Tag Archives: Federal investigators

Who or What is The Community Association Institute? (CAI)

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guest blog by Stan Hrincevich, (www.coloradohoaforum.com)

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.

Legislators actually think their membership and funding comes from HOA home owners and HOAs: WRONG. They have trusted this organization for decades and have allowed them to set the rules in HOA governance and financial management. Yes, they craft the legislation that sets the rules for their industry and interests and ensure through their actions that HOA State law and HOA governing documents are highly enforceable from the HOA Board’s and PMC perspective and very weak for home owners. Due to this close relationship between the CAI and legislators across the country, HOA legislative reform has been very difficult and the few Bills that have passed have been watered, are more cosmetic than effective, and in no way help with enforcing home owner’s right

If you visit CAI or their legal affiliate web sites and read their literature you would think they represent HOA home owner interests. Wrong! Their membership is mostly comprised of PMCs and lawyers. The CAI is an organization that derives most of its’ income from selling their educational classes. Nothing wrong with this but read below on how they commingle this business with legislation. Then there is CAI “the trade organization” for PMCs. Nothing wrong with this either except that they have ensured all State HOA laws aren’t written to hold PMCs accountable for their actions.

Then there is the connection between the CAI and HOA lawyers who have ensured through their legislative influence that no binding, affordable, and accessible out of court dispute resolution process is available to resolve HOA home owner complaints. This of course ensures HOA legal enforcement from the home owners perspective against abusive HOA Boards and PMCs remains in our litigious, time consuming, pay-to-play court system making HOA law mostly ineffective.

The CAI and the entities they represent and work with in State legislatures have thwarted HOA legislative reform for decades. Recent examples:

*killing an HOA Transfer Fee Bill that would have limited the fee and required explanation and justification of the fee (this costs home owners in Colorado $10 million a year);

*opposition to a Bill that would have required HOA home owners to approve the use of HOA funds prior to entering into expensive legal actions;

* opposing an out of court binding dispute resolution process for home owner complaints (leaving home owners with only our pay to play court system for the most minor dispute resolution);

*their involvement in writing Colorado legislation to license property managers resulted in using such legislation to promote their sales of educational courses and hence drive up the cost of such required educational courses for property managers;

*opposing the limiting of HOA fees, fines, and administrative and legal fees on HOA debt; opposing term limits on Board members when others are available to serve;

*obstructing legislation on protections of home owners against liens and foreclosure for HOA debt; attempts to promote legislation that would expand the independent authority of Boards in governing HOA operations (without home owner approval); and the list goes on and all anti-home owner.

You can blame the CAI for the lack of HOA reform with their legislative intervention but much blame also goes to our political process that makes money the name of the legislative game and places unfunded citizen groups at a disadvantage.

The CAI and its constituents are the most anti HOA home owner group in the nation and in Colorado they most certainly are a wolf in sheep’s clothing and our legislators and the media are only beginning to realize their role. The beginning of HOA legislative reform and improved governance thus begins with dispelling the belief that the CAI represents home owners; revealing their history and actions in HOA legislative reform; curtailing the CAI’s influence with our Government agencies, media, and legislators; and having HOA home owner groups recognized in our legislature and in the media to offer a home owner centric perspective to improving HOA governance.

Fireworks in Carson City, Nevada

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This is shameful.

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.

But ripped-off homeowners in that state were finally able to convince the U.S. Attorney and the FBI to do an investigation, and 39 people including police officials, attorneys, businessmen, political figures, a well-known TV star were indicted and now face felony trials for theft and official corruption. Well, I’ll modify that, a bit. In typical Nevada fashion, certain key suspects began killing themselves in strangely concocted ‘suicides’, and others began to rat out the bigwigs, eight or nine of whom still face trial for their crimes.

Nevada citizens were even able to get a couple of homeowners advocates placed in key positions on the eminently corrupt Nevada Real Estate Division. These homeowners rights advocates tried to get NRED to respect such Constitutional ‘novelties’ as Due Process, a well-recognized Constitutional Right which protects all the people from government abuse.

Tomorrow and Thursday day is when well-reimbursed stooges on the Division of Real Estate tries to crush that right forever. It’s happening in Carson City. And the largest CAI vultures ever spotted by bird watchers are flying the skies over the state capitol right now making sure their paid minions succeed at stifling any sort of free speech or respect for law and order. Nevada is well known for its deep layers of official corruption. By the end of this week you’ll know whether it’ll be business as usual, or whether those struggling under the weight of oppression can reserve for the people a tiny hope for fairness.

 

Legislative Shenanigans in Arizona

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guest blog by Dave Russell

Here’s more background to the enactment of Arizona’s SB 1482 which will profoundly impact homeowners across the state.

