Category Archives: Duck Dynasty

What Will The HOAs Say?

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

For those seeking a shaded space with outdoor exposure this could be the perfect solution. It looks like the next best thing to a screened porch minus the crosswinds. And perfect for a smaller home where making the garage a multi-purpose room would be nice. Well, unless they live in an HOA.

What will happen when these start to appear? HOA board members will lay awake at night crafting new rules to prohibit them. That’s what. And they will dream of ways to spend the money they collect in fines from those who disobey the new rule.

For the lucky folks who are living HOA-Free this could really come in handy for Saturday night card parties, Sunday afternoon game watching, kids birthday celebrations, and craft projects that require ventilation. It would also be an incentive to keep the garage nice and clean!

I like it!

 

Oh, That Sinking Feeling When Your Builder Walks Away!

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guest blog by Deborah Goonan

Let’s face it. There is no shortage of construction defect reports for many homes built in the past decade, and Colorado homeowners seem to have more than their share of shoddy construction.

The focus in the news lately has been on condominiums, with city leaders bucking state law to go around legal protections for homeowners, claiming that if they do not ease up on construction standards, developers won’t be able to build enough “affordable” condos for first-time buyers.

Well, here’s a story of apparent construction defects affecting some pricey single family homes on the outskirts of Frederick, roughly 30 miles north of Denver. It seems Dr. Robert Landry, a veterinarian, his wife and two small children have had to move out of their home. Landry alleges that the family’s Lennar-built “forever home” is uninhabitable, because the foundation is sinking into soft soil, allowing moisture and mold build up, buckling wood floors, and kitchen counters pulling away from the walls.

The homeowner hired an engineer to examine the foundation and crawl space, and to conduct soil testing. The results of recent soil tests indicate that the soil is too soft to support construction of a home. Lennar claims that soil testing done in 2006 indicated a drastically different soil composition that was deemed suitable for construction.

However, in 2013, Colorado saw historic flooding, and Weld County – where Landry’s home is located – was particularly hard hit. Additionally, Frederick has a history of coal mining activity, and in recent years, nearby land has become the site of oil and gas drilling, and the controversial practice of fracking. (the subject of another blog) Several of Landry’s neighbors report similar damage to their homes.

A Google search of Lennar Homes in Frederick indicates the company is no longer building homes in Rinn Valley HOA, the site of Landry’s home. Landry has approached the Town of Frederick and the HOA for assistance, before bringing his story to local media.

Landry contends that new soil testing should have been done following the 2013 floods, prior to breaking ground on his home and others nearby. He questions why the Town of Frederick approved construction and issued occupancy permits for homes built on shifting soils, particularly without drilling deep piers into bedrock to support their foundations. The inspection officer admits that the Town’s policy is to simply accept the Developer’s reports, signed by the builder’s own engineers.

This is common practice in many states – the local government’s development planning officials are mostly paper pushers. As long as the Developer files the required reports with signatures, the project is good to go. And many site inspections are either conducted by the Developer’s chosen experts, or, if conducted by the city or county, such inspections are cursory at best.

In other words, as a home buyer, no one is looking out for your interests.

To add insult to injury, the Attorney hired by Landry says that it is impossible for homeowners to sue Lennar, because the Developer requires arbitration to settle construction defect disputes. Those consumer-hostile terms were written into the sales contracts for all homebuyers. (Similar terms are most likely written into the governing documents for the homeowners association, with regard to defects that occur in the common areas.)

Landry and his neighbors hope to convince Lennar to buy back their homes, so they can move on with their lives.

Source articles and video:

(homeowner blames builder for sinking house)

(earlier report, Shifting Soil Damages Brand New Home in Frederick)

(March 2015, Dr. Robert Landry asks for assistance from Town of Frederick with Rinn Valley homes)

(Rinn Valley Ranch HOA)

Little Free Library Must Go Says The HOA!

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Jennifer Fontanilla of Stockton, California had no idea she could not erect a Little Free Library in her front yard. Well, let’s say she had no idea her LeBaron Estates Owners Association could prohibit her from keeping the Little Free Library she won and then erected.

