Tag Archives: HOA Hell

Nancy Quon Didn’t Commit Suicide

      No Comments on Nancy Quon Didn’t Commit Suicide

Use your heads, folks. Of course the coroner will rule suicide,  That’s a given. But across this world hundreds and hundreds of millions of people take a bath with a glass, or even a bottle of wine, and they don’t end up dead. How come only Nancy Quon has a glass of wine and dies in a bathtub?

Sure, she was under stress. She was about to testify that up to 120 others in the legal, political  and Homeowner Association industry were just as dirty as she was.  Nancy Quon, all by herself, crashed the dreams of millions of homeowners in Nevada.  But she had the ego to think she could skate from under all those federal charges. A woman with that kind of arrogance doesn’t kill herself.  She believes in herself right to the very bitter end.

The coroner will rule suicide because he really has no other choice.  Suicide is the easy answer. Suicide is the only answer. But when you hear that conclusion it will be a bald-faced lie.

Let’s look at the facts: at least 120 people wanted Nancy Quon dead. They hated her. Their life savings were stolen by her. Every hope and dream they ever had were robbed from them and they hated her with a passion.

And yes, there was even a previous murder attempt by one of her partners. His thumb-sucking amateur attempt went wrong for a hundred different reasons, but Nancy Quon’s days were numbered. Too many people, big and small, knew about her to ever let her get near a witness stand. That could never ever happen.

The Feds knew what she had. She’s been talking to them for months, mostly trying to talk herself out of a prison cell.  But she’s been talking, naming names, places, dates, and if they ever got her onto a witness stand the entire state of Nevada would collapse. Her theft of a couple hundred million dollars pales in comparison to what others have stolen.

I’m just a grizzled old reporter, one who’s watched this scene play out in a hundred courtrooms over a forty year career. I’ve watched it happen in a dozen different ways. But just remember my words. Nancy Quon did not commit suicide.

 

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

My Mistake, My Apology!!

      No Comments on My Mistake, My Apology!!

 

I don’t know why I made such a horrible mistake, My error in judgment just baffles me. But for some reason, I always thought that people from New Hampshire were a little more reasonable, a little more gentlemanly in solving neighborhood disputes with more kindess, diplomacy and friendliess than the rest of us.. It was just a personal thing I always believed about people from New Hampshire. It just seems to have a ring to it, the abilty to believe that people from New Hampshire were above the common fray, just a little more reasonable than others.

Now, I’ve discovered that folks from New Hampshire don’t have any more class or honesty than the rest of us.

A lady name Kimberly Bois planted flowers in her yard. It was just a tiny garden in a townhome association. It couldn’t have attracted much attention. But her Portsmouth, New Hampshire Homeowner Association just decided that Kimberly was in violation, and they’re now fining her fifty bucks a day for trying to show some of nature’s beauty, that others could enjoy.

The fine is now up to $6000, not counting legal fees. But her HOA has every intention of taking her house if she doesn’t dig up and kill all those wonderful flowers. The goal, of course, to to make every home look identical, regimented, the thing you might see in front of an typical Army Barracks.

There’s nothing in the bylaws. It was just an arbitrary decision by a board majority.

Bois says it’s just not a happy place to live anymore. It just feels like a case of bullying.

Kimberly, just get out of there! Your beauty and grace is wasted on these lawn nazis and their lawyers. The HOA system is not based on traditional home ownership. It’s not based on raising the value of your home. It’s a legal scam where the lawyers insist on showing no mercy for covenant scofflaws. Keep each unit identical and file profitable lawsuits and foreclosures against every resident who shows any individuality. It’s all about finding an excuse for depriving you of your home equity. A perpetual cash machine for lawyers. No other explanation.

Kimberly, you’re needed elsewhere in neighborhoods where people actually love their neigbors and applaud their efforts to improve their homes and gardens. Get out before these parasites take you for every dime you own. Your talents, and your ability to bring about beauty is something that will be well respected elsewhere.

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

Prominent Las Vegas HOA Figure Found Dead

      No Comments on Prominent Las Vegas HOA Figure Found Dead

Nancy Quon, the attorney at the center of a Homeowner Association scandal in Las Vegas, has been found dead in her bathtub. Quon had been accused in an HOA construction defect litigation scandal that took in more than a hundred million dollars from insurance companies that represented Homeowner Associations in Nevada.

