Condo Survival: The Final Chapter

Remember, these are just the events as I recall them. They are my own interpretations of events. My memory is not perfect and I don't want to be sued. 

This is the last chapter in my Condo Survival series.  Let's recap for a minute.

Shortly after we moved in, we realized what a mistake our purchase had been.  The property manger used a flood in our unit to try to extort money from us.

I sought help from my neighbours, but in the end I realized I would have to initiate the change myself.

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The board was corrupt and consisted of a group of awful, witch-like women.  Their glares made my hair stand on end...

The property manager thought he could charm and bribe me to join his side...

And although I often felt like the only sane person on a mental ward...

I did find a couple of like-minded friends.  Together, we decided to take on the property manager.

Once he caught wind of our mutiny, he tried to honour some of his promises.  It was too little and far too late though.  The damage had been done and we didn't trust him.

The original board members treated me as though I were the evil villain who was ruining their lives.

In the end, we managed to overthrow the property management company and encourage some of the corrupt board members to leave.

It was still an uphill battle to undo some of the damage that had been done, but we managed it.  I met some great people along the way and learned about myself.  Sometimes when I look back on that time, I compare it to being in prison.  That's certainly how it felt.

In fact, the down-to-business property manager we hired to help us turn the building around reminds me of Red from Orange is the New Black.

I wish I had some dramatic scenes to wrap this saga up with a bang... but I don't.  The truth is, after we sold our unit, Alex sold hers.  I remember thinking her buyer was just crazy enough to fit in with the rest of the residents in our building.

Once we had both sold, we resigned from the board to give people who still had a future in our building a chance to make a difference.  We were tired and happy to pass the torch.  There was another meeting with all the residents two days before Corey and I moved.  Alex and I downed a couple of glasses of wine and went.  For old time's sake.  It felt liberating to no longer be sitting at the front of the room, fielding all the crazy questions.  It felt better still to no longer be invested in the outcomes.

I thought people would attack us for abandoning them but it was strange: it's as if the minute we sold, we became invisible to all the lunatics in the building.  For the first time, we were left alone and it felt so peaceful and almost normal.

And so that's how, my turbulent, dramatic, sometimes frightening time in the condo ended, not with a bang but with a whisper.

Since I left the building, I've lost touch with "Dee Dee" and "Red" but I've stayed in touch with "Alex" and I hope to keep her friendship for a long time.  I returned exactly three times.  Once was to visit Alex before she left and I described looking back at the building from the parking lot and seeing the Kingpin glaring down at us.

The second time was for work.  In the elevator there was a memo from the new Board President claiming that my board and I had reduced the maintenance fees by too much (I knew this was a lie because our hydro numbers confirmed we were very conservative with our initial reduction and it would actually be possible to reduce them again.) and they were going to increase the fees again.

I whipped out the camera on my phone and I felt myself getting upset as thoughts ran through my head.  How dare they lie about me!  What did they plan to do with the extra money?  This sounded dishonest!  Was the building slipping back to the way it had been before?  Was all my work in vain?

I was back for the last time about a week later.  There was a new notice in the elevator, mentioning that they would be hiring a live-in Super.  I know it was a luxury the building couldn't afford and I had petitioned to sell the unit in order to pay for new elevators and perhaps conversion to gas heat or a proper security system.  Obviously people in the building felt a false sense of security was more important.

My hard work really had been forgotten.  I was surprised that I didn't care.

Now, when I look back on my time in the condo, it feels like it was part of someone else's life or maybe like a story that I read a long time ago.  I know the stories seem funny, but at the time they were very traumatic.  My time there has probably changed me forever, and I am trying to make it count through advice I give to my clients and the work I do through the Toronto Real Estate Board's Government Relations Committee to push for Condo Act reform.  I hope that one day other people in similar situations will have a better recourse than I did at the time.  It's also important to remember that, while my condo was bad, there are many good ones out there too.  We did our research before buying but now that I know some of the tactics used my an unscrupulous board to hide the financial situation, I believe there are ways to double and triple check before buying.

Writing about my experiences there has been cathartic.  In fact, it's a little bittersweet that this series has come to an end.

