I originally wasn’t going to link to this survey written by Arizona Realtor Jill Schweitzer. Polling organizations like Zogby, which is often used by the Community Associations Institute, are famously flawed because of the leading questions asked by the survey. Still, because this website is in the business of educating clueless homeowners, I’ve reconsidered.
Take the poll. It can’t hurt. And who knows? It might educate someone.
(poll on neighborhood satisfaction)
It’s ugly to say it, but rich people really do think their rights are superior. At least, that’s what it looks like in drought-ridden Southern California. The entire southwest is facing one of the worst droughts in its history. Yet members of the Blackhawk Homeowners Association have been told to green up their lawns…or else!
There are new state laws that prohibit California HOAs from fining residents who have brown lawns. But do you honestly think the average Homeowners Association has any respect for state law?
http://www.inquisitr.com/3076005/california-homeowners-association-orders-residents-to-add-more-green-to-lawns-or-face-fines-despite-historic-drought/
The main purpose of this blog has nothing to do with just ‘letting off steam.’ It’s to try to educate homeowners on the kind of power Homeowners Associations have. I get tons of email from people around the country who ask, “Can they really do that to me?”
The answer is, “Yes, they can. They are a completely unregulated power that has nothing to do with neighborhood improvement. It’s a warped process of trying to funnel your money to favored attorneys, collection agencies, brothers-in-law in the lawn maintenance business, and sometimes a little bribery and kickbacks. It’s about the money, it’s always about the money.”
Homeowners just have a tough time believing that…until it happens to them.
Here’s another sad story, one of thousands and thousands across the country. We get so much junk mail each day, we throw 90% of our mail out without even looking at it. A Texas woman did that. And she just got her home swiped by the Canyon Gate at Northpointe Homeowners Association. She thinks she can fight the seizure and auctioning of her home.
Sadly, she probably won’t win.
(link to ABC13 news story on woman’s loss of home)
http://abc13.com/news/only-on-13-hoa-sells-home-of-woman-with-outstanding-dues/1351962/
guest blog by Nila Ridings
“You’re just going to love living here in The Montreat COA!” says the real estate agent. “Well you will if it doesn’t kill you first!” That’s what she should have added to the sales pitch.
Katie Burrowes and her cat are living above the classic condo cesspool and their health seems to be suffering because of it. We’ve all heard about the garbage dump moldy condo, seen pictures, or lived above, below, or beside one. Katie appears to fall in the millennial age group. I shudder to think this living experience may have affected her health for a lifetime. Not to mention her attendance at work has suffered and she’s been paying co-pays for medical care. Her quality of life has been diminished by ‘Condoneumococcalmonia’ and only a moving van can cure it. Actually, she really should burn everything she owns because who knows what has been infested with this nastiness! Grab your cat and run for you life, Katie!
I have some questions for Griffin Tyndall, the attorney for The Montreat COA. Would you have waited this long to step up and take action if Susan Nailen, the condo owner had been six months behind on her COA dues? Did it have to take that knock on your office door from Ronda Robinson, the news anchor and reporter from WBRC Call For Action to open the eyes and ears of The Montreat COA board of directors? Were Ms. Burrowes’ complaints being ignored because the COA wasn’t going to realize a financial gain from her issues?
Readers, this is another case that proves the power of the media! Nobody gave a damn about Katie and her cat until the media stepped in. Now the City of Vestavia Hills, the attorney for the COA, and the board members are jumping into action as they watch Katie’s tail lights disappear down the road!
Hopefully, Ms. Burrowes and her cat will see immediate improvement in their health once they vacate the penthouse above the cesspool. And a personal injury attorney will assist her in getting compensation for her suffering and financial loss in the condo. It’s time to turn the tables on them!
(link to WBRC story on ‘sick’ condo)
http://www.wbrc.com/story/31985688/woman-says-vacant-condo-has-made-her-sick
The link below is from a homeowner in Minnesota who is outraged that her HOA has issued new rules against certain types of speech, like talking to your neighbor about the HOA board.
Can they really do that?
Well, yes they can. A private non-profit corporation can do just about anything it wants whether it seems constitutional or not.
A for-profit corporation can do the same. The Denver TV station where I worked for more than three decades had rules about private discussions between or among employees. Religion and politics were forbidden. Political correctness was mandated at all times.
But your home is your castle, isn’t it? Well, not in the modern Homeowners Association Movement. If your HOA board is as fascist as many of them are, even certain kinds of private conversation in your home are banned. And you can be fined. And liened. And your home confiscated and sold at auction, all because of a private dinnertime conversation you had with friends.
Until we can get the courts to recognize that Homeowners Associations are governments…we are doomed to hear an endless list of horrors.
(banning of speech in a Homeowners Association)
