On November 3, 2020, homeowners in the Ironwood Commons Community Association were sent review notices from Spectrum Association Management in Chandler requesting that their entire homes be repainted within 60 days (after contacting them, they then notified me that homeowners had an additional 4 months before fines would be issued, but this was not on the original notice, and an email was only later sent out to homeowners stating this fact after I suggested that they should let the other homeowners also know this). Nevertheless, some homeowners had just recently painted their homes and many of the other homes did not need to be painted at all, showing that the property manager and site manager from Spectrum who purportedly assessed all these homes were not qualified to do so. As some homeowners discussed this among themselves, it was discovered that these review notices seemed to have been sent to everyone, despite the claim that each one of the homes was specifically evaluated.
These review notices were sent less than two months before Christmas in the middle of the greatest pandemic in decades, while many homeowners were struggling financially just to survive. In addition, homeowners were not approached or asked about their input regarding this critical decision, but it was made by three board members. When I contacted Spectrum Association Management, they informed me that this was decided before the pandemic. Nevertheless, they should still put it off for at least a year or more, but instead they have chosen to continue their hardline stance despite the risk of the virus and the financial hardship due to the pandemic. Additionally, there should be a review by an independent, impartial professional that provides an assessment on what needs to be done to each home. Spectrum Association Management has balked at spending what they said would cost $10,000 to get a professional inspector, but they expect the homeowners to collectively spend over $1 million to get hundreds of homes painted.
In my opinion, Spectrum abused their power and went beyond the specifics of the association bylaws. For example, while it says in the bylaws that a home must keep the paint and coating of their home in proper condition, it does not give either the board or Spectrum the authority to unilaterally require that every homeowner repaint their entire home. In addition, while the original review notice said the homeowners do not have to submit for approval if the colors stay the same, they changed up and now say that they do. However, there is nothing in the bylaws giving them that authority that one needs to get approval for repainting their house the same colors. In fact, requiring all homeowners to repaint their home under the guise of having done reviews on each home that the really did not do, or did haphazardly without qualification in making that type of assessment, is troubling.
It should be noted that I have had other problems with Spectrum. One over an association payment for one of my homes when they first started in which they were at fault, which I just let slide. The second was when I caught their contractors stealing a large amount of water to fill up their tanks from one of the neighbors. In that case, I notified the neighbor, and I do not know what followed since I have not spoken with that homeowner about it since that day. I have a lock on my front water source, and I would highly recommend you put one on yours too if Spectrum is your HOA management company.
So, if you are considering hiring Spectrum Association Management for your association, from this review of Spectrum, it is apparent that I would highly recommend against it. If you choose to use them anyhow, do so at your own risk. read more
