Tag Archives: HOA Nightmare Stories

Flying Low In Roxborough Park

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guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
These Douglas County, Colorado residents aren’t pilots but they are driving so fast they nearly ran over their neighbor, Diane Powers, twice in one night!  One speeder wiped out a 30 foot tree and if he loses control on that curve again there’s a big rock in its place now.
 
Warning!!!  This HOA is using camera-equipped radar and tickets will be issued to homeowners which will include any of their guests who are caught speeding. Oh yes! If the pizza delivery girl is trying to deliver it “hot and on time“…you could get hit with a fine for her misdeeds.
 
Homeowners, wonder what will be next?  Well let’s see…how about breathalyzers, seat belt checks, texting, eating, sneezing, and talking-on-the-cell while driving?  Brace yourselves for the “wannabe cops” patrolling the streets of Roxborough!
 
Speed bumps were removed because they interfered with snow removal and emergency response time.
 
If things don’t change, I suppose they could always require owners to park at the gate and walk from there.
 
 

The Hideous Underbelly of Power

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In my new book, Neighbors at War, I delve deeply into the lust for power and how easy it is for seemingly normal homeowners to go crazy when they get their first taste of power over their neighbors. We’ve seen it among Nazi prison guards, we’ve seen it among those who guard our jails, we’ve seen it repeatedly in double-blind science experiments.

“Power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (Lord Acton)

But Pennsylvanians, shattered by the recent “Cash for Kids” scandal are still trying to wrap their minds around this one. Two former judges, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, reportedly accepted millions of dollars in bribes from privately owned juvenile detention centers for sentencing thousands of juveniles to those institutions. “Good Lord!” you say. “Impossible!”

When you put someone into a position of power in your neighborhood, be very, very suspicious of that person. Never let down your guard. In our current system in HOA Amerika there are no checks and balances. None, whatsoever. There’s no court of last resort. There’s no Due Process. In the vast majority of Homeowners Associations there are few records, poor accounting, often no audits. Our board members have complete and total power over our lives. We try to pretend that board members are fiscally responsible for how they govern. But they really aren’t.

Read about “Cash for Kids.”

And weep.

(upcoming documentary) 

 

Screw Christmas!

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If you want any proof that Americans are living in a post-Christian era, you need look no further than Highlands Ranch, Colorado, one of the largest Homeowners Associations in America. Almost 100,000 people live here, and tonight I am dying in shame over the gutlessness of this community.

For years, Highlands Ranch has collected Christmas toys for needy children across the world. Among those organizations sponsoring the toy drive are Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child.

But the American Humanist Association, an atheist group, has sent a cease and desist letter to the school district saying that allowing Christmas toys to be collected on its properties is unconstitutional and if it doesn’t stop immediately the atheists will file a lawsuit. It seems that donations are being left at a curbside which may or may not be on school property.

The schools, fearful of the cost of litigation with the atheists, are shutting down the toy drive.

As I sit here at my desk, my blood pressure high as a kite, I’m devestated by the reality that the same threatening letter would not have been sent if the toys were being collected by al Qaida, the Muslim Brotherhood, al Fatah, or for that matter the Yakusa. I couldn’t care less if donations were collected at that curbside for tsunami or earthquake-hit areas by the Salvation Army, the Mormon Church, Scientology, or the Purple People Eater Society.

Atheist organizations, of course, have the right to threaten lawsuits because they’re offended by the revolting thought of a Christian organization collecting toys for kids. But to see one of the richest homeowners associations in the country cowering over the thought of challenging this group in court just nauseates me.

The First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…..” That’s all! There’s no question the court, in recent years, has interpreted that wording to ban certain expressions of religion on public property.

But if the gutless Highlands Ranch Homeowners Association and this even more gutless school district asked for ten bucks per household to fight this tiny atheist organization, and sued for damages against this group for trying to stifle their rights to collect toys for needy kids, at least we’d get a clearer reading from the Court on what the First Amendment really says.

Highlands Ranch is not a place where I’d like to live.

(click here for toy donation story)

 

“Quail Run Condos Falling Down, Falling Down, Falling Down, Quail Run Condos Falling Down, Run, Mr. Johnson!”

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guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
What’s happening at Quail Run Condos in Charlotte, North Carolina? They have no money to repair James Johnson’s cracked foundation which has caused his floor to drop and walls to crack. But they do have money for a two year battle and a property manager who can schedule the repairs but can’t get the work started. Talk is cheap so they’ll be discussing this nightmare at the next HOA board meeting. 
 
