Tag Archives: HOA Abuse

California Drought Worsens

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Reservoirs that supply water to tens of millions of people in the Southwest are dangerously low. Folsom Lake northeast of Sacramento is typical of what’s been happening for the past few years in California, Nevada and Arizona. The LA Times article linked below says 99.8 percent of the state is suffering a severe drought.

How tough is it for homeowners to find buyers these days? What buyer can find a mortgage company that wants to risk its money when a disaster like this is unfolding? And what’s going to happen to home prices when half the homes in a neighborhood have For Sale signs in the front yard?

It’s stunning to know that HOA boards and managers have been fining homeowners who didn’t keep their Kentucky Bluegrass nice and green.

(link to LA Times story on drought)

 

Sod vs Mint

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

This might be breaking news: California is having a terrible drought! And Fran Paxton is trying to do her part to reduce water consumption for outdoor use.

Using her ingenuity, Ms. Paxton created landscaping using mint that requires little water. It even earned her a rebate on her landscaping from the local water district.

But the Twin Creeks HOA board in San Ramon demands she replace it with sod! Until she does they are fining her $50 per month.

In steps attorney, Micheal Mau who says the HOA could be violating the California law. He’s going to help Ms. Paxton settle this mess.

It’s no surprise that Twin Creeks board of directors says this case should not be settled on television. Heck no! It’s so much easier to bully the elderly out of the spotlight of television cameras. Good for Fran for calling out the investigative reporter!

(link to CBS San Francisco)

 

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.

Marketing of HOAs

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guest blog by Beanie Adolph

Incredible! How can something so destructive of family life and of the American system of governance continue to dominate American housing?  MARKETING! Chant the lie over and over:  HOAs protect property values. THEY DON’T!  Promise Utopia but hide the reality.  Deny every plea for full disclosure – for openness.  In 2004, two realtors were discussing on an industry blog how to ensure a buyer knew “what he was getting into” and concluded “…if ALL the potential pitfalls are enumerated, no one in his right mind would purchase.”

Most buyers saw the opportunity of owning the home of their dreams at a manageable price with the added inducements of “amenities” previously available only to members of country clubs. There was, then, and still is the lie that HOAs protect property values. There was not and still is not any disclosure that:

  • The quoted cost does not include the extra costs, e.g. increase in assessments and all types of fees.
  • The Reuler-Hailey paper* states “… some HOA managers contract with HOA boards at below-market rates with the expectation of making up the difference from individual owners. How? With a myriad of specific purpose fees, such as resale certificate fees, document fees, collection fees, inspection fees, and violation enforcement fees.”
  • Most new developments are HOA developments and buyers really do not have a choice.
  • Buying into an HOA is far worse than co-signing a note with strangers. A note has a fixed amount, defined terms, and can be paid off. In an HOA there is a lien that can never be paid off. The homeowner is a guarantor for all debts incurred by the HOA, and his house is security for their spending sprees.
  • The reality is that amenities are not “freebies” but burdens that constantly deteriorate, and are the responsibility of the homeowner.
  • HOAs are private quasi-governments that regulate and control the behavior of citizens without the same due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment.
  • The HOA system places rules and regulations above the rights and freedoms guaranteed to all Americans.
  • Once an HOA is established the governing documents ensure its continuance forever.
  • The HOA Industry constantly lobbies state legislators to increase their power – their control.  Their bills usually have homeowner-friendly names but not homeowner-friendly results. Lobby Watch, June 1, 2011, revealed funds raised for PACs, the distribution to the legislators, and how they voted.

Why do homeowners endure this?

Two of the most powerful motivations are fear and greed.  Homeowners, legislators, and politicians bought the concept that HOAs protect property values.  No facts were ever given to support the statement, but prospects of pink houses, cars up on cinder blocks, and unacceptable neighbors were the threatened  alternative.  In one TV debate the CAI attorney must have thought one car on cinder blocks was not scary enough.  He described a non-HOA community adjacent to his where one house had “6 or 7 cars up on cinder blocks, grass overgrown, trailers out.” When the goal is to instill fear the argument has no limit.

It is a fact that property values are determined by the economy and affect homes in and out of HOAs.   According to an exhaustive study of Harris County homes, homes not in HOAs fared better. Fear was and still is a major factor.  But in HOAs the fear of being targeted with fines, fees, and foreclosure keeps most defenseless owners silent.

* Statutory Evolution of Condominiums and Property Owners Associations in Texas, by Sharon Reuler and Roy. D. Hailey, September 2002. Mortgage Lending Institute, U.T. School of Law

Important Scam Warning, But Not HOA Related

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Here are some crooks who desperately need to be shut down, so spread the word on this scam to everyone you know.

I just had the most incredible scam caller on my private phone line. By his accent, the guy was obviously from India. He said he was from Windows and that my computer and my website were constantly mailing out error messages to the Windows company. I played along and acted dumb as long as I could. The caller eventually hung up, but he was a very gifted scammer. I searched online to see if others had received a similar phone call and I pulled up the following article:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/10/i-am-calling-you-from-windows-a-tech-support-scammer-dials-ars-technica/

My experience was identical to that of the author of this article. This is apparently a huge world wide scam, and it’s quite convincing so avoid it like the plague.

BTW, if you don’t want to click on the link (which is obviously wise) here’s the following search string I ran on Google:     strange call windows event viewer

It will pull up the same article I’ve linked above.

Feel free to send anyone you know the link to tonight’s post on the Neighbors At War site. Heck, it might even generate some new readers for our regular fare.

-Ward