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 10

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. 

It's been a while, hasn't it?    When we left off, we had managed to separate hydro and reduce the maintenance fees by a modest amount.  Since Corey and I had energy efficient appliances and were relatively conservative with hydro, we were fairly certain our costs wouldn't increase overall.  Still, we knew that the average hydro cost per unit was roughly twice the amount of the maintenance fee reduction and we worried that some of our neighbours would not be happy.

In this chapter, I'll talk a little about what it was like to finally escape sell our unit.  If real estate stories bore you, you'll probably want to skip this one.   ;)

Please remember that I am only human and something about that condo brought out the worst in me near the end.  This is exactly the type of scary condo situation that makes me extra careful when my buyer clients are considering purchasing a condo but our own story (luckily) does have a happy ending.

Angry Neighbours and Mischief

Despite all the drama and nagging worries, I was still excited to list our unit for sale.  I had always been frustrated that units in our building hadn't been appreciating and were severely under-valued for the market and I deliberately listed before the spring market (in January) so that I could take advantage of a lack of competition from other unit owners.  We listed at nearly 30% higher than the next highest sale.  (FYI, the next highest sale was pretty close to what we purchased our unit for three years earlier.  Not so great when you consider the $800/month we had also sunk into maintenance fees.  To sell at that price would make me feel like I should have just rented so I had to try for more.)  It was ambitious and I didn't expect to get our price but I thought I'd give it a try.

I sent copies of our listing to the board and to many of our neighbours in the interest of full disclosure.  I knew people would find out anyway but I hoped that by being upfront and honest, I may even convince people that a high sale would be good for them as well.  My neighbour across the hall (with a mirror-image but otherwise identical layout) even mentioned that she was also tired of the low sale prices and said that she may list high too and together we could try to set a new record.  

My photographs were beautiful, my descriptions perfect and showing requests from potential buyers began to trickle in.  I told Corey that we couldn't expect our unit to sell overnight but I knew the showings were a good sign.  Unfortunately, there were many people who couldn't stand the thought that we may leave and they did what they could to sabotage our sale.  

It began with garbage and dirty tissues being constantly scattered around the common areas.  They made our building look dirty and poorly cared for and I resented this after all my hard work to finally ensure that we were managed properly.  I learned to run downstairs with a garbage bag to do a quick tidying before showings.  My good friend, Alex often helped me.

I wish I could say that it ended there but next came the angry notes posted in the elevators directed at our board and management and suggesting that the separate hydro metering was some sort of scam.  While annoying, this was okay too.  It was just something else for me to tidy before my showings.  

Eventually, hydro bills began to roll in and we were pleasantly surprised by ours, which we saved in case any prospective buyers should ask.  Unfortunately, many of our neighbours were practically breathing fire as they waived bills for as much as $800 in the first month and a half through the halls.  When approached by these angry people I often asked innocently if they were perhaps running any major appliances that had not been approved by the building.  Usually, this ended the conversation.  As property management worked to ensure that all the meters were running properly and to provide people with education on energy efficiency and heating and cooling alternatives, the witch hunt eventually subsided.

Did I offend you?

Aside from a few bad apples, most of my neighbours were curious about my unit and wished me luck for a high sale price.  The odd one nearly cried and clutched my arm begging me not to leave...

One expressed surprise that I worked in real estate.  You see, she was racist and assumed from my Portuguese surname that I cleaned houses.  She then suggested that I would likely be good at cleaning houses.  Corey laughed when I told him because I'm probably the worst housekeeper ever!

I waited for a reaction from the Kingpin and her friends... But they didn't say a peep.

A Setback 

Everything was going well with our showings.  We were getting some good feedback but most buyers were just beginning to venture out from hibernation and were not quite ready to make an offer.  Still, I felt hopeful and I knew it was just a matter of time.

Then it happened.  My neighbour across the hall (The one who had said she would also list high...) decided to list low and undercut me by about 25% of my asking price.  S&%T!!!  I was angry, not only because of her stupidity but because I had been very upfront with her and she had done the opposite to me.  I knew her agents had sold several units in the building and I partially blamed them for keeping our property value down by listing low for easy sales.  I was even less impressed when I heard that they were comparing their listing to mine and saying my price was insane.

I put on a brave face for Corey and assured him that ours would still sell... only we'd have to wait for their unit to sell first.  They had an offer in under a week (which was a first for our building) for under list and they accepted it.  Again, you'd think the speed at which the offer came might have signaled the agent or seller that they had listed a little low... but I didn't care as long as our competition was gone.  We were back in business!

... And Another

Within days of the sale, our optimism was challenged once again when another unit (like ours only a few floors above us) was listed low.  Again I assured Corey that everything would be fine as long as we could just be patient and wait until they had sold.

Once again, it sold within days and Corey and I just shook our heads.  What was wrong with our neighbours?  They complained about the lack of appreciation and yet they didn't realize that buyers were jumping at their low prices and they could easily be asking for more!

The final straw came when within days yet another unit listed low.  At this point, I felt my first pang of doubt.  What if this kept happening?  I already knew that staying in the condo was not good for my health and I knew we were ready to buy a house.  Screw it!  Corey and I dropped our price significantly (and we were prepared to drop it again, if necessary) knowing that we could not compete with a constant stream of sabotaging neighbours.

