A recent issue of Realty Times discusses what thousands of victims of Hurricane Sandy already know: Homeowners in HOAs Co-ops and Community Associations aren’t eligible for storm coverage.
Huh? What’s that again?
FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, says Homeowners Associations are private businesses. As such, a homeowner who’s damaged in a major disaster can’t get federal grants. If they’re lucky they might qualify for loans, but by buying into a Homeowners Association a homeowner is actually just a shareholder in a business enterprise, not a real homeowner.
So, all you great people who bought into a condo, townhome, co-op, or Homeowners Association don’t wait for that check from the feds. It’s probably not coming!
Hilton Head, South Carolina must be a rip-roaring place. A paramedic who gets occasional calls there posted the following on a professional real estate blog:
“One of the local nicknames for the _______ Homeowners Association was “Viagra Falls”. This is because human nature does not change, and when unoccupied by things like work and raising children, some people become very self-indulgent, even over the top. There were frequent calls for EMS and the sheriff’s department for not only Viagra reactions, but for domestic violence/ assault charges, often stemming from a wife coming home too early from her bridge or swimming tournament and discovering her husband up to his old tricks – or new ones. There was an entire group in the complex that had weekly Friday or Saturday night “key parties” where all of the men put their keys into a basket, and take the woman home with them who picks out their key. There was a lot of Sturm and Drang over these incidents and their aftermath. As EMS, we got to witness it up close and firsthand……If this is the kind of lifestyle that appeals or that you can either accept or overlook, then by all means, go for it…. But I don’t like that sort of lifestyle… we bought 60 acres and a 100 year old farmhouse and raise our own cows, chickens and veggies…. Different strokes for different folks.”
LOL! Well, I sure hope this paramedic gets her peace and quiet in retirement. Looks like she deserves it!
Sidewalk Chalk. It washes off in the first rainstorm. It can be hosed off in about twenty seconds. Why would a Homeowners Association care? Because when fascist leaning board members with an ‘agenda’ get elected they look for the tiniest of reasons to file suit and snatch the entire amount of your home equity. It’s not paranoia, it’s what happens it neighborhood after neighborhood across America. The Homeowners Association Movement is wildly out of control.
In Hays County, Texas, board members of the Elm Grove Homeowners Association found a victim to help bolster neighborhood finances; it was Melissa McCrary who bought her home just four years ago. She thought it was a kid-friendly environment.
Neighbors in her part of the ‘hood’ started getting letters from the HOA saying that sidewalk chalk drawings were a violation of the covenants. It was called ‘a friendly reminder.’
Sidewalk Chalk art of any kind could lead to a lien, a lawsuit, a quick auction of the house to a friend of the HOA attorney, and violators would find themselves penniless out on the street.
OK, Folks? How about buying a home in the Elm Grove Homeowners Association. How much do you think property values are worth now?
A patriotic member of the U.S. Marines tried to fly both the American Flag and the Marine Corps flag outside his home in Atlanta. But the Sun City Peach-Tree Homeowners Association says he’ll be fined, sued, liened and foreclosed if he does so. Seems that Sun City will only allow one flag at a time (Southern Homeowners Associations have been consistently losing their fight to ban all flags).
The Griffin Management company thinks it has total control over its homeowners and can micro-manage every aspect of their lives.
Former Marine Captain Jim Lowe still has the spit and fury of a U.S. Marine in his heart and says he’s going to fight. But his Homeowners Association is fining him 25 bucks a day each time they spot the reviled Marine flag on his flagpole.
Captain Lowe and his wife say they plan to move out of the community. Apparently they’re just now realizing that Amerikan Homeowner Associations are not really part of America. And he wants to move back into the country that he loves.
BTW, it’s not about this man’s right to fly which ever flag he chooses. It’s about the equity in his home. No HOA fines a guy unless it first checks public records to see how much equity there is. Follow the money, folks. Never follow the ideology or the reasoning behind stupid board decisions. Follow the money. It’s all about the equity and how much can be seized and transferred to the HOA’s operating budget.
LOL! I found the first one! A homeowner in a Texas Homeowners Association is furious because his HOA used satellite photos to spot covenant violations in his backyard.
Gavin Henry bought his house in the Highland Park North Homeowners Association about three years ago. One of the things he liked about the house was the garden tool shed in the backyard. He could keep his lawn mower and tools put away and he liked the nice clean look of the neighborhood.
All of a sudden Henry got a notice of violation for the shed. If he didn’t remove it he was going to be fined and sued.
“Why?” he wondered. The neighbors can’t see it. It can’t be seen from the street. Henry inquired further and was told that the HOA uses online satellite photography to track all the neighbors and micro-manage their private behavior.
Count me as a cynic, but after watching the television story on Gavin Henry’s predicament, three things stood out to me. He’s a veteran. He’s disabled. He’s a minority. After all, the Homeowners Association Movement was originally founded to get around the 1964 Civil Rights Act. And disabled veterans are often targets of HOA bullying. That’s the mindset.
There’s actually a fourth element at work here, pure speculation on my part. But I would bet dollars to donuts that Gavin Henry has some equity in his house.
The equity in your house is on the public record and it’s tracked by every HOA board official and manager. If you have significant equity in your house it’s like painting a bull’s eye on your back.
