Category Archives: lawsuit

The New Code Word: Gentrified

      No Comments on The New Code Word: Gentrified

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)

 

Warning Shot Over The HOA Bow!

      2 Comments on Warning Shot Over The HOA Bow!

A huge jury verdict in Nevada was just awarded to a homeowner against two HOA collection companies. Across the country many HOA boards assess minor fines and liens against homeowners and then turn the accounts over to their law firms for collection. It’s so tempting for an ambulance-chasing law firm to turn to the easy profits of debt collecting. It’s not unheard of for minor fines to turn into huge foreclosures. Law firms add so-called ‘collection costs’, legal fees, interest and other such nonsense onto nickel-and-dime fines. It’s enormously profitable for such lawyers to have a buddy down at the county offices when the properties are auctioned off for pennies on the dollar. A whole roomful of Las Vegas lawyers are in jail right now for similar racketeering convictions.

The law firm hired by the Arrowcreek Homeowners Association in Washoe County, Nevada was accused of violating federal and state regulations against racketeering and violations of the Fair Debt Collections Act. The jury agreed and awarded the homeowner more than $600 thousand.

The link below is to a press release by the homeowners legal team. Obviously, the press release is to attract business. But since this law firm has affiliates in many other states it could possibly strike some fear in the hearts of the HOA Lawn Nazis!

(link to press release on details of jury verdict)

 

 

Out Come The Checkbooks In Visalia, California

      No Comments on Out Come The Checkbooks In Visalia, California
guest blog by Nila Ridings

Oh, the tempers have started furiously flying at the sight of the assessment letters arriving in the mail!

The homeowners in the elite HOA of The Lakes in Visalia, in the Central San Joaquin Valley, are fuming because the private roads need paving (according the property manager and the board) and that requires an emergency assessment of $2,300 per lot. If a person owns three lots they need to triple that payment. Why the need for the emergency assessments? Quick answer: The reserves are underfunded. Which comes as no surprise to all of us who work daily on HOA issues.

The HOA attorney has informed the unhappy homeowners that the HOA board is within its legal rights to demand the assessments. And, if not paid, they will lien the properties until it is.

Our regular readers have heard me say this many times: Buying into an HOA comes with massive risks. When the ink dries on the purchase contract, you become the guarantor for all debts, loans, lawsuits, settlements, liabilities, construction defects and disaster rebuilds for the entire HOA. There is no way to escape it. The CC&Rs are never quite that clear and easily understood, but that’s what it boils down to.

The Lakes of Visalia has now joined the massive number of HOAs that are already war zones. Welcome to the REAL WORLD of HOA living!

(link to The Business Journal on paving fight)

 

 

 

Can Dinosaurs Wreck Property Values?

      1 Comment on Can Dinosaurs Wreck Property Values?

Oh, Lordy, I love this job! It never gets old.

Good neighborhoods are quirky. That’s because people are quirky, and their quirks keep us all smiling and make the world go ’round. The problem with Homeowners Associations is that they’re bland, bleached, with a sameness that brings everyone to the same level. Standing out from the crowd is a well-known guaranty of getting yourself sued.

The New Territory Residential Community Association in Sugar Land, Texas is having a conniption fit over some ‘yard art’ in front of one family’s home. Other families have decorative lions in their front yards. But the Hentschel family has put up some beautifully made statuary that’s unique: metal sculptures of a velociraptor and a T-Rex.

Of course, they’ll get liened, fined and probably sued. And that’s a shame. I would give my eye teeth to be able to live next door to the Hentschel family!

(link to USA Today story on HOA dinosaurs)

 

“Damn the Disabled!” -Brookfield Farms HOA

      4 Comments on “Damn the Disabled!” -Brookfield Farms HOA

Discrimination has long been a hallmark of the modern HOA movement. The disabled, Negroes, Orientals, members of the Mongol race, gays, the handicapped, non-married adults. I’ve seen that in my own Colorado HOA, stories I relate in my book, Neighbors At War. I’ve seen it firsthand, but since starting this website I’ve been stunned at the number of blatantly racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic stories that are happening daily in American homeowner associations. There just aren’t enough courtrooms to handle all those cases, Ah, there are enough lawyers, to be sure. More than enough. Just not enough courtrooms.

In Lafayette, Indiana the Brookfield Farms Homeowners Association has made it clear they don’t want three handicapped people living in their neighborhood. “It’s a group home,” they’re screaming. “We don’t allow three unmarried handicapped people to live in a single home. And we’ll take it all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary!”

Stupid people. They’ll lose, of course. Federal law is pretty clear about abuse and discrimination against handicapped people. But in the meantime this idiot board will cost its homeowners tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands in legal fees.

Avoid HOA life like the plague. It looks good on paper. But when planning to buy into the HOA scam just remember you’re putting all of your personal assets into a common pool of money with people you don’t know and have never even met. All your assets including the equity of your house are being pledged to pay for moronic legal positions like the one being taken by Brookfield Farms in Indiana.

(link to Indianapolis Star article on discrimination against the disabled)