The FBI has been investigating up to a hundred Homeowner Associations in the Las Vegas area, and has staged several raids on the offices of HOAs and HOA management companies. The scandal has been in the hands of at least three federal grand juries over the past three years. At least ten prominent figures in the investigation have pleaded guilty to a variety of charges over the past five months.

Quon and her associates have been accused of arranging for ‘straw men’ to be elected to the boards of Nevada Homeowner Associations. Those newly elected board officers would then vote to file construction defect lawsuits against insurance companies. Those lawsuits were then funneled to construction companies affiliated with Quon’s law firm. The head of one of those construction companies is a prominent night club owner in Las Vegas who also runs a number of Nevada construction companies.

Police in Las Vegas say that foul play was not suspected in Quon’s death, and that she may have been drinking in her bathtub when she passed out.

A complicating factor, though, is that Quon and a Las Vegas police officer were accused of plotting to arrange her “suicide” more than a year ago, supposedly to collect insurance money for her children. The police officer allegedly arranged for the Las Vegas Police Department laboratory to manufacture a quantity of GHB, a drug frequently used at rave parties, to be used in her death. That officer’s conversation was recorded by a police informant and the officer is currently under indictment in connection with her attempted suicide last year.

During the alleged suicide attempt last year, Quon’s home caught fire and she was pulled from her burning home and revived by paramedics. She claimed at the time that she was not attempting suicide. Quon’s death will complicate the FBI’s investigation of the Homeowner Association scandal, since she was apparently the key target of the federal investigation.

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

Stupid Reporters, but They’ll Learn

      1 Comment on Stupid Reporters, but They’ll Learn

An amazingly ignorant story was posted by reporter Jeff Skrzypek of WPTV this month. It noted that Homeowner Associations in Florida were crippled by the housing crisis. He did have the class to acknowledge that developers were also impacted.

Then, the reporter interviewed whiny homeowners in Lake Worth, Florida who pay their dues each month but just don’t see the neighborhood improving because so many foreclosed homes are driving down prices, and those homes don’t contribute to maintainance of the common areas.

Besides, they complain, the developer can’t sell 9 of the 60 homes there, so he’s decided to rent them out instead of selling them and turning control of the HOA over to the residents.

The average thumb sucking dullard could figure a few things out, here. Housing prices have nose-dived in Homeowners Associations because home buyers are getting smart. They’re figuring out that the worst investment in the world is an HOA home where the dues aren’t being paid. Yes, the local swimming pool is covered with green grunge, but that won’t change until every home is occupied and all dues are being paid again. That could take years.

And that rotten developer! What if he just turned those homes over to the bank? That’s nine more foreclosures in a neighborhood that’s already going through its death throes. He’s actually keeping that housing development on life support, probably at enormous personal expense.

Then the idiot homeowner complained that she thought she was moving into an ownership community? Wake up and smell the coffee. Pass a state law that says no HOA resident is allowed to rent out his home. Then you’ll see how low housing prices really can go!

One more thing. Homes inside Homeowner Associations take a faster dive in value than any other kind of housing. So much for the promise of protecting the equity of your home.

I just had an idea. What if all those weepy homeowners quit talking to reporters and walked around the neighborhood voluntarily cleaning things up. Nah, come to think of it, that doesn’t happen in Homeowner Associations. They’ll wait until they can appoint a cleanup committee.

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

Midwest Residents Latest to be Hit by Embezzlers

      No Comments on Midwest Residents Latest to be Hit by Embezzlers

People in Kansas and Missouri Homeowner Associations must have wondered why they weren’t being hit by embezzlers.  Were they just more honest, maybe luckier?  Maybe people in the Midwest just respect each other a little more?

But then, maybe not.  The feds in Las Vegas have learned how the corrupt HOA system is bleeding dollars away from homeowners across the nation. Now U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips theft has released info that should shock a lot more homeowners.

She has arrested the owner of a Kansas City business for stealing more than 750,000 dollars of money from his neighbors.  And he has pleaded guilty. Dozens of homeowners associations were hit while 53 year old Dale Palmar of Kansas City, Missouri just raked it in.

I’ve argued at length that wherever you look in this country, you’ll see the signs; homeowners being excessively fined for minor infractions, insurance money that’s supposedly paid, but just doesn’t quite lead to the expected repairs.

The message is crystal clear: the HOA movement is one of the most corrupt institutions this country has ever witnessed.  The loss of money through the HOA system is massive and almost unprecedented. When you sign those CC&Rs just remember you’re putting your retirement savings, your equity into the hands of all your neighbors.

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association