How Can You Determine If A Board Member Is Being Selfish?

In order for the homeowners association to make progress, it’s imperative that board members act in the best interest of the community rather than their personal interests.  For this reason, the homeowners association must always be careful who they elect to the HOA board as one member could cause major issues.  In fact, selfish goals and manipulation by some of the board members is the reason why various associations are struggling with loans, unfinished projects, and other problems.  Here’s one situation to help you identify a selfish board member.

 

There may be a potential member who runs for the board that is pushing for the renovation of common areas in the HOA such as the clubhouse.  They might even go as far as to publish a post on the community website to show everyone the importance of renovating the clubhouse, citing it will improve the overall value of the property.

What they haven’t said is that next year is their anniversary and they know renting a decent place would cost them a lot.  For this reason, they intend to get on the HOA board and push for the renovation of the clubhouse so it can serve as the venue for their anniversary.

Once they become a member, the financial situation is assessed and it’s noted the clubhouse renovation could be postponed for a couple of years.  Still, there’s a majority vote that the property should be upgraded right away.  When a member is being selfish, they may be persistent about a certain matter where other members show little or no interest.

 

One sign of selfishness is when a board member comes up with proposals without explaining them or they fail to answer questions on the community website about it.  The danger in that is sooner or later, such a member could land the entire community in debt as they make decisions in their best interest, not in the best interest of the homeowners association.