It’s fantastic news when an HOA board member is convicted of embezzling from all her neighbors. It’s horrible when the judge decides that probation is adequate punishment. Homeowners Associations are mini-governments that should theoretically be governed by the U.S. Constitution. Therefore, board members should be treated and considered as politicians. And an embezzling board member should be treated as a corrupt politician.
There’s a pretty good handful of politicians who’ve been sent to prison for corruption. Think ABSCAM if anybody remembers that one.
But these soccer moms who steal tens of thousands of bucks from the HOA? Naw, the prisons are too full. Just give them probation and restitution although that restitution is almost never paid. Stealing from your neighbors is fundamentally corrupt because it makes the rest of us not trust the institution. Lose faith in an institution and the emotional and financial damage in the neighborhood is irreparable. Special assessments to pay for the amounts stolen can make your home worthless. Who wants to buy in an HOA when you have no idea what the monthly dues are going to be.
Don’t mollycoddle these monsters. Throw them in prison. Throw away the key.
(link story on latest embezzlement sentence)
This is such a bad idea. Homeowners Associations are linking arms with the credit reporting industry to hammer the credit scores of homeowners late on their HOA dues. Horrible direction for this crooked, crime-filled HOA movement to take.
Look at news stories around the country. Go back and read the past four years of stories on this blog. Look at the horrors uncovered in the Kansas City Star. Now get out your calculator and start adding up the vast numbers of lawsuits that are going to be filed by homeowners whose credit scores were wrongly lowered. When lawsuits are filed against a Homeowners Association, who pays? And don’t say “the insurance company.” Ultimately, homeowners across the country will be forking over millions, hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for legal costs and judgments. Can you say, “Special Assessment?”
(link to excellent column about HOAs and credit reporting)
Believe it or not, those are the marching orders in many Homeowners Associations. Communities with young people are very popular among prospective home buyers. It’s rare that a young family will seek out neighborhoods with a lot of elderly people. Thus, HOA boards will use every trick in the book to get rid of members of the Old F-rts Club. Instead of trying to work with an older homeowner to get dues collected, many just fine, lien and foreclose.
The commentary linked below is a tragic one. But we hear it time and time again. Welcome to HOA Amerika.
http://cgmlawgroup.com/foreclosure-hoa-fees/
One of the country’s best Homeowners’ Rights bloggers….perhaps THE best is Deborah Goonan. Her blog is Independent American Communities. Articulate, wise, informed. In short, I’m wildly jealous of her! Maybe in the next lifetime I’ll be reincarnated with her brain.
In any event, her current post, linked below, is one you should print out and keep copies in a file folder where you can quickly find it to hand out to friends.
10 tough questions for opponents of HOA reform
Condo, co-op, duplex. Growing numbers of people are moving into Homeowners Associations with approximately ZERO knowledge of what they are and how dangerous they can be.
It’s been tough getting the media’s attention, but the movement to wake American homeowners up seems to be gaining momentum. Every little bit helps, including the article linked below.
(a word of warning from TheStreet)