Obviously, our price drop yielded a frenzy of showings and although we were still priced higher than the other units, ours was renovated and showed better and I was pretty certain that we would receive an offer quickly.

Unhinged

During the week of non-stop showings, we received a showing request from the agent who had listed the most recent under-priced unit.  It was our only competition and I was furious at this agent for listing low in light of how quickly units at that price had been selling.

I'm going to preface this next part by reminding you how insane that condo made me feel.  For nearly three years I had felt paranoid and now, I was finding that after all my hard work to improve the building, I would still probably have to take a loss on my unit if I wanted to leave.  For some reason, my anger at the former property management, the kingpin, my neighbours who under-cut me and all the agents who had lazily under-priced units in our building for years culminated into a focused beam of pure hatred and it was focused directly at the agent who was requesting a showing.

How dare she??? I bellowed to Corey.  She only wants to show our unit to use as a comparison so that she can sell her own listing by showing buyers what her unit could look like if it were renovated!  Corey was sympathetic but reasonable and he suggested that we just let her show our unit and get it over with.  At this point it was personal... even though it was likely not personal at all.  I was in full freak-out mode and let's just say, there was plenty of swearing and name calling.

On a side note, whenever I have a client who feels overwhelmed by the selling (or buying) process, I can quite truthfully remind them that Corey and I are my most challenging clients and even we managed our way through it.  ;)

I was so furious that I couldn't bring myself to let this agent into my home.  Logically, I knew that she was only a very small part of my troubles but I had nobody else to blame and so I started to find that the showing times she requested were inconvenient.  The thought of having her in my home made me feel ill so it wasn't a stretch that I wouldn't feel very well each time she called for a showing.  I was officially being a stubborn baby.

Now, I know very well that in order to be listed on the public listing service, I could not just refuse showings... Still, I couldn't help it if she kept requesting times that didn't work for me... right?  Riiight???  I knew I was being childish but I plead temporary insanity!  I had just been pushed to my breaking point.

Finally, she insisted that I give my office an appropriate time and she would work around my schedule.  I was practically shaking with anger at the thought of having to let her in and I told Corey that while we had to allow her access, we did not have to give her privacy.  I was determined to stay in my unit because I was CONVINCED that she was just showing our unit to give buyers a sense of how much renovations may cost should they purchase her own listing.  

Sometimes I am wrong...

When she arrived at the door, I opened it a sliver and demanded her card.  I knew I had to let her in but I didn't have to make it easy on her.

I scrutinized her name and (playing naive) asked, "Aren't you the agent who listed that unit upstairs?"  She seemed a little unnerved at my tone and she obviously knew exactly why it had been so difficult to secure a showing time.  I had disclosed in the listing that I am both the owner and an agent, so she was likely anticipating some friction.  

"Just sold" she replied hastily.

"Firm or conditional?" I demanded.

"Firm" she replied.

"How much?" I barked, knowing I was pushing my luck since the price was not yet published but hoping she would tell me in order to end our awkward conversation.

"Full list" she said.  

I felt a wave of relief.  There was, at the moment, no other competition in the building and these buyers may actually be interested in my unit.

"Hmmft" I snorted.  "I knew that one was priced too low" I mumbled as I opened the door.  I welcomed her clients and shot Corey a meaningful look.  

Her clients were a lovely young family with a little girl who loved Barkley.  When it became clear that they were genuinely interested in our unit, we excused ourselves to take Barkley for a walk, in order to give them some privacy.

As we were leaving, the agent walked us to the door and quietly hinted to us ("Just so you know...") that she thought her clients would make an offer but that there was another unit they liked as well so their offer would only be valid for a few hours and we would have to decide quickly.

I smiled sweetly and told her that we wouldn't require much time to consider her offer.  "But just so YOU know," I added just before I closed the door, "We just learned that we no longer have any competition, so our price will go up tomorrow."

She brought us a full-price offer that evening.  I signed back even higher and Corey hyperventilated as we waited for a response.  They accepted our counter offer. 

And I learned a pretty valuable lesson about making assumptions.  

Winding Down

After I sold, Alex soon learned that she could not stay in the building without me.  She had helped me throughout the years and in many ways, she helped me sell my unit.  So I helped her sell as well.  Looking back, I believe Alex and I were the two highest sales in that building ever.  I believe we still hold that record, although I never check.  

I remember one day, after I had moved out, I went back to visit Alex while she was packing.  We had both sold and purchased new homes and we were ready to begin a new life.  It felt like we were released from prison and we were excited to be friends on the outside.  As I was leaving, we stood in the parking lot giggling like girls when I felt the hairs on my neck stand on end.  I looked up and saw the Kingpin watching us from her balcony and for a moment, I imagined the sick pleasure she must feel to have a chance at running the building once again with us gone.  It made me shiver.

Loyal readers, thank you so much for your encouragement as I have told this difficult story.  This is not quite the end of the story so I promise to wrap it up with one final chapter.  Soon.

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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.

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