About
Ward Lucas is a longtime investigative journalist and television news anchor. He has won more than 70 national and regional awards for Excellence in Journalism, Creative Writing and community involvement. His new book, "Neighbors At War: the Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association," is now available for purchase. In it, he discusses the American homeowners association movement, from its racist origins, to its transformation into a lucrative money machine for the nation's legal industry. From scams to outright violence to foreclosures and neighborhood collapses across the country, the reader will find this book enormously compelling and a necessary read for every homeowner. Knowledge is self-defense. No homeowner contemplating life in an HOA should neglect reading this book. No HOA board officer should overlook this examination of the pitfalls in HOA management. And no lawyer representing either side in an HOA dispute should gloss over what homeowners are saying or believing about the lawsuit industry.
All true. All true. Why aren’t more people aware of the inherent flawed nature of HOAs?
Apparently the HOA industry has been good at keeping true education to real estate agents and the public. I have requested to speak about HOAs at city classes but they won’t let me. I suggested that they have a class taught about the HOA abuse of authority by boards, managers, attorneys and the legislative changes needed to correct some of those issues…and guess what, my suggestion was omitted from the class summary that lists comments (the reality is, they are filtered comments). Only lobby group members seem to be permitted to speak…
I attended a couple classes in two cities that I hadn’t attended before recently. I thought, wow this is a beautiful city building…guess the cities both have a lot more money since 90% or more of the homes in both cities are in HOAs.
it is apparent that the HOA’s are here to stay……. Even with the number of horror stories all of us read about in this site as well as experience personally if you live within a community that is governed by a board..
The abuse of power is staggering. As a property manager in Las Vegas I have had many conflicts with them and have heard owners from other cities that have moved here say ‘Vegas is the worse they have had to deal with. Our local and State government(s) will not sanction them unless they have stolen money, but short of that they are all too supportive of almost any thing they do.
HOA’s in Nevada are governed by the Real Estate Division’s Ombudsman and they have a horrendous record in terms of siding with those that have filed complaints…..
With bad accounting, mismanagement of payments, making repairs without the authorization of a homeowner and last, but certainly not least, Nevada HOA’s having a superior lien status shows you the power granted them through the State.
I, like so many, don’t know why our government(s) won’t step in and put a leash on these boards that abuse their positions with excessive fines and fees. The fraud and theft cases that have occurred in almost every state , one would think should be a wake up call.