I have not investigated this incident personally, so I can only pass on the link to another blogger’s website. But I have seen rampant racism in a number of other HOAs across the country. In my upcoming book, Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowner Assocation, I trace a number of similar cases that should be of intense concern to anyone who respects the civil rights of all people.
If this story in Houston is even halfway accurate, then all men and women should read and weep:
Shawn Marie Bianco of 109 Georgetowne Court has been arrested in Northern Virginia. Seems she’s accused of embezzling money from a Parent Teachers Organization….says she needed the money to pay her mortgage. She was the president, secretary and treasurer of the PTO.
Oh yes, she was also accused of embezzling money from the Georgetown Court Homeowners Association. And the beat goes on.
Here’s an HOA embezzler who made a pretty good score for himself. 53 year old Dale Palmer was in a position of trust with dozens of Homeowners Associations in Missouri. He operated a firm called “Homeowner Association Services (HOAS), and his take was $750,000. Nice work if you can get it.
Palmer has been preparing false business statements for his 3 member homeowner associations for the past couple of years. His excuse to police was that he was very poor at managing money for HOAs, and he just could keep all that cash straight.
I imagine if you’re swimming in a backyard swimming poll filled with $750,000 cash, it would be kind of hard to keep track of things, too.
Swim on, Slime Bag. You hurt a