Tag Archives: HOA Embezzlement

Balance of Power in U.S. Senate Based On HOA Chickens?!?

      1 Comment on Balance of Power in U.S. Senate Based On HOA Chickens?!?

Some stories are just too weird to embellish, even for the sake of humor. But the U.S. Senate seat from Iowa may boil down to a neighborhood dispute over chickens.

Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley is running for Senate in a razor thin race. Braley has a vacation home in the ritzy Holiday Lake neighborhood in Brooklyn, Iowa. Covenants in the neighborhood say, “No animals or birds other than household pets can be kept in the subdivision.” But one of Braley’s neighbors (also a registered Democrat) keeps chickens on her property as ‘therapy animals’ for mentally handicapped youngsters.

The chickens apparently strayed into the Braley’s yard and litigation was threatened. The owner of the chickens tried to make amends with a gift of eggs, but the Braleys wouldn’t have any part of that.

Now, there’s a hot new Iowa Republican attack ad with some talking chickens making fun of Braley’s threatened lawsuit. You can read the rest of the details at the links below, but the story is just too ridiculous for words.

If the balance of power in the U.S. Senate shifts in this election, finally, FINALLY folks in Congress might start talking about the idiocy and meanness of neighborhood disputes in Homeowners Associations.

(talking chickens ad)

(washington post take on the chicken dispute)

 

Nevada ‘Mouth’ Moves Again

      2 Comments on Nevada ‘Mouth’ Moves Again

Ah, Barbara Holland, how we love thee! Ms. Holland, who writes a column in the real estate section of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, complains about a recent guest blog that lists some of the complaints against her: One is that she gets paid for writing her newspaper column which is massively biased in favor of Homeowners Associations.

Ms. Holland, who describes herself as the “Dear Abby of Homeowners Associations,” will never deny that writing her newspaper column has made her very rich in the real estate business. Her ‘voluntary newspaper column’ is the kind of self-promotion that every entrepreneur dreams of. Whether she gets paid ten or twenty bucks per column by the newspaper is absolutely immaterial. Barbie Baby, you started piling up your millions in the property management and Realty business the day your first column was published. In the most corrupt real estate market in the nation, most honorable people would be scared to death to identify themselves as being the “Dear Abby” or “Dear Ann Landers” of anything HOA related.

But all of that is petty infighting and beyond the point. The issue at hand is the stupidity and short-term thinking of the Nevada Supreme Court which ruled that an HOA’s Super-Priority lien could extinguish the mortgage company’s first deed of trust. Bottom line: thousands of Nevada homes that are in crisis can be snatched up by real estate bottom feeders who grab homes for a couple thousand bucks at auction, and flip them for hundreds of thousands of dollars each. A windfall profit. A disaster for those in the mortgage business. And Barbie tells us, “No big deal.”

In fairness to Barbie Baby, here’s her latest take on the subject:

(link to Barbara Holland’s column on Nevada court decision)

Now that “Dear Nevada Abby” has spoken, let’s look at some totally different conclusions made by far more astute financial folks at the Wall Street Journal, reporters like Joe Light (joe.light@wsj.com). The link below sometimes asks for a registration, but any good Internet researcher can find a way around that.

(link to WSJ article on Nevada mortgage mess)

(link to parallel article in Bloomberg News)

Now, to you, Dear Reader. Do we believe in dear ‘Self-Interest Nevada Abby?’ Or the financial folks on the national scene who are actually talking to the nation’s lending institutions about all the impending consequences?

 

 

 

 

Another Insignificant HOA Embezzlement?

      1 Comment on Another Insignificant HOA Embezzlement?
guest blog by Deborah Goonan

Another isolated incident?

It seems like there are several reports of HOA theft and embezzlement each week. Sometimes it’s a rogue Board member writing checks to herself or buying himself a new car. But sometimes it’s the Community Association Manager skimming funds, as in this case in Georgia. Atlanta, Dunwoody, and Chamblee police departments are currently investigating up to twelve HOAs where Michael Sisson was hired to manage the communities’ operations and finances.

Yes, up to one dozen.

So far, Dunwoody police have filed charges against Sisson involving $180,000 in missing funds from two separate HOAs.  Hopefully, these HOAs had adequate insurance policies and were paid in full. No doubt they were relying on Sisson to pay the bills.

Anyone care to guess how much this investigation is going to cost taxpayers, including the ones who are fortunate enough not to live in one of these HOAs?

(link to news report about GA HOA embezzlements)

New Mexico HOAs Struggle After Embezzlement Investigation

      No Comments on New Mexico HOAs Struggle After Embezzlement Investigation

Embezzling from HOA budgets is the gift that keeps on giving. More than two months ago a New Mexico realty business which managed a number of Rio Rancho HOAs was raided. All the computers were seized. Homeowners don’t even know how much was stolen because the management company’s records are still under lock and key.

Investigators say hundreds of thousands of dollars were embezzled. All Rio Rancho homeowners know is that their monthly dues are going up. They have no way of knowing how high. Strange, that while the consequences are so severe most HOA thefts by board officers and management companies are only discovered by accident.

Another Baffling HOA Embezzlement

      5 Comments on Another Baffling HOA Embezzlement

Even after a forty year TV News career of reporting on the victims of crime I’ve never succeeded at getting into the heads of white collar criminals, why they do what they do, and why they’re seemingly unconcerned about the emotional and financial damage they do to their victims. They seem to think and act in a language I’ve never understood.

The Arbor Ridge Homeowners Association in Torrington, Connecticut has been socking away money to pay to rebuild roads that were poorly constructed by the original developer. But over a six or seven year term as president and treasurer of the HOA, it appears that 52 year old Roger Okenquist has been socking away money in his own personal account.

Torrington Police say the president/treasurer wrote more than 500 checks to himself, his wife and children, even though the Arbor Ridge HOA doesn’t allow that. How could someone not notice?

Some of these thefts are so old that the statute of limitations has expired. It’s possible that these victimized homeowners are getting exactly what they deserved.

“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” -Jefferson

(link to Torrington embezzlement)