Homeowners Associations (HOAs) are comprised of three entities: home owners, HOA Boards and their legal counsel, and the property management company (PMC). Problems can arise from any of these but for those who follow HOA issues the involvement of PMCs can be most problematic. PMCs affect HOA governance with their direct involvement in operational and financial matters and through their trade organization, the Community Association Institute (CAI), which has undue influence in HOA legislative activities that craft HOA law. For decades the sole source for Homeowners Association (HOA) information for the media and the State Legislature has been the CAI. Why not? Their name implies they represent the concerns of community associations and home owners: aka HOAs. Legislators “trust” this organization to represent home owners and citizen interests but most have no idea who or what they represent.
There aren’t many victories in HOAs run by the likes of Nero and Caligula. But a California man who built furniture in his garage for needy military families has won his fight with the Lake of the Pines Homeowners Association.
There’s no question that public pressure convinced board members to crawl back into their snake hole. Former Vietnam War vet Dennis Kocher’s hobby was building furniture for families at the nearby Beale Air Force Base. Until a neighbor complained.
It wasn’t a complete victory. No apologies. No promises to get off this guy’s back. But the board ruled he can continue his hobby as long as he keeps his garage door closed.
No state in the union has suffered more from HOA abuse than homeowners in Nevada. No homeowners have been financially stripped and laid bare more than people in Nevada. Organized crime in so entrenched in Homeowners Associations in that state that many people in HOAs have lost up to 90 per in value in their homes. But when Organized Crime sees a chance to put OPM (other peoples money) into their pockets, there’s not much that will hold them back.
One often-overlooked fact about homeowners associations (and condo, too) is that they are legally classified as corporations, separate and distinct from cities and towns. And just like any other corporation, anyone can sue the HOA or be sued by the HOA for any number of reasons.
Reservoirs that supply water to tens of millions of people in the Southwest are dangerously low. Folsom Lake northeast of Sacramento is typical of what’s been happening for the past few years in California, Nevada and Arizona. The LA Times article linked below says 99.8 percent of the state is suffering a severe drought.
How tough is it for homeowners to find buyers these days? What buyer can find a mortgage company that wants to risk its money when a disaster like this is unfolding? And what’s going to happen to home prices when half the homes in a neighborhood have For Sale signs in the front yard?
