In fairness, shouldn’t I once in a while run a post involving someone who’s all in favor of HOAs? Don’t hate me, but here it is. I imagine a number of readers of Neighbors At War can pick this one apart feather by feather and nut by nut!
(link to Hignell HOA Management Company)
HOA mgmt co’s are not protecting values when they go along with the board who refuses to manage the community properly and does not follow the reserves studies. When a condo community is in disrepair, the value decreases, just like when a house is not maintained. I tire from hearing that justification for having a mgmt co. Too often it seems we are paying not for management but to give them the opportunity to give all the hoa work to their friends, and in our case, without multiple bids most of the time.
Message to the Hignell HOA Management Company as follows: wake up, smell the coffee, take you heads out of the sand, or whatever it is you need to do, and learn from some the countries leading experts on the horrible negative effects of many HOAs and abusive HOAs. Obviously someone gave you the HOA “kool aid,” and you drank it! There is still time. Here you go, for a start:
1.) “HOA: Crisis in America,” by Professor Gary Solomon
“The Most Important HOA Paper You’ll Read This Year!”
January 16, 2015 by Ward Lucas / neighborsatwar.com
“Listen to Professor Gary Solomon’s interview with Shu Bartholomew, host of the radio show “On the Commons”, about his new book, HOA: Crisis in America, January 17, 2015, on: http://onthecommons.us/images/stories/shows/20150117solomon.mp3.
Probably the most important interview one will hear all year about HOAs and his latest FREE book – HOA: Crisis in America.”
January 18, 2015 by Cynthia Stephens
To learn more about HOA: Crisis in America click either of these links and they will open to the book:
http://hoacrisisinamerica.com
http://pitythepoorfool.com
http://hoaboardmonitoringservice.com
http://professorgarysolomon.com
2.) The life work and advocacy of Dr. Karin Huffer. Someday, you, or someone you know, or a loved one, may be disabled and you have no clue of the abuses of the disabled, especially, in/by abusive HOAs and their associates, until it happens to you, or someone close to you! Dr. Huffer offers training for disability advocates, who are so desperately needed in the courts.
http://www.equalaccessadvocates.com
http://www.legalabusesyndrome.com
Pure propaganda. Not a word of it factual.
For starters, the homeownership rate is back to where it was in the 1990s – about 66%. Homes are becoming less affordable as prices have begun to rise again. More people than ever are renting instead of purchasing. Financing is easing up a bit, but still hard to get, especially for condos.
Privatization has not prevented signifiant increases in property taxes. Nor has privatization resulted in better code enforcement or maintenance of infrastructure than what was once provided by public governments. In fact, 70% of HOA have underfunded reserves due to poor planning and management. Conveniently, no trade organization or government authority has bothered to track the success and failure rates of HOAs, including Condominiums. Anecdotally, however, one can easily say that there have been far fewer failures of cities and towns than HOAs.
How many people have lost their homes in HOAs compared to non-HOA homes? Is anyone keeping track? We know HOAs were hit quite hard, and on top of mortgage delinquencies came all of the HOA foreclosures for non-payment of assessments.
As HOAs and COAs fail due to financial difficulties and years of deferred maintenance, Counties and Cities pick up the tab for the blight and crime that results.
There is no shortage of housing, except at the low-income, affordable level! There is so much excess capactity at mid and high-end HOAs and COAs – unfinished planned developments are becoming Zombie HOAs, while unfinished condos are being dissolved and coverted to apartments or redeveloped.
There is a HUGE difference between zoning and ordinances enacted by local governments and restrictive covenants of HOAs. For one thing, HOA restrictive covenants and architectural improvement limitations are generally far more extensive, unvetted for constitutional compliance, often unreasonable or vague. When the government enforces its codes, the owner has access to judicial due process in a lower court, instead of HOA kangaroo court or forced mediation or ADR, usually followed by expensive civil litigation.
One can argue whether Americans have “accepted” HOAs or merely resinged themselves to HOAs, simply because the buyer is left with few alternatives due to land use policies that have approved HOA new construction to the exclusion of anything else. But the tide is changing, and citizens are starting to object. More and more are saying, “I will never again buy a home in an HOA.”
Can housing policy makers and the HOA industry continue to force this “lifestyle” down peoples’ throats? Not if citizens make their voices heard, loud and clear.
It is interesting to note that each and every glowing review of HOAs is written by the industry that profits from their existence – primarily CAI and Management Companies – and they all make a point of it to mention their critics in a dismissive tone.
That means we are hitting their sore spots, and shining light on the truth.
Just in case anyone doubts that more folks are renting vs. buying http://www.multihousingnews.com/features/special-report-multifamily-market-is-enjoying-the-best-of-times-heres-why/1004114492.html
I hope your comments will be hand-delivered to the powers that be at the Hignell HOA Management Company, Deborah.
More and more people are not believing the propaganda put out by those profiting in the HOA industry. It’s time those in the industry stop fooling themselves!