Tag Archives: HOA

Fire Pit Between The Roads

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Let’s all meet down at the fire pit. You know the one in between the busy streets. The one where kids will be crossing in the darkness and might forget to check for traffic. Or somebody driving drunk might jump the curb and wipe out the crowd.

Prairie Village, Kansas is an upscale area developed by Jesse Clyde Nichols (you’ve read about him in Evan McKenzie’s book, Privatopia). It’s commonly referred to as “Perfect Village.”

Some HOA board members authorized a landscaper to build a fire pit as a community gathering place between busy city streets and on city property. The city planners have put their foot down against this HOA. And I applaud them for doing so! HOA boards never cease to amaze me. I don’t know if it’s their pompous attitudes, ignorance, or endless need to control others. But it was a delight to see this story on the news tonight.

Although, I’m sorry for the landscaper with good intentions who got caught in the crossfire. His heart was in the right place. He just had a blind faith and trust in the HOA board…just like millions of other Americans do!

So, don’t meet me at the fire pit. By the time you’d get here, it will be gone!

(link to KMBC story on the fire pit)

 

Comcast Starts Billing Spokane, Washington Customer as “Asshole Brown”

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Homeowners are beleaguered enough with abusive HOA boards and managers.  Many of these HOAs require homeowners to only use the approved cable company to get cable TV and Internet services.

But telephone and TV providers have unparalleled records, themselves, when dealing with people trying to get changes in their service. I experienced the near impossibility of getting a change in my Century Link and Verizon phone service in Colorado last fall so I knows it goes on.

The story from Spokane, Washington linked below is beyond belief. When Ricardo Brown and his wife insisted in cancelling his cable, Comcast began sending bills to his home addressed to “Asshole Brown.”

Incredible!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/29/comcast-asshole-brown_n_6568238.html

 

Owner wants to know how to get rid of HOA

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guest blog by Deborah Goonan

An owner in Parkview HOA in Brownsville, TX was recently interviewed by KRGV television. He explains that several years ago their HOA “fizzled out” but then a new management company suddenly appeared on the scene, looking to collect assessments. But the HOA has a $46,000 deficit, and many owners are not paying their dues or paying attention to the HOA, despite collection letters tacking on a $250 attorney fee for delinquent account owners.

So what’s the story here? That’s a bit of a mystery. A quick Google search turns up minimal information on Parkview Homeowners Association LLC – address, phone number, and management agent. Attorney Bill Davis was consulted by KGRV, and, according to him, the first step is to locate the original HOA governing documents, and determine whether the HOA currently attempting to collect assessments is the Original HOA vs. a newly formed corporation masquerading as the once-defunct HOA. Got that?

The story leaves out many details, and calls to mind several questions. Was there a vote of owners to revive this inactive HOA? How long was it inactive? Were assessments being collected before the new management company started sending invoices? How many homes are involved, and what are the dues?

There are specific legal processes for dissolution, as well as reviving inactive HOAs, depending on state law. Looks like the homeowner, Mr. Jack Jew, will have to consult an attorney, and get together with his neighbors to see if they can rid themselves of the HOA that he claims most owners do NOT want.

Ironically, as demonstrated in Florida, a group of Bulk Buyers (investors) can quickly gain control of a Board, and then vote to dissolve the Association.  But ordinary owners of one measly home apiece have to play detective and jump through numerous legal hoops just to get rid of the HOA albatross, if possible.

Does that seem fair to you?

(link to story in Brownsville, TX)

Driveway To HOA Hell

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Here’s a homeowner who drives a pick-up truck and parks it at his home on his driveway.  Well actually it’s not his driveway according to his HOA.

This HOA board is dumber than a box of rocks, in my opinion.  A pick-up truck does not indicate a person operates the vehicle for commercial use!

How well I know.  One of my vehicles is a pick-up truck.  Thank goodness it has four-wheel drive.  My HOA owns my driveway, too. They are supposed to maintain it, but in ten years they have only sealed it once.  One time!  After it had cracked and fallen apart.  The worst issue I’ve had is when it dropped below the concrete floor in the garage.  I literally could not get my truck into my garage without using four-wheel drive every time!!!  In addition, every time it rained the water ran in under the garage floor and eventually into my finished basement.  The HOA made a very poor attempt to repair the driveway after I had professional contractors tell me it was not repairable. Now it has separated leaving a crack across the driveway that is 3″ deep allowing water to run under the driveway.  It has also started to drop again…back to four-wheeling into my garage I’ll go.

The HOA now claims it’s my responsibility to pay for the replacement of the driveway.  Yes, we are in another court battle because my HOA would rather spend $100,000 on a legal battle than to replace a $5,000 driveway.  As our readers know, you just can’t fix the incredible levels of stupid in an HOA!

A former board president told me that all driveways are common ground.  I asked if I had a party and needed extra parking spaces could my guests park on my neighbors’ driveways?  He said, “They sure can!”

As if we don’t already have at least a million reasons why not to buy in an HOA, this driveway issue is just more proof of it!

Las Vegas Mobster Leon Benzer Pleads Guilty

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Well, the guilty plea was made. Federal Judge Mahan accepted it. No sentence yet. Leon Benzer might be surprised to hear himself described as a mobster, but that’s exactly what he is. He conspired with lawyers, police officials, judicial officials, and state politicians to steal millions of dollars from Nevada Homeowners Associations. That’s called racketeering. You don’t need to be Italian to be a mobster. You just have to have a massive deficit of character.

Traditionally, white collar criminals get about 18 months in prison no matter how many millions they’ve stolen. Benzer has bankrupted an unknown number of Las Vegas homeowners. The damage he inflicted will impact generations of American families. In the end, he made himself a multi-millionaire at the expense of ordinary citizens. He conspired with mobsters and drug cartels in Mexico to hide his fortune. When he walks out of prison he’ll retire to waterfront property in some exotic locale and laugh at the stupidity of all the people he swindled.

Benzer will laugh at the impotent American legal system which couldn’t come close to touching the real scope of his swindle. He’ll snigger at FBI agents who spent years trying to uncover his scam. He’ll laugh at prosecutors and a judge who couldn’t give him life in prison. And he’ll look back fondly at his time in prison bragging to cellmates about how much fun he had doing this swindle. I know all of this because I’ve spent four decades investigating and exposing white collar criminals. Despite federal prison sentences they love what they do.

White collar criminals are addicted to their lifestyles. To the victims it’s devastating. To the mobsters it’s all a game.

(link to ReviewJournal article on Benzer’s guilty plea)

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/benzer-pleads-guilty-massive-las-vegas-valley-hoa-scheme