Tag Archives: Realtor

How to Create Conflict & Drama in Your Community

      6 Comments on How to Create Conflict & Drama in Your Community
guest blog by Deborah Goonan

A Tongue-in-Cheek Guide for HOA Boards & Managers

1.     Create as many rules as you can, the pickier, the better.

a.     Be sure to create rules in closed session rather than an open meeting.

b.     Optional: provide an announcement of the new rules only AFTER you  have put them in effect. Then ignore any objections.

c.      Rules created hastily as a knee-jerk reaction are guaranteed to cause maximum conflict.

2.     Be inconsistent about enforcing the rules.

a.     Allow friends and family to break rules. They will help you stay in power.

b.     If you are a Board member, you can make up your own rules. If anyone challenges you, tell the resident you are entitled to special privileges for doing such a thankless job.

c.     Use penalties for breaking rules as a weapon against residents you do not like, especially disgruntled troublemakers, or anyone who does not “fit in” with your expectations.

3.     Drive through the community actively looking for violations, so you can start sending nasty letters and charging fines.

4.     Encourage residents to turn in their neighbors for various violations of rules.

5.     Be especially vigilant about citing the following groups with rule violations: the elderly, people with disabilities, single parents and their children, veterans, racial and ethnic minorities, and any resident that dares to question your competence, ethics, or authority.

6.     Treat members like wayward children. Play the role of Strict Parent by scolding or talking down to them.

a.     Post stern reminder notices about not breaking rules in public places and in the newsletter.

b.     Repeat the mantra “the rules are the rules, and must be followed.”

7.     Alternative: treat members like insubordinate employees. Play the role of Authoritarian Boss. Use bully tactics, swift and harsh penalties, and always speak in condescending tones. After all, you must keep the residents in line.

8.     Find an unscrupulous HOA Attorney, and then keep him or her busy escalating disputes and running up legal fees for violators and the HOA.

9.     Authorize expensive contracts for unnecessary “emergency” repairs and renovations, without a vote of residents.

a.     Do not waste money on “boring” maintenance and repairs such as cleaning gutters, fixing plumbing leaks, or seal coating roads.

b.     Focus your attention on “window dressing” and “fluff” instead.

10. Issue a special assessment to cover excess legal and maintenance costs.

a.     Then move swiftly to lien and foreclose on residents that cannot afford to pay the special assessment.

 

Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

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Well, at least one Florida lawyer is warning all Homeowners Association residents that they’d better start buying bear-proof trash cans. Seems that if a homeowner fails to buy one of these $140 trash cans a person mauled by a bear can start filing negligence lawsuits against every homeowner for miles around. Dang! I wish I’d gone to law school.

Colorado has its own bear problems. Aspen is especially famous for the dozens of bears that roam the downtown area each night. Bear maulings, of course, are a bad deal for the victims.

But my evil mind is running some quick calculations. 64 million HOA homeowners, each needing at least two bear-proof trash cans. That’s 128 million cans times $140 apiece. My mind doesn’t even calculate that high, but wouldn’t you like to buy stock in a trash can company? Heck, I’d be satisfied with just getting a dollar per can.

(link to WFTV news story on bear-proof trash cans)

 

Vistana’s Continuing HOA ‘Crime’ Wave

      4 Comments on Vistana’s Continuing HOA ‘Crime’ Wave

People in Nevada know the name, “Vistana.” The Vistana Homeowners Association was ground zero for the massive FBI investigation of HOA corruption, rigged elections, racketeering, bribery, extortion, and maybe even a murder or two. Actually, they’re officially classified as suicides, but one of the lawyers who committed ‘suicide’ had his knees bashed in by ‘persons unknown’ inside his gated community. The kneecapping happened just a few months before his ‘suicide’. Ah, I forgot to add, this profoundly disabled lawyer was able to hang himself from the rafters of a barn. Suspicious? Hmmmm.

With the HOA scandal occupying all the headlines you’d think the current board and management of Vistana would be especially sensitive about obeying the letter of the law. But remember, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Yes, it seems the Vistana board needed to tow about 70 cars because of a paving project. Nevada has strict laws governing the towing of cars. But did the board follow the laws? Any of them? I’ll let KTNV reporter Darcy Spears answer that question in her HOA Hall Of Shame, linked below.

(link to HOA Hall of Shame)

Followup!

The State of Nevada has actually filed criminal charges against those responsible for the Vistana towing atrocity. Strange to think of a Nevada crime prosecuting body actually doing some prosecuting!

(link to HOA Hall of Shame followup story)

 

 

 

Conflicts of Interest Abound in the World of HOAs

      3 Comments on Conflicts of Interest Abound in the World of HOAs
guest blog by Deborah Goonan

What if your condominium leaks like a sieve? What if the streets flood every time it rains? What if your condo building develops foundation cracks and unexplained build up of mold?

Owners may assume that reporting serious problems to the Board will result in sincere concern and earnest investigation of possible construction defects. They might expect the Board to insist that responsible parties pay for damages and repairs. But what if one of the association Board members is affiliated with the Developer?

Residents of Boathouse Condominiums, Bay City, Michigan, have complained of numerous defects but have run into resistance. Their Board has denied their request to seek defect claims against the developer of their 37-unit high-end boathouse conversion, Marina Place LLC. The Agent of the Developer’s corporation just so happens to be a member of the Board at Boathouse Condominiums.

So nineteen residents have filed their own lawsuit against the Developer and construction company, alleging numerous defects that allow water intrusion into the units, and a faulty foundation. But the lawsuit also lists the HOA as a defendant, for failure to address their concerns.

The Developer denies knowledge of defects, and seeks proof of damages.

Attorneys for both sides are already engaged. This battle could get expensive.

(link to news story on Boathouse Condominiums)

 

More Embezzling, This Time New Mexico

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Yes, I know it’s wearying. But homeowners across the country just don’t realize how vulnerable their unregulated, uninspected, unwatched board members are to temptation. Egads! Give an ignorant board officer or property manager control over several million dollars in HOA funds….tell him or her that nobody’s watching, nobody’s prosecuting. Of course they’re going to steal! They will!  In fact, they’ll steal more and more as long as they think they’re getting away with it. Obviously, I’m exaggerating, but not by much!

The latest embezzlement apparently involves hundreds of thousands of dollars missing from Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

LOL! As I recall, this neighborhood had a very shady reputation right from the beginning. Some very suspicious characters (former Florida swampland salesmen) bought up tens of thousands of acres back in the 50s and 60s for pennies an acre. It was absolutely dry, worthless desert land. They advertised on the radio and in TV Guide, “Buy a five acre ranchette in Paradise for just 199 dollars. Know how I remember? My own parents bought  a parcel . In fact, it’s still in the family’s estate if anyone wants to buy it….cheap!

Anyway, decades later people actually started building houses, and Intel set up a big computer operation there to take advantage of the cheap labor. So fifty years later there’s actually a development….and a Homeowners Association. An Association that’s now complaining because some swine embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the HOA bank account.

Life goes on.

(link to story on embezzling investigation)