Category Archives: Foreclosures

Senator Carona and the Loan Star State

I’ve linked to this story before, but exposing this kind of person never gets old.

John Carona owns and runs Associa, the largest HOA management firm in the country. Many homeowners have bought into his neighborhoods and long regretted that decision. It’s tough to understand why Texans keep putting him in office.

This politician and his questionable business tactics need to be exposed at every opportunity.

(click here for link to Texas Tribune story)

 

Wouldn’t It Be Great If We Could “Fix” HOAs This Same Way?

guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
This link should put all sorts of ideas in your mind about how to fix up your failing HOA. If only we could Photoshop our neighborhoods the same way the fashion industry does its models:
 
 
 
36 seconds and “POOF!” Your HOA has no wood rot, no broken sidewalks, no dead tree limbs, dog poop, or peeling paint.  Wouldn’t that be amazing?
 
I actually have seen this very thing being done on real estate websites.  Potential buyers are stunned when they walk in and discover the kitchen is laminate, not granite. The pool isn’t out back, but three doors down in the board president’s back yard.  And the garage is a single not a triple.  And those beautiful multi-colored leaves on the maple tree outside the dining room picture window? That tree doesn’t even exist.
 
Deception is everywhere. Sadly, it’s becoming an acceptable practice.  But somebody always ends up a victim and reality hits like a brick.  This kind of deception is happening all across America’s homeowners associations.   
 
Life isn’t being lived like it’s portrayed in the pictures.

 

Totally Inappropriate, but Absolutely Hilarious! (rated ‘R’)

Not everything on this website has to be related to Homeowners Associations. Sometimes, we wander far afield of our intended topic. But when a construction project just defies the imagination, we have to take note.

The Christian Science Church in Dixon, Illinois is a gorgeous building from the street level. But Google Earth shows the building projects a completely different image than the church had originally intended.

Is it possible this architect had some kind of ulterior motive in designing a church building? Does an architect come up with this design just by cosmic accident?

Just wondering.

Lawsuits, anyone?

(click here for Google Earth photo)

(click here for Church’s response!)

 

A Sexual ‘High’ From Hurting Others

I wrote about this topic in my new book, Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association. Some readers were a little skeptical, but the latest study by scientists at MIT and Princeton University seems to back my claim up.

People actually take pleasure in hurting others. Obviously not everybody lacks empathy. But a solid majority of those studied shows that many folks get some kind of a ‘buzz’ when they hurt someone else, especially those they envy.

It’s not the first such study. Others have shown that a vast majority of people would actually hurt other people, even fatally, if put in a position of power.

But this latest study adds interesting information when you look at HOA board members who abuse their positions of power over others.

(click here for UPI story)

 

Thumbsucking HOA Idiocy in Florida

What is it about service dogs that HOAs don’t understand? It’s federal law. You cannot keep a disabled person from owning a service dog even if you hate that homeowner’s guts.

Nick Spagnolo was disabled while fighting in Kuwait and Somalia. Now, as a disabled Navy veteran he has a service dog to help him cope with his daily life. The Veterans Administration says it’s a service dog. His doctors say the dog is a medical necessity.

But the Jamestown Property Owners Association in Hobe Sound, Florida says Spagnolo’s dog weighs 40 pounds and the HOA regulations clearly prohibit dogs over 20 pounds.

Homeowners Associations across the country have been hit with massive federal fines for ignoring the rights of handicapped persons to have service dogs.

The Jamestown Property Owners Association is going to lose this one, and they’ll lose big. And the homeowners will all be hit with special assessments to pay for the legal fees and fines that’ll begin mounting up.

How do you spell ‘sftupid’?

(click here for Hobe Sound TV story)