Little Boxes
Yes, I know I’ve posted this before, but because we get new readers here every day, many will not ever have heard this Pete Seeger classic. Enjoy!
Tag Archives: HOA Nightmare Stories
But My HOA Protects My Property Values!
If you believe that, then you’re visiting the wrong shrink!
No, Your HOA absolutely does not protect your property values. Your HOA is there to keep track of your net worth. Your net worth (not just your home value) is pledged to a community pool which can be used whenever necessary to cover the cost of lawsuits, repairs, maintenance, insurance, embezzling board members.
All neighborhoods age, that’s just a fact of life. But developers get special breaks for cramming more homes into smaller spaces, and often those developers are just self-centered and financially motivated to cut corners. Meanwhile, building inspectors look the other way knowing it’ll be years before construction problems start becoming apparent.
When a mortgage or financial crisis hits and HOAs don’t maintain the common areas wild things start happening. A few homeowners lose their homes. Then a few more. Suddenly, there’s not enough money in the budget to maintain the common areas. More homes or condos are turned into rentals. Crime increases. More lawsuits are filed. Then it gets especially messy as the entire neighborhood collapses. Who’s still around to claim, “Our HOA protects property values?”
A prime example is linked below:
(Georgia condo complex gets trashed)
A Homeowner-Oriented Law Firm
Many homeowners are dismayed when they start looking for a lawyer to represent them against a Homeowners Association. Such law firms are close to non-existent. Lawyers who align themselves with such organizations as Associa and CAI make a massive amount of money. But defending individual homeowners against HOA abuse is almost always a money-loser.
So I’m happy when I can pass along the name of a homeowners’ rights law firm. The Herb Milgrim Law Firm in Fort Lauderdale is a name you Florida homeowners should keep track of. They don’t blog often but their blogsite, linked below, is worth checking every so often. And I’m still collecting names of other good law firms around the country. If you run across a lawyer or law firm that stands for the rights of individual homeowners, please email me their names.
Ward@NeighborsAtWar.com
(link to Florida Condo Attorneys)
HOA Swingers! Ya Gotta Love It!
I don’t know much about swingers’ clubs. Yeah, I’ve been on a few vice raids in my career of such clubs. And one such raid was on a home in Greenwood Village, a super-ritzy HOA just south of Denver. Even for a hardened investigative reporter it was pretty eye-opening. So this headline caught my eye.
Swingers Club May Be Forced to Produce Guest List
Seems that an HOA lawsuit against a Texas homeowner may lead to some interesting discovery, i.e., the guest list of all those who’ve attended swingers’ bashes in the past few years. One doesn’t usually think of HOAs as being bawdy. But as a former Texan, I can say that Texans can be just as raunchy as people in any other state.
Still, this could be an interesting case, especially if the guest list turns up any Congressmen, Senators or certain HOA management officials. Any names come to mind?
(Texas swingers’ club being sued)
Free Speech is Not a Right!
Those of us who follow such things know that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t protect people in Homeowners Associations. The one exception, of course, is if you’re ‘colored,’ whatever that means. There actually is some case law to protect racial minorities and the handicapped. But other tenets of the Constitution? Forget it. Due process? Forget it. Free speech? Forget it.
This latest story comes from a Fort Collins, Colorado resident who put up a Bernie Sanders sign on her balcony. It was OK for a while. After all, it’s a college town and college kids are taught all about the Constitution. They just aren’t told that Homeowners Associations are private corporations in which residents don’t have access to the Bill of Rights.
The new management company at the Baystone Apartments sent out threatening letters, warning of fines of up to $5000 for people who incorrectly display political signs. Once the story ended up in the newspaper the management company cried, “Oops!” But that’s only temporary. As soon as the public furor dies down they’ll start assessing fines all over again.
Long live the First Amendment! Well, that is if you’re not in an HOA! And 20 to 25% of Americans have already surrendered their right to Constitutional protection.
http://www.collegian.com/2016/02/homeowners-association-not-feeling-the-bern/154194/
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