Mildly Amused

There’s nothing like the undertone of being threatened with a lawsuit. Now, he didn’t come out directly and say it, but he might as well have. It was so hard not to tell him to bring it on.

So, what happened exactly?

Never live in an HOA. The place I bought is actually a townhouse located in a Home Owner’s Association situation. When I bought the place, the HOA dues went up and an extra fee (misprinted to be $100 more than it was suppose to be) all happened in february.

At the close of my Escrow, they paid out of MY money my HOA dues for February. Learning that they had paid over the amount, I simply paid the difference this month to make things even.

Sounds good right?

I get a letter saying I still owed money. I’m thinking to myself, “Now how can that be?” I called the president, who apparently needs better book keeping skills, left him a message the Sunday I received the notice and told him he was wrong.

I get a call on Friday (now fancy this… it takes him nearly a week to get back to me) and he sits on the phone and argues with me. Supposedly there were late fees due on the property dating back to January. He assumed that the check Escrow had sent him was for my current dues plus the late fees.

Umm, hello?? I’m sure Escrow sent him a detailed letter or notification on what that check was for. Why would I be paying late fees for a month that I didn’t even own/live in the property? I told him repeatedly, “My closing receipts specifically states what I paid for and no where on it does it say I paid late fees out of my pocket. Any late fees would be on the seller.”

I might be a first time homeowner, but I’m no idiot. I did my research!

And clearly Escrow was unaware of any late fees because that would of been brought up at closing. JG hadn’t heard anything about it either (he’s the guy I bought the place from).

So, after arguing with the a-hole on the phone, I told him I’m going to give my realtor a call. He didn’t like that one bit.

Left a message because she was out to a meeting and then I went and got my closing receipt, just in case I was crazy in the head and sure enough, right in bold capitol letters, it says exactly what I paid.

When my house lady got back with me, she confirmed that I owed him no more money until April’s dues. And since she managed the property before I took over, she’d handle him.

From other conversations, it sounds like this isn’t the first time and she usually won.

What I’ve learned? KEEP RECEIPTS. Or in this case, checkbook registry copies. That’s what I’m going to start doing because clearly this guy has poor book keeping skills.