Category Archives: beekeeping

Not HOA Related, But Really Hilarious & Lovely Corruption!

      3 Comments on Not HOA Related, But Really Hilarious & Lovely Corruption!

From The London Times: 

Outside England’s Bristol Zoo there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 buses.

For 25 years, its parking fees were managed by a very pleasant attendant….. He charged car owners $1.40 for parking, buses paid about $7.

One day, after 25 solid years of never missing a day of work and collecting all those fees he just didn’t show up. Managers of the zoo called the city council asking for someone to send down another parking agent to take his place.

The council did some research and replied that the parking lot was the zoo’s responsibility, not theirs. 

The zoo told the council that the attendant was a city employee, not theirs.

The city council replied that this parking lot attendant had never 
been on the city payroll.

After two and a half decades, this ‘parking attendant’ is undoubtedly sitting in his villa some where on the coast of Spain, Italy or France, laughing at the sucker he’d made of the system. 

He apparently charged the parking fee on his own. People gladly paid the parking toll to visit the zoo. 

All he had to do was show up each morning, collect the parking fees and stash them in his personal account.

For 25 years, he collected about $569 a dayl After 25 years, that amounts to a paltry 7 million dollars.

LOL! At this point, nobody even knows this shyster’s name. But he’s a genius.

And a millionaire. And nobody knows his name!

God bless you in your retirement, Sir!

Common Sense in Arizona?

      No Comments on Common Sense in Arizona?

Well, just a couple of weeks ago, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that a family’s right to post a ‘for sale’ sign had more support from the law than an HOA’s right to pull them down.

Some tyrannical HOAs forbid sales signs altogether. Some say ‘for sale’ signs are OK, just as long as they’re brown and tan and are not easily seen by potential buyers. Egads, the warped minds of these control freaks! 

At least there’s hope for the future. A rogue HOA in Northern Virginia told a couple their Obama sign was four inches too big and the HOA thugs destroyed it for them. But the last laugh was with the couple. They sued the HOA, the judge ordered the HOA to pay the couples’ legal costs which forced the whole neighborhood to declare bankruptcy.

It’s so nice to stroll through a peaceful neighborhood where the lawns are all cared for and no pink, polka-dotted homes. I just came from visiting someone in such a nice and caring neighborhood, and not surprisingly, there was no HOA. They were just neighbors who respected each other and worked together to keep the place nice. 

And of course, no annual meeting where people are screaming at each other.

(click here for AZ Supreme Court Decision) 

http://azdailysun.com/news/local/state-and-regional/pine-canyon-hoa-must-allow-for-sale-signs/article_43f97a0a-1521-11e3-9975-0019bb2963f4.html

Smiling Face In A Non-HOA Place!

      No Comments on Smiling Face In A Non-HOA Place!
guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
Happy, laughing, and smiling is the best way to describe Mary Kromrey. She and her husband, Mike, are raising their son, Eli, in the home they purchased in Rountree; they’re repeat buyers in that neighborhood. 
 
Springfield might be best known for a couple of its famous sons with roots there, Brad Pitt, the actor, and Johnny Morris, the owner of Bass Pro Shops. But I hope it becomes more famous for this Non-HOA neighborhood!
 
The Kromreys’ house doesn’t look at all like the neighbors’ houses.  Each house looks different with its own unique “personality.”  Mary has adorned her front porch with hanging baskets of flowers, a porch swing, an umbrella-covered table, and a bright red mailbox!  What?  A BRIGHT RED MAILBOX?  Not only that but she has a rain barrel so she can use the water for her flowers!  HOA-Free living means home owners can be creative and use their own common sense.  As long as they follow the city codes, they are not hassled.  Neighbors aren’t looking for ways to sue or foreclose on each others’ properties like we hear about every day across America’s HOAs.  Heck, even paying dues once a year is done voluntarily. 
 
Rountree’s focus is on socialization.  No, it’s not a joke.  They REALLY DO focus on looking out for each others’ kids and homes.  “Our neighbors have become a stand-in family” Mary says. 
 
This sounds so foreign to me.  I’ve been living in an HOA so long this seems like a completely different world and another lifetime.  I’m having flashbacks of my childhood neighborhood.  I’m so envious of Mary and how she bubbles over with joy talking about where she lives! 
 
Just before we said good-bye she said, “And we have chickens, too!”  No doubt, they are probably free-range and cage-free enjoying their freedom, too. 
 
Sure looks like Rountree dispels the myth that you must have an HOA to maintain property values, doesn’t it?  Who wants to bet the Kromreys’ property value is going up?
 
 
 

How Can We React?

      6 Comments on How Can We React?

It has dawned on me several times over the past few years that HOA outrages are most often reversed when a rogue HOA gets a ton of phone calls and email from angry people across the country. If you know that you, as a board officer or manager, are being watched by the whole country, you might be a little less rotten to your neighbor. In a well publicized case where an HOA official’s viciousness is widely publicized, would that official be more willing to step back and mull over the action he or she is planning to take? Certainly, when you lift up a big rock the vermin tend to scatter in the light of day.

We currently have more than 31,000 people regularly reading this blog. That means an army of folks in every state. Should we begin publicizing home phone numbers, HOA phone numbers, email addresses and management phone numbers whenever we hear of the actions of a rogue HOA board?

I’d like to hear your thoughts publicly or privately. And if we ever began such a policy it would require your help to look up and verify any numbers or addresses of those we publicize.

Your thoughts?

HOA Sticks It To Pet Lovers!

      No Comments on HOA Sticks It To Pet Lovers!
guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
Sandra Thomas bought a condo at the Wyckford Mews in 1997 and agreed to the by-laws, which include a pet clause. Only two pets per unit. But this board is fining her, claiming she was given the wrong CC&Rs SIXTEEN years ago and only one pet is allowed! 
 
Sandra pleaded her case for grandfathering. Oh no! They don’t do that at Wyckford Mews. So, pick your favorite; dog or cat, and take the other to a shelter or wherever…Wyckford Mews could care less!  Until you comply, the fines are $100 each.
 
Forget about calling your board members, Gerald Rowan or Josh Quinn. They don’t return calls.  (Since every HOA story seems to have board members who don’t answer phone calls or knocks at the door, I am wondering if that instruction is written in the CAI HOA-101 class syllabus?).
 
Running to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office won’t do you much good. You’ll no doubt get the same response as homeowners get in the other 49 states.  Expect to hear, “This is a civil matter! Go hire a lawyer!”
 
Some Wyckford Mews condo owners are fearful, but think they have figured this HOA scam out.  Absurd fines for things like parking your bicycle over time, (Have I been out to lunch? Do they have meters for that now, too?) leaving your shoes in the hallway, or for no reason at all, place the condo owner into the “not in good standing” classification.  Therefore, they cannot run for the board or vote in the board election. 
 
Sandra, vote with your feet and paws!  Pack up your dog and cat, and GET OUT while you still can!  The torture by the rogue HOA board members has just begun!  And it won’t get better with time!
 
P.S. With Halloween just around the corner, DO NOT BUY A PUMPKIN to display.  You could end up with another $100 fine.  Of course, in the language of HOAs that would be considered a “treat.” Compliments of your HOA board goblins!