Tag Archives: HOA

More Stupid Sentences in Las Vegas

1 Comment

Egads, I thought white collar organized crime figures averaged at least 18 months in prison. Now I’m the one who looks totally stupid. My deepest apologies to those of you I unintentionally deceived.

But Federal Judge Mahan in Las Vegas keeps handing down kindergarten sentences to the organized crime figures who stole millions and millions of dollars from Las Vegas homeowners. Kindergarten sentences: You know, “Go stand in the corner for ten minutes, Billie. You’re a bad, bad boy!”

Officially, these criminals stole only 7 million dollars in their HOA scam. Ultimately, history will tell you they stole more than 100 million dollars. And the Las Vegas housing market may never recover. In fact, with the recent Nevada Supreme Court decision that HOA liens are super-priority liens which can cancel the original mortgage loan, the lending market is refusing to lend ANY money to a home in a homeowners association. That means thousands, maybe tens of thousands of Nevada homes are sitting empty. They’re unsalable. The ongoing crime is the one committed by this federal judge!

Some of the worst criminals are being sentenced to one year and one day, like this cop:

(former las vegas cop gets short prison term)

Others are being sentenced to a few months of home detention. (Gosh, I’m at home taking care of an ill wife. That’s home detention and I didn’t steal anything!)

Meanwhile, the Las Vegas housing market is in a free fall.

(las vegas housing free fall)
(this link is a little wackier, but still probably 90% correct.)

Stupid, Stupid Aspen

2 Comments

No, not everyone in Aspen is stupid. But this kind of a story is a national embarrassment and every rich person in this glittery ski town should be down the necks of the idiots who are allowing this to continue.

I’ve written about this service dog dispute before. The board of the Aspen View Condominiums on Midland Avenue has spent months harassing the owner of a condo because he rented it to a woman who has a service dog to help her deal with her epilepsy. After months of the most incredible nastiness toward this woman, she moved out.

But Aspen View bullies wouldn’t quit. They began assessing fines against the condo owner and have liened his home.

If you want to sleep tonight, do not read the Aspen Times story linked below. If, however, you want to see how low and morally degraded some HOAs get, then have at it. And think about sending a note to this disgraceful board.

(The Aspen Times makes you answer a question before the text appears. Just click a box and you’ll be able to read it.)

(link to story on service dog flap)

Money and Power: A How-to Guide for Real Estate Developers

No Comments

guest blog by Deborah Goonan

1) Promise local planning and development commissioners that your Utopian projects – including planned communities (HOAs) and condominiums – will increase tax revenues beyond their wildest dreams, without any fiscal impact to local government.

2) Dangle the carrots: wealthy domestic and foreign investors willing to provide capital financing to get the project going.

3) Promise to provide “affordable housing,” but make it clear that, in order to do so, you may have to cut corners and build crap. And, after you turn over the community to all of those homeowners, you don’t want them to come crying to you, when their homes and the whole darn place starts falling apart! Therefore, insist upon laws, policies, and procedures that will shield you from liability for construction defects. Otherwise, you won’t be able to deliver on your promises.

4) Hire cheap labor, even if they lack skills or pride in their workmanship. Build as fast as possible! Get the state to allow you to hire your own private inspectors to verify that all construction meets code requirements. That takes city and county inspectors off the hook, right?

5) Require that all construction defect claims and disputes must be settled in secret before an Arbitrator (preferably one that you choose). Write this into the deed restrictions, and don’t allow homeowners to amend this requirement without your consent. You don’t want future buyers to be afraid to buy your crap.

6) Lobby state legislature for provisions that will reduce the statute of limitations for making defect claims, or reduce the scope of warranty coverage. Put the homeowners on the hook for the cost of repairs.

7) Fund campaigns for political allies with direct or indirect ties to real estate development. Offer lucrative employment or investment opportunities after their term in office expires.

8) Build your Real Estate Empire through vertical integration. Acquire construction and building material companies, as well as maintenance companies. Be sure to partner with at least one well-entrenched management company. When common area repairs are inevitably needed, tap into all of those affiliations for perpetual revenue streams.

Think I’m making up these “strategies” or exaggerating? Here are two links that will make your blood boil!

(First Coast News construction defect investigation, Anne Schindler, FL)

(precedent-setting interpretation of crafty Colorado construction defect law)

Committed Christian? Bad Idea To Live In An HOA!

1 Comment

Most HOAs have a regulation about “No Home Businesses.” With so many people working at home on the web that’s an almost meaningless rule…except when Board Bullies want to throw their weight around.

Sure, nobody wants to live next to a neighbor who operates a sawmill in his back yard. But sometimes the local HOA Nazi gets out of control and too full of himself. You’re an author and you write books and magazine articles? That’s an illegal business. You use your computer to fill out medical forms? Illegal home-based business.

The latest outrage comes from Senoia, Georgia, where a Christian family decided to help other families in need. In their garage they collect things like bed sheets, groceries, household goods. Nothing is stored in sight of any annoyed neighbors. Every so often the family delivers the goods to those who desperately need them.

“HOME BUSINESS!” screams the Summerfield HOA. “ILLEGAL!”

When you think about it seriously, Jesus Christ would be unwelcome in the vast majority of America’s Homeowners Associations. Riff raff. Healing cripples without a license. Restoring sight to the blind without permission from the HOA. Claiming to be God, when everyone in the neighborhood knows that only the HOA president is God.

Give me a break.

(link to HOA attempt to shut down family ministry)

HOA Drone Inspections On The Way!

2 Comments

Those who follow this website know that I’ve been predicting this for years: Drones flying over your property taking video of your covenant violations. Now a mainstream HOA promoter is actually whispering about the possibility.

The link below is disguised as a ‘warning’ for HOAs to be cautious as they approach the subject of drone inspections of private property. But the real message is “Our time has come! Get your drones ready.”

If you think your personal privacy is already violated by abusive HOAs, then all I can say is, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” Despite what this mainstream HOA booster says in the link below, you gave up your privacy when you bought into your HOA. I first discovered this when I bought a couple of condos in Vail in the late 1980s. When I changed the locks on the doors the HOA board just had the locks drilled and sent me the bill.

In California some HOAs are doing so-called ‘hoarding inspections.’ These are unannounced inspections of the interiors of private homes! One of the items in their list of things you’re not supposed to hoard are books. Shades of Fahrenheit 451?

But my three-year-old predictions about drones being used by HOAs is actually coming true. Video of you and your lover in the backyard hot tub is NOT a violation of privacy. Not in an HOA.

(link to industry newsletter hinting about coming drone inspections)

guest blog by Deborah Goonan

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)