Former Playboy Bunny Holly Madison thought it would be a fun idea to build a doghouse perfectly designed to match her own home in Las Vegas. She even hired a contractor to make sure it was perfectly built.
Well, someone in the HOA was upset with the way something was built. And Holly is losing a Ben Franklin each month in HOA fines. Apparently, it wasn’t the doghouse that upset the local HOA. It was just the fact that it’s painted pink.
In any event, Holly is moving and taking her perfectly built doghouse with her. She may have trouble finding another home in Las Vegas, though. The only new housing there is under HOA control. And Las Vegas HOAs have a horrible reputation.
Not too many years ago you couldn’t get any reporter anywhere to take a critical look at the national HOA mess. Even when the U.S. Attorney started getting guilty pleas in the Las Vegas organized crime/HOA scandal, you couldn’t find many news stories outside of Nevada, itself. And there was almost ZERO coverage by the national networks. (BTW, as a long-time reporter I plead guilty of neglecting the subject)
But these days it’s not uncommon to find several probing stories a day. Some in the news media, like the one linked below, are slowly beginning to realize there really is some dirt under these HOA sheets. Someday they might even begin recognizing how deep this dirt really is.
Governor Rick Perry talks frequently about how tort reform in Texas has turned around a medical malpractice crisis.
Possibly it did work. But after reading the article linked below, ask yourself if deceptive HOA fines, liens and foreclosures in Texas shouldn’t attract the same kind of reform?
Texas is one of the top states where the HOA system has deprived homeowners of fundamental Constitutional rights.
I used to live in Texas. In fact, I grew up with the ‘Blue Book’ which was required reading for all Texas elementary school students. It taught Texas kids to be proud of their state’s revolutionary heritage and to question authority. Back then it was a thing of pride to be a Texan. But that was before the HOA Movement put millions of Texas homeowners in a death grip.
If you know someone who lives in a Texas HOA, ask him or her if they’ve observed out-of-control HOA boards and ridiculous fines and lawsuits. Or give them to link to my blog from last night about the San Antonio man who’s facing $200,000 in fines and legal fees for not keeping his grass short enough.
Come on, Governor Perry. Do the right thing! Get your HOA lawyers under control, too!
A 90 year old French man who found himself suddenly widowed has turned to some novel advertising for a new “dame.” He’s posted a plywood sign in his garden asking for volunteers. I’ve heard of internet dating and mail order brides, but if this works it could turn into an interesting trend.
It wouldn’t work in this country, though, since American Homeowner Associations ban advertising of any kind.
On second thought, maybe this fellow should consider moving to my sister’s HOA in California? She tells me that every time a woman in the neighborhood passes away the local “casserole ladies” swoop in like buzzards on road kill. The “casserole ladies” obviously have to keep their freezers well-stocked, but no plywood signs would be needed.
Of course, in America putting up a lonely hearts sign would probably get this poor widower fined, liened and foreclosed upon before he had a ghost of a chance of meeting anyone new.
Maybe the French actually do have an easier life than those of us on this side of the pond?
