Category Archives: Horror Stories

Every City Needs A Joe!

guest blog by Nila Ridings 

I can name on one hand the cities that have television reporters that will actually expose an HOA and their bad actors. Or HOAs that refuse to allow homeowners access to the financial records.  Nope, pretty much television stations have gotten the “memo” on not covering HOA stories.  Or so that’s the way it appears.  Phoenix has Joe Ducey and he doesn’t hesitate to expose the HOAs.  He actually invites homeowners to contact him with their HOA nightmares.  So, Arizonans…Let Joe Know!  And pass along a heartfelt “thank you” from all of us!
 
This video…intentionally blurred…hummm, I wonder why?  I’m laughing.  I know WHY and so do you.  Regardless it’s typical of an HOA meeting.  Is there any wonder why homeowners don’t attend HOA meetings?  Are they afraid of being physically hit, yelled at, and bullied?  Or do they chose to spare their nervous system the extra stress for two hours once a month?  At my HOA some of them “premedicate” from a glass bottle or an aluminum can before walking through the clubhouse door.  
 
Some might find it entertaining while others find it obnoxious.  Either way, “welcome” to meeting night at your lovely HOA!
 
 
 

A New Website Feature

I’m a total Rube Goldberg, so put me into a room with dials and meters and ramps and hammers and I’m quite likely to hammer together something very stupid-looking that might actually have some societal value.

On the opening splash page of Neighbors At War, there’s a category called “Resources.” Click that and you’ll find another “resources’ button. Tap that and you’ll see a list of crimes, like embezzlement, robbery, burglary, assault, and a dozen similar words. Clicking on each of these words brings up an automatic Google search. In other words, if you click ’embezzlement’…. in the background I secretly run the terms “Homeowner Association, property Association, Property Owner Association, HOA, POA, CID, CIC embezzlement.” That, hopefully, gives you some interesting numbers to show to a non-believer, someone you’re trying to rescue from ‘the dark side.’  The numbers are quite staggering…and convincing. And it’s certainly an interesting (but not necessarily perfect) research tool.

I may run this promo a few times over the next two months in an effort to try to get our many readers thinking in terms of raw research.

Oh, and another thing for which Homeowners rights advocates have long lusted… is a national (or even international) list of attorneys who are willing to represent battered and bruised homeowners who try to fight the kind of anti-Constitutional outrages we see each day in our neighborhoods. Please help me build that list. Attorneys on our side won’t get rich. The billions of management dollars are on the other side. Still, sometimes the Revolutionaries win. And they win because someone, somewhere, believes in the concept of Justice under the law.

BTW, any research I accumulate on this project will be shared with every other would-be Paul Revere in the country. No cost. No fee. Just a personal promise to me of your personal integrity.

Ward Lucas

 

OMG! Is Jill Schweitzer Trying To Kill The Phoenix Cash Cow?

guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
She’s a real estate broker on a mission and armed with a new website (www.hoasavers.com).  She sat on her HOA board and got her eyes opened to all the waste by property managers.  But her board was able to save her HOA $40,000 by getting their own bids, minus the “guidance” of any property manager.   
 
HOLY COW!  Michael Latz of Golden Valley Property Management says Jill needs to get away from the HOA herd.  He’s runnin’ this ranch and got this biddin’ business under control! (Wink, wink.)
 
Come to think of it, wouldn’t Jill make a stellar replacement in the Legislature for The Bimbo? State Representative Michelle Ugenti has made a mockery out of the legislative process in Arizona. Can we talk Jill Schweitzer into running?
 
That would actually be a legislative race that would be fun to watch!
 
 
 

The Bimbo Rides Again!

The Good Lord knows I love Republicans. Truth be told, I’m pretty Libertarian… stay out of my life and I’ll stay out of yours.

But this Legislator in Arizona is either smoking too strong a brand of ‘stuff’, or somebody has slipped a Haight Ashbury tab into her punch. What is she thinking? She’s now painting a legislative bull’s eye on the back of every ‘gimp’ in the state. (If you’ve read my book, Neighbors At War, you’ve read my ‘gimp story. It’s pretty outrageous.

But back to the ‘Cute Young Thing’, aka, The Bimbo. The opinion of an Arizona attorney linked below shows The Bimbo’s other side. Her face may be pretty but looks can fool you. The position she’s putting her constituents in is pretty hideous. I would readily vote for a Republican, but this one is worth sending to the trailer out back of the big house.

(link to lawyer’s opinion of Ugenti legislation)

BTW, we’re now getting 50,000 new readers a month. No wonder she’s talking to all those reporters and fellow legislators and blasting Neighbors At War! Keep blasting, Cutie Pie. I like your smile.

 

 

 

 

From The Belly Of The HOA Beast

Community Associations Institute (CAI), the organization that ‘pretends’ it helps HOA homeowners while in reality it’s a referral agency for lawyers, managers and others who insist that fines, lawsuits, liens and foreclosures are good things, is showing some ‘distressing’ news to HOA insiders. It’s a graph that shows a slowing in the growth of people living in Homeowners Associations.

There’s an obvious reason to like this graph. HOAs have done themselves no favors by getting aggressive against homeowners they don’t like. As many reading this forum know, many HOAs have turned neighborhoods into seething battlegrounds where neighbor fears neighbor, and the act of being friendly can get you sued.

Population in this country is growing, but HOAs are losing their enthusiasts. To me, this graph says that more and more prospective homeowners are telling Realtors, “Do not show me ANYTHING in an HOA!”