It’s one step at a time, but every milometer of achievements is worth its weight in gold.
In Arizona, one lawyer is trying to get Homeowner Associations to work with homeowners to end the nightmare of lawn Nazis and bully boards. The link below should be an easy way to spend a couple of minutes.
(link to HOA arbitration story on KPHO-TV)
Before you hire an assassin to take me out, please listen to my reasoning.
Next door ‘party houses’ are the bane of the existence of any homeowner. People buy the house, then start renting it out to party-throwing wild people who screw things up for the entire neighborhood. Certainly, Homeowner Associations can take these houses down. They assess fines, file liens and lawsuits and can shut these places down.
Still, if you have a strong zoning department they can shut these houses down much more quickly and without costing HOAs a ton of money in legal fees. And Zoning Departments have to follow Constitutional law. It doesn’t make them slower in enforcing reasonable standards, but it does make them more accountable.
As a property owner in an HOA, wouldn’t you rather deal with Zoning than with a bunch of slander-slinging neighbors? Wouldn’t you rather have your insurance and legal fees remain stable so you don’t get hit with special assessments to pay for legal fees? Wouldn’t you rather be in a position where the HOA insurance company doesn’t cancel the community policy because of an excess of Board lawsuits?
It’s all about peace and quiet enjoyment of property. Wouldn’t you rather have the county cracking the whip than your next-door neighbor, or your Nazi-minded board member?
It’s all about common sense, which apparently isn’t a factor in the national HOA scam.
(link to story on party houses)
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We’ve seen this over and over again. But keep in mind that when patriotism is banned we’ve reached the beginning of the end. Please, please, don’t think I’m exaggerating.
In North Carolina, a Homeowners Association (a trailer home association) has banned the flying of American flags. They want to ban all flags, which is probably understandable. But the American flag has special protections enacted by Congress and by many state legislatures. Banning American flags is on a par with banning any celebration of the 4th of July.
Multi-culturalism? I get it.
Diversity? I get it.
But any ‘government’ (and believe it, Homeowners Associations are governments) that begins banning displays of patriotism is on the road to destruction. Go back and look at dictators who killed millions and millions of people, Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Chairman Mao: They all began by burning books, outlawing freedom of expression, and banning displays of religion and patriotism.
Our Constitution is an extremely thin thread that holds our country out of the hands of such monsters.
Our Constitution was written and enacted by some of the greatest heroes in history. If we allow the collapse of our Constitution, we will ultimately be regarded as the greatest cowards in history. When your HOA nibbles away at your Constitutional rights, stand up and show your testosterone! Use it or lose it.
(link to story on banning the American flag)
(link to a list of the 25 most murderous dictators in history)
As a Realtor in Arizona, I recently went to a class presented by an HOA property management company. The topic was the various ins and outs of HOAs hiring a management company. But as the class progressed, I thought it really would be better taught by an attorney and not somebody within the HOA industry.
Here are my conclusions after going through this class:
1. Absolutely, have an attorney review and make changes to the contract! Have the attorney tell you what items to add in to the contract items that are missing in the laws to protect the both the HOA and the individual homeowners…thereby holding the management accountable and responsible for any misfeasance or malfeasance. Also have the attorney remove the indemnification clause! Why pay to defend a management company for its bad actions?
2. Check court records online and in person to examine lawsuits the company may have been involved in.
3. Recommend that boards either eliminate or lower transfer and disclosure fees!
4. Recommend the board get a website independent of the management company. This would ensure that the HOA’s connection with homeowners survives any future change in management.
5. When hiring a management company, HOA boards should be careful of all the extra junk fees; printing, copies, coupon books, violation letters, etc.
6. Finally, mandate that any management company hired by an HOA certify that it has insurance against all misfeasance and malfeasance by management company owners, executives or employees.
At various times, I have heard the discussion of HOAs having the ability to report delinquencies in HOA dues to credit reporting agencies. The link below offers some excellent information about the importance of having excellent credit. It also brings to mind the additional risks of owning in an HOA.
For example: Numerous times in my growing up years, my dad told me to never co-sign a loan for somebody. He would not be proud to know I listened to him and never co-signed for a friend’s loan, but I did co-sign to pay the debts of 512 of my neighbors! That’s right. Buying in an HOA puts every homeowner in a position of being the guarantor on all debts, loans, lawsuits, settlements, construction defects, and disaster rebuilds. That makes co-signing for a car loan for your recent college-graduated kid brother seem like small potatoes, doesn’t it?
According to this article, a bad credit score can prevent you from getting a license to practice medicine, law, and other professions. Hypothetically, let’s say grandma gives you the gift of a down payment on a condo so you have a place to live while you go to medical school in Boston. And you leave your trash can out twelve hours too long because an emergency happens and you stay to help at the hospital. So, the HOA fines you $100 for the trash can violation. You refuse to pay it. They tack on another $2,000 for the attorney to send you a letter demanding the money for the fine. Next comes interest, more legal fees, and on and on. If this HOA had the power to report to the credit reporting agencies you could graduate from medical school, pass your boards, but still not be issued the license to practice medicine! All because of one day when you were trying to help save lives you didn’t make it home to put the trash can away by the deadline.
If I shared this scenario with a non-HOA resident they would most likely laugh and say that is insane!!! But for those of us who live in HOAs we know all too well this could very likely happen.
I think it makes yet another good point why HOAs should never have the ability to affect the homeowner’s credit. Not to mention so many of these HOAs have such poor financial record keeping.
For example, I talked to a neighbor a few days ago. He told me our HOA has gotten a judgement for back dues against him. He asked for a ledger so he could see what charges they have applied. They told him they do not have one, but would try to get it from the property manager. The property manager said they do not have one, but maybe the previous property manager has one. The only thing anybody seems to have is a total amount he owes. In the past, he has owned a business and finds this insane that nobody can give him a detailed ledger of the charges. I agree with him, it is insane. And he is at the mercy of them to pay what they demand because his house is being held hostage with a lien. What would happen if they could also destroy his credit rating?
Clearly, too much power would be in the hands of the totally incompetent. There’s no limit to the destruction they could cause to homeowners in HOAs!
America, please wake up! Please stop pretending that HOAs are some sort of fun-loving living paradise! Please stop building these horrible nightmares! And please prevent them from EVER having the authority to report to the credit bureaus!
(link to column about credit scores and how they can impact you)
