Scary CAM Stories to Tell in the Dark
Gather ‘round the glow of your screen, CAM professionals, and beware.
In this realm we call community management, strange things go bump in the night (and sometimes during business hours). From bone-chilling screams to “murder hornets” and residents who took their grievances a little too far, every manager has a story that haunts them.
These are the accounts whispered by CINC team members who have seen what lies beyond the HOA gates—and lived to tell the tale.
Dim the lights. Steady your nerves. And read on…if you dare.
It Came by FedEx
“I had an owner receive a violation letter for weeds in their lawn. He picked them all from his yard and sent them to my office via FedEx addressed to me.”
-Lindsey Richardson, Sales Engineer
Something About Steve
“One of my residents' therapists called me to say, ‘Steve made a threat about you. I don't think he'll do anything, but he certainly has the means to do it.’"
-Jim Rosvold, Senior Customer Success Manager
Attack of the Mutants
“It was July 4th and I was packing up to head to the ocean when I received an after hours call that there were ‘murder hornets’ at the over 55 community I managed. (There had been a news story about possible murder hornets crossing the Canadian border into Washington state). I called the exterminator who went out to the property and found a small yellow jacket nest.
That same community wanted me to "come get" the black bear that wandered into the community. I can see myself now, pulling up in my SUV and saying, ‘Get in bear, we are getting burgers!’”
-Dawn Wood, Project Manager
Resident Zero
“I had a community that was built in the 70s and we did a Hardi siding replacement. There was an owner that was afraid that she would be getting affected by mold when she left the house so she wore a hazmat suit when walking to her car.”
-Amanda Evans, Senior Project Manager
A Scream in the Night
“I got calls in the middle of the night several nights in a row about a woman in one of my communities who was naked on her back deck screaming at the top of her lungs.”
-Cara Montrief, Manager of Operations, Banking Partnerships
Don’t Look Under the Rug
“There was a call from a news station about a rolled up carpet left near a clubhouse in a master plan community that was scaring people. It was luckily JUST a carpet.”
-Celeste Mann, Senior Sales Engineer
The Stalker
“I once had an owner in a community convince herself I was embezzling HOA funds (with absolutely no evidence), and one day she called to tell me she was looking up private investigators to tail me.”
-Michael Del Gaiso, Senior Project Manager
Little Crop of Horrors
“With my former company, one of the managers had a community with a vacant house that was in the long process of being foreclosed on by the bank. Corn was growing in the front yard, so she was working on trying to get the owner or bank to cut it down. Evidently, corn is a protected crop in NC so it’s illegal to ask them to remove it. So, there it remained.”
-Cyndi Sullivan, Client Account Manager
Happy Halloween, fellow CAM professionals! Now, we hope you’ll lock up the clubhouse, mute your phone, and get some well-earned rest. And may all your rolled-up carpet sightings just be carpet.