Sometimes when I drive past the building, I still shudder a little.  More often, I just call "Alex" because it makes me think of her.  She and I are now friends "on the outside" but our conversations still occasionally travel back to our time in the building.

Perhaps nothing sums up my time there better than a painting given to me by Alex, my good friend and ally.  When we first moved in, we felt victimized and hunted like foxes.  But foxes are also clever and sly and we used those qualities to create a better environment for ourselves and others: One where we would no longer be trapped there.

We both managed to free ourselves but I remember feeling paranoid and guilty about my own sneakiness for a long time after I left.  Luckily, Alex reminded me that I am not the fox and that I never really was.  It was just a mask that I wore while I was there, and now I can cast off the mask and live the rest of my life.

The drama is over and the curtain is closed.

Condo Survival: Part 9

Remember, these are just the events as I recall them. They are my own interpretations of events. My memory is not perfect and I don't want to be sued.

Thanks to everyone who's been following this story and encouraging me to keep going.  It's finally beginning to wind down and I can see the home stretch... But not to worry- We're not finished just yet!  Where did we leave off? Ah yes, I was about to speak at the AGM.

By the time I had read all five pages of my speech, outlining all the problems we had inherited (A tiny reserve fund, a building that hadn't been maintained, no contingency plan for when the super falls ill, archaic rules and lack of enforcement, sky-high maintenance fees and a divided board... Just to name a few...) and everything that had been done in the past year, I was shocked that people had actually listened.  I had expected to be interrupted several times, but I was allowed to finish... even when I scolded people for being such jerks.  Here's an excerpt:

" Please be patient with us as we have tackled a job that was larger than any of us had anticipated.  If a board member prefers not to speak about board business in the elevator, keep in mind that some of us spend hours of our own time each week working for you and would like to live here in peace.  If you do not get as much time with (Property Manager 1) as you would like, keep in mind that he and (Property Manager 2) have spent far more time on our building than was negotiated in their contract and that some of your neighbours monopolize far more of their time than they should with petty complaints and ridiculous requests."

For once, people seemed to truly care about our building, and the troublemakers were silenced when faced with the truth.  It was a miracle.  It was exactly what we needed.  We voted in our new board members and I felt proud to see that they were new people and not the Kingpin's cronies who had campaigned so hard.  

I was chatting with our new accountant at the end of the meeting.  He saw, perhaps more clearly than most people, exactly how much work had been done, since he had audited our financial statements.  I felt exhausted, but happy with the outcome; as if I had just won a small war.  He joked that that's exactly what I had done and I let my guard down for a moment, confessing that I would likely be moving in the spring and I had just wanted to ensure another year of safety for the building first.  "But I'm not sure if this building will survive without you..." he said.  I think he was trying to be kind, but his words threatened to draw guilt.  I just shrugged.  I had done my best and was pleased to find that I no longer cared. 

Now, that's not to say that my work in the building was over.  No, I didn't know it at the time, but there were still a couple of large battles ahead of me.

Another Battle

One of our plans to reduce maintenance fees and make our building more affordable for owners was to separately meter hydro for each unit and exclude it from maintenance fees so that people could pay for their own use.  We knew that there were owners running prohibited appliances and some owners even bragged about running their AC on high in the summer with their doors and windows open.  We estimated that about two thirds of the building were paying too much for hydro through their maintenance fees because the other third were abusing the fact that it was included.  We had already begun work to have the separate meters installed, but I couldn't leave the board just yet.

You see, the idea of separate metering was not new and had even been mentioned by the previous board.  While on the surface, it sounds like a responsible energy saving initiative, I always had the suspicion that they were toying with the idea of making owners pay their own hydro while NOT reducing the maintenance fees.  It would have just meant more money each month for the former property manager to play with.

So, with the separate metering finally proceeding under my own supervision (and with a property management company I trusted), I had the feeling that we were close to a really positive change for our building, but also in a really precarious position.  If the Kingpin's cronies should gain influence over our new board members and convince them to meter hydro without reducing maintenance fees, we could end up with an unaffordable expense for many unit owners.  I know it seems like a small thing, but our hydro in an old building (with poor insulation, old windows and electric heat) averaged to over $400 per month, per unit... which doesn't even include the hydro used in common areas, which remain a building expense.  Imagine making everyone pay an extra $400 per month?  Some people would be forced to move and I was worried about pipes bursting if enough people just decided to live without heat!

