The Georgetown Commons Townhome complex is a cheesy little place. You can buy in for, say, 100,000 or so. But lots of neighbors there are spitting mad at each other during this nice Yuletide Season.
Seems there’s a new rule about decorating for Christmas. Just don’t. Whatever you do, you’re bound to fun afoul of a fascist group of HOA leaders who have some strict new rules about decorations.You can only have one free-standing decoration on a porch or sidewalk. NOTHING in the yard! No Christmas wreath, nothing at all attached in any way to the building itself.
Now, Christmas lights are permitted indoors. But absolutely every decorative light that’s likely to be seen through a window MUST be white. And no decoration of any kind can be placed two weeks before or two weeks after Christmas.
Oh yes, and did I mention the fines? Yup, there’ll be fines. The Eric Rehak family has already rung up more than $500 bucks in fines and the season’s not even half over.
Now, wouldn’t it be fun to have a cheesy little Christmas in cheesy Georgetown Commons?
“Honey, let’s go look at a new townhome in Georgetown Commons in Murrysville, Pennsylvania. Betcha property values will be in the toilet soon. You know we could get a real deal. Honey?”
Yes, Virginia, there really IS a Santa Claus. Except that she lives in Prescott, Arizona, and she’s been heavily ‘gifting’ herself with wads of cash. HOA cash. At last count, the total was $33,000. She’s being asked a few questions by the local gendarme, but heck, it’s Christmas. And surely homeowners in the Beaver Creek Village POA would have given her that money anyway. Get ready, Suckers, for the special assessments.
http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_northern_az/prescott/kala-pearson-accused-of-embezzling-from-n-arizona-homeowners-association
I really shouldn’t take space on this HOA Hell Blog to comment on the horrific mass murders of small children in Connecticut. But since HOA board meetings have also experienced some mass shootings by deranged homeowners, I do have some observations about the current anti-gun hysteria. I am a supporter of the Second Amendment and the reasoning behind it. And yes, I support any law that would take guns out of the hands of criminals, drug gangs, children, untrained gun owners and the mentally ill.
Yes, folks, it’s another million dollar embezzlement from trusting homeowners in California. At least the Feds are finally taking action. A Federal Grand Jury has indicted Chris Barna for stealing $950,000 from Homeowners Associations that once trusted him. Although he hasn’t been convicted yet, I have no problem calling him a dirtbag. Prosecutors say he misappropriated 342 checks, spent the money on nice things for himself, and manipulated the records for M&C Association Management.
It’s not often that the lowly homeowner has much of a chance of getting a fair hearing in court. The vast majority of all rulings are against the homeowner and in favor of the private non-profit corporation. And many’s the judge who’s told a miserable homeowner that he or she should have read his covenants before signing the real estate documents.
Last week’s ruling, though, by the Supreme Court of Virginia was a clarion call to the National Homeowners Association Movement that it can’t stomp on the homeowner’s Constitutional rights forever. Basically the court ruled that the Shadowood Condominium complex in Reston, Virginia cannot assess fines against residents because there was no such permission granted in the development’s master deed. Bam! Pow!
