Tag Archives: foreclosure

HOA Sticks It To Pet Lovers!

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guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
Sandra Thomas bought a condo at the Wyckford Mews in 1997 and agreed to the by-laws, which include a pet clause. Only two pets per unit. But this board is fining her, claiming she was given the wrong CC&Rs SIXTEEN years ago and only one pet is allowed! 
 
Sandra pleaded her case for grandfathering. Oh no! They don’t do that at Wyckford Mews. So, pick your favorite; dog or cat, and take the other to a shelter or wherever…Wyckford Mews could care less!  Until you comply, the fines are $100 each.
 
Forget about calling your board members, Gerald Rowan or Josh Quinn. They don’t return calls.  (Since every HOA story seems to have board members who don’t answer phone calls or knocks at the door, I am wondering if that instruction is written in the CAI HOA-101 class syllabus?).
 
Running to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office won’t do you much good. You’ll no doubt get the same response as homeowners get in the other 49 states.  Expect to hear, “This is a civil matter! Go hire a lawyer!”
 
Some Wyckford Mews condo owners are fearful, but think they have figured this HOA scam out.  Absurd fines for things like parking your bicycle over time, (Have I been out to lunch? Do they have meters for that now, too?) leaving your shoes in the hallway, or for no reason at all, place the condo owner into the “not in good standing” classification.  Therefore, they cannot run for the board or vote in the board election. 
 
Sandra, vote with your feet and paws!  Pack up your dog and cat, and GET OUT while you still can!  The torture by the rogue HOA board members has just begun!  And it won’t get better with time!
 
P.S. With Halloween just around the corner, DO NOT BUY A PUMPKIN to display.  You could end up with another $100 fine.  Of course, in the language of HOAs that would be considered a “treat.” Compliments of your HOA board goblins!
 
 
 

Conviction In Massive, Massive Corruption Case

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You can’t get any closer to organized crime than this one! A former city manager in a small suburb of Los Angeles has pleaded no contest to dozens of counts of fraud, embezzlement, rigging city elections and a bucket load of other felonies connected with a scandal that has rocked people across Southern California. Five former city council members, a former assistant city manager, and the former mayor of the City of Bell are still awaiting trial. More charges and indictments could still be coming, including possible federal indictments by the U.S. Attorney.

Robert Rizzo was the longtime city manager of Bell, California, a small, lower income community immediately southeast of Los Angeles. His assistant city manager was Angela Spaccia. Over a period of years Rizzo and his “gang of eight” looted the community, putting it millions of dollars into debt and driving it to the brink of bankruptcy. The crimes sound awfully similar to the organized crime scam that looted the treasuries of at least a dozen private homeowners associations in the State of Nevada.

Because of inappropriately high salaries in a number of California communities, the state enacted laws prohibiting city officials from voting themselves massive amounts of income. Rizzo, his assistant city manager, the mayor, and five city councilmen held an almost secret municipal election to get the city officially chartered to avoid the state limits. Despite a population of 38,000 people and just 10,000 registered voters, only 390 votes were cast, a majority of them by absentee ballot. And many of those ballots were forged to reflect that a solid majority were in favor of the proposed charter.

Over a period of several years, Rizzo arranged for himself annual pay hikes that put his salary at nearly eight hundred thousand dollars. That’s twice the salary of the U.S. President! Rizzo’s eventual salary was to be one and a half million a year, almost four times the salary of the President.

But Rizzo obviously thought that wasn’t enough. He began stashing millions of dollars in secret retirement accounts to benefit him and a majority of his buddies on the city council. He was set to begin receiving a pension of more than a million dollars a year, all paid for by low income homeowners, phony city contracts and excessive property taxes. In fact, the salaries and pensions arranged by Rizzo and approved by the Mayor and city council made Bell the second highest taxing district in all of Los Angeles and its surroundings. Tax rates were even higher than those in affluent Beverly Hills. When at least one homeowner complained about excessive salaries for Rizzo and the city councilmen, Rizzo and his assistant city manager, forged documents to show he was only earning 180,000 a year and his councilmen around 2400 a year.

In the months to come, we should be hearing a lot more about outrageous siphoning of taxpayers’ money by officials in communities across California. There are reportedly at least a half dozen investigations going on and the FBI is deeply involved in even more.

(click here for LA Times story)

 

 

Dont’cha Just Love Our Legal System?

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The American legal system is the best, we’re told. Point out one that’s any better!

Well, I could certainly point out a number of other legal systems where the tort industry isn’t so rampantly out of control. The impossible cost of paying for medical malpractice suits, for example, has persuaded a lot of doctors to get out of their chosen profession. And it could very well be a driving force behind the move to Obamacare, a program which current polls say has only 12 percent support of the American public.

Ultimately, though, HOA tort lawyers are destined to kill the “goose with the golden eggs.” Rampant embezzling, harassment lawsuits and foreclosures can only lead to one thing: Mortgage companies will stop lending to homeowners in HOA Amerika. If U.S. Bank, Bank of America, or Wells Fargo are paying attention they’ll discover that loans are riskier inside Homeowners Associations. They’ll find that property values are not protected in the typical HOA. When that happens a lot of high-priced HOA lawyers are going to be looking for jobs at the local 7/11.

One can only hope.

Oh, How Sweet HOA Life Is!

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Shadowglen Homeowners Association, Austin, Texas. Homeowners are beginning to get hefty fines if any vehicle parks in front of their house. It doesn’t matter if the car belongs to the next door neighbor, a delivery company or just a friend dropping by, homeowners are getting slammed with fines of $500 and more.

Isn’t it strange how all these HOAs start off so benign, yet end up so fascist? All it takes is a couple of new board members who suddenly find themselves in the first position of power they’ve ever possessed.

In my new book Neighbors At War, I explain the chemical reaction that happens in the brains of those who get that first taste of raw power. And in Chapter 15 there’s a discussion of two of the most controversial sociological experiments ever conducted. Each experiment attempted to explore what goes on in the minds of people who suddenly feel the need to damage another human being. In one of the experiments, the scientist pondered why it was so easy to persuade German guards to mindlessly slaughter prisoners of war. What he discovered shocked and outraged the entire psychology community.

There’s a reason that board members and managers in a place like the Shadowglenn Homeowners Association are often referred to as the ‘lawn Nazis’ or the ‘HOA Nazis’. Power is an incredible aphrodisiac!

(click here for KXAN-TV story)

http://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/hoa-parking-rules-upsets-homeowners

 

Nila Ridings on National Radio Show

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My frequent guest blogger, Nila Ridings, is going to be a guest of HOA expert Shu Bartholomew this Saturday. Many of you know Shu as one of the most stalwart Homeowners Rights advocates in the country. Her weekly radio show airs in and around Fairfax, Virginia, but better yet, she broadcasts on the Internet so she has a national and even international audience. Shu interviews the top figures in the fight against abuse by rogue Homeowners Associations. And, indeed, Nila Ridings is one of the nation’s top fighters against this disingenuous, tyrannical and corrupt movement. 

Nila is famous in Kansas as the leader of a group of about twenty people who fought for a new law in Kansas that reigns in some of the monstrous actions of rogue HOA boards. During that time, Nila was nicknamed ‘The General’ by her associates. Her story is a great one. 

Shu Bartholomew’s show is called “On The Commons” and it can be heard live or through a downloaded podcast where you can listen at your convenience.

One warrior interviewing another warrior. It promises to be another great show!

http://onthecommons.net/

Be there or be square!