Shadowglen Homeowners Association, Austin, Texas. Homeowners are beginning to get hefty fines if any vehicle parks in front of their house. It doesn’t matter if the car belongs to the next door neighbor, a delivery company or just a friend dropping by, homeowners are getting slammed with fines of $500 and more.
Isn’t it strange how all these HOAs start off so benign, yet end up so fascist? All it takes is a couple of new board members who suddenly find themselves in the first position of power they’ve ever possessed.
In my new book Neighbors At War, I explain the chemical reaction that happens in the brains of those who get that first taste of raw power. And in Chapter 15 there’s a discussion of two of the most controversial sociological experiments ever conducted. Each experiment attempted to explore what goes on in the minds of people who suddenly feel the need to damage another human being. In one of the experiments, the scientist pondered why it was so easy to persuade German guards to mindlessly slaughter prisoners of war. What he discovered shocked and outraged the entire psychology community.
There’s a reason that board members and managers in a place like the Shadowglenn Homeowners Association are often referred to as the ‘lawn Nazis’ or the ‘HOA Nazis’. Power is an incredible aphrodisiac!
My frequent guest blogger, Nila Ridings, is going to be a guest of HOA expert Shu Bartholomew this Saturday. Many of you know Shu as one of the most stalwart Homeowners Rights advocates in the country. Her weekly radio show airs in and around Fairfax, Virginia, but better yet, she broadcasts on the Internet so she has a national and even international audience. Shu interviews the top figures in the fight against abuse by rogue Homeowners Associations. And, indeed, Nila Ridings is one of the nation’s top fighters against this disingenuous, tyrannical and corrupt movement.
Nila is famous in Kansas as the leader of a group of about twenty people who fought for a new law in Kansas that reigns in some of the monstrous actions of rogue HOA boards. During that time, Nila was nicknamed ‘The General’ by her associates. Her story is a great one.
Shu Bartholomew’s show is called “On The Commons” and it can be heard live or through a downloaded podcast where you can listen at your convenience.
One warrior interviewing another warrior. It promises to be another great show!
Oh Florida! What are we going to do with you? Are you having a contest to see which HOA board can act the stupidest?
Eighty homeowners are now without their trash and recycling containers because the board at Turnberry Reserve hired people to steal them right off the homeowners property!
I won’t be surprised if homeowners don’t turn the board member’s yards, porches, trees, landscaping, and cars into their local landfill site. That could include dirty diapers on “Welcome” mats, used tampons hanging like tree ornaments, and smiley-faced partially-eaten peanut butter sandwiches turned upside down on Lexus IS-350 chrome bumpers.
Where is the health department going to stand on this stupidly insane stunt?
Will homeowners take a stand and sue those responsible for stealing their trash containers? From the attorney’s statements it sure sounds like this time the tides have turned and the board members are going to be the biggest losers!
The board members won the battle and lost the war!
Florida lawyers and HOA board members are in a snit because of a new state law designed to reign in dictatorial boards and embezzling board members.
The new law requires HOA boards to maintain records for seven years. It slashes the price HOAs can charge homeowners for copies of documents. HOA elections have to be fair and reasonable. Board members can no longer have those outrageous four hundred dollar apiece high-end meals they routinely force fellow homeowners to finance. But above all, board members have to have crime and fidelity insurance to prevent them from embezzling. And any board member charged with embezzling has to be immediately kicked off the board. All common sense, right?
Well, the law will cut deeply into the fees that HOA lawyers hand off to all homeowners.
Fascinating few days of embezzlement news. Two ‘ladies’ in Sevierville, Tennessee, were indicted for embezzling from the Shagbark Homeowners Association. It’s alleged they used the HOA credit card to run up tens of thousands of dollars which will now have to be paid by the homeowners. Their police mug shots make them look a little worried.
But the wilder news is from Ventura County, California. Two big HOA embezzlement suspects were arrested there.
Kristin Davis and Melissa Hoff ran the Paradigm Management Group. They were charged with a nearly one million dollar embezzlement from the Big Sky Homeowners Association. When they were caught and fired by an HOA, they allegedly changed the name of their company and did it all over again!
But wait. It gets better.
Turns out these two ladies managed fifty other Homeowners Associations all over Ventura County and Orange County… and many of them are also missing money. At this point, who knows how much dough is involved!
