Category Archives: Horror Stories

Taxpayers Screwed By The HOA Movement!

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This story, from NBC News and The Consumerist, really ought to get you steamed. Homeowners Associations on prime beachfront properties have figured out a way to make the taxpayers pay for their huge cost of flood insurance. It sounds like fiction, but it’s not.

Zillionaires who own oceanfront properties that get destroyed by hurricanes every couple of years theoretically should be paying a fortune for federal flood insurance. That’s the law.

But guess who figured out a way to make YOU pay for their flood insurance?

Yep. The zillionaires. They got the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to declare their constantly flooded properties as Low Risk/No Flood Zones. That means about a 95% reduction in their flood insurance costs.

So, every time you see on the news that a ritzy beachfront condo development has been destroyed by a hurricane, just remember that last check you wrote to the IRS. A good portion of it is paying for the reconstruction of the homes of zillionaires.

Now, do you feel like a sucker?

(link to story on The Consumerist)

 

Organized Theft IS Organized Crime

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The Colorado Legislature is embroiled in a controversy over ‘transfer fees’, a mysterious item that appears on closing papers when a homeowner is trying to sell his property.

What’s a transfer fee? It’s a mandatory fee the seller has to pay. It’s not related to any specific kind of work. It was recently outlawed on all real estate sales EXCEPT those in Homeowners associations. It can range from the hundreds…even into the thousands of dollars, and there are no state controls. A transfer fee doesn’t benefit the HOA, it just drops into the pockets of HOA management companies. Pure profit.

When CAI lawyers were asked, “Why do you charge these fees? The answer was stunning, “Because we can!” That kind of unmitigated arrogance is beyond appalling. Why do you steal cars? Because we can. Why do you steal little old ladies’ retirement money? Because we can. And legislators turn their heads the other way! Unbelievable.
 
With that in mind, here’s a recent blog from ColoradoHOAForum.com
 
First let’s thank Leslie Stevens, the victim of a transfer fee of over $1,000, for contributing to the news story and Channel 4 News (KCNC, Denver).
 
Transfer fees when real estate documents were exchanged are ILLEGAL in Colorado EXCEPT when a Homeowners Association is involved. If they’re so illegal for all other homes, what’s the difference with HOA homes? In a word, NOTHING!
 
 
 
 
Note, once again the CAI never attempts to explain what these costly, laborious, and time consuming tasks are that require hundreds to over one thousand dollars in transfer fees only “that is the way it is” (because of them).  They got away with this by slipping an exception into SB 11-234 and now again in 2014 with HB 14-1254 by actually crafting this Bill to ensure, if passed, nothing will change in picking the pockets of home sellers. 
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Because this is a breaking story in Colorado, there’s more to come on the subject tonight. We’ll post on NeighborsAtWar.com
 
 

Funniest HOA Video Yet!

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Homeowners Associations can, indeed, wreck your life. So there isn’t much humor in the anti-HOA movement. Still, it’s great to see a homeowners rights advocate in Texas making such a good video and sharing it with the rest of the world.

Turn up the volume, click on the video, sit back and enjoy!

http://www.classclownpictures.com/

http://www.classclownpictures.com/

Another Train Wreck! Headed Straight For You!

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I take no personal joy in bringing you these HOA horror stories. But I have no problem being the Paul Revere of the Gated Community industry. Read the story linked below. And trust it. It’s real.
 
Is Your Homeowners Association Underfunded?

Is Your Homeowners Association Underfunded?

by the Real Estate Bloggers

It is one of those horrible scenarios, but you may be on the hook for a potentially large assessment from your homeowners association, and not even know it. In fact, your homeowners association may be close to being broke…

When you buy a home that is governed by a homeowners association you sign a long document that gives the association certain powers over your property. Typically you get the bylaws right around closing time as you have 100 plates spinning in the air, and you give it a quick glance at the homeowner bylaws and then sign that you agree to be bound by them.

This could be costly. These agreements govern how the homeowners association can collect their dues, including potentially foreclosing on your house to do so, how you must maintain your home, and assess special fees if the association needs to make upgrades or create new amenities.

So you may wake up one day to hear about a $10,000 assessment because the association feels the need to fix a problem or add an amenity and it will be coming out of your bank account.

Now here is the scariest part, a majority of the homeowners associations in the United States are underfunded. The housing crisis has put incredible pressure on the associations as people just can not pay their dues, or the homes in their neighborhoods are in foreclosure.

Foreclosures on delinquent properties by homeowners associations were almost unheard of before the financial crisis of 2008. Now lawyers and real estate researchers say they are becoming more common as association funding bases shrink because of previously foreclosed homes’ standing empty. About 70 percent of association-governed communities are underfunded, up 12.5 percent from 10 years ago, according to Association Reserves. The average association has financial reserve accounts — the amount required to maintain infrastructure and common areas — that are only funded at 52 percent, down from 60 percent a decade ago, its research shows. via AOL Real Estate

This is not to scare you from buying a home with a homeowners association, but do read the documents when looking at the neighborhoods and ask about potential assessments in the future, or common maintenance issues that you see. It may save you from an expensive mistake.

(link to The Real Estate Bloggers)

http://www.therealestatebloggers.com/is-your-homeowners-association-underfunded/

Container Home VS HOA Living

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

 
Oh, to be HOA free!  People are finding all sorts of creative ways to put a roof over their heads.  Sometimes that means a sacrifice of space for the savings of money.  Which means less need for high-stress and high-income employment.  Or it’s an opportunity to pay off school loan debt. Or spend less of your retirement savings on empty space that eats utilities, creates taxes, insurance, maintenance and needs constant cleaning.  And yet for others it’s a way to stay out of an HOA or condo association.
 
It’s a housing movement that is catching on and growing by leaps and bounds.  Could it be because we are learning that life is about living not about servicing debt and empty spaces? Or it might just be the brutal experience of living in a nightmare condo association or HOA that has shocked us into seeking a place that can be moved if our surroundings start to feel like we are trapped.
 
Whatever the reason the creativity seems endless in our quest for uncontrolled shelter.  This one even offers a roof top deck!
 
 
http://www.tinyhouseliving.com/casa-cubica-a-tiny-container-home-2/