This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

HOA President Steps Up to the Challenges

Jeff Little was just out of college when he bought his first home. His investment has grown a lot since then.

Who would want to run a homeowners association as the anxiety of the housing collapse, foreclosures and tumbling prices swirl around your neighborhood?

“I try to be the guy everyone feels comfortable talking to,” said Jeff Little, head of the HOA at the Sessions Street lofts. “We’ve been through a lot of challenges. I feel like sometimes people are motivated but no one wants to take the first step. I’ve been that person before with other things where I’ve stepped up and said, I’ll try it out, I'll see what I can do.

“Ultimately the [HOA] board is making the decisions; six people making the decisions. We’ve all made our sacrifices, going to meetings and getting things done.  We’ve all come together to discuss our issues and our concerns. The things we can change, the things we can’t.”

Find out what's happening in Mariettawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

No offense, Jeff, but you’re too young to be talking like that.

“Well,” he says, “I get that a lot.”

Find out what's happening in Mariettawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Jeff Little is 26 years old.

There aren’t many lofts in Marietta, and there aren’t many home owner association presidents like Little.

He’s three years out of college. This is the first home he’s ever owned. He was 13 when the Sessions St. Condos, as they are officially known, were built.

Step up, try it out, see what you can do.

Little grew up in Gwinnett and Forsyth counties and enrolled at Kennesaw State University in 2004. For two years he commuted 70 miles a day from his mom’s house in Forsyth, and then he became a Resident Assistant (RA) in the KSU dorms.

“I was living on my own for the first time,” Little said. “I was learning a lot of things about living with diverse populations.  I never really had a job before where I worked on a team the way I worked on a team being an RA. I really felt like it taught me a lot of things about how you communicate with people.

“I learned a lot of tough lessons, you know, had some ups and downs.”

Little graduated in 2008 and decided to live in Cobb.  “I looked at stuff in Atlanta and it was too dense and too much traffic,” he said.  “And I looked at stuff farther north, Woodstock and places like that. This [Cobb] was sort of a good mix.”

Though his degree is in accounting, Little took a job as a realtor at ERA Sunrise Realty in Smyrna. He had worked in real estate part-time while he was in school, and he knew the challenges of the job.

“Any industry is going to see changes,” Little said, “but probably real estate is the most dramatic in the last four years.”

His community on Sessions Street, 64 lofts, flats and town homes, has “gone through the worst of it,” Little said.

After five years of self-management and five years with a management company, Sessions Street lofts are “just ending a year with a new, proactive management company,” Little said.

Last November, Little told the property manager he was interested in working with the HOA board. “I was appointed to the board,” Little said, laughing as he recalled the meeting. “Then we all sort of sat around and decided who wears what hat. It was kind of one of those games of, ‘Not me,’ and I was the last person to say it.”

Hello, Mr. President.

The new HOA board began to make “visible changes–vendors, landscaping. We fixed some problems that people brought up at the meeting,” Little said.

“We have transparency with financials and transparency with improvements.  And we make ourselves available. People want to have someone they can get in touch with easily.

“It makes a huge difference in perceived confidence and perceived value. People like to feel they have a board that’s doing the right things; being aggressive with collections and using their money responsibly.”

When the new board took over in November, Little said, about 20 homes were delinquent on monthly HOA dues. Today, he said, that number is down to two.

The Sessions Street loft buildings mimic the nearby Brumby lofts and apartments. The town home buildings were added as the condo market started to cool off during the five years of construction.

Little believes that a lack of affordable housing is keeping young people out of Marietta. “At the peak of the market, two-bedroom units in Sessions Street were going for around $240,000,” he said.  “Now they are going for $160,000 or $180,000, but that’s still more than young people can afford.

“The most expensive house I’ve sold to someone under 30 is like $170,000. People can’t afford more than that starting out.  There are not a lot of inexpensive houses in good condition [in Marietta].

Is he staying put?

“I go through phases,” Little said. “About a year ago when things were really messy here, I wanted out. I wanted out as fast as my feet would carry me.

“Now, I think this is so true, I think being part of the board, maybe that’s what changed. Now I’m really invested in it. I’ve helped make all these changes. I feel like there’s light at the end of the tunnel because I’m one of the people pushing the train through.”

Step up, try it out, see what you can do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?