Tag Archives: HOA Embezzlement

What’s The Cause?

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

We’re back in Saint Louis, Missouri where homeowners are in the midst of a very heated battle.

Some are saying it’s over skin color. Others say it’s the barking dogs. A few think it’s the criminal history. Whatever it is, it’s heating up.

These folks live in an HOA. Personally, I do not see where the HOA should even think of getting involved in this battle.

The black lesbian lady with the four barking dogs has the NAACP and experienced Ferguson protesters backing her up. She has served time in prison for a murder-for-hire on her ex-husband. And that plan failed because her cousin was the hired killer and he ratted her out to the police. Somewhere along the way she acquired the barking dogs that are keeping the neighbor awake at night. She is also being accused of punching the neighbor lady in the face and leaving her with a swollen lip and bloody nose.

I see HOA involvement as nothing more than a promise to destroy the bank accounts of the homeowners. Others think they should enforce the CC&Rs of no more than two dogs per household. I still say stay away from this battle.

And for the lady who can’t get any sleep, I suggest a white noise machine with earplugs. You’ll never hear the barking dogs but be sure you have a number of smoke alarms in your house so you would hear them if there’s an emergency.

As the battle rages on, I will be watching from the sidelines.

(link to story in the St. Louis Post Dispatch)
Youtube video of barking dogs:

 

6-Year Old Condo – $8.7 Million Special Assessment

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guest blog by Deborah Goonan

St. Petersburg’s Signature Place condo is in the news again. Condo owners have known for months that there were construction defects with leaky windows. Well, now that portions of stucco have been removed and walls have been opened up to assess the extent of the problem, it turns out that someone forgot to put re-bar in the concrete walls. Oh, and, by the way, the stucco job has allegedly been botched, too. The Condo Board is concerned that residents or pedestrians walking by the tower could be injured by falling stucco. Not a concern to be taken lightly with Florida’s offshore winds and threats of hurricanes.

The owners are looking at major construction noise and disruption through December 2016. Although there is pending litigation between the Association and the Developer Joe Cantor and several construction companies, these are apparently emergency repairs that cannot wait for a painstakingly slow legal process. So condo owners are facing hefty special assessments, spread out over 10 years of monthly assessment increases.

According to the Tampa Bay Times report, those assessments range from about $10,000 to $132,000, depending on the size of the condo unit, with many around $50,000. Sale prices of units have ranged from units auctioned off in the $200-300 thousand range to $1.3 million for the grand penthouse. Owners of the more modestly priced units will be hit hardest, because they are living on relatively modest fixed incomes.

Of course, construction defect litigation can drag on for several years. Who knows if condo owners will recoup any of this money. Quite often, the Association is lucky to end up with about half of what it actually costs to fix shoddy construction, by the time the attorneys are paid.

And what are the chances that all of these condo owners will be able and willing to pay these huge assessments? Even spread out over ten years, will it still be “affordable living” in this proclaimed “monumental piece of art?

Also, note that, once again, the developer gets to hire his own engineer to inspect and sign off on his own project!

(UPDATE: DEVELOPER SAYS “DON’T BLAME ME FOR $8.7 MILLION REPAIR BILL”)

 

Trump’s Take on HOAs

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Yep, it’s a question a lot of us have been asking: With The Donald being such a high-powered real estate developer, what does he think about owner associations? After all, he creates the covenants for all the condos he sells.

His take, linked below, is extremely interesting.

(link to Virginia blog on Trump and condo associations)

 

Drones! Drones! Drones!

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I should charge money for psychic readings!  It was four or five years ago that I began predicting the advent of drones and that they would eventually be cheap enough for the boards of Homeowners Associations to start using them to inspect the most private part of your property. Your nude sunbathing or hot tub trysts could be played on the TV set at the HOA clubhouse and you probably wouldn’t win a legal case.

Well, so far I’m batting about 90% so far. The drones are here. They cost as little a four hundred bucks. And they’re popping up in thousands and thousands of places. Realtors are using them to advertise homes and neighborhoods. Terrorists are using them to interfere with commercial aircraft. Voyeurs are using them to videotape you and your lover on the backyard blanket. The FAA only controls drones in airspace over 1000 feet.

Privacy? Fugeddaboutit!

There’ve been a number of cases where homeowners have shot drones out of the air. The shooters usually end up being arrested and jailed. But it’s a whole new area of developing law and will probably take a decade or more to resolve. In the meantime even if a jury finds you not guilty you will have expended hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees.

(link to shoot a drone, go to jail, do not collect $200. It ain’t Monopoly money, folks!)

 

$50K Goal For GoFundMe And The Purple Playset

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

The blog I wrote about the Raintree Lake HOA in Lee’s Summit, Missouri on August 10th mentioned discussions of a GoFundMe account for the Stout family legal defense. They are standing up and fighting against the HOA to keep their daughters’ purple playset.

Sure enough, somebody took the bull by the horns and set it up. The donations are rolling in. And the comments from some of the donors are VERY interesting. Even a Realtor is making mention of people being afraid to buy in HOAs. How many times have we heard that before?

It’s so sickening to think all that money will go to fund the college funds of children of two HOA lawyers. Or maybe a second home in Breckenridge, Bozeman, or Bonaire. Or, possibly a yacht for the Lake of the Ozarks. No matter what the outcome of the lawsuit in the courtroom, the lawyers come out the winners. This is how the HOA legal game is played. Everybody loses except the lawyers. The pay off is determined by how long the lawyers can keep the battle raging.

When I sold yellow page advertising years ago, I had hundreds of attorneys as clients. When I asked what was the best case I could bring them they would tell me a nasty divorce. Naive me, I asked how do you know it’s a nasty divorce? With a chuckle from the attorneys I kept hearing, “you get them to call and we KNOW how to make it nasty!” Something tells me the days of the nasty divorces have been replaced with nasty HOA legal battles. Unfortunately, in that arena, I am not at all naive!

http://www.gofundme.com/hekvt8xm