Tag Archives: HOA Neighborhood

Excellent Advice!

guest blog by Nila Ridings

“At any given time there’s always a certain percentage of Americans looking to buy a house, and if you’re one of them we warn you: if you want a single-family home (as opposed to a condominium or townhouse where you and your neighbors share ownership of walls, roofs and other structures) avoid any real-estate purchase that requires you to join a homeowners’ association, or HOA.” ~Jennifer Abel

I’ll add one sentence. Do not buy a townhouse or condo or Co-op either!

(click here for Consumer Affairs story)

 

Mama “Goes Grizzly” on HOA Bully

guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
Just when I think I’ve read my craziest HOA story yet…here comes another!
 
Burl Fluharty, head of Westfields Condominium Association in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania must be on some kind of power trip. He’s decided that kids from an adjacent HOA-free subdivision should be subjected to his dictatorship, too! The two neighborhoods share a street, and Fluharty demanded they quit riding bicycles there….or he’d call the police!
 
“BACK OFF BURL!!!”  
 
Dorene Akujobi pounced like an Alaskan Mama bear protecting her cubs.  If her kids ride their bikes on the shared street, she’ll protect them from Burl’s verbal abuse.  She growled and showed her teeth and maybe her claws, too. “Bully Burl” has no jurisdiction outside of his HOA fiefdom. And Mama Grizzly stood her ground.
 
Fluharty, realizing his threats to call the cops weren’t scaring Dorene, tried another tactic. He had his HOA attorney, Robert Stewart, write a letter threatening a lawsuit. Fluharty must have been thinking “if I can’t scare her with the threat of cops, I’ll scare her with the threat of going to court! If it works on my turf, it should work on hers!” (And how nice that his HOA gets to pay this guy’s idiotic legal bills!)
 
As Fluharty continued to press his case, he argued that the real reason he wanted the kids off the street was because elderly drivers in his condos might not see them! It apparently didn’t dawn on him that elderly drivers who can’t see kids on bikes probably shouldn’t be driving.
 
But there was a lovely followup to the story as related in one of the comments below from a fellow neighbor: It seems the Township’s attorney wrote a letter to Fluharty telling him to cease and desist flinging his threats around the neighborhood. Even if he is an HOA president, there are limits to his power.   
 
Back to Mama Grizzly: “Way to go, Dorene!”
 

Legitimate Reason For An HOA?

Finally, there may be a legitimate reason for a Homeowners Association! Some of my good friends will disagree, but it’s a free country. No, I take that back…it once was a free country.

Still, the story linked below might make you think some community rules might be needed, especially when former husbands and wives are feuding.

(click here for Detroit middle finger statue)

 

Totally Inappropriate, but Absolutely Hilarious! (rated ‘R’)

Not everything on this website has to be related to Homeowners Associations. Sometimes, we wander far afield of our intended topic. But when a construction project just defies the imagination, we have to take note.

The Christian Science Church in Dixon, Illinois is a gorgeous building from the street level. But Google Earth shows the building projects a completely different image than the church had originally intended.

Is it possible this architect had some kind of ulterior motive in designing a church building? Does an architect come up with this design just by cosmic accident?

Just wondering.

Lawsuits, anyone?

(click here for Google Earth photo)

(click here for Church’s response!)

 

More Drone Clones

It’s sort of fun as an HOA critic to follow the development of spy drones aimed at the consumer market. Here’s an amazing drone developed by the Japanese Ministry of Defense. All they need is buyers. These things are only 1400 bucks apiece and I know exactly where they can sell 335,000 of them.

That’s how many Homeowners Associations there are in this country. Heck, the price is low enough for each HOA board member and HOA management company to have one. That’s at least a couple of million sales.

The greatest drones, though, are still in the hands of the U.S. Military. They’re smaller than a hummingbird. But they’re all invasive and the typical HOA board isn’t bound by privacy laws. Or ethics.

(click here for the Japanese drone video)