comply with. Perhaps the old entrance now has damage or wear that needs to be corrected before a gate can be installed. We don't know. They don't explain why the price went up.
The president was wrong to approve it without revisiting the estimates and getting approval again. An approval 10 years prior should not be considered authorization. Even if was legal and okay within the by-laws.
Also, when you consider that the funds were borrowed from the reserves, then that is bad. If they had intended to build this 10 years ago, then they could put money into an improvement fund to pay for it over that time. The fact that he authorized a loan without the board being okay is bad.
Black, white, green, doesn't matter. Power corrupts. People are ignorant. Shit's fucked.
Can we call this, “Gate Gate”
What's that in the reporters hand?
Remote control for the video tape probably.
there is a split gate AND rising gate (beef it up, make it better) WHY
DENYING HOME OWNERS ENTRY? THIS IS GOING TO GET UGLY
You can’t trust a guy who wears pants and walks like that
Usually I'm livid at the HOAs in these news clips, but not so much with this one. First of all, the HOA president actually went on-camera to explain his side of the story. Almost always, HOA members refuse to talk on-camera or even over the phone to the new reporter. Second, if it's taken a decade to get this project done (and it sounds like the homeowners wanted it done), then of course prices will be much higher than the original quotes. The HOA president also explains that the new costs were printed in the community newsletter. (It would have been really nice if they had shown this rather than just the cover of the newsletter). Near the end of the video, he explains that it's not a security gate, it's a gate to keep homeowners who's dues are in arrears from entering with their cars. They're forced to park elsewhere and walk the rest of the way home. It's an inconvenience with the sole purpose of getting residents to keep current with their dues. That's far superior than fining them a huge fee or putting a lien against their house. Lastly, he sounds like he's finished with serving on the HOA. Any president who willingly steps down (and leaves all financial records behind for others to read) probably doesn't have anything to hide.
What is that reporter holding in her hand? She was holding it in the last video too.
Remote control for the video tape playback probably.
Its the remote control for the wireless stick up his ass. It has batteries that make it vibrate dude.
Serious question, why do they need gates? Are there alot of dodgy people around that area? And if you have a metal gate, why do you need a boom gate as well? We don't have gated communities in the country I live in. How do the police, fire, ambulance, postman, uber eats, taxi, delivery drivers, utilities service people, etc get in?
There's no fence on either side of the gate. You can just walk around.
He got kick-backs.
Paid town tax for 75 years for non delivered services, and kept developers away by supplying our own or doing without. So no Bugsy Seigal/DellWebb school of "ownership" templates ...
U could of built the booth under 100$ wtf
135,000 dollars is way too much for a gate and some landscape
I don't think you kids will ever know how crazy my videos are....
I will never live in a HOA community.
In short, don’t buy a house in a HOA.
I happened to watch the previous related report then this one, and the previous one stated the gate's original budget was $80k. This one states that it's $153k and a 50% increase. That's seriously wrong and not how you compute the increase over time.
You are right that increase isn’t reasonable at all. They could have had a gatehouse with manned security with that budget. The $50 remote control fobs aren’t the first fees they’ll be paying on the gates either. Those gates break from repetitive use and people do run into them with their vehicles. I wouldn’t be surprised if those residents weren’t assessed thousands more after all the publicity dies down.
if someone is behind on their hoa they bar them out of the community??? how is any of this legal?
When paying "their" lawyers and "your" lawyers.. at 360$ an hour into perpetuity..!!!???
I think I have missed out on a good part of life and here's why I think so. WHY T.F. would anyone buy a property where you're not the owner? or where some jacked-up board have any say so in my property??? Can someone educate me?
At first I thought it was Jenna Fischer…
I wouldn’t trust anyone who wears a belt like that.
I got a truck and a chain. And a brain that says do not move into an hoa. My opinion is hoa lowers property value.
He is a bully and I’ll be watching out for crooks like him when I close on my new home in 2022.
