It’s unsettling how so many tens of millions of people have just blithely wandered into the Homeowners Association experience without thinking. And so many people think they’re getting such a deal by being one of the first to believe the developer’s promises and move in.
Hoo, boy. A number of prospective homeowners bought condos in a residential skyscraper under development in San Francisco. The developer just didn’t tell them all the relative facts; that one side of the building has sunk sixteen inches into the ground and the building is tilting.
Wow!
In an earthquake-prone city these homeowners are now wondering if the next quake will send their building on Mission Street…right down the middle of Mission Street, And there’s word the developer has known about this problem for the past seven years! That’s honesty for you.
I’m not sure who’d want to live in San Francisco, anyway. Yes, I’ve been there on multiple occasions. And yes, the restaurants are great. But with earthquake experts warning Californians that ‘The Big One’ might be a little closer than anybody thinks, yes, I’d rather live with the risk of Colorado blizzards than California temblors.
(link to story on leaning tower of Frisco)
guest blog by Nila Ridings
Facebook has lots of HOA, COA and cooperative ads that pop up and most I ignore. This one I could not because it said Village Cooperative a 55+ housing community. And wouldn’t you know Facebook has it blocked so I cannot make any comments. A year or so ago I did comment on some sort of HOA advertising and since then I’ve been blocked from making comments on all things HOA. Coincidence? I think not.
My heart sank. They are building several of these in close proximity to where I live! Who are the poor fools who will fall into this trap? Did they not read the Kansas City Star HOA Hell series that Judy Thomas wrote back in August? Were they on vacation? Were they packing to sell their house and move into this Village Cooperative? Or did they believe the sales pitch and not the journalist?
This is when I wish our advocates had massive amounts of money for advertising to purchase billboards next door to these places warning buyers to run like their hair is on fire!
Read their website. They make it sound like Village Cooperative is as close to heaven as you’ll get on earth. Makes me gag!
(link to Village Cooperative website)
Ah yes, believe all you want that your Homeowners Association protects the value of your property. But you’re spitting into the wind. All these years you’ve believe a falsehood spread by an industry that will NEVER be in the business of protecting your home value. This industry believes in the Almighty Dollar, no matter how it’s obtained.
The Pine Ridge HOA in Bushkill, Pennsylvania is a perfect example. A wave of non-dues-paying owners combined with a huge number of foreclosures has pulled this neighborhood right to the brink of bankruptcy. They’re struggling to find an answer. The answer is…there is no answer. You thought you were buying a retirement home? You ended up with a piece of Florida swamp land. Valueless. You believed the lie. You discovered what those of us in the Homeowners Rights movement have been warning you about.
The news story linked below has some interesting elements you might want to see.
(link to possible HOA bankruptcy in Pocono Record)
Homeowners Associations don’t like veterans. They also don’t like veteran’s widows. Widows, you see, threaten the marriages of all other couples in the neighborhood. So ladies who get themselves elected to HOA boards try just about anything to boot widows and single women from their homes.
Hyperbole? Don’t bet on it. We’ve seen situations like this happen all over the country.
This one widow in Texas may have won a temporary reprieve, but that’s because she went to the news media. Without that, she’d most likely be on the street thanks to her oh-so-charitable HOA.
(link to widow’s story in DFW-CBS Local news report)
Credit reporting agencies see an incredibly lucrative opportunity in Homeowners Associations. And corrupt HOA boards see a marvelous way to further harass homeowners who dare to fight back against the Lawn Nazis. Hold back your dues because your HOA is doing something blatantly illegal, and it’ll lower your credit score.
Hire a lawyer to fight back against an unjust fine or lien, and yup, you might not be able to get that car financed or that mortgage modification approved.
These fundamentally unconstitutional institutions (try saying that three times) have found a new way to hammer beleaguered homeowners. It’s beyond belief, and it very well could end up contributing to the coming collapse of the HOA housing market. The more you learn about HOA abuse, the lower go the property values in HOAs. Developers, government agencies, embezzling management companies and abusive board members love seeing this happen. It’s more money in their pockets which means less in yours.
(the credit reporting HOA goliath)