It was at this time that I could barely leave my unit without facing herds of people upset about the hydro.  Despite the extra meetings we had held to explain everything to them and our assurance that we planned to reduce the maintenance fees to compensate for them paying their own hydro, people were frightened and mistrustful after so many years of being lied to and cheated out of money.

I wish I could have been more patient... and I tried to be at first... but I quickly learned that no matter what my intentions, I was on the board and therefore "one of them" and until we had an answer regarding the exact amount of the maintenance fee reduction, I could expect abuse to be hurled at me any time I ventured outside my unit.  Most of this came from the elderly owners (who were probably battling senility) and who couldn't seem to grasp what was happening.  Their words made me angry but I also just wished I had answers for them.  We knew that Hydro needed about two or three months to give us an accurate reading of the hydro consumption within the units so that we could budget and make the switch to separate metering, but I felt that it couldn't happen fast enough.

Of course, the Kingpin's cronies tried to hold things up as much as possible by not allowing Hydro into their units to test that they were properly hooked up to the correct meter.  I think they thought they could slow our progress by being difficult, but Hydro assured us that the work could be done with or without them.  And so we began the waiting game.

More Abuse

During this time, there was an ignorant, slimy man who had always seemed very enamoured with the former board president.  He just LOOOOVED her and the former property management company and he was always very vocal at owner's meetings with his loud, uneducated (and often bigoted) opinions.  

This particular man was rumoured to be one of the worst culprits with respect to hydro abuse and he was not happy about the changes we had implemented.  He decided to harass Corey outside the building one day by calling me a number of rude names.  He even followed Corey and Barkley up in the elevator so that he could continue to harass him.

Now obviously, Corey is perfectly capable of defending himself under normal circumstances, although he may not be as feisty as I am.  This situation caught him off guard though, as he was also worried about making waves that may affect my position in the building.  He just tried to ignore the slimy man and reminded him that he was not the board president and could not comment on behalf of the board.

Of course, hearing that some of the scummy people in our building were now harassing Corey, was the last straw for me.  When Corey told me what had happened, he could barely calm me down... I've been known to have a hot temper.  It's not my most attractive quality.

The next time I saw the slimey man, I was with Corey walking Barkley and I politely (but coldly) asked him to contact property management with future concerns and to refrain from harassing my family.  I suppose this was just the opening he needed, because he walked right up to me shouting obscenities and insults.

Well, I was far too angry to be diplomatic and I started shouting right back.  Most of our building had never seen me act in any way aside from a dignified and professional manner and I think he was shocked to find that I was not afraid of an aggressive confrontation.

The altercation progressed until the slimy man was screaming at me just inches from my face, his halitosis nearly knocking me over.  I yelled right back and out came all the anger I had been bottling up about our building for months and months.  Finally, I decided I had said everything I wanted to say and I spun around and walked inside with a stunned Corey and Barkley sheepishly following behind me.  I didn't look back, but Corey told me later that the greasy, slimy man was left just standing still in disbelief.  

I later asked Corey why he didn't step in when he saw a man screaming aggressively in my face.  He told me that I looked like I was more than holding my own, if not enjoying myself a little.  I suppose it had been just what I needed.

Too Many Calls

It was around the same time that I began getting phone calls (I had once provided a reference for our new property manager to a board who was also considering firing our old property management company) from board members from other buildings who were also watching their reserve funds dwindle under the management of our former property management company.

They all had stories similar to ours and I began to see a pattern: There were major floods and mechanical or structural catastrophes.  Many buildings were told they would need lofty special assessments or perhaps that they should borrow money from the bank.  There was a general sense that the property manager was being dishonest and yet a few board members remained fiercely loyal to them in the face of evidence against them.... Yup, sounds about right!

It broke my heart to see this happening to other people, but I knew our building was still divided and we could not afford to be drawn into a lawsuit.  I was also afraid to publicly speak out against our former property management company after many threats (both legal and personal) and so I wished the concerned board members luck and advised them as well as I could, but I declined their requests to visit their buildings or speak at their AGMs.  

