Category Archives: embezzle

More Stupid Sentences in Las Vegas

      1 Comment on More Stupid Sentences in Las Vegas

Egads, I thought white collar organized crime figures averaged at least 18 months in prison. Now I’m the one who looks totally stupid. My deepest apologies to those of you I unintentionally deceived.

But Federal Judge Mahan in Las Vegas keeps handing down kindergarten sentences to the organized crime figures who stole millions and millions of dollars from Las Vegas homeowners. Kindergarten sentences: You know, “Go stand in the corner for ten minutes, Billie. You’re a bad, bad boy!”

Officially, these criminals stole only 7 million dollars in their HOA scam. Ultimately, history will tell you they stole more than 100 million dollars. And the Las Vegas housing market may never recover. In fact, with the recent Nevada Supreme Court decision that HOA liens are super-priority liens which can cancel the original mortgage loan, the lending market is refusing to lend ANY money to a home in a homeowners association. That means thousands, maybe tens of thousands of Nevada homes are sitting empty. They’re unsalable. The ongoing crime is the one committed by this federal judge!

Some of the worst criminals are being sentenced to one year and one day, like this cop:

(former las vegas cop gets short prison term)

Others are being sentenced to a few months of home detention. (Gosh, I’m at home taking care of an ill wife. That’s home detention and I didn’t steal anything!)

Meanwhile, the Las Vegas housing market is in a free fall.

(las vegas housing free fall)
(this link is a little wackier, but still probably 90% correct.)

 

Stupid, Stupid Aspen

      2 Comments on Stupid, Stupid Aspen

No, not everyone in Aspen is stupid. But this kind of a story is a national embarrassment and every rich person in this glittery ski town should be down the necks of the idiots who are allowing this to continue.

I’ve written about this service dog dispute before. The board of the Aspen View Condominiums on Midland Avenue has spent months harassing the owner of a condo because he rented it to a woman who has a service dog to help her deal with her epilepsy. After months of the most incredible nastiness toward this woman, she moved out.

But Aspen View bullies wouldn’t quit. They began assessing fines against the condo owner and have liened his home.

If you want to sleep tonight, do not read the Aspen Times story linked below. If, however, you want to see how low and morally degraded some HOAs get, then have at it. And think about sending a note to this disgraceful board.

(The Aspen Times makes you answer a question before the text appears. Just click a box and you’ll be able to read it.)

(link to story on service dog flap)

 

 

HOA Drone Inspections On The Way!

      2 Comments on HOA Drone Inspections On The Way!

Those who follow this website know that I’ve been predicting this for years: Drones flying over your property taking video of your covenant violations. Now a mainstream HOA promoter is actually whispering about the possibility.

The link below is disguised as a ‘warning’ for HOAs to be cautious as they approach the subject of drone inspections of private property. But the real message is “Our time has come! Get your drones ready.”

If you think your personal privacy is already violated by abusive HOAs, then all I can say is, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” Despite what this mainstream HOA booster says in the link below, you gave up your privacy when you bought into your HOA. I first discovered this when I bought a couple of condos in Vail in the late 1980s. When I changed the locks on the doors the HOA board just had the locks drilled and sent me the bill.

In California some HOAs are doing so-called ‘hoarding inspections.’ These are unannounced inspections of the interiors of private homes! One of the items in their list of things you’re not supposed to hoard are books. Shades of Fahrenheit 451?

But my three-year-old predictions about drones being used by HOAs is actually coming true. Video of you and your lover in the backyard hot tub is NOT a violation of privacy. Not in an HOA.

(link to industry newsletter hinting about coming drone inspections)

 

Condo or Hotel?

      2 Comments on Condo or Hotel?
guest blog by Deborah Goonan

AirBnB, VRBO, and online vacation rental sites have taken on a life of their own. Now condo owners can arrange to rent their units by the week, with the click of a few buttons. But some Florida condo owners are upset that their condo building has been overrun with tourists from all over the world, making their homes feel more like a hotel.

In the video report linked below, Michele Gillen, CBS4, Miami Beach, features Octagon Towers, just steps from South Beach. One condo owner laments that she no longer knows her neighbors, because they change every week. The problem has been ongoing.

The City of Miami Beach is threatening to shut off utilities to Octagon Towers, if owners do not cease and desist short-term rentals. That’s against city fire code. And Miami Beach already has dozens of hotels and Condo Hotels specifically permitted for vacation lodging.

But that doesn’t stop Condo Board member Sigmund Esposito from breaking condo restrictions and city codes all day long. Check out the interview of his vacation tenants, who were apparently unaware of the City’s ordinance restricting short-term rentals in residential condominiums.

Here’s my take on this. Octagon Towers is but one example of why condo owners frequently disagree about how their Association should be governed and managed. There is almost aways a conflict between the owners who actually live in their units and the owners who rarely stay in their units, but want to collect maximum rent.

So, here’s a suggested solution. If we are going to create RESIDENTIAL condominiums such as Octagon Towers (where long term leases may be allowed), then let’s not run the Association like a corporation! Don’t hand all the power to the Board, and don’t allow corporations to own individual units as if they were actual “persons.” (Searching public records for Octagon Towers, I noticed quite a few LLCs as owners.) Treat residents as actual citizens of their community, albeit a small community. Pre-screen buyers and long-term tenants to be certain they are looking for a place to live in peace and quiet, and not a money-making revolving door for vacationers.

Steer those hoping to make a killing on vacation rentals to what should be called INVESTMENT communities, such as condo hotels. Perhaps this is the kind of Association CAI had in mind when it decided years ago that “Community Associations” are businesses.

Some may be. But most aren’t — or shouldn’t be

(Miami Beach Condominium Reportedly Being Used As A Hotel « CBS Miami)

(Just in case you want to know what a condo hotel is:)

Astounding Honey Bee Deaths!

      4 Comments on Astounding Honey Bee Deaths!

I’ve debated with myself long and hard over the story I’m about to tell you. It really zeroes in on a personal situation I faced with an HOA bully. I swore I would keep the story to myself until I read today’s article about America’s tragic loss of honey bees. Forty percent of all honey bees in the country died last year. Forty percent!

(link to 40% loss of honey bees in just one year)

You cannot imagine how important honey bees are to our agriculture and our very survival as a species. Man just can’t do what bees do for us. Without bees there is no produce in your grocery store. None!

Now, my personal story. I own some acreage in Colorado adjacent to a Homeowners Association. Several years ago, a teenager who raises bees and produces honey for a hobby asked if he could place a half dozen bee hives on my property. There’s no way I would have refused him. For several years the hives were thriving and pollinating vegetation for miles around.

Last year I was away at a publishers’ conference when I got an angry call from a typical HOA bully. He demanded I remove the hives immediately. Mystified at his sudden rage I asked him why? Believe it or not, this guy said “Your bees are drinking from my wife’s pond!”

This is not a joke. Despite the fact that there are several bee keepers within a four mile radius of this property, MY bees were drinking from his pond!

I guess I shouldn’t have ignored him because a few days later every single one of the bee hives was dead. Stone cold dead in just one night. I seriously doubt they died that suddenly from natural causes.