Category Archives: embezzle

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)

 

 

So You Think You Don’t Live In An HOA?

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I’m all for neighborhoods in the dry West creating fire-safe homes and making firebreaks to help head off wildfires, but in the story linked below you have to read between the lines.

In Summit County, Colorado the Summit Park Homeowners Association is telling homeowners that the HOA’s covenants require homeowners to maintain wildfire breaks around their properties.

A number of property owners are saying, “Huh? This isn’t a Homeowners Association! I only moved here because there wasn’t a Homeowners Association!”

Somebody pushing to enforce wildfire advice went back into real estate records and discovered there actually were some covenants created back in 1959, but nobody told the homeowners, not even Realtors who originally sold the properties. Now those homeowners may be stuck with covenants never recorded in their deeds.

The lesson here isn’t that we’re mad at requirements to properly maintain your property. It’s that Homeowners Associations can suddenly pop up in neighborhoods where most folks thought they were HOA-free!

(click here for Park Record News)

 

Homeowner Association Disbanded….For Apathy!

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The story from Sebring, Florida shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to people who study the Homeowners Association Movement. The Highlands County Homeowners Association has decided it is going to cease to exist because nobody in the HOA even cares to show up for meetings. Speakers who were brought in to educate homeowners about things going on in the community found themselves mostly talking to empty rooms. Officials of the association blame widespread apathy.

Well, I remember my Psychology 101 classes in college where we discussed the kinds of things that lead to apathy. Unresolved conflict, frustration, a feeling of helplessness (being bullied), and finally the long descent into apathy.

It’s textbook. It happens to voters. It happens to Homeowners Associations. But it may also be an interesting peek into the future of HOAs.

The American Homeowners Association Movement has long been out of control, led by neighborhood bullies, agenda-driven people getting themselves elected to the board. Once ensconced they begin targeting personal enemies and start diverting money away from homeowners and into improper pockets. Even people who are never targeted by HOA bullies watch the abuse and then begin shrinking from neighborhood involvement.

Yes, apathy is a growing problem in private HOA communities. So is violence. People watch their neighborhoods decay from neglect and abandonment while property values plummet.

The HOA movement is a fifty billion dollar a year scam. And the word is getting out.

(news story from Highlands Today)

http://highlandstoday.com/hi/local-news/homeowners-association-disbands-20131216/

Different Kind of HOA, Same Old Corruption

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Egads! In Brooklyn a non-profit foreclosure-prevention outfit is officially named The Homeowners Association. With all the bad stuff going on in HOAs around the country wouldn’t you think they’d choose a different name?

Maybe it was a Freudian slip? State officials are accusing the head of this outfit of diverting taxpayer dollars into her personal assets. Sounds like a Homeowners Association to me!

http://therealdeal.com/blog/2013/12/16/brooklyn-homeowner-group-chief-misspent-20k-comptroller/

The Lawn Nazis Grab Another Home

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Each story I read disgusts me more: A Homeowners Association in the Colorado Springs area has foreclosed and auctioned off a 350,000 dollar home for about 11,000 dollars. And the homeowner never saw it coming.

Christopher Wright lived in the Woodmen Hills Filing Number 11 HOA. He thought he was fighting a fine for leaving the kids’ bicycles outside, but he discovered that the home was really taken because he hadn’t been paying his annual dues. His $900 nonpayment had turned into more than $10,000 worth of late fees, collection fees and attorneys’ fees. But non-payment of annual dues in most HOAs is a more serious crime than rape, armed robbery or burglary. Overstatement? No, rape and armed robbery usually net a less serious sentence than the confiscation of one’s home.

The management company is owned by Associa, which in turn is owned by an ethically-challenged Texas State Senator who has long faced criticism for his shifty dealings. Senator John Carona is a billionaire who owns or controls more than 8000 Homeowners Associations across the country, many of which are required to use insurance companies he owns, banks he owns, the list goes on and on. Media criticism of Carona’s ethics goes back years.

But none of that really impacts Christopher Wright’s case. He lost his house. And he’s dazed and confused about the Constitutional rights he thought he had.

Was Christopher Wright just stupid? Some would say so. But others would look with awe at the record of the Woodmen Hills Filing Number 11 HOA.

853 homes.

225 liens filed.

126 lawsuits filed.

4 foreclosures.

About his sky-high fees, the Woodmen’s HOA attorney, Hal Kyles, of the law firm Orten, Cavanagh and Holmes says, “I’m not cheap.”

No, you’re not cheap, lawyer Kyles. You’re not. But you are arrogant.

Shame on you for your arrogance.

(click here for KOAA-TV news story)

http://www.koaa.com/news/news-5-investigates-hoa-forecloses-on-home/