Category Archives: Handicap

Which Has The Greatest Risks? Owning In An HOA or Casino Gambling?

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

I’ve heard it so many times. “I don’t gamble.” “I’m too tight with my money to gamble.” “I wouldn’t know how to gamble.” “The thought of gambling scares me because I’ve worked hard for my money.” All spoken by people who own property in a homeowners association.

Personally, I’ve gambled one time in my life at a Reno casino. I dropped $20 in a nickel slot machine and won. I collected my winnings and walked straight out the front door. I don’t gamble. Or so I thought I didn’t.

I’ve come to the realization that I’m an insane gambler. Why? I bought a townhouse in an HOA! I took a far greater risk than if I’d flown to Las Vegas, Atlantic City, or back to Reno and just threw down three hundred thousand dollars on the craps table and rolled the dice. Goodness, with a stroke of luck I could have walked out a millionaire…or maybe a multi-millionaire, but for sure I would have come out in no worse shape than I am in my HOA.

Are you scratching your head and asking how I arrived at this conclusion?

Here’s how:

If one of the casino owners was embezzling, it wouldn’t be my responsibility to rebuild the bank account with my money. In an HOA, there is no avoiding it. They steal, you lose and get hit with covering the financial loss from the bad actors, liars and thieves.

If the casino management refuses to allow a blind person with a seeing-eye dog into the casino and they sue for a violation of the ADA, I won’t be paying for the legal bills. But, in an HOA I will be.

If the casino needs a new roof or resurfacing on the parking lot, I’m not going to receive a bill. You can bet the HOA will slap a stamp on a special assessment and drop it in my mailbox. Or if one of the casino managers has his Uncle Billy Bob with his shiny new hammer building decks without a contractor’s license, I won’t be hit with any liability if it falls down.

When I sign for my room at the front desk, I’m not going to become business partners with every intoxicated stranger in the 1,500 room hotel, but I sure am with my 1,500 HOA neighbors. (some sober and some not)

And, last but not least, there is massive government oversight over the casino operations. There is no oversight to speak of over HOAs or property managers.

And I won’t have signed away my US Constitutional Rights when I walked through the door of the casino.

Granted, the assumed operators of the casinos might very well be related to those in power over the HOAs. But I could walk right out the door and choose not to do business with them in a matter of seconds. I wouldn’t be locked inside the building while they are telling all the other gamblers I’m a liar and dumber than a box of rocks, and if I don’t like it I need to leave! Similar to screaming “IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, THEN MOVE!” which is always heard at HOA board meetings!

Yep! I should have driven right past this dilapidated disaster of an HOA and headed north to the airport!

Yet Another Clueless Columnist

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The link below is to a story in the Chicago area’s Daily Herald. The question it poses is innocent enough. “Should condo owners press their boards to seek FHA approval?” But the writer misses some terribly important points.

1. 70% of all HOAs in the country have underfunded reserves.

2. With all the fines, lawsuits, liens and foreclosures across the country, any kind of HOA is an investor’s worst nightmare.

3. People are getting educated about HOA Amerika, and Realtors everywhere are hearing, “Only show me listings that are NOT in HOAs.”

4. Fifteen to thirty year old neighborhoods are falling apart, making disaster properties impossible to sell at any price.

5. Financial experts say there’s a housing bubble coming that will look more like a nuclear bomb than a bubble. This one will be a doozie.

It would be very interesting to see if the FHA has approved any Homeowners Associations in the past decade. My guess is that you’d be hard-pressed to find a single one. Freddie and Fanny have financed some recent HOA projects but these two federal agencies are already on life support.

If anyone knows this Illinois journalist, drop him a line. Tell him to do some real reporting.

“The times, they are a-changin’.” -Bob Dylan

(link to column on FHA approval)

Deck Collapses At Wolf Lake Homeowners Association In Indiana

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Homeowners Associations, beware! The Wilt Family Christmas gathering, on December 22nd suddenly ended with the family photo gathering on the clubhouse deck. Their lives were changed forever in a matter of seconds when the deck collapsed out from under them. 3 of the family members are still not able to walk.

The deck had no center supports. No bolts. Just nails to support it and the weight of all who walked out onto it. A family member has taken the time to post a video on YouTube revealing these undeniable facts. The builder of the deck says it’s been ten years since it was constructed and he has no liability. The president of the HOA, John Karaffa has not returned calls to the television reporter…don’t hold your breath, he never will. But, very soon everybody will be talking under oath in the courtroom!

If you live in an HOA with a clubhouse and balcony, I strongly encourage you to watch the video. And then watch the videos included in the context of the article. Insist on an inspection of your clubhouse deck. As a homeowner in an HOA you hold liability for injuries or deaths. The risks are too great not to demand an inspection by a professional.

(link to WAVE-3 television report)

Hogtied & Hammered By Transfer Fee!

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I knew it was coming. I just didn’t realize how massive the damage would be. It’s huge.

Some close friends just sold their HOA home in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Before they could sell their house they had to come up with $10,000 at closing, much of that for a Transfer Fee. The Realtor didn’t warn them (they rarely do). Despite me writing Neighbors At War, and doing this blog nightly, these friends just didn’t understand what was coming. It’s hard for younger folks to listen to the ‘old man.’ I’m embarrassed to say that at their age I never listened to my own ‘old man’, either.

But these friends had counted on that $10,000 to help with the down payment for a new house (again, in an HOA!). In their position I would be seething with bitterness.

Dear Readers, Colorado Realtors stood silent when Homeowners Rights advocates tried to convince State Legislators that Transfer Fees are fundamentally unjust and illegal. Just three years ago the state passed a law which actually declared transfer fees to be illegal (except in Homeowners Associations). Why the exception for HOAs? Well, just a single HOA lobbying group takes in 55 billion dollars a year. How in Hell does an insider industry group NOT use that kind of money to ‘buy’ legislation?

Shame on the corrupt HOA lobby. Shame on the greedy legislators. Shame on the Realtors who stood silent when they could have made a difference.

I really think our rising movement should take aim at Realtors. They make 7% on a home sale. On a $400,000 house that’s $28,000. All homeowners should begin demanding that Realtors agree IN WRITING that they will pay the cost of all transfer fees. You don’t agree? You don’t get the listing.

Maybe those Realtors will join us at the Legislature next year.

Damn The Military! What The Heck Do They Matter?

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As the son of a West Point graduate who was a highly decorated combat veteran and a POW of the Nazis, I’m often mystified at the rank hatred expressed by some people towards those in uniform. Who knows? Maybe those haters staged anti-war demonstrations in the 60’s and 70’s, or maybe they built bombs or lit fires.

But for someone who has five family members buried at Arlington, it just rankles when I see the viciousness of those who’ll deny any acknowledgement to the men and women who spend their lives protecting the rest of us.

Our latest story comes from the Frenchman’s Creek Homeowners Association in Lafayette, Louisiana.

A military family put up a Welcome Home sign for their son, Anthony Marsiglia, who’s in the Navy. The HOA lawyer told them, “Nope! Not without severe restrictions.” And now they’ve been ordered into mediation.

Other military families who’ve put up yellow ribbons in support of Marsiglia had them quickly torn down.

Can you imagine if this kind of thing had happened in WWII?

Yep, damn those military creeps. They’re just a bunch of brain-dead losers anyway.

(link to Lafayette story)

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