Discerning real owners from wannabees

[hudson Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hudson]

How are the HOA forum managers sorting out the requests to join from people who are not owners at their resort? sometimes it's obvious when someone is not an owner, but sometimes not as easily apparent.

I came up with a couple of questions I ask the person who wants to join regarding the interval owned and calendar quirks that apply to that specific interval.

What are the other managers doing? Is this an issue for anyone else?

Hudson

Grand Summit HOA forum

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

I'd say book me a reservation and give me the confirmation number. I'll call to verify it.

[I-DE-HO Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close I-DE-HO]

I'd say book me a reservation and give me the confirmation number. I'll call to verify it.

May not work. They may get charged a fee when they call and reverse the fake rez.

[hudson Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hudson]

What's worked the best so far.

Most reliable has been to request a scan or fax of a recent copy of the HOA dues invoice or rental income statement.

[Theo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Theo]

Owner confirmation procedures --- input and opinion

Most reliable has been to request a scan or fax of a recent copy of the HOA dues invoice or rental income statement. They blank out all the personal info and just leave the letterhead.

Fwiw, I own two weeks purchased earlier this year (2007) at two different resorts, for which I obviously have yet to see a maintenanace fee bill. And since I intend to use (not rent out) my weeks, no rental income statement will ever exist. Should I then be excluded from joining a HOA group for nearly a year (until I have my first maintenance fee bill to produce as "proof")? I'm not seeking an argument here, just pointing out that in my opinion this particular suggestion quoted above is uniquely without any practical consideration or merit.

Perhaps I'm naive on this matter, but I'll ask the question anyhow --- why on earth would anyone possibly care to (or have time to) bother to "impersonate" an owner in the first place?

[chemteach Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close chemteach]

Fwiw, I own two weeks purchased earlier this year (2007) at two different resorts, for which I obviously have yet to see a maintenanace fee bill. And since I intend to use (not rent out) my weeks, no rental income statement will ever exist. Should I then be excluded from joining a HOA group for nearly year (until I see my first maintenance fee bill)? I'm not seeking an argument, just pointing out that in my opinion this particular suggestion is uniquely without practical consideration or merit.

Perhaps I'm naive on this matter, but I'll ask the question anyhow --- why on earth would anyone possibly care to (or have time to) bother to "impersonate" an owner in the first place?

You can always ask the resort for a copy of your current account balance.

As to impersonation - people might want to get the information about a timeshare that is in the private area.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

For one, sales people from specific resort developers infiltrate these boards and at times cause problems. You can never be 100% certain that you are dealing with only owners. But, by using some precautions, you can minimize it.

[Jya-Ning Silver Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Jya-Ning]

why on earth would anyone possibly care to (or have time to) bother to "impersonate" an owner in the first place?

This is my point of view. If somehow I create a private forum, and I start to invite people in and tell them this is private forum and you have to have this type of qualification, I will want to make sure the people I approved to join in does have it. Because the people now may accidentially say something that they only want to share with the fellow HOA owners. ANd since they trust me to joint in in the 1st place, I would hate to see they feel their trust is broken. It does not matter if I feel that information should be protected or not. It is their trust I am try to protect.

On the other hand, If I create a private forum, but I post on open area tell everyone that with certain qualification, you should joint in, then I may not care too much to make sure the people come has the qualification. I will tend to believe the people join in will use their own caution to make sure whatever they say, they are comfortable even infront of a non owner.

Jya-Ning

On the other hand, there are from times to times sales people or exchange company does change their policy because they put some spy on certain board. And no matter how you look at it, there always will have people get hurted because of the change.

[Fern Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fern]

So I am guessing, from the tone of this, that if I am interested in one of the resorts for which there is a private HOA forum, but I am not an owner, then I wouldn't be welcome? Even if you know me? Doesn't really matter, I wouldn't want to be a member of a private club which would allow the likes of me anyway

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Not being informed from the inside, I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons of non-owners knowing what's going on in an Association. Association business isn't exactly a secret matter, or shouldn't be.

Seems like trouble-makers, if there are any, could be blocked on an association site, as on any site.

Perhaps someone can tell me why information that is be readily available to the public, and is likely required to be so by law, should not be made available to non-owners.

[Theo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Theo]

So I am guessing, from the tone of this, that if I am interested in one of the resorts for which there is a private HOA forum, but I am not an owner, then I wouldn't be welcome? Even if you know me? Doesn't really matter, I wouldn't want to be a member of a private club which would allow the likes of me anyway

Groucho Marx once said very much the same thing, with a tap of his cigar --
"I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me as a member" ......

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

This is my point of view. If somehow I create a private forum, and I start to invite people in and tell them this is private forum and you have to have this type of qualification, I will want to make sure the people I approved to join in does have it. Because the people now may accidentially say something that they only want to share with the fellow HOA owners. ANd since they trust me to joint in in the 1st place, I would hate to see they feel their trust is broken. It does not matter if I feel that information should be protected or not. It is their trust I am try to protect.

On the other hand, If I create a private forum, but I post on open area tell everyone that with certain qualification, you should joint in, then I may not care too much to make sure the people come has the qualification. I will tend to believe the people join in will use their own caution to make sure whatever they say, they are comfortable even infront of a non owner.

Jya-Ning

On the other hand, there are from times to times sales people or exchange company does change their policy because they put some spy on certain board. And no matter how you look at it, there always will have people get hurted because of the change.

I agree with Jya-Ning. Without making a judgement as to whether or not a private group for owners only is a good thing to have, I believe if it is described and positioned as such, there should be some effort made to keep true to the mission and intent of the group. If a group is labelled as for owners only. There should be some precautions taken to ensure that only owners are members.

As to reasons for having privacy, perhaps some people want to share secrets about their ownership with other owners and they don't want to have a flood of non-owners now buying to exploit those loopholes / secrets. Why? Because maybe they believe if the secrets are too widely known that the loophole will be eliminated for everyone. So, the compromise is to have a members only group.

I can imagine some Tiger Trader groups that want to have such private discussions.

[Theo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Theo]

For the record, I support HOA forums being private and restricted to owners. My only issue was (and remains) "proof of ownership" requirements which are impractical and/or unnecessarily burdensome.