Running a Self Managed HOA
When I first moved to Greensboro, I was still married and had come from Flagstaff, Arizona, with my two daughters to find a home to buy. Our house in Flagstaff was closing as a short sale, and while that wrapped up, we stayed in an extended stay hotel on Eastchester Drive. My husband stayed behind to finish things in Flagstaff, joining us later in Greensboro—only to find his unhappiness had followed him 3,000 miles from a place we both knew was unsustainable. Driving around to explore neighborhoods, we fell in love with Greensboro’s homes. We put an offer on a Victorian house on Mendenhall, but it didn’t work out. Then I spotted Wafco Mills, and I was hooked instantly.
After my divorce and earning my BA in Special Education from Greensboro College, I bought a condo at Wafco Mills in my own name. I was working full-time as a special education job coach and teaching assistant while taking classes to qualify for a teaching license. Just a month after signing a contract with Guilford County Schools for my first full-time licensed teaching job, I toured two condos at Wafco Mills with my realtor, Lisa Way, and picked the second one. I was thrilled to own a place downtown—near two colleges, with the Greenway right behind it. I dreamed of finding a partner to work with me and eventually renting out the unit. That’s exactly how it played out.
About a year after moving in, I was approached to run for the Wafco Mills HOA Board of Directors. With prior experience on the Summit Park HOA board in Flagstaff, I joined as a “member at large” after a few meetings. We were navigating a revolving door of property management companies—Slatter, AMG, Prestige, back to AMG, then Priestly. By 2021 or 2022, we’d shifted to a self-managed HOA with Priestly handling financials—a move that gave us more control but demanded more from the board. Inspired by my mom’s lifelong volunteerism, I kept serving, later becoming Vice President. When Dylan Spears sold his unit and stepped down as President, I took the role. I’ve been President ever since, always learning and trying to avoid missteps that could affect our community.
My board tenure overlapped with some big projects. Back in August 2020, before I was President, discussions kicked off about dumpster placement for Wafco Mills, tied to the Greenway project’s potential impact. A Zoom meeting on August 25th tackled this, and by December, Tom Bailey from our management team emailed about dumpster pad layouts. In 2021, Dylan Spears, then President, forwarded updates on the dumpster plans in March and, by June, announced a management change at Historic Wafco Mills, digging into past waste management companies with David Keith. These early efforts laid groundwork I’d later inherit.
As Vice President and then President, I saw our community’s challenges evolve. Around 2010, Wafco needed new roofs, and we funded a reserve study—updated in 2022—but property managers struggled to follow through on maintenance or secure multiple vendor quotes, sticking with their preferred contacts instead. It was one reason we pushed for self-management, so we could oversee those decisions ourselves, like hiring contractors directly for repairs. Meanwhile, our stacked units meant leaks between floors were a constant headache, and our owner responsibility documents, though detailed, weren’t user-friendly. Many didn’t read them, and even Priestly wasn’t fluent in our governing docs, slowing financials and mixing up Wafco Mills with Wafco Commons and Historic Wafco Mills—once even billing us for Historic Wafco’s items. Still, Priestly’s been our best partner for financial support yet.
By summer 2024, I’d served on the board for about eight years. Last year, my daughter and I built a new Squarespace website to replace our earlier WordPress site, which Leighsa had set up as our first real stab at better communication and sharing community info. It was a big step up from the basic portals our past HOA management companies provided—they didn’t have the manpower to keep a website updated. The Squarespace site took that foundation further, letting us post things like annual meeting notices and calls for board candidates, a key part of self-management. The dumpster project picked up steam in 2024. On January 23rd, resident Bruce Haskell was pleased with a parking update tied to the plans. By March 19th, I was updating owners on extra trash costs and invoices needing Historic Wafco’s approval, a recurring coordination issue. Then in June, Leighsa Windsor, our Secretary and Treasurer at the time, teamed up with architect Carl Myatt to refine site plans, focusing on a utility easement for the dumpster pads. I loved learning from Leighsa and serving beside her—she brought so much insight to Wafco. Carl checked with City Water Resources on June 6th about wood slats versus brick walls, and Johnny Hill replied on June 8th that dumpsters on the easement were okay if no other spot worked—concrete pads yes, brick walls no, suggesting wood or brick columns on piers. Leighsa confirmed on June 10th that truck access limited our options. Lewis and Melinda Thomas, likely owners or developers, asked about design drafts on June 17th, but Carl hit a snag with a lost CAD file on June 24th, rescheduling a review for June 26th.
July brought more progress: Carl had underground lines marked on July 7th and set a site meeting for July 9th at 11:00 AM. By July 22nd, Leighsa told Historic Wafco’s Brian Crean the City had granted a variance, plans were submitted, and permits applied for—though dumpster availability was delayed until August. In August, Leighsa sent permit drawings on the 19th, with Bruce pushing for approval despite setbacks. Carl noted on August 20th that the City’s final review was underway, but by August 31st, he clarified the easement issue needed Utility Sewer’s sign-off. September got technical—Carl chased details on an electrical panel box and light pole capping on the 6th, plus sewer and water line locations for permits. On September 9th, he sorted a mix-up with Kyle Gordon at Water Resources about project 2024-2282. Leighsa joined a site meeting on the 10th, and on the 11th, I asked about a light pole’s asset tag, wondering if we’d need a ladder to read it.
