The Clusterfuck That Is Paying Homeowner Assessments

I don't like the fact that my parents have, like, two dozen properties they own because that means there are two dozen paper trails to follow and the potential for up to two dozen problems to crop up at any time.  Yeah, I think the money is good enough to justify the investment, but I don't really know that because my parents are the ones who made the decision to buy these properties but, as time goes on, it has become my responsibility to track all the costs.

Those costs include assessments, the fees you have to pay because nearly all of these properties fall under the purview of a homeowners' association (HOA).  The biggest goddamn problem with them, as I have learned after dealing with this issue year after year, is that they don't tell us if and if so by how much do these assessments increase for the new year.  Around December Mother always gets into a panic over which properties haven't sent their coupon books (with the new and usually increased assessments) before the first monthly installment is due, usually around the middle of January.  So, like I think it has been in years past, after waiting till after Christmas, Mother tells me to just write checks for some amount that she thinks will cover, say, six months' worth of HOA fees to these properties.

I have been trying to track these checks that I sent early last month.  There were four of these problem properties, and after checking my parents' account online, there seemed to not have been a posting for three of them.  So I have been calling this HOA customer service line off and on the past couple weeks trying to see if they have received them.  In the meantime, I went to the bank to see if they could track them down from their end.  Of the three outstanding checks, I know that two of them were endorsed.

So, I had to go back to the HOA.  After leaving a couple voicemails, I finally had time at work yesterday/Wednesday to call them during business hours.  The first call took so long I had to cut it off to get back from break.  I was able to complete my investigation with a second call after I got off from work -- early enough because I was working (and will work today/Thursday) in My Main Department.  The bad news is that this second call took so long that it ruined my plans on picking up my laptop, which finally got done yesterday/Wednesday (I'll pick it up today/Thursday).  The good news is that I think the person I spoke to straightened out the checks and will finally get them posted to their respective properties.

Well, there are two downsides to that, actually.  One, these mistakes will take at least a week to correct.  Really, a week?  These HOAs are so not on the ball; this is really disappointing.  And another, one of the checks is still "missing."  I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that Mother told me to send that fourth check to an address different from the other three.  Moreover, the bank told me that check hadn't been cashed yet.  I have to go to the bank after work today/Thursday.  If it's still not cashed, I think I can stop payment on it.  I received the coupon book for that property last week; I can write a new check for the right amount and send it to the correct address.

But all of this bullshit could have been avoided if these goddamn motherfucking HOA vipers would have gotten their shit together and sent their coupon books before the end of last year.  Then, there would be no guessing, and no potential for mailing payments to the wrong address.  This is tiring and maddening.  I hate that my parents are making me do this, but these fucking HOA people are not helping by dropping the ball like this.