Category Archives: Foreclosures

“Somebody Is Fattening The Frog For The Snake” ~Martha Preston

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by guest blogger Nila Ridings
 
Pine Village North HOA in Houston, Texas is not fooling former board members Martha Preston and Christopher Mitchell.  Over $550,000 in dues collected and the pool is dry, the security cameras are dangling from their brackets, and they have trash piling up.  Not to mention the burned out units!  Yet, the records show the money was spent on maintenance. And the financial report says they ended up with a negative $25,000.
 
Something is “fishy” with the money alright.  And the board members and their attorney have “no comment.” But they did vote to throw Preston and Mitchell off the board for questioning where the money went.
 
At least the developer got something right by naming the streets Wild Pine and Twisted Pine!  Because somehow in this wild and twisted mess they ended up with two boards of directors!  
 
As I see it, the best case scenario for these townhome owners is: Assessments for tens of thousands of dollars per owner for the rebuild and tens of thousands more for legal bills. Together, those will exceed the value of their property which at this point is worthless. I’m afraid I would be calling Two Men And A Truck and leaving the keys on the kitchen counter.
 
However, at the end of the day, I applaud Martha Preston and Christopher Mitchell for exposing yet another rotten stinking HOA. Theirs is a perfect example of why HOAs should be illegal!!!
 
The trial begins March 2014.
 
 

The Power the CAI Has Over the Idiot Media

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I know, I’m a forty-year former member of the idiot media. And I don’t watch TV or read newspapers today, for the same reason meat packers don’t eat sausage. They know how it’s made.

Yes, the press releases would pour off the fax machines and they’d be distributed to various reporters in the newsroom to go out and call in stories. Make ’em short, make ’em sweet. Those reporters who didn’t make a fuss about questionable interviews always got more assignments…and better assignments.

But our friend in North Carolina wonders why homeowners can’t get their own opinions published in the the Charlotte Observer, while the lies-by-fax get reported all the time. Jim, my friend, it’s because the media are lazy. They’re not evil. They’re just short-handed and lazy.

So when the CAI (Community Associations Institute) launches a decades old campaign pretending to represent all homeowners, the lazy reporters do what lazy reporters do. They don’t make phone calls. They don’t double-check the facts. They go out, find a talking head, and phone in the nonsense. It’s one of the reasons the credibility of the news media is about the same as the credibility of Congress.

In any event, Jim’s concerns are rooted in his genuine search for the truth.

(click here for Charlotte Observer)

 

$100 Per Week Fine Over Security Door

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

The Manor at Forest Park Homeowners Association orders Mathew Goodson to remove his security door even though he has proof it stopped a break-in at his home.

Amelia Nolder of the architectural department says, “Nothing can be changed, the door must be removed, it can not and will not be approved.”  Wow! Those sound like orders from a judge.  But they haven’t even been to court yet. 
 
Mathew Goodson is getting lots of support from those familiar with his situation and he’s contemplating getting an attorney and going to court. Okay. That sounds like about a forty thousand dollar legal bill.  Is having the door worth that?  He says the door saved his life based on the attempted break-in and the fact the burglars were stopped because of it.  
 
Goodson knows doors. He’s a retired firefighter which means he’s broken through a lot of them.  It appears his retirement years are going to be interrupted with fighting an HOA battle that is guaranteed to get as heated as a four alarm fire!
 
Should the HOA board be thinking about the depreciation of property values when break-ins, armed robberies, and maybe rapes could be happening in the community?  Or should they focus on the appearance of the doors?
 
Perhaps somebody should introduce this HOA to the JambBrace? www.jambBrace.com

(click here for MyFoxAtlanta story)

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/24277339/man-fights-homeowners-association-over-metal-door#ixzz2o7LA7LQ5

 

HOA Communism

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Kids these days don’t know much about Communism. They don’t get much more than a passing overview in their history or civics classes. Sadly, as George Santayana pointed out, “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” So that means our kids and grandkids may, themselves, have to someday experience such things as Communism and Facism. It’s so subtle, and you’re stuck before you know it.

In fact, isn’t that exactly what many young people are facing in the structure of today’s Homeowners Associations?

After reading the blog linked below, and pondering the identity of ‘Alex’, an anti-Communist dissident/writer who left the Soviet Union to seek peace elsewhere, you might ponder the reality of being doomed to repeat history.

I’ve bloggged about this blogger before, but since he’s re-posting I’ll re-post him as well.

(click here for excellent blog post from Virginia attorney)

http://www.urbanophile.com/2013/12/17/how-homeowners-associations-stifle-expression-and-sustainability-by-kaid-benfield/

A Special Thought for Christmas

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Some, but not all, will get the message in the short video linked below. But it warmed my heart. And it’s one I’d like to share.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Hz4P1m1bZFY