The link below is to a story in the Chicago area’s Daily Herald. The question it poses is innocent enough. “Should condo owners press their boards to seek FHA approval?” But the writer misses some terribly important points.
1. 70% of all HOAs in the country have underfunded reserves.
2. With all the fines, lawsuits, liens and foreclosures across the country, any kind of HOA is an investor’s worst nightmare.
3. People are getting educated about HOA Amerika, and Realtors everywhere are hearing, “Only show me listings that are NOT in HOAs.”
4. Fifteen to thirty year old neighborhoods are falling apart, making disaster properties impossible to sell at any price.
5. Financial experts say there’s a housing bubble coming that will look more like a nuclear bomb than a bubble. This one will be a doozie.
It would be very interesting to see if the FHA has approved any Homeowners Associations in the past decade. My guess is that you’d be hard-pressed to find a single one. Freddie and Fanny have financed some recent HOA projects but these two federal agencies are already on life support.
If anyone knows this Illinois journalist, drop him a line. Tell him to do some real reporting.
“The times, they are a-changin’.” -Bob Dylan
(link to column on FHA approval)
“1. 70% of all HOAs in the country have underfunded reserves.”
As somebody named “Anonymous” (not me) once wrote:
I’m still hoping for the day when some property manager decides it’s time to come clean with all the scamming tactics that are used to take advantage of the homeowners.
Just when we think we’ve heard or figured out every way the board members, property managers, or attorneys can destroy a homeowner…here comes another tactic they use.
Clearly, too much opportunity, not enough checks and balances, and too low of integrity for ANYBODY to trust the operational management of their HOA. It’s sad, but it looks like we need to think of everyone of them as criminals until they get caught…then we can recognize them as convicts!