Who’d Have Ever Thought?
Yes, folks. Some home sellers know exactly how to market their properties! The photo is a bit blurry. But the second panel is what’ll get this guy the highest possible price: “No Homeowners Association.”
Tag Archives: Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association
Very Personal… On Easter
In the past I’ve told my friends on this website about the sacrifices my dad made fighting with the 3rd Armored Division in France and Germany. And I’ve told you that I have five family members buried in Arlington. But I’ve never told you the following story because I didn’t know it until three weeks ago.
My dad was commanding one of General George Patton’s tank battalions in the last months of World War II when a German soldier fired a bazooka from the upper floor of a chalet in the town of Kaiserslautern, Germany. Dad, who had massive head wounds and extensive brain damage, was taken by the Nazis as a prisoner of war. How he got out is a story for another day. But he survived and after a long battle with Alzheimer’s he died in 1997. The basic facts are in his seventy year-old military and medical records.
Just a few weeks ago a close friend discovered that many graves in Arlington have their own websites. I never knew that! But it gets stranger, still. On my dad’s website is a poem posted by my younger brother several years ago. On this Easter Sunday I would be an irresponsible son and a horrible brother if I neglected to re-post it for you.
PASSPORT
Dedicated to LTC Edward D. Lucas, Jr. 1915-1997
Daddy was a soldier in 1942,
A quiet man who never told of all that he went through.
But this fading soldier was dying in his bed,
While memories and battle wounds made war inside his head.
“A stamp is all I need. A stamp is all I need.”
His circuit board had failed him. He prattled as he went.
We heard his words but no one understood just what he meant.
“A stamp is all I need. A stamp is all I need.”
Now some think there’s a Heaven for heroes who pass on,
Who give their lives for God and country until God calls them home.
But Daddy seemed to know that he’d never get that far,
Until Somebody put the perfect stamp upon his heart.
“A stamp is all I need. A stamp is all I need.”
It was January when it was time to die.
They knew my Dad would pass that night,
But I could say, “Goodbye.”
His eyes were glazed and fixed upon the passport by his bed.
And finally I understood the countless times he said,
“A stamp is all I need. A stamp is all I need.”
As his light was fading, and I looked into his face,
Some mysterious visitor had stamped his passport with Grace.
By Gregory D. Lucas Son of LTC Edward D. Lucas, Jr.
Added: Dec. 10, 2011
This Bubble Will Burst
If you wanted to sell your home in a Homeowners Association, what would be a best case economic scenario for you and your prospective buyer? You’d want that buyer to be able to get a loan, right?
If you wanted your home to be more marketable, you’d want your HOA to seem less litigious, right?
If you wanted a quick sale, you’d want all HOA homes to be owner-occupied, right?
And to get top dollar for your home, you’d want no vacancies in the neighborhood, right?
Well, let’s toss a monkey wrench into the machinery and see what happens.
The housing bubble that popped in 2008 and 2009 led to a huge number of foreclosures as mortgage companies tried to limit their losses. It also led to more Homeowners Associations liening and foreclosing on homeowners who got behind in their dues. The typical HOA has a super-priority lien on all homes within its borders. That means that when the homeowner gets a few hundred bucks behind on his mortgage, the HOA can grab that property and auction it off at the nearest courthouse for a few thousand bucks. The HOA gets paid, the mortgage company does not. And that means the mortgage company gets screwed out of the entire value of its loan.
Now, suppose you’re an executive in a mortgage company. If you know that a certain neighborhood is in crisis, i.e., foreclosures, lawsuits against owners, a high number of vacancies, a high number of rentals, and the HOA doing its own foreclosures through super-priority liens, how willing would you be to offer mortgages to would-be buyers?
Thought so.
If you happen to be the homeowner who’s trying to sell a home in a neighborhood where no potential buyer can get a loan from traditional lenders, what do you do? You lower your price, lower your price, lower your price, lower your price.
And the housing bubble bursts. The economist linked below thinks the housing Armageddon is coming.
(link to the coming housing bubble)
What Kind Of Egg Hunt?
Some HOA photos really don’t need much comment. Others cry out for some kind of reaction. I don’t know anything about the Lakewood Springs Homeowners Association but millions of embattled homeowners would agree that this particular sign might be more descriptive than the HOA intends!
“Wrong Way, Lady!”
A Democratic State Legislator in Virginia is crowing about getting a law passed in her state. The new law will allow HOA officials in self-managed communities more time to answer written requests by homeowners for information. Current Virginia law requires HOAs to provide paperwork or answers to inquiries within five days. The new law Ms. Filler-Corn loves so much doubles that time to ten days.
Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn brags that this will help ease the burden on HOA officials. She says the five-day requirement is too much of a burden for neighborhood volunteers.
Listen, Lady! You’ve got it exactly backwards. Virginia HOAs are just as mean-spirited as those in other states. Your law does NOTHING to help beleaguered homeowners. How about actually pushing for some real reform? How about a two-point law that will really make Filler-Corn a household name.
First, you mandate that all neighborhood paperwork is posted online and available at all times! Then no homeowner would have to beg and plead to see HOA budgets, and how much board members were soaking the community with their hotel food-and-booze tabs. And no resident would have any questions because everything they could possibly need is instantly available.
Second, forget the First Point. Just abolish all HOAs as being fundamentally flawed. They’re all constructed to purposely allow agenda-driven ‘volunteers’ to get their claws into their neighbors’ throats. Actually, this law might make you a statewide hero!
What do you think, Del. Filler-Corn?