Eventually, the calls became overwhelming and I felt more and more guilty that I couldn't help them all.  I asked them to stop calling me.

To this day, I'm not sure if I did the right thing, but I was back in self-preservation mode.  I felt like I had to look out for myself.

In the following weeks, all sorts of strange things happened.  There was a lady who hugged me and gushed over me whenever she saw me but was abusive and mean towards our property manager.  There was also a woman on my floor who called me one day to accuse me of reporting her to child services for having a messy unit and yelling at her daughter.  Side note- I did not call child services, although I was concerned that she yelled at her daughter so often and seemed generally nuts.  These are just a couple of the many examples of the day-to-day insanity that plagued the building.

But eventually, our waiting period for the hydro was over.  We eagerly awaited the news.  How much would we be able to reduce maintenance fees and when could we finalize this so that the separate metering could be enforced?

Another Board Meeting

We set another board meeting to discuss the report from hydro.  It turned out that the hydro usage was ridiculous at over $400 per month on average used by each unit.  We were also correct in our assumption that some units used FAR more hydro than others.

It seemed natural to reduce maintenance fees in line with the hydro costs which would now be paid individually by each owner.  This would mean (based on the size of each unit) we should reduce fees by an average of around $400 per unit... Perhaps a little less to allow for a buffer.  It seemed like a no-brainer and I couldn't wait to begin the meeting.  Our building was finally going to be on the right track: we would finally be just like a normal building with normal maintenance fees!

Most of the board agreed with me that we should not be keeping a surplus, but rather reducing fees so that the average hydro user would basically be paying the same each month (only now split between the building and hydro.) but nothing is ever that easy...

The Kingpin still had one friend on the board and she had also become quite chummy with one of our new members who had just moved into the building.  Together they resisted and claimed that it would be irresponsible to reduce the maintenance fees at all.  I felt myself losing patience and I insisted they explain their reasoning.

They couldn't.  Obviously!  But that didn't stop them from implying that my only reason for wanting to reduce fees was because I wanted to sell my unit.  

OF COURSE I WANTED TO SELL MY UNIT!  I had never hidden that fact and had made it quite clear that (since so many other people also wanted to sell their units but couldn't in the past) I would try to bring our building up to a point where units would once again be attractive investments for buyers.  It was part of my platform, for goodness sake!

But now here they were, trying to prevent me from doing anything good for our building, lest it appear that I had self-serving motives.  I felt my hands being tied.  I was exasperated and tired.

Luckily, Alex and the other board members defended me.  The reasons for reducing the maintenance fees were to ensure that people could pay their bills and the separate hydro metering was necessary to the survival of our building.

In the end, we agreed on a conservative trial reduction averaging at around $200 per month with an agreement that we would revisit the matter and reduce the fees further in a few months.  I knew I would be long gone by then, but I hoped it would be a nice bonus for my buyers.

I returned from the meeting and told Corey that I had done as much as I could.  It was time to list our unit for sale.  Then I called Alex and vented to her that I was so disappointed that we couldn't give people a larger fee reduction.  She and I both knew that I had settled at a lower number because I was being accused of acting only to my own benefit.  I had wanted our fees to be more affordable for people who were energy conscious and now it would be a struggle for people to save enough hydro that they ended up paying the same.  I don't know why I was surprised, since everything else had been an uphill battle.  I asked her if she thought I was crazy to try so hard knowing that I was going to be moving anyway.

She asked me if I thought she was crazy to stay... We both answered yes.

Related articles

• Condo Survival : Part 8
• Condo Survival : Part 4
• Condo Survival : Part 7
• Condo Survival : Part 3
• Condo Survival : Part 5
• Condo Survival : Part 6

Condo Survival : Part 8

Remember, these are just the events as I recall them. They are my own interpretations of events. My memory is not perfect and I don't want to be sued.

In our last instalment, our Super (and neighbour) had just died rather tragically and suddenly.  It was a very sad time, although we admittedly were happy to have found the source of the smoke and rancid cooking oil smells which wafted into our unit on occasion.