135,000 for a gate, ooooook
Mr. Prez "you know" can't do an intelligent interview without a "you know"...you know?
gates suck. you don't need a damn gate
I am planning on buying a nearly one million dollar house very soon in an area heavily infested with HOA's. My foremost specification is that there is NO HOA. Any property I buy I will have total control over, nobody else will dictate anything to me and that's the way it ought to be.
The HOA that is just down the street complained to our local police department when I parked my car in front of my own house. The police showed up, asked my next door neighbor who owned this legally parked car and the neightbor told them that I do the owner of the house it’s parked in front of.
The policeman then went and reported that fact to the HOA president. I never heard another word.
HOA's are HELL HOLES. run by grumpy olde farts who have nothing better to do with their time then pester and bother other people about meaningless things.
Pileits
HOAs are a two edged sword, when they work they are great, when they don't, this is what happens. However if you buy in a neighborhood without one you'll have a neighbor who will let his 200 lbs dog run amok in your yard and terrify your kids, you will have the neighbour who thinks it is ok to have a car repair business in his garage, a neighbour who will paint his house purple with red shutters, the neighbor who plays loud music every hour of the day and of the night, the neighbor who let's his house go so that it looks like th Addams house, and by the way these things happened in a decent neighborhood that did not have a HOA
How many videos are you going to write this dumb comment under? We all know your broke self isn't buying a million dollar home anytime soon. If you were, you'd be busy working or running your business as opposed to copying and pasting the same dumb comment on multiple HOA videos over and over again. Get a life troll.
I don’t live in an HOA and that’s the way I like it. Cities have codes all you have to do is call them
@esmeraldagreen1992 lived in a decent neighborhood my entire life, and *none* of this has ever happened.
HOAs make a neighborhood feel bland and lacking of any character.
That smug, sanctimonious, condescending president needs to be run out.
Because of me, all this sh_t went bad. Just step down.
I don't get how this can be legal. The purpose of a hoa board is to be a voice and serve the people within the community why is he acting like a dictator and the law isn't doing anything?
2:02 ever hear the phrase, "you and your lying eyes."? this dude is a liar and horrible at it. that brief few seconds says all you need to know about this dude.
5 of those town homes didn't cost that much to build what a scam
Lol I hate HOA's but trust me the cost of building one of those townhomes is atleast 100k Labor and materials, and that is if you did it yourself then the lot of the home is minumum 25k to 50k. Source construction experience.
Look at that dudes bell bottom pants
He’s a whole woman!
Suckers, I would of built that gate for 130k flat.
i could build that gate for 2 or 3 thousand dollers, hoa are crooked
I just want to thank all the fools who think HOAs are a good idea. Endless amount of videos for my amusement on account of their stupidity to pay a board to tell you how to live and what you can and cannot do with the house YOU own!
He’s sitting up to blinking his eyes like a woman
He lined his liberal pockets
I hate HOAs in general, but Look at that gate. Really? Who's it gonna stop? Get out of the car and walk around it? Take a motorcycle on the walkway, or even drive your car through that person's yard.
No, he's more of a coward type kind of person. Won't even talk to the community he's in. Or concede and nut up and listen to anyone.
LIQUOR AND HOES
ya should've taken charge and git rid of those skin tight jeans..make you walk like ya butt in in serious pain...oh...yeah..probably was...
a lot of I this I that...your in the wrong job
If you ask me I think HOA ' s are a scam buy the builders of this homes this are privite homes not owned by a bank or scams
And I agree If I am renting or if the bank has some stupid rule until I pay off the loan that is different . But it is funny how no bank in America has rules on how to upkeep your home lol you just have to have insurance.
You have mismanaged funds. You are narcissistic. It’s all about you. You should step down dude.
judging by the walk i think he has a sore bottom, maybe he should consider a smaller partner.
Is that president transgender? Walks odd. Sounds odd. No adam's apple.
He's just a homosexual with a stick up his ass and a bad attitude. I feel sorry for the tenants he serves....
Oh, OK.
Element of Kindness A gay duck
You can build a house for that amount