Quality-built? Sure, if compared to your breakfast cereal box!  Lowest-grade cheap materials and sloppy construction.  In about thirty years or less they are ready to be bulldozed.  No more structurally sound than a mobile home minus the wheels.
 
Mr. Johnson, the HOA admits the structural problems are theirs to fix.  Okay, so they have breached the HOA’s side of the contract.  They break promises to repair it because you are a “troublemaker” for trying to keep your condo from falling down. I call that deceptive practices. Next, they will claim they are not responsible to pay for the interior damages. They will try to force you into bankruptcy with a legal battle which they will have funded by a multi-billion dollar insurance company that is committed to destroy you.  
  
Forget about selling.  You’ll be dumping this nightmare on some other innocent person.  Hire a structural engineer.  If they declare the place unsafe, contact the City of Charlotte Safety Inspector.  They may condemn the property.  Have your attorney sue for breach of contract and deceptive practices in violation of the North Carolina consumer protection laws. Add a demand for the HOA to buy your property and pay your legal bills. 
 
If you don’t, you’re right, you’ll have to pay somebody to take this worthless piece of crap off your hands.  This is precisely why condo owners all across America are walking away and letting the banks foreclose on their properties.  
 
How do I know this drill?  I live in an HOA with nearly these identical problems.  I’ve been living this same nightmare for eight years!!!!!!
 
TRUST ME, IT DOES NOT GET BETTER!
 
I’ve learned these maintenance-provided HOAs are nothing but cash cows for the HOA, property managers, insurance companies, attorneys, and the city and county tax collectors. They are a massive hemorrhage on the owner’s bank account, health, and happiness.
 
Maintenance-provided is the worst kind of HOA hell.  The buyers become the losers the day we sign the contract!  
 

(click here for WCNC-TV news story) 

 

Alfred Thompkins Is Back Home…Thanks To A Reverse Mortgage!

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guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
Let’s refresh our memories about the Davis Lake Community Association in North Carolina, the HOA that foreclosed on Alfred Thompkins, an ill and elderly man who stopped paying his dues.  He was upset because the HOA wouldn’t let his niece and nephew who lived with him use the swimming pool.  Obviously, he was honest and said he wasn’t their legal guardian, so the HOA just grabbed his house.
 
The point is:  Who gives a rip? In the beginning Thompkins was paying dues, which contributed to the pool even though he wasn’t using it. So why not let his niece and nephew take a dip?  
 
This is what gripes me about HOA board members.  So many of them seem to be incredibly lacking in common sense!  They foreclosed and sold Thompkins’ house for pennies on the dollar.  But was that really the issue?  Or could it have been the fact that his house was mortgage-free and loaded to the roof top with equity? (Click on the link below to find out how a reverse mortgage saved his house from foreclosure.)
 
I think of all the people inconvenienced and costs that were involved in this insane situation:
 
1) He had to pack and move
2) Rented a storage unit
3) Stayed at a relative’s house
4) Wells Fargo got involved
5) The television station got involved
6) The county court system got involved
7) Utilities were disconnected 
8) His mail had to be forwarded
9) Relatives are buying gas and driving from Chicago to help him move back in
10) Utilities have to be re-connected
11) Mail has to be re-established
12) He will have to unpack and re-settle
 
In the big picture, would it not have made better sense to have worked this out with Alfred before putting him and all these other people through such tremendous stress and nightmares? 
 
I can personally think of at least ten ways this could have been resolved without this “bullies on the board” approach. 
 
Not to mention,  Mr. Thompkins could have just lied and said his two relatives were his children.  Would the board have paid for DNA testing?  Doubtful.  But he told the truth and this is the mess he got into for being honest.  A person’s honesty should never be met with a penalty.  This is one of the reasons deception and dishonesty have become a way of life in America!!! 
 
And, now we have another elderly person in tears because of the torture he endured at the hands of an HOA!  The rest of his days in that house he’ll be living in fear of doing something wrong and losing his house again.  
 
I guarantee it!
 
 
list of Davis Lake board members:
 
stevendonai@davislake.org
 
bettylee@davislake.org
 
bruceauerbach@davislake.org
 
lesliematthews@davislake.org
 
briansenatore@davislake.org