Category Archives: Handicap

“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)

 

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/

Sex Offender? Oops!

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A South Carolina condo owner got into a squabble with the board of his condominium because he had fallen behind in his dues. That’s not uncommon, but in the case of James E. King his board did something far beyond the uncommon. It sent out flyers saying that King was a registered sex offender.

Well, there is a James King in that state who really is a sex offender. But this condo board got the wrong James King. This King went to court, where a jury slammed the condo association with a nearly $900,000 judgment. The HOA will most likely appeal, probably on Monday. But the implications are staggering.

A libel/slander judgment probably won’t be paid by the insurance company. And attorneys’ costs, while not mentioned in the story below, could potentially double that amount. So if insurance doesn’t pay, who does?

Count the number of members of this condo, divide it into about two million bucks, then hand out the special assessments due within thirty days.

Egads!

And you thought HOAs protected your property values.

(click here for The State Newspaper story)

 

HOA Chases You Into The Grave!

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

The biggest beef of living in an HOA or Condo Association is: THEY DON’T PERFORM THE MAINTENANCE YOU PAY FOR! That’s right. You pay and pay only to hear one excuse after another as to why they aren’t going to perform the work. And my own HOA experience has proven most of the work is sloppy and performed by people who don’t know which end of the hammer to use.

So, many homeowners think withholding dues is the only option to get the HOA’s attention. Keep in mind the CC&Rs say you have to pay whether or not services are rendered. So, expect the legal battle from the ready and willing attorneys who could care less about the conditions under which you are living. His/her only focus is on their bank accounts!

The condo owner and her mother (in the story linked below) are wondering if they can set up a trust to avoid the dues collection Nazis. The answer is: NO. You cannot escape paying the HOA by taking your last breath.

When I see my neighbors’ names in the obits I always think, “Well, another one had to die to get out of here!” If they owe dues you can bet the HOA is going after their estate….with one exception… my previous board president who managed to not have any accountability for TEN MILLION DOLLARS in HOA funds that vanished. No action was taken to stop his estate from settling.

(click here for related LA Times story)