Let’s all meet down at the fire pit. You know the one in between the busy streets. The one where kids will be crossing in the darkness and might forget to check for traffic. Or somebody driving drunk might jump the curb and wipe out the crowd.
Prairie Village, Kansas is an upscale area developed by Jesse Clyde Nichols (you’ve read about him in Evan McKenzie’s book, Privatopia). It’s commonly referred to as “Perfect Village.”
Some HOA board members authorized a landscaper to build a fire pit as a community gathering place between busy city streets and on city property. The city planners have put their foot down against this HOA. And I applaud them for doing so! HOA boards never cease to amaze me. I don’t know if it’s their pompous attitudes, ignorance, or endless need to control others. But it was a delight to see this story on the news tonight.
Although, I’m sorry for the landscaper with good intentions who got caught in the crossfire. His heart was in the right place. He just had a blind faith and trust in the HOA board…just like millions of other Americans do!
So, don’t meet me at the fire pit. By the time you’d get here, it will be gone!
Here’s a homeowner who drives a pick-up truck and parks it at his home on his driveway. Well actually it’s not his driveway according to his HOA.
This HOA board is dumber than a box of rocks, in my opinion. A pick-up truck does not indicate a person operates the vehicle for commercial use!
How well I know. One of my vehicles is a pick-up truck. Thank goodness it has four-wheel drive. My HOA owns my driveway, too. They are supposed to maintain it, but in ten years they have only sealed it once. One time! After it had cracked and fallen apart. The worst issue I’ve had is when it dropped below the concrete floor in the garage. I literally could not get my truck into my garage without using four-wheel drive every time!!! In addition, every time it rained the water ran in under the garage floor and eventually into my finished basement. The HOA made a very poor attempt to repair the driveway after I had professional contractors tell me it was not repairable. Now it has separated leaving a crack across the driveway that is 3″ deep allowing water to run under the driveway. It has also started to drop again…back to four-wheeling into my garage I’ll go.
The HOA now claims it’s my responsibility to pay for the replacement of the driveway. Yes, we are in another court battle because my HOA would rather spend $100,000 on a legal battle than to replace a $5,000 driveway. As our readers know, you just can’t fix the incredible levels of stupid in an HOA!
A former board president told me that all driveways are common ground. I asked if I had a party and needed extra parking spaces could my guests park on my neighbors’ driveways? He said, “They sure can!”
As if we don’t already have at least a million reasons why not to buy in an HOA, this driveway issue is just more proof of it!
“Hey, Nila! How are you?” “Great, how are you?” “I’m great, too. I’m buying a condo!!!”
I’m not sure if my heart stopped or just skipped several beats. Janice said my face instantly drained of color and she thought I was going to faint. I remember feeling frozen in place and my mouth suddenly became as dry as a California river bed.
“Janice! You can’t do that!!!!!” I blurted out as she was bringing me a cup of water. Janice was planning to buy a condo because she didn’t want to mow grass or shovel snow any longer. I told her to hire that work out. And proceeded to educate her with my arsenal of information about HOA and condo living. She sent the Realtor a text message cancelling their Saturday morning appointment. The Realtor responded by questioning if there was a scheduling conflict. Janice wrote back, “No, I don’t want to buy anything with an HOA!”
Janice walked out from behind the cash register and gave me a big hug while telling me I had saved her life. I refused her offer to buy my groceries in exchange for “saving her life.” She literally was going to sign a contract for a condo in less than forty-eight hours.
Janice is the classic candidate for HOA abuse. She’s getting a divorce, over sixty, paying cash, and seeking maintenance-free living. Our loyal readers know just the thoughts of her buying that condo makes the board members salivate. Like lions on a fresh piece of raw meat they were hunkered down just waiting for her arrival.
Talk about timing! Today, I was in the right place at the right time. I’m so thankful another innocent person is not going to walk into the hell of HOA living. Education is a powerful thing!
Ward posted a blog with the video about Enock and Ines Berluche and their battle to keep their religious statues in their landscaping on September 30, 2014.
On this rainy day in Kansas hearing such a happy and excited voice just made my day! I asked if the legal fees were covered. Enock said Liberty Council provided their defense at no charge. That information added to the excitement of the phone call.
I promised to share this news with our readers in hopes it will provide renewed strength to those who fight these HOA battles. We are hearing from more homeowners that are winning their cases.
Tell me, are the judges getting wise to the antics of the HOAs? Are they seeing how ridiculous their bullying and abusing of the homeowners truly is? Something tells me they are.
Let’s hope this is the last time the Berluche’s hear from the HOA board. For now,
This time it’s not the HOA that ran a family out of the neighborhood. It’s 6000 brown recluse spiders.
Brian and Susan Trost purchased their $450,000 dream home in a Saint Louis, Missouri suburb and soon found it had little creepy crawling dangerous poisonous spiders running everywhere. They sued the previous owners, David and Tina Gault and got a settlement of $472,000 but haven’t collected a dime.
They contacted Jamel Sandidge, an expert from the University of Kansas. He determined the spiders did not arrive after the Trost’s purchased the property. They have State Farm Insurance, but no settlement has been given. Based on my experience with State Farm Insurance all I can say is, Good Luck!
Overall, if they end up not buying another HOA house, I think they will live happily ever after. Next time it could be the HOA that bites them. That could be worse than any spider out there.