It’s got a bright yellow door and gives the impression literacy is just tempting inquiring minds of the young and old to open it. Take a peek inside. Find something interesting. And take it home to read.

OMG! What if there was a copy of Neighbors At War The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association by Ward Lucas in there? What if Miss Jennifer and her neighbors learned the TRUTH about the risks of owning in the HOA? What if they came across this website and read these blogs about abusive bullies on the HOA boards? What if she has no idea the board members can spend massive amounts of money to drag her into a lawsuit, a jury trial, and foreclose and take her home and life’s savings? All because she was providing FREE BOOKS to her neighbors to READ! Tell me dear readers, has there ever been a greater sin?!?!

The Little Free Library movement has gone global. To me, it’s a wonderful thing. I’ve been known to put books in the ones in my area, but NONE OF THEM ARE IN MY HOA! I would love to build one and fill it with books. But I know I would have to figure out a way to live in it because my HOA would definitely foreclose and take my townhouse if a Little Free Library appeared anywhere near here.

The ignorance in America continues to grow. Shouldn’t we be willing to do anything possible to encourage learning? Are we really this stupid to believe a Little Free Library across the street is going to depreciate property values? And are we willing to pay dues so a bunch of bullies can sue the neighbor that has a Little Free Library that most everybody enjoys?

When will we stand up and say, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?

Jennifer Fontanilla has another ‘hearing’ about this issue on July 14th. Can we figure out a way to show our support for her from all across America?

A special thank you to Record staff writer, Nicolas Filipas for exposing more insanity from a California HOA.

(link to Little Free Library story)

http://www.recordnet.com/article/20150703/NEWS/150709883#ReaderReaction

Reflections on Flags

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Flag etiquette is a touchy subject in this country. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that burning the American Flag is a protected form of speech under the First Amendment. Still, we hear calls from elected politicians that displaying the Confederate Flag is not protected speech.

The beginning of the Confederate War was never about slavery, it was about the massive tax burden being imposed by the North against southern businessmen. The slavery issue arose two years into the Civil War and at that point the Stars and Bars and slavery were forever linked.

But the original flag, the one that George Washington commissioned, was never about slavery, either. It was about this country’s brash argument that it wanted to be free from foreign rule and oppressive taxes. Yes, George Washington owned slaves. So did many others of the country’s founders. So did the Cherokee Indians, for that matter.

So how is the American Flag any less a symbol of slavery than the Confederate Flag? The two flags are just red, white and blue pieces of cloth stitched together. And now professional rabble rousers are insisting that anything Red, White and Blue be torn down and assigned to the dustbins of history.

The two flags represent culture. There are good and bad things in every culture. But believing that Americans are too stupid to make up their own minds about important cultural issues is Political Correctness run amok.

Flee from political correctness, that apple barrel of hypocrisy and prevarication which is sitting and fermenting and waiting to poison the discussion and the common sense that most Americans have.

Now, we have a very real situation taking place in a Southern Colorado neighborhood. A Hispanic man hung a flag upside down as a show of disrespect because of the racism he feels in his community. He says he feels harassed by the HOA’s management company.

Whew! Don’t we all?

There’s a craziness afoot in American neighborhoods. There’s an intolerance that’s as insidious as a cluster of cancer cells. Let’s get rid of it. Leave the flags alone. Leave our First Amendment alone. If someone has the bad taste to display a flag improperly, just walk away and let him be. What a nice place this would be if we just gave each other some space. Forgive, forget, and get on with life.

(link to El Paso County flag story)

 

Young Boy Drowns At Remington Point HOA

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Nothing I can think of could possibly be more painful than losing a child.  Micah Wheeler was only six years old and swimming in the pool at the Remington Point HOA in Fort Worth, Texas when he drowned.

The HOA did not hire life guards to watch over the innocent children that frolicked in the pool under the hot summer sun of Texas.  They opted to pay security guards to keep the unwelcome guests out of their private pool.

The “what if” and “if only” questions will never come with an answer.  Little Micah’s family will suffer this loss and feel this pain forever.  I am so sorry for his family and loved ones.

Perhaps the board of directors will weigh their priorities more carefully in the future?

Neighborhood pools…are they worth the risks?  I think not.

(link to story on Texas drowning)