It’s amazing how much kids improve our lives. And since the typical Homeowners Association has no interest in improving the lives of families it’s not impossible to imagine that some HOA boards will do everything in their power to drive families out.
How’s that for protecting your property values?
(article from Reno Gazette Journal on ‘kid noise’)
Yes, welcome to your new condo. You’re going to love living here. The neighbors all get along and we don’t seem to suffer the kinds of problems felt in many other Homeowners Associations. You’re buying into a little bit of Heaven, your own private home. Welcome, welcome, welcome!
Oh, we’re sorry we couldn’t give you copies of the covenants, the budget and insurance papers in time for your real estate closing. At the time you requested them, the paperwork was tied up in some minor snafu. But it’ll all get worked out soon.
Ah yes, and ignore the story in the newspapers today. Those crooked reporters always make up their facts and get the story wrong. Everybody knows how warped and dishonest the media are. Just sit back and enjoy your new life!
(link to the neighborhood Welcome Wagon!)
Nila Ridings, the homeowners rights firebrand from Kansas, raises a question that deserves consideration.
Now, I’ve read Rules for Radicals a number of times over the years. Saul Alinsky was the Chicago activist who taught that sneaky underhanded rebellion was a way to take over society. But read a little more deeply into his writings. Forget the politics. Forget left and right, Democrat and Republican. Forget conservative and liberal. Just sink deeply into his rhetoric and his logic.
Finally, emerge from your voyage of discovery and analyze how the HOA movement has slowly and stealthily taken over the American real estate development and home building industry. Slowly, this industry has moved almost a quarter of all Americans into a political system which is completely outside the control of the U.S. Constitution.
Make no mistake, Homeowners Associations are absolutely a form of government. They control your roads, your sewer, your trash pickup, maintenance of your local water system, policing of your neighborhood. They even form your court system, since traditional courts have washed their hands of most HOA conflicts. And to an incredible degree they control your personal finances. Of course, just like in a traditional government you pay taxes. Your monthly dues and the sudden demand for a $10,000 or $20,000 special assessment are taxes.
What rights do you actually have in an HOA? Well, what rights do you have under facism, or marxism, or communism or any other kind of non-constitutional dictatorship?
Nila Ridings is right. We all need to read Rules for Radicals, just to see what we’re up against.
(link to wiki and Rules for Radicals)
Several states are talking about the need for laws requiring that HOAs be open and provide full disclosure to buyers and current owners alike. Several, such as Florida and California, have already enacted laws meant to prevent corruption and self-dealing.
But it isn’t working, because states choose not to enforce violations of the very laws they created. It is up to the owner to initiate a law suit in civil court, and most owners cannot afford to pay an attorney thousands of dollars to enforce open meetings, full access to records, and consumer disclosure statutes.
For example, Massachusetts is the latest state to attempt to enact disclosure laws. Critics call the proposed statute a “toothless tiger.”
(link to story in Newbury Port News on toughening condo owners’ rights)
On the heels of that report, I read two others this week about missing money in Association-Governed Residential Communities. Although I strive to keep current on news affecting homeowners and residents in HOAs, I also want to thank several of my readers who forward links to HOA embezzlement horror stories on a weekly basis.
Community Associations Institute (CAI) and state-level chapters have gone on record stating that these are “isolated incidents.”
Really?
Here’s another not-so-isolated incident In Lakes Northwest, Texas, where owners are investigating at least one board member suspected of embezzling money from the association.
(link to money missing from local HOA account)
And yet another incident, this one in Washington state, involving a husband and wife management team.
(HOA managers arrested over missing property funds)
CAI political lobby efforts put the blame on homeowner apathy. They say that owners just don’t get involved in self-governance of their association, unless and until conditions reach crisis mode.
While it’s true that most owners don’t attend HOA meetings and don’t pay much attention to how the annual budget is established, CAI is not telling the public – nor our lawmakers – the whole story.
The truth is, the corporate nature of Association-Governed Residential Communities vests considerable power and control to a few owners that serve on the Board of Directors. The board of directors wields considerable power and authority, but almost no accountability. Often, the Board will yield that authority to a management company, allowing the tail to wag the dog.
Unfortunately, when a homeowner, condominium, or cooperative association “elects” one or more rogue volunteers to the Board, it can be very difficult to detect corrupt activities and to remove unsuitable leaders.
It should be noted that during construction phases (which can drag on for decades in master planned communities), the Board of Directors is controlled by the developer. While some developers take pride in the quality of their work, others do not. Homeowners and residents can get stuck with a board of builder affiliates that limits transparency in order to shield the developer from liability for defective or shoddy construction or design.
Providing full and continuous disclosure of corporate association management and financial conditions is THE best way for homeowners or home buyers to be alerted to:
incidents of financial mismanagement, outright theft, or numerous complaints of defective construction.
Common sense: if disclosure laws were enforceable through more practical means, or enforceable through Attorneys General or federal regulatory agencies, and if developer or homeowner controlled boards and the managers that serve those board were truly held accountable, I believe we would reduce the opportunity of unethical developers, board members and community managers to shift the blame, lie, cheat, and steal your money.
So why are laws favoring swift and meaningful enforcement transparency and full disclosure so vehemently opposed by CAI? Why are state level CAI chapter leaders crafting “toothless tiger” bills that appear to benefit homeowners and HOA residents, but are essentially meaningless?
As a lifetime broadcast journalist, I sometimes did some odd things as I negotiated my way through the low ranks of radio journalism into the top ranks of TV journalism. One odd thing that became a habit was ‘snooping’ on the reading habits of my supervisors. Really! Whenever I was called into the office of a supervisor I would carefully note which books I saw on his or her desk. When a book is recommended by upper management you can usually see copies on the desks of each of your managers. I used to carry a tiny notepad into the boss’s office and write down the names of books and authors that various managers were reading. It seemed a clever and calculated thing to do, just to track what management was thinking at any given time. It’s how I came across, “Winning through Intimidation” by Robert Ringer and “How To Stop Worrying and Start Living” by Carnegie. I ALWAYS bought and read copies of the books I saw on the boss’s desk.
About fifteen or twenty years ago while I was working on a story, the subject of which I don’t remember now, on the floor of my photographer’s van was a book with an intriguing cover. At first glance it looked like a contorted x-ray of a human spine. At second glance it was an aerial photo of a California Homeowners Association. The book was called, “Privatopia,” by Evan McKenzie.
Of course, I ordered a copy of the book. It completely blew me away. It perfectly described the kind of torment I was going through in my own Homeowners Association at the time. I read it twice, three times, possibly more.
I have never spoken to McKenzie on the phone or in an email. But I’ve ordered copies of his book and have sent them to various members of the Colorado Legislature. When I learned from an intern that state legislator Morgan Carroll hadn’t read the first copy of Privatopia I sent her, I had Amazon send her another Privatopia, then another. In fact, McKenzie should probably have paid me a commission for the number of books I sent to various Colorado Legislators.
McKenzie is one of the pioneers of The Awakening, the realization by homeowners across America that the national HOA Movement is one of the biggest financial scams in modern history. He’s too classy to describe it as such. But those of us in ‘the movement’ know about it all too well.
Thank you, Dr. McKenzie, for waking me up!
