Sometimes our seemingly hopeless cause can be frustrating. When you think you’re doing the right thing but get hammered by critics at every turn, just try to keep up your confidence. First of all, our group is growing. More people are boarding this ship every day.
Second, take a look at the famous ‘losers’ listed below. The higher your level of enthusiasm the more successful you’ll be.
Once again, this website has passed the 50,000 mark for people visiting us during the previous month. That kind of growth doesn’t come from me or my guest bloggers, although I love them dearly. It’s because YOU are spreading the word about the scam known as the American Homeowners Association Movement. And people are paying attention.
Some family members just got back from Spring Break week in Florida with stories about yet another family member who’s gotten his back up over a minor HOA dispute. An unmowed lawn, a too-high hedge, and the wrong kind of lamp in the window. He plans to fight the HOA. I plan to plead with him to pay all the fines, shut up and carefully plot his escape.
You will not, you cannot win a fight against your HOA especially in Florida. Just pay the fines. Once you have to hire a lawyer, the tens of the thousands or the hundreds of thousands you spend will pale in comparison to the amounts in the original dispute. In other words, you lose. If you lose you’re a loser. The HOA system is not built to protect property values or neighborly love. It’s a contentious, dispute-driven organism which creates losers. But as an organism it does have a life cycle. Its death is inevitable.
If you can make a clean escape, or change the system from within, or spread the word to other homeowners…then you’re a winner.
A huge winner.
I’ve referred to Stan Hrincevich before, but his take on the CAI is one of the best I’ve read. Stan certainly learned from the recent transfer fee fiasco in the Colorado State Legislature that the CAI is not a benign organization. It’s got 50 state legislatures fooled. It’s got the vast majority of the American news media fooled. It’s got unlimited money and power which it uses like a jackhammer to supress the Constitutional rights of homeowners.
With his permission, I’m re-posting his recent analysis of the CAI. Impressive understanding! And his blogsite is a good one to add to your regular reading list (ColoradoHOAForum.blogspot.com).
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Who or What is the Community Association Institute (CAI): You May be Surprised (a Colorado and Nationwide Perspective) -Stan Hrincevich
For decades the sole source for Homeowners Association (HOA) information for the media and State Legislature has been the Community Associations Institute (CAI). Why not? Their name implies they represent the concerns of community associations and homeowners. They have been the main/only source sought and invited to the table for input and wisdom on HOA matters by government agencies, legislators, and the media. This group is so well ‘respected’ it has been asked to write or participate in writing HOA legislation to ensure participation of a “knowledgeable and unbiased” authoritative source.
Government regulatory agencies invite this group to write industry rules and regulations which are mostly adopted without challenge. News media people go directly to the CAI whenever an HOA problem surfaces to get a professional opinion as to why the problem arose and to learn the “correct” solution. HOA legislative proposals will see this group’s lobbying machine swarm and be welcomed at the Capitol to ensure the “right” and “workable” legislation is crafted. Visit this organization’s website and read their literature. Unless you study it carefully you would think the CAI altruistically represents homeowners vs. being a trade group that represents the interests of HOA property managers. This group is often invited to legislators’ town hall meetings, without the same courtesy extended to true homeowner groups. CAI spokesmen are represented as the experts and protectors of homeowners’ rights.
The actions of the CAI, however, reveal it is a well-financed and marketed machine that is the most anti-HOA homeowner group in the country. In Colorado and in other states this group, over the past decades, has legislatively intervened to ensure that HOA laws proposed or passed are watered down to the point that they’re ineffective at protecting homeowners. Their intervention ensures the CAI’s profitability and increases costs to HOA homeowners. This group represents property managers, HOA boards, legal and real estate interests, NOT the homeowners. Recent examples:
…killing an HOA transfer fee bill that costs Colorado homeowners $15 million a year in unjustified and unauthorized fees;
…direct intervention in a property manager licensing bill to ensure it served to sell their educational courses, increase membership and dues, and ensure licensing rules and regulations were reflective of their own legislative proposal that protected the interests of HOA boards and managers;
…opposed any legislation to provide HOA homeowners an affordable and accessible venue to dispute complaints out of court;
…supported a bill to authorize HOAs to levy fees against homeowners even when not authorized to do so in the governing documents;
…opposed limiting fees and add-on charges to HOA homeowner debt;
…opposed full and detailed disclosure of property manager fees assessed on home sellers;
…obstructed legislation to minimize homeowner protections against liens and foreclosure for HOA debt. The list of anti-homeowner actions goes on and on.
Legislative reform and improved governance must begin with dispelling the belief that the CAI represents homeowners. It must disclose this organization’s history and actions in preventing previous attempts at reform. It must curtail the CAI’s influence with government agencies, the media, and the politicians. Finally, groups that truly represent homeowners must be given a chance to offer their perspective at improving HOA governance.
guest blog by Nila Ridings
