No surprises here. HOAs and condo associations are nothing more than a thieves’ paradise. A simple internet search or glancing through neighborsatwar.dot com will reveal the massive numbers of thefts by HOA board members and HOA managers. The penalty…maybe a few days of community service and a little “talking to” by the judge and they are punishment free.
Here’s one in Still Meadows Condominium Association in Severn where Wanda Brooks could hardly shuffle into the courtroom with her walker but she was able to dine out, get her hair done, pay utilities, and buy gas on the HOA credit card.
I thought I’d heard of everything, but readers of this blog site send me the most wonderful material. Homeowner association disputes go to cops and courts all the time. But the latest one from Forsyth County, Georgia got me chuckling.
A board member upset a homeowner who went home and told her husband. The husband then slimed the board member on Facebook. The board member promptly filed a police complaint saying he was afraid of this neighbor for a variety of reasons such as guns, alleged PTSD, and of all things….
When I read Evan Bernick’s (Assistant Director at the Institute for Justice) summary of the latest Supreme Court decision involving property rights of raisin farmers, I was taken aback by the parallels to a decades-long battle to protect property rights of homeowners in private, mandatory Homeowners Associations.
In HORNE ET AL. v. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, family farmers Marvin and Laura Horne of California were ordered to surrender 30% of their raisin crop to the federal government. Based upon a New Deal Era law, as part of an effort to control raisin prices, the Raisin Administrative Committee would take a portion of the growers’ crops, without immediate compensation. Once the raisin reserve was sold many months later, on terms negotiated by the Committee, any remaining proceeds would be distributed back to the farmers. Seems unfair, right?
Bouncing around the HOA warrior network right now is an interesting email from future Congressman Andy Ostrowski. He’s concerned that our political impact will be diluted because only 20% of Americans live in HOA gulags. He says to get any rational national reforms enacted we need to appeal to 80% of the voters. Reading the current Science News article on the Chikungunya virus gave me an inspiration. If it’s too juvenile a corollary then please forgive me.
No one is more insightful or articulate than Arizona HOA warrior George Staropoli. When he comments on an HOA issue, you really want to stand up and pay attention. He’s written an incredibly interesting analysis of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that he says could ultimately have a direct impact on the national HOA scam. I would do a disservice to him if I tried to sum up his argument.