You need to look no further than the “stakeholders” of the bill: The Arizona Association of Realtors, CAI and the Arizona Association of Community Managers, all of which have formed an alliance here in Arizona.

This was a bunch of individual bills all log-rolled into one. Individually, each one of these groups would never have let most of this pass.

The CAI convinced the Arizona Association of Realtors “that if we all work together, everyone can get what they want.” You know, except for the homeowners living in HOAs.

After the housing market crash, most Realtors are now managing rental properties to subsidize their dwindling incomes. Unfortunately, the Realtors ran into a snafu when it came to renting units in HOAs. It was those pesky, city sponsored, crime prevention programs, requiring criminal background checks and photo identification on tenants.

 Probably one of the only useful things an HOA does is, preventing those convicted sex offenders and drug dealers from living next door to you and your children. Well the Realtors somehow decided that these programs were interfering with profit, and wanted the Arizona Legislature to eliminate them.

No surprise here, the Realtors worked their mojo with Rep. Michelle Ugenti (Realtor) and Sen. Gail Griffin (Realtor) to sponsor their unconstitutional legislation.

The Realtors can now rent to any criminal they want, as SB 1482 has abolished the basic requirements of every statewide HOA crime prevention program. The only good thing an HOA has done, so we toss that out the window.

The Arizona Association of Community Managers (offshoot of the CAI) can now have their property managers take the homeowner to small-claims court, and self represent. Of course the legislation doesn’t address how much the management companies and their HOA managers can charge the HOA for “legal fees” performed by non-attorneys. I’m sure those “legal fees” will exceed what a real attorney would have charged.

Now let’s not forego the unfair disadvantage to Mr. & Mrs. Homeowner, who probably never set foot into a courtroom. That’s right, it’s the inexperienced homeowner vs. the HOA gurus. Sounds fair? Not.

Arizona HOA legislation is almost like the hit show “Survivor” where the teams build secret alliances, while competing in challenges to earn either a reward, or an immunity from expulsion from the game in the next of the successive votes for elimination.

Ward’s note: Dave Russell will be featured on Shu Bartholomew’s OnTheCommons.net radio show August 30th. It should be fascinating.

Arizona HOA Sues Embezzler

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Wow! You don’t see stories like this every day. But an HOA management company is being sued by an HOA over a minor little infraction of the law… the embezzlement of 3.4 million dollars.

The Edge at Grayhawk Condo Association in Scottsdale thinks embezzling is a crime. These homeowners pay dues of $300 a month. But they just felt that their money was going down a rat hole. And the rat, they think, is Eagle Property Management.

The cops are looking into the matter, and the company president is refusing to talk to anyone.

With embezzlement from HOAs the largest unreported crime in America, how dare these rich homeowners complain because they got ripped off?

If you live in an HOA, you’re gonna get ripped off.

Live with it.

(link to Arizona embezzlement story)

 

Community Associations Institute (The Disinformation Institute)

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guest blog by George Staropoli

Think in terms of the Third Reich and the Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Josef Goebbels in charge.

CAI is the modern incarnation of the Ministry. If, as has happened, CAI goes unopposed with its ongoing propaganda campaign about the grand and glorious benefits of HOAs without even whispering “constitutional violations” or “de facto private governments” who will believe anything is amiss?

What? Those malcontent, troublesome homeowners who don’t know how to live in a community with rules? That handful of trouble makers? They can’t even write decent legislation! Let the CAI lawyer/lobbyists explain the issues to you legislators so you can make better decisions.

Who would you believe?

Over the years CAI in Arizona has been basically silenced in the public media, because I would confront, challenge, and expose their lunacies and false statements whenever I could.

In the 2000 – 2005 time period the CAI repeatedly slandered homeowner advocates. We often heard statements from legislators like, “You’re just trying to get out of a contract.” “You agreed and you should have read your contract.” “Anyone who didn’t read or understand their CC&Rs and signed anyway was really stupid. I wouldn’t do anything like that.” Or even worse, “If you don’t like your HOA, just move out. That’s all!”

This year the Arizona Legislature approved SB 1482 without any questions being raised in committee. The bill was simply voted on and passed. Why? An almost identical bill was passed last year but failed in the courts. Also last year I repeatedly confronted and exposed CAI simply by quoting erroneous statements their lobbyists had made in public. Many legislators began to realize CAI was feeding them bad information. Of course, the previous law was eventually thrown out by the courts because it was fundamentally illegal.

However, CAI lobbyists still walk the halls of the legislatures whispering in each lawmaker’s ear, spreading the same old disinformation. This will never change unless voters contact their legislators and truly educate them on the issues.