Category Archives: Government

Fireworks in Carson City, Nevada

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This is shameful.

No state in the union has suffered more from HOA abuse than homeowners in Nevada. No homeowners have been financially stripped and laid bare more than people in Nevada. Organized crime in so entrenched in Homeowners Associations in that state that many people in HOAs have lost up to 90 per in value in their homes. But when Organized Crime sees a chance to put OPM (other peoples money) into their pockets, there’s not much that will hold them back.

But ripped-off homeowners in that state were finally able to convince the U.S. Attorney and the FBI to do an investigation, and 39 people including police officials, attorneys, businessmen, political figures, a well-known TV star were indicted and now face felony trials for theft and official corruption. Well, I’ll modify that, a bit. In typical Nevada fashion, certain key suspects began killing themselves in strangely concocted ‘suicides’, and others began to rat out the bigwigs, eight or nine of whom still face trial for their crimes.

Nevada citizens were even able to get a couple of homeowners advocates placed in key positions on the eminently corrupt Nevada Real Estate Division. These homeowners rights advocates tried to get NRED to respect such Constitutional ‘novelties’ as Due Process, a well-recognized Constitutional Right which protects all the people from government abuse.

Tomorrow and Thursday day is when well-reimbursed stooges on the Division of Real Estate tries to crush that right forever. It’s happening in Carson City. And the largest CAI vultures ever spotted by bird watchers are flying the skies over the state capitol right now making sure their paid minions succeed at stifling any sort of free speech or respect for law and order. Nevada is well known for its deep layers of official corruption. By the end of this week you’ll know whether it’ll be business as usual, or whether those struggling under the weight of oppression can reserve for the people a tiny hope for fairness.

 

Red State vs. Blue State Conundrum

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One of our frequent contributors to this site used to be a researcher for a conservative think tank in Colorado. He says he recently dropped by the Republican booth at the Louisville town fair and made a point of asking opinions about HOAs. He asked about Captain Michael Clauer, the Texas man whose HOA home was illegally seized and sold while he was assigned to a war zone in the Middle East. It’s absolutely a violation of federal law for an overseas serviceman to be treated like that.

Well, our friend says the Republicans at the booth said, “Captain Clauer agreed to the covenants. He chose to live in an HOA. He didn’t have to buy into one of them.”

Jeesh! The ACLU occasionally stands up for a Constitutional right here and there. Republicans traditionally believe in smaller government and protection of property rights.  The rampant abuses of homeowners by HOAs should be in the crosshairs of both the left and the right, the Democrats and the Republicans. But we’ve got idiots on both sides of the political aisle. With 63 million people living in HOAs, that’s a heck of a lot of votes. It sounds like we may have to do a lot more educating of people in both the red and blue states.

I’ve got to believe, though, that great masses of Republicans and Democrats believe HOA abuse has gone too far. The smart candidates ought to put HOA reform in a prominent place on their platforms.

 

 

Las Vegas Condo Owners Win $2.4 Million

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

August 15, 2014 will be a day Frank and Amy Taddeo will celebrate for a long time. Their cheap condo investment in Meridian Condos paid them millions in the courtroom, thanks to the stupidity of American Invsco and Koval Flamingo!

The two companies converted apartments into condos and spiffed them up. But the floor tiles they used illegally exceeded the load bearing limits of the structure. Lawsuits for breach of contract have been flying. Fortunately, there haven’t been any building collapses.

But where were the city engineers? City inspectors? Heck, even an interior designer would have questioned that much weight being added to the flooring.

It’s a rare court victory. But whether this family will collect has to be up in the air. There are 200 units in Meridian. If each owner won 2.4 million dollars in court that adds up to 480 million dollars.

(link to story in the Las Vegas Review Journal)

 

Marketing of HOAs

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guest blog by Beanie Adolph

Incredible! How can something so destructive of family life and of the American system of governance continue to dominate American housing?  MARKETING! Chant the lie over and over:  HOAs protect property values. THEY DON’T!  Promise Utopia but hide the reality.  Deny every plea for full disclosure – for openness.  In 2004, two realtors were discussing on an industry blog how to ensure a buyer knew “what he was getting into” and concluded “…if ALL the potential pitfalls are enumerated, no one in his right mind would purchase.”

Most buyers saw the opportunity of owning the home of their dreams at a manageable price with the added inducements of “amenities” previously available only to members of country clubs. There was, then, and still is the lie that HOAs protect property values. There was not and still is not any disclosure that:

  • The quoted cost does not include the extra costs, e.g. increase in assessments and all types of fees.
  • The Reuler-Hailey paper* states “… some HOA managers contract with HOA boards at below-market rates with the expectation of making up the difference from individual owners. How? With a myriad of specific purpose fees, such as resale certificate fees, document fees, collection fees, inspection fees, and violation enforcement fees.”
  • Most new developments are HOA developments and buyers really do not have a choice.
  • Buying into an HOA is far worse than co-signing a note with strangers. A note has a fixed amount, defined terms, and can be paid off. In an HOA there is a lien that can never be paid off. The homeowner is a guarantor for all debts incurred by the HOA, and his house is security for their spending sprees.
  • The reality is that amenities are not “freebies” but burdens that constantly deteriorate, and are the responsibility of the homeowner.
  • HOAs are private quasi-governments that regulate and control the behavior of citizens without the same due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment.
  • The HOA system places rules and regulations above the rights and freedoms guaranteed to all Americans.
  • Once an HOA is established the governing documents ensure its continuance forever.
  • The HOA Industry constantly lobbies state legislators to increase their power – their control.  Their bills usually have homeowner-friendly names but not homeowner-friendly results. Lobby Watch, June 1, 2011, revealed funds raised for PACs, the distribution to the legislators, and how they voted.

Why do homeowners endure this?

Two of the most powerful motivations are fear and greed.  Homeowners, legislators, and politicians bought the concept that HOAs protect property values.  No facts were ever given to support the statement, but prospects of pink houses, cars up on cinder blocks, and unacceptable neighbors were the threatened  alternative.  In one TV debate the CAI attorney must have thought one car on cinder blocks was not scary enough.  He described a non-HOA community adjacent to his where one house had “6 or 7 cars up on cinder blocks, grass overgrown, trailers out.” When the goal is to instill fear the argument has no limit.

It is a fact that property values are determined by the economy and affect homes in and out of HOAs.   According to an exhaustive study of Harris County homes, homes not in HOAs fared better. Fear was and still is a major factor.  But in HOAs the fear of being targeted with fines, fees, and foreclosure keeps most defenseless owners silent.

* Statutory Evolution of Condominiums and Property Owners Associations in Texas, by Sharon Reuler and Roy. D. Hailey, September 2002. Mortgage Lending Institute, U.T. School of Law

More Reason For HOAs To Fear The Southwest Drought

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As I’ve said many times on this blog, our nation is facing a massive financial crisis involving a pending collapse of the dollar, with nowhere to hide. All it will take is a tipping point, just a single event. It could involve an investment gone wrong, a weather event, a crisis involving war between two nations anywhere in the world, or some moment where the world fears the stability of the US dollar. Mortgage companies will massively decrease lending for home purchases. And there’s no doubt these same mortgage companies know that the most fragile investments are in Homeowners Associations where property values can become wildly unstable because of misfeasance or malfeasance by HOA officers or managers.

But the science story linked below is one I’d never considered.

(link to drought induced earthquakes)