This blog post is, indeed, a little esoteric. But many experts have predicted that another financial bubble is going to collapse, this one involving the HOA housing industry.
You really have to dive in between the lines of the story linked below. But this financial expert is predicting societal changes which actually could lead to a housing collapse in suburban America. He says the most dynamic part of our growing financial culture is the diversity of thought and creativity that’s only found in our inner cities and not in our stale suburban neighborhoods. He claims that our societal focus on suburban life is destined for failure and calls it “…the primary reason for global financial crisis.”
I’m no economist and my own predictions are far less sophisticated than his. But it boils down to the same conclusion: Sir Thomas More’s vision of Utopia is exactly backwards and is destined to collapse simply because the human spirit is not designed for life in Paradise. It’s evolutionarily designed for survival of the fittest. And the HOA Utopian model was never designed to handle the harsh realities of life.
When those institutions which underwrite home loans discover that the typical Homeowner Association model does not protect or stabilize property values, when they discover that homes outside HOAs actually rise faster in value than those inside gated neighborhoods, when they finally discover that embezzlement is the Achilles heel of covenant controlled developments, then investor money will start flowing out of homeowners associations and back into more traditional neighborhoods.
These Douglas County, Colorado residents aren’t pilots but they are driving so fast they nearly ran over their neighbor, Diane Powers, twice in one night! One speeder wiped out a 30 foot tree and if he loses control on that curve again there’s a big rock in its place now.
Warning!!! This HOA is using camera-equipped radar and tickets will be issued to homeowners which will include any of their guests who are caught speeding. Oh yes! If the pizza delivery girl is trying to deliver it “hot and on time“…you could get hit with a fine for her misdeeds.
Homeowners, wonder what will be next? Well let’s see…how about breathalyzers, seat belt checks, texting, eating, sneezing, and talking-on-the-cell while driving? Brace yourselves for the “wannabe cops” patrolling the streets of Roxborough!
Speed bumps were removed because they interfered with snow removal and emergency response time.
If things don’t change, I suppose they could always require owners to park at the gate and walk from there.
Oh, my sides still hurt from the hilarity. Linked below you’ll see a very short and amazingly insightful video from an HOA critic who is, as yet, unknown. If I can learn his identity I intend to send that person an autographed copy of my book to show my appreciation.
This fellow obviously lives in an HOA, obviously has been hassled over his holiday decorations, and obviously keeps up with current news events.
And if one of you can figure out who this fellow is, I’ll also send you a book autographed to whoever you want, a neighbor, a Congressman, an HOA board member.
As a matter of fact, we need to keep the humor going. Anyone who sends me a photo or piece of video that needs to be circulated to followers of my website, please feel free to do so. If I end up using your video, you’ll also get a free copy of Neighbors At War in the mail!
A video now going viral around the country involves a Goodwill store which is inadvertently selling the personal tax records of a number of families who put donations in the Goodwill bins.
In this blog we usually concentrate on HOAs and the out-of-control tort industry. But as you watch this investigative report you’ve got to believe your personal information can be leaked when HOA boards or their attorneys dump their trash and files.
Anyway, watch this and suppress your urge to ‘freak out’.
Since becoming the sole caregiver of a loved one a few years ago, I’ve had to spend a little time in the kitchen trying to learn to cook. I passionately hate cooking. Recipes always seem suspiciously like the semester of chemistry I flunked in high school.
But in the past few years I’ve been amazed at the number of folks who know nothing about paper bag-baked turkeys.
My mother, God rest her soul, didn’t know any other way of cooking a turkey. You basically prepare the Thanksgiving bird in your favorite way. Open a brown paper bag, grab a stick of butter with your hand and smear it all over the inside of the bag. Then slide the turkey in and tightly seal the bag.
No, the bag won’t catch fire. And after the appropriate time in the oven you’ll taste an incredibly moist turkey.
Speaking of shopping bags, communities around the country are beginning to pass laws which essentially fine shoppers who ask for paper or plastic. But I promise you this: You cannot cook a turkey in a canvas reusable bag. Buttered or not.
