Tag Archives: Federal investigators

Can They Really Do That?

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Can an HOA which dissolved itself really come back to life and start liening homes?

Can an HOA refuse to disclose its budget to homeowners?

Sadly, we get questions like these all the time. And the answer: An HOA can do whatever the heck it wants, whenever the heck it wants and there’s very little you as a homeowner can do about it.

Sure, you’ll read lots of ‘pablum’ like in the story linked below on how homeowners can ‘reclaim’ their neighborhoods. But it’s mostly junk information. The bottom line is that if you, as a homeowner can get screwed you probably will get screwed. Get used to it. It’s a fact of life. Of course there are laws on the books all over the country. There are laws against infidelity, too. But when’s the last time you saw anyone criminally prosecuted for it?

There really is an answer for homeowners who want their boards to follow the law. Create mandatory criminal penalties for board members or HOA managers who break the law. Throw them in jail. After all, these board members ran for office promising to be honest. Just like a Congressman who breaks the public trust, nothing will ever, ever change until we start filling our jails with public officials who refused to honor the public trust.

Jail!

Nothing else will work.

(link to nonsense article about getting HOAs to obey the law)

http://newstimes.augusta.com/news/2014-06-01/ivy-falls-home-owners-divided-over-revived-association

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another Kind of Guest Blog

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(note to readers: This lady’s email request was so poignant that, with her permission, I wrote it up as a ‘guest blog’. Let’s help her with some suggestions)  

 

guest blog by Pippi

Hello! As many homeowners have likely done, we bought a place with an HOA. It was in 2005, and it was our first home. I would need 2 hands to count all the mistakes we made, and have nobody to blame but ourselves.

Our real-estate agent was also an owner here, and on the board, and quite pushy. Fast-forward 9 years – our condo that we bought for 96,900 is now worth about 40k! We pay “interest-only” on the loan (almost no equity at this point). We pay 417/mo. for HOA and utilities (no washer or dryer, no air conditioner, no tv in living room, etc).

The whole property is a dump. They are trying to pass a special assessment. Our portion of it would be almost 7k. They are “offering” a payment plan of 2 years, so about $280/mo on top of the $417. If I had $700/month extra, I wouldn’t be living here. In return for this assesment, we get nothing (and in fact, it includes the demolition, but not rebuilding, of our carport for insurance reasons).

Part of the reason we bought this home was that the dues included an exercise room, hot tub and car port, and now all 3 of those amenities will be absent.

I’m looking for advice on how to get out of this mess. We can’t sell, as we’re upside down, and one would have to be crazy to enter into any agreement with this HOA. We can’t even short-sell, as an older management company put liens the on every unit for non-payment of emergent repairs. Ugh, help! Do we just quit paying and save the dough to rent? Pay the bank but not HOA? Pay both and hang in there as long as possible?

This is the tip of the iceberg as far as our HOA issues go. I could write a book, too, unfortunately.

 

Blow N’ Go High On The Roof, Part II

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

On June 7th, I shared my gutter cleaning, police truck, firefighters and frustrating day with you now known as “Part I.”

Do you recall me saying my attorney told me to never let anyone on my roof or do work on my house or the attached neighbor’s house without showing me their Certificate of Insurance?

Once I had the name of the company with employees on my roof, I requested to see that certificate on their Facebook page. No response. I called the office of the commissioner of insurance. No records for the company. I called the county contractor’s licensing office. No records. I called the city building safety and permits office. They don’t require someone working up on the roof, other than roofing contractors to have a permit, license, and proof of insurance.

Which all boils down to this: If the guys blowing out gutters on the roof fall off, I’m liable. If they get hurt, I’m liable. If they die, I’m liable. And guess what? Every one of my neighbors is liable, too. And I doubt they even have a clue.

This is exactly why my attorney told me to always get a copy of the Certificate of Insurance. And now I’m suggesting you do it, too.

In talking to a non-CAI property manager, I learned that he never allows anyone to work on the property without seeing their Certificate of Insurance. If they are sweeping the parking lot he makes sure they have it in case they hit a car, run over a child, or knock down a light pole. If they change a drain in a pool he makes sure they have insurance. Absolutely nobody works on that property without insurance.

When and where do the risks end while living in an HOA?  It seems they never do. All the risks and expense are going to fall on me and you!

 

 

Gold? Fuggeddaboudit!

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After the financial blogs of the past two nights, let me pass on another warning about the approaching housing market disaster: I’ve have lots of questions about using gold as a hedge against whatever is coming.

Please listen carefully: Do not! Do not! Do not buy gold unless you truly understand it, which I seriously doubt anybody does!

Look at the charts linked below: every peak represents a person who’s won a fortune in gold investing at the right time.  But that subsequent valley represents an investor who’s lost a fortune in gold investing. If you think you can time the market you’re just flat out wrong. Many’s the speculator who bet on gold to hedge a collapsing economy and ended up as a net loser.

If you ever see that I’ve made a fortune in the gold market, then I give you carte blanche permission to tell everyone, “Ward cheated. He’s a liar. He’s a shyster.”

Betting on gold is worse than going to Vegas. Stay home. Pay the bills. Buy some emergency rations, enough to last your family for a few months. Don’t go nutty on me. We who are questioning the HOA debacle aren’t survivalists. (I have serious doubts that a survivalist can survive much of anything, anyway.) We’re just carefully analyzing an approaching disaster that every economist in the country is talking about… and puzzling over. There are just no clear answers. But I guarantee there’s a phalanx of con men out there being trained to take advantage of your fears.

(is gold really a good investment?)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/gold/10019128/Is-gold-really-a-safe-haven-asset.html

 

This Collapse Ain’t So Funny

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Last night’s blog referred you to a comedic look at those predicting a financial and housing tsunami, but this link isn’t comedic and it isn’t satirical. I suppose I don’t mind spreading the word about interesting and pertinent books, since many of my blog readers have supported my own HOA book. But this guy should really be taken seriously.

James Rickards’ new book looks at the approaching financial calamity and explains that there’s really no safe harbor for any of us. An avalanche is triggered by a single snowflake. A world financial collapse is triggered by some no-name company that goes broke at precisely the wrong time.

As an extreme HOA pessimist and critic I would never urge people to dump their HOA homes. But if I honestly believed that the pending financial collapse will claim HOA residents among its first victims, I would be remiss in not alerting you to look for safe harbor.

(link to financial collapse)

http://etfdailynews.com/2014/05/27/james-rickards-financial-collapse-and-massive-shortages-in-gold-coming/