Tag Archives: HOA corruption

Farmers Define Community

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guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
There is a lot to be said for not living stacked on top of your neighbors. Or close enough to notice the color tint on their front door is two shades too dark and their garage door has been up longer than the fifteen minute limit.
 
Homeowners Associations chant their mantra of what great communities they create.  Real estate agents “accidentally” fail to mention the lawsuits, loans the board signed for, failed maintenance, and decade-old work orders collecting dust on a shelf.  No sir, those things are all out of sight and out of mind as they tour you past the lovely flower beds and pools, and through the clubhouse with it’s recently installed wood floors.
 
But peel all that away and you see the brutal truth:  HOAs are more like living in a war zone. 
 
Farmers don’t live in HOAs.  They can’t see the front door of the farmer 1/2 mile down the road.  Farmers not only feed us but they teach us a great deal about community.  This Carson, Iowa town of farmers came together to help harvest Phil Killinger’s crops when he was stricken with liver cancer.  And Terry Gleaves loves his farmer neighbor so much it’s difficult for him to cope with the illness of his friend.
 
This is what community is all about.  These good folks saw a need and without hesitation they pulled together, worked together, and made a difference together. They created a WIN WIN WIN situation.  
 
At the end of the day, this is what HOAs should be patterned after.  Instead, they’ve spent 40 years building up to the battle grounds they are today.  
 
And THAT has made all the difference!
 
 

“It’s Almost Like Communism!”

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Yep, Lady. That’s what it is. Welcome to Communist Amerika.

These stories just make me physically ill. The Masterson Station Neighborhood Association in Lexington, Kentucky, decided that a 75 year German immigrant didn’t deserve her home. So they took it. And they sold it. Now they’re booting her out to the curb.

Ingrid Boak thought the whole thing was a mistake. An oversight. But Ingrid, you’ve learned there is a fascist, communist side to the United States. Most of us deny that, of course, and we all like to pretend it’s still a free country.

Ingrid bought her home in 2007 for $125,000 cash. She didn’t realize the Homeowners Association was mandatory. She thought the dues were for the local swimming pool which she never used. So when the notices arrived at her house she thought it was junk mail. The neighborhood was demanding $48 per year but she thought it was just solicitations for things in which she didn’t participate.

Ingrid first noticed something was wrong when she found a note taped to her door saying she didn’t live there any more, and that someone bought her house at auction for $93,500.

“How can my house be sold without my permission, or without me having something in my hand?” Ingrid asks. “It’s almost like Communism.”

Nathan Billings, attorney for the Masterson Station Neighborhood Association said they were unaware anyone lived at the house. Strange, because the whole neighborhood, including a police officer next door, all knew she was living there.

Anyway, after the auction the money was divided up among the HOA, the attorneys, and the Master Commissioner. Oh, and they kicked some of the money toward Ingrid, although it was tens of thousands less than she had paid for her house.

Now this may be way out of line, but sometimes I do say things without measuring the consequences. The thought of these guys huddling around dividing up Ingrid’s stuff just reminds me of a Biblical scene, where Roman soldiers stood around after the Crucifixion divvying up Jesus’ garments.

(click here from story from Lex18)

Property Manager, Dana 859-246-0911 

Office hours, Mon-Wed 9am-3pm, Thurs 11am-7pm 
 
President, Jeff Crabb 859-252-5497, jdcrabb@hotmail.com 
Vice President, Greg Stanforth, gregnmasterson@netzero.com 
Secretary, Lori Hindenlang, lhindenlang@yahoo.com 
Treasurer, Mark Treesh, marktreesh@juno.com 
 
Todd Cox, etatau73@hotmail.com 
Veronica Herst, Veronicaherst.msna@yahoo.com 
Jeremy Slade, Jdslade.lxms@@yahoo.com 
 
 For all Board Members: board@mastersonstation.org 
 

 

Great Asset For Arizona Homeowners

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I like to pass along good resources and blogs whenever I run across them. Here’s another.

Roger Wood heads a law firm in Arizona which recently filed a class action lawsuit against more than two dozen HOA management companies accusing them of illegal collections efforts against homeowners. That case is still pending.

Wood maintains a website where he occasionally writes blog entries, two of which caught my attention. One is a clever paraphrase of a passage from the Book of Matthew. The second is a discussion of a ‘cone of silence’ or force field that HOA attorneys put between board officers and homeowners, essentially to shut homeowners up…and increase their legal fees to the HOA of course. I wish we had a Roger Wood in each state in the nation.

Wood has given me permission to send you to his blog.

(click here for J. Roger Wood, attorney)

 

Was This Embezzler Reading My Book?

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A newly elected HOA treasurer in Georgia allegedly siphoned 43,000 bucks out of the checking account of his Homeowners Association. At some point he must have panicked and he started slamming money back into the account 10,000 dollars at a time!

I can just picture him picking up a copy of Neighbors At War at the airport bookshop, reading it on the plane, and then scrambling to pay back the money before he was accused of a felony.

Too late.

Even if you pay it back it’s still felony theft. Of course, he’s innocent until proven guilty.

(click here for Fox Atlanta story)

 

“Quail Run Condos Falling Down, Falling Down, Falling Down, Quail Run Condos Falling Down, Run, Mr. Johnson!”

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guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
What’s happening at Quail Run Condos in Charlotte, North Carolina? They have no money to repair James Johnson’s cracked foundation which has caused his floor to drop and walls to crack. But they do have money for a two year battle and a property manager who can schedule the repairs but can’t get the work started. Talk is cheap so they’ll be discussing this nightmare at the next HOA board meeting. 
 
Quality-built? Sure, if compared to your breakfast cereal box!  Lowest-grade cheap materials and sloppy construction.  In about thirty years or less they are ready to be bulldozed.  No more structurally sound than a mobile home minus the wheels.
 
Mr. Johnson, the HOA admits the structural problems are theirs to fix.  Okay, so they have breached the HOA’s side of the contract.  They break promises to repair it because you are a “troublemaker” for trying to keep your condo from falling down. I call that deceptive practices. Next, they will claim they are not responsible to pay for the interior damages. They will try to force you into bankruptcy with a legal battle which they will have funded by a multi-billion dollar insurance company that is committed to destroy you.  
  
Forget about selling.  You’ll be dumping this nightmare on some other innocent person.  Hire a structural engineer.  If they declare the place unsafe, contact the City of Charlotte Safety Inspector.  They may condemn the property.  Have your attorney sue for breach of contract and deceptive practices in violation of the North Carolina consumer protection laws. Add a demand for the HOA to buy your property and pay your legal bills. 
 
If you don’t, you’re right, you’ll have to pay somebody to take this worthless piece of crap off your hands.  This is precisely why condo owners all across America are walking away and letting the banks foreclose on their properties.  
 
How do I know this drill?  I live in an HOA with nearly these identical problems.  I’ve been living this same nightmare for eight years!!!!!!
 
TRUST ME, IT DOES NOT GET BETTER!
 
I’ve learned these maintenance-provided HOAs are nothing but cash cows for the HOA, property managers, insurance companies, attorneys, and the city and county tax collectors. They are a massive hemorrhage on the owner’s bank account, health, and happiness.
 
Maintenance-provided is the worst kind of HOA hell.  The buyers become the losers the day we sign the contract!  
 

(click here for WCNC-TV news story)