The Aftermath

Some of the "ladies" who had served on the former board (and kept the Super in the proverbial pocket of their out-of-date cardigans) took up a collection for a gift for our former late Super's son... although many people questioned whether any of the money would actually reach him.  Keep in mind, these ladies were rumoured to have used building funds (before my time) to rent zip cars to go shopping at Yorkdale and pick up some holiday decorations for themselves the lobby, so the skepticism was justified.

Meanwhile, "Crazy Robert" (Remember the guy who was obsessed with the building keys and was discovered passed out in his underwear in the gym while it was locked for repairs?) saw an opportunity to get his hands on the master keys for the building.  We (my fellow board members and property management) gave the Super's girlfriend time to find other living arrangements but Corey and I caught Crazy Robert banging on the door to this Super's unit to try (we assume) to gain access to the keys.  Other owners overheard him mumbling about the keys and wondering whether I might have them since I was the board president.  Creepy.

Actually, I did anticipate a situation like this and I made a snap decision to take the keys on the evening that Corey and I called the ambulance.  What Crazy Robert didn't know is that I knew he would start looking for them, so I handed them to our property manager the very next day.

It was around this time that Corey and I noticed that he would wait for us in the underground garage.  I always worried that he was hoping to encounter me on my own.  He seemed to know our schedules, but I would never park underground without Corey, so I never gave him the opportunity.  We remember walking into the garage at about 6:15 one morning and seeing him speed away on his bicycle leaving a hot cup of coffee on the hood of his car.  He had clearly been waiting for something... Or someone.

I began to feel more and more paranoid and I often remarked to Corey that I couldn't believe how unsafe I felt in my own home.  I often wished that I had never joined the board and had retained a low profile, but I also knew I was working towards something good.

Luckily, there was still work to be done, so I was pretty distracted.  After scrutinizing the budget, it was clear that it would be much more cost effective to hire a company on contract, rather than a live-in Super.  Not only would we not be responsible for insurance, benefits or making arrangements during extended illnesses, if we could rent (or better yet, sell) the unit which had been designated for a live-in, we could deposit the proceeds in our reserve fund!

I knew it would be a difficult pill for the former board to swallow, since they had enjoyed many perks when we had a live-in super and I'm certain he spent plenty of his time repairing and updating their units and harassing people they didn't like... but it was time for a change.  Alex and Dee Dee stood by me as we explained the necessity to the other owners.

Of course, the former board members were up in arms, trying to rally the other owners into protesting.  They used fear to try to convince the seniors that we were somehow safer with a live-in super.  They ignored the numerous reports of our former super being off-site or intoxicated during business hours.

Still, numbers are numbers and we just couldn't justify the expense of another live-in super... especially after our research showed us that buildings our size rarely employed  live-in staff.  They threw tantrums and screamed that things would break and we'd all be robbed, but it only made me feel a smug sense of satisfaction that I was able to help the building and take away a toy they seemed to love so much!

It's important to note that after the Super died, I don't recall anything major breaking again during my time in the building.  I hope it's coincidence, but I can't be certain.  While he was alive, and our former property management company was in power, expensive things seemed to "break" all the time...

Finally, we hired a new super.  He seemed really keen to learn and he took a real interest in our building.  I
knew that I didn't really want to be involved, so I introduced myself to him and made it clear that he should take instructions directly from the property manager and not from individuals...even me.  I wanted him to have a fair chance to just do his job without being forced to take sides.

I hoped that by keeping our Super neutral, neither side would object to him as long as he did a good job... And I knew it was important for building morale that we try for a little consistency.  Of course, the former board members quickly tried to take him under their wing and explain "how things worked" in our building.  They also used his eagerness to try to convince him that part of his job included doing favours for them and getting involved in petty disputes between neighbours.

The Clock and the Questionable Painting

Our new Super seemed naive and perhaps a little... clueless... but he was pleasant and always seemed to be working hard so I supported him.  He did seem to have trouble understanding that I was not his boss.  I suppose I had given him a number to contact me once when he had some questions but he began calling and texting me several times a day to check his work.  I assumed that he was just someone who likes direction and praise, so I just kept reminding him that it was not my job to check his work... At the time, it was a bit  of a nuisance, but not a huge concern.  After dealing with all the weirdos in the building for so long, it was just refreshing to have someone nice around.

