Tag Archives: Realtor

Homeowner Angry About HOA Bullying By Satellite

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LOL! I found the first one! A homeowner in a Texas Homeowners Association is furious because his HOA used satellite photos to spot covenant violations in his backyard. 

Gavin Henry bought his house in the Highland Park North Homeowners Association about three years ago. One of the things he liked about the house was the garden tool shed in the backyard. He could keep his lawn mower and tools put away and he liked the nice clean look of the neighborhood.

All of a sudden Henry got a notice of violation for the shed. If he didn’t remove it he was going to be fined and sued.

“Why?” he wondered. The neighbors can’t see it. It can’t be seen from the street. Henry inquired further and was told that the HOA uses online satellite photography to track all the neighbors and micro-manage their private behavior.

Count me as a cynic, but after watching the television story on Gavin Henry’s predicament, three things stood out to me. He’s a veteran. He’s disabled. He’s a minority. After all, the Homeowners Association Movement was originally founded to get around the 1964 Civil Rights Act. And disabled veterans are often targets of HOA bullying. That’s the mindset.

There’s actually a fourth element at work here, pure speculation on my part. But I would bet dollars to donuts that Gavin Henry has some equity in his house.

The equity in your house is on the public record and it’s tracked by every HOA board official and manager. If you have significant equity in your house it’s like painting a bull’s eye on your back.

Just sayin’.

(click here for KXAN story on Gavin Henry)

 

The Fight Against The Red, White & Blue

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Across HOA Amerika there’s a desperate struggle to prevent homeowners from displaying the American Flag. “They’re not earth colors,” says the CAI and Associa, and a myriad of other HOA management firms that get their marching orders from above.

Thus, there was legal action taken against Colonel Barfoot who served in three wars, won the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery, a Silver star, a Bronze Star, three Purple Hearts. and saluted the flag outside his door each morning and evening. Then there was the case in Texas where a former Marine fought a pitched battle to display a few patriotic bumper stickers on his car.

No, the national Homeowners Association Movement has its own battle colors and they’re all various shades of beige and gray. And they’ll fight to the death to impose their bouquets of beiges on all the rest of us.

The latest battle is in Boston, where 52 year old Mark DiGiovanni wants to hang his flag so it shows through a window at the intersection of Congress and A Streets. But the Fort Point Condo Board says the policy is white window coverings only, and it’s prepared to fine and sue DiGiovanni’s butt if he dares to violate the ‘whites only’ policy.

One of the board members of the condo, Michael Avery, gained fame in 2011 when he called it “shameful” to support American men and women in uniform who’ve gone overseas to kill other human beings. In that same email, Professor Avery complained about an “oversized flag” in a lobby of the University.

DiGiovanni has his work cut out for him. Despite Boston being a big center of patriotism 250 years ago, there’s not much of that left these days. The Red White and Blue can give some people a bad case of hives.

(click here for Boston Herald story)

 

You’re Crazy, Ward!

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LOL! It’s pretty easy for somebody who follows my blog to think I’m stone-cold crazy about some of the horrible things that go on in the typical HOA environment. That’s why it’s fun to have YouTube in the mix.

The link below is to an outraged couple who discovered that their HOA micro-manages each and every person who spends a night under their roof. HOAs typically insist that no unrelated people live in the same house. That means a micro inspection of the relationship between every unmarried or yet-to-be-married couple spending a few nights in the same home. You have to get advance permission if someone is staying over, complete with their name, date-of-birth, Social Security Number and source of income.

HOAs have the right to determine who is an illegal resident and they can literally shut down the gate code for any homeowner who violates the policy. But figuring out who’s related to whom involves a massive amount of spying on your personal habits and the personal habits of every one of your guests. 

What country are we living in, again? Just curious.

http://tinyurl.com/la2eatz

 

The Idiots in Brighton Lakes HOA!

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Homeowner Carol Dietrick is handicapped but gets around great on her mobility scooter.
Now, her HOA claims her husband’s truck which is equipped with a wheelchair lift is a commercial vehicle! And they’re threatening to fine Carol’s landlord.

WFTV-TV in Central Florida reports that the HOA could be in violation of federal law. Talk about understatements!

Carol…take your camera and get some pix of the rear ends of every board member’s car. Betcha you’ll see lots of commercial logos like…. Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, Honda, Toyota, Subaru, and maybe even Cadillac. That’s all advertising. 

You’ll see stickers for places like Bob’s Buy Here Pay Here, One Minute Motors, or Kick Me To Kissimmee Auto Plaza. Those photos will be proof positive that every board member’s car is a commercial vehicle. See if those same board members wear Tommy Hilfiger shirts or New Balance shoes…. more advertising. And don’t miss the bonus shot of Florida dealer tags on license plates. Again, blatant advertising. 

Your lawsuit could be a humdinger!

I’m convinced we need a 12 Step program for HOA board members. They constantly prove they can’t help themselves when it comes to lust for power, and addiction to stupidity.

(click here for WFTV story)

 

Infamous Embezzler Gets 30 Days!

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Ah, Las Vegas. “How we love ya, How we love ya.”

Get caught drunk driving and you might get a year behind bars. Embezzle a million bucks, cost fifty people their homes and you get 30 days!

Massoud Aaron Yashouafar is known in three states for his enormously fishy real estate deals. And he’s the big cheese behind the Paradise Spa scandal in Las Vegas. Much of the Homeowners Association burned to the ground in 2010, but somehow a million dollars in insurance money found its way to Yashouafar’s pockets instead of the homeowners. 

Originally, the burned condos could have been rebuilt. But it took so much time to deal with the ruins that the county finally demolished them. To rub salt in the wounds of the homeless HOA members the county filed liens on the ruined units and sent the owners bills to pay for the demolition job. Ah yes, all those displaced homeowners are still on the hook for monthly dues!

Meanwhile Yashouafar gets thirty days.

Love ya, Las Vegas.

Ya got class!

(click here for Darcy Spears’ Hall of Shame’ report)