Tag Archives: Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

Drought Arrogance in Bel Air, California

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Ah, the arrogance of those Los Angeles elites.

CBS-LA reports that one homeowner in the ritzy Bel Air area used 12 million gallons of water in a single year during the worst drought anyone can remember. TWELVE MILLION GALLONS! The water bill was 90,000 dollars.

I have no idea what it costs to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool, but I would bet you could fill a swimming pool at least once a week with that budget.

The real stench, though, is that public officials won’t release this person’s name or address “for privacy reasons.” This one homeowner needs to be targeted and his name and address publicized. With a drought so severe it really threatens our national stability (agriculture), there’s no need to respect privacy. Drought shaming. Someone should do it.

(link to story on 12 million gallon ‘star’)

 

 

Georgia Homeowner Told To Narrow His Driveway

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Just because you got permission years ago to modify your home, don’t count on your HOA to respect the past. A Georgia man is learning that the hard way. He squeezed three cars onto his driveway, and management company paid attention.

Ralph Isabella says he got board permission six years ago to widen his driveway. It was all fine and dandy until Isabella cleaned out his garage and temporarily parked the cars outside. Suddenly, the HOA says if Isabella doesn’t take out the new pavement they’ll narrow his driveway for him and sue him for the cost.

The Copper Springs HOA, Oakwood, Georgia.

Nice folks.

(link to story in Gainesville Times)

 

Second Arrest in HOA Embezzlement

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They got him! A couple of days ago a longtime HOA manager in San Mateo, California was arrested and accused of stealing 2.8 million dollars from the Woodlake Homeowners Association. Now they’ve arrested her partner, a man who allegedly wrote fake invoices for construction work that was never done. It sure sounds like a copycat of the decade-long swindle of homeowners in Las Vegas.

And it sounds a lot like the multi-million dollar organized crime racketeering swindle of Homeowners Associations in Colorado.

And Homeowners Associations in Florida.

In Alabama.

Virginia.

Texas.

And every other state.

Still, you keep hearing from Realtors, and Congressmen, lawyers, city officials and state representatives that this kind of swindle is extremely rare. What are these guys smoking, anyway?

(link to arrest story in San Mateo Daily Journal)

 

Corruption in Hotel California

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I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it in the future. When you’re investing your life savings in your home, don’t trust anybody. Don’t trust the Realtor. Don’t trust the county’s master plan, and above all do not trust your HOA. Homeowners in Chula Vista, California are learning about what all west coast residents know as ‘Californication.’

They bought into a peaceful valley where traffic was minimal, wildlife was everywhere, no smog was in the air. Life in the Eastlake III Homeowners Association was Heaven on Earth. The master plan showed their pristine way of life would last forever. But that kind of promise evaporates the minute land developers start knocking on doors. All of a sudden builders began jamming high density neighborhoods all around, packing in low quality homes like sardines in a can.

Eastlake III is no longer the promised land. The Homeowners Association is embroiled in legal disputes, recall elections, charges of corruption, violence threatened. Police are being hired to maintain the peace in HOA meetings.

Promises are like…. no, discretion says “don’t go there.” Let’s just say that promises are hollow. And promises made by a Homeowners Association are especially worthless.

(link to story in the San Diego Reader)

 

The New Code Word: Gentrified

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Yes, that’s pretty much the new code word for Homeowners Associations: Gentrified or Gentrification. And it’s the word of the day in Denver where brand new HOAs or condo associations are trying get rid of some homeless shelters and rescue missions. The missions have been in the lower downtown Denver area almost forever. But Coors Field changed everything.

The now-famous home of Colorado Rockies baseball was built where land was cheap, right at the intersection of skid road and the nation’s central railroad hub. The rescue missions continued to do their work but suddenly the ‘gentrified’ wanted to live near the ball park. Century-old slaughter houses were turned into luxury condos. A two-bedroom setup where cows were once butchered can now cost millions of dollars.

The bums still lie around on the streets where they always did. The City of Denver issued a permit for one mission to improve its homeless shelter. But the ‘Newly Gentrified’ went nutz and took the whole mess to court. The judge issued his order this week. Gentrification is in. Bums are out.

(link to Denver Post story on HOAs vs. the homeless)