I do recall several instances of the Kingpin (remember the Jabba the Hutt lady who "ran" the building like a mob boss before I moved in?) and her cronies trying to take advantage of him, but my favourite is the story of the clock for the lobby:

One day on my way to work, I walked past one of the former board members (Kingpin's cronies) trying to convince the Super that we needed a clock in the lobby.  This group was constantly "redecorating" and trying to add things to our common areas without permission and it was one of my biggest pet peeves.  "A building cannot function in such a communal manner," I tried to explain to them one day.  "If everyone added just one small thing to the lobby, it would soon look like a rummage sale!"

Of course, my reasoning fell on deaf ears and it wasn't even really about decorating anymore, this was just one of their many power trips.  Anyway, the cronie saw me walking by and asked very sweetly about the clock.  As much as I would have loved to have said something cutting and harsh...

I wanted to try to set an example by being diplomatic and reasonable.  I told her that I didn't think it would be a problem, and I would send a quick email to the board for approval so that one could be purchased.

"No need" she purred.  The Kingpin had already purchased one to donate to the building.  Knowing the Kingpin's style could be described as "geriatric chic", I asked her cronie to bring it down for the Super to place in the management office so we could see it first.

She could barely contain her contempt for me, but she agreed.

Of course, the Super texted me a couple of minutes later to tell me that after I had left, she had insisted that he hang it right away.

As fate would have it, I had forgotten something that day and I had to run back to my unit.  I met the cronie on the elevator back down and she was holding a clock in a box with an envelope taped to it.

Seeing the envelope reminded me that the Kingpin was notorious for "donating" items to the condo and then asking demanding to be reimbursed.  "What's in the envelope?" I brazenly asked.  She barely looked me in the eye as she admitted that it was a receipt.  I was so appalled by her sneakiness over something so trivial that I just glared at her and told her to take it back upstairs to the KP and to tell her that our condo would not require any more of her donations. 

The questionable painting incident happened months later, but I'll tell you the story here.  Basically, there was a fugly canvas painting in the lobby that looked like some sort of modern art version of a gun.  Modern art is very personal... but it looked out of place and sort of violent and malevolent and, well I suppose it was completely appropriate for the lobby of our building.  I hated it but didn't care to change it.  

This all happened just before we moved out.  I had resigned from the board by then and the new president decided she would get property management to remove the ugly painting.  Not only did it leave a giant rectangle on the wall it had covered for years, but building residents started going CRAZY!  

Our property manager told me that the closest comparison she could make would be if you had walked into an old-timey asylum for the criminally insane and switched all the furniture around.  She said building residents were literally lined up at the door to scream at her!  More than one claimed it had been a family heirloom and wanted it back (including, you guessed it, KP) and many others didn't particularly like the painting but wanted it back nonetheless.  She confided to me that it was the craziest reaction she had ever seen and looked horrified and a little frightened when I jokingly suggested we just toss it in the trash.

Too Close for Comfort

Anyway, the painting incident is a little off topic because it happened so much later.  Let's get back to the Super who was quickly starting to bother me.  I began to ignore his calls and address his texts more firmly.  More than once I found myself with him in the creepy basement when he had some sort of question (What shade should I paint the gym?) or emergency (Do you know where the shut-offs are?) and I vowed that I would not be in a room alone with him again... since he was starting to make me uncomfortable.

He seemed to know when I was home and I felt like I would run into him every single time I left my unit.  Perhaps it was just the feeling of unease I already had in the condo, but I began to feel really unsafe.

One day, Alex mentioned to me that she had come to visit me on my floor and had seen the Super down the hall vacuuming the same square of carpet over and over and just staring at my unit.  I was torn between wanting to say something and questioning my own sanity.

Eventually, he was fired after he tried to lie to his own boss (he was an employee of the company we contracted) in an effort to renegotiate his contract.  I had nothing to do with his employment (and I hadn't even been informed yet of his termination) when I began receiving a series of text messages from him.  