In November 2024, I was sad to see Leighsa step down from the board to focus on her family business and new real estate projects outside Greensboro. Thankfully, like so many who love Wafco Mills, she’s always available to answer questions or share her wisdom about the community. That month, we posted on the website calling for new board members, a sign of our self-managed effort to keep the team strong. On December 10, 2024, we secured a Certificate of Appropriateness from Greensboro’s Historic Preservation Commission for the trash enclosure—a huge milestone. Since then, I’ve been wrestling with our master insurance policy. A year ago, we switched vendors, and the new one based our policy on the old one, which excluded bottom-floor units in some stacked buildings from certain coverages. In February 2025, our current vendor warned we’d need excess coverage for those units or face cancellation. It’s been a scramble to sort that out—another self-management challenge we’re tackling head-on. We’ve also had several leaks from upper units into lower ones. Per our governing docs, owners can contact the board for upstairs contact info, then work with their HO6 insurance vendors to handle repairs and bills. But that’s not been common practice—some expect the volunteer board to pay just to stop their calls and emails. It’s a learning curve, and I’m pushing for a clear process. I’ve had a few HVAC enclosures repaired and billed owners through their Priestly Assessment accounts, but violation walkthroughs are too rare. One owner took over a year and a novel’s worth of emails to fix a leak, plus we’ve had repeated complaints about her dogs—off-leash or dragging leashes behind. We renewed our contract with Bobby’s Towing, though I don’t think he’s been by lately.
In January 2025, I set up WeLoveWafcoMills@gmail.com as a transferable board email to streamline communication and pass to the next crew—part of our self-management push for consistency. Around then, my UNC Charlotte intern, who I’d hoped would collect historic documents from several longtime owners to preserve our community’s story, took a paid internship elsewhere before he could even begin. It was a bummer to lose him so early, leaving us with a lean board: me, a member who just sold his unit but still helps, one who started a banking job, and a retired professor splitting time between Wafco and another state. That same month, we scored a major win: we took full control of our community expenses and management, ending our reliance on Historic Wafco Mills for trash services. For two decades, they’d charged us a percentage based on our 66 units—fair, since we’re bigger than their 27 units and Walker Commons’ maybe 12—but they tacked on a fee for “white glove” parking lot cleanup around the dumpsters. They paid a Priestly vendor $150 an hour “as needed,” and the bill spiraled with no room to negotiate. Meanwhile, Historic Wafco residents walk dogs on our property, leaving poop we clean up with Doody Calls, plus we handle lighting, landscaping, and trash pickup they benefit from—without billing them. The board felt that cleanup was their cost to bear, not ours. When Historic Wafco wouldn’t budge, they cut us and Walker Commons loose, ending the agreement. It’s a relief to manage our own trash now, no extra fees attached—a true self-management victory.
Thankfully, we’ve got Granduer USA and General Contractor Diego Gomez, who’s been with us over a year. In 2024, Diego rebuilt brick supports under balconies on Wafco Lane, removed a cedar tree whose roots were damaging a building and window wells, and fixed drainage at Walker and Fulton. This year, he’s navigating the trash enclosure’s paperwork maze and tackling leftover brickwork on Fulton and McGee, which I hope finishes before I step down in November. Self-management lets us choose vendors like Diego directly, ensuring work aligns with our budget and priorities.
Property management keeps evolving—laws and insurance shift fast, and owners often miss updates until they’re stuck. Realtors don’t always explain condo ownership’s quirks either, like rules on vehicles, businesses, maintenance, paint, yard items, dog breeds, and laundry lines. Condo life isn’t for bold self-expression; shared walls mean your dog’s bark or overflowing tub impacts neighbors. Kindness matters here, yet building relationships is tough—high-density housing’s affordability draws people in, but screens keep them apart. I’ve met some of my favorite people at Wafco Mills, though. Hang out downtown, and you’ll run into folks who’ve lived here—they all have a soft spot for this place. At our last annual meeting, an owner volunteered to chair a community event committee, and I’m excited for food-fueled connection, trusting them to pitch a plan (still waiting for that volunteer to volunteer)—we posted that update on the website too. There’s so much work happening on the Greenway—the final leg along the old railroad bed beside Wafco Mills is wrapping up, set to open late this year or early 2026. I can’t wait to see Wafco sparkling and well-maintained when it does.
Enforcing rules is tricky, but any can be upheld anytime. Post-Surfside, insurance demands more accountability, a concern for our website. We balance public and owner-only access, and that new email should help. As of November 2024, that intern left us with a plan to archive financial artifacts from owners online—another self-management task to keep owners informed, even if he didn’t get to collect those historic documents himself. A new board member joined at our last meeting, and we meet tomorrow night. After years of effort, that December certificate, the trash independence, and these ongoing improvements feel like wins worth celebrating.
—Joy Watson, President of the Board of Directors, Wafco Mills HOA