He was pleading for his job and telling me he was going to be homeless without it.  I ignored the messages, but he kept sending them.  A part of me was sad and worried for him but I was also a little frightened by the tone of his messages.  He seemed to think that this was my responsibility and I was worried about a scenario like this:

I hoped the messages would stop but one day, Dee Dee called me to her unit to play a voicemail.  Apparently the Super had called her as well and in his message, he explained that he was waiting outside our building.  We reported the incident to her former employers with the request that he not contact us again.  I like to think that he was just a regular guy with temporary insanity caused by whatever was infecting the rest of our building.  Luckily, we never heard from him again.

Prepping for Another AGM

Eventually, it was nearly time for another AGM, with more board positions up for election.  My own position was safe, but there were three members with expiring terms and I was fearful that if the other side gained a majority, all our work would be undone.

KP and her cronies mumbled thinly veiled threats at me in the hallway, and I knew they had already been campaigning.  They had done the math too and knew that with some good fear tactics and a smear campaign, they could once again run the building.  I feared their first order of business would be to bring back our former property manager, who would continue their plan of bankrupting the building so they could purchase the valuable land.

For once, I felt real hatred for them.  I'm not proud of it but I just wanted to beat them more than anything.  The building felt like a bubble... so far away from real life and real priorities.  My world inside felt small and I became obsessed with not letting them win.

I knew they would be lying about our side and I hated the idea of campaigning, because it meant interacting with people in our building.  

At this point, I basically ignored everyone whenever possible.  I (along with Alex and Dee Dee) had saved the building from bankruptcy, what more did they want from me?  I walked around on my cell phone so that I would never be forced to make conversation in the common areas.  I know it was obnoxious of me, but I was also sick of hearing everyone complaining all the time.  No matter how much we did for the building, some people would never be satisfied.

Dee Dee and Alex campaigned within the building.  We found some candidates who were at least neutral parties... Which is all we really wanted.  Any normal person capable of making a reasonable decision would fit the bill.

I offered to call non-resident owners, since I felt like they may be more willing to hear my logical arguments.  Some of them were articulate and receptive, which encouraged me.  Others were bat-s&#t crazy and accused me of stealing their money.  I wish I had been blogging then because I've forgotten some of the crazier conversations by now...

We collected as many proxy votes as we could, but we knew the other side had done the same.  Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) with everything that had happened, many people refused to sign away their votes and decided to attend the meeting themselves to hear what we had to say.

I decided to write an introduction and recap of the past year of board business.  I figured, if people were coming to hear the truth, I wouldn't hold back!  I was (of course) afraid of being sued for slander after so many threats from the other side and former property management company... But at this point, I was more concerned that should the meeting go poorly, my work may have all been in vain.

I crafted a speech carefully and was surprised to learn that even the "short" version spanned five pages.

The Annual General Meeting

As the meeting drew near, I grew more and more nervous.  Not only would the outcome determine whether all my work had been in vain, it could also mean that our condo investment would quickly tank.  We knew the other side had planned to levy a HUGE (think 30K per unit) but unnecessary special assessment.  Keep in mind, that this would mean that we not only owed 30K, our property value would likely plummet and we would lose all equity in our condo.  We had assumed that this would be a good opportunity for the former property management company to swoop in and purchase every unit in the building for next to nothing.

On the evening of the meeting, Corey gave me a pep talk.  I was acutely aware that the outcome of the vote would likely be determined by what I had to say.  I knew the other side would lie through their teeth and had already been spreading rumours about my dishonesty and motives... I had the truth on my side, but my experience with many residents in our building told me it may not be enough...

As I walked into the room, I looked for friendly faces.  There weren't many, but those who were there were loyal.  Most of the room was more curious.  I noticed KP's cronies grinning smugly.  They seemed confident.
I looked directly at Corey and Alex who, although a board member, had chosen to sit with Corey so that she could support me from the "audience" if they became hostile.  I took a deep breath and began a little shakily.  One of KP's cronies interrupted me right away and I looked to Corey and Alex... There was so much riding on this and I was truly frightened that the wrong outcome would bring us financial ruin.  They smiled and nodded for me to go ahead.

I took a deep breath and began again... Stronger and more confident this time.

...

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• Condo Survival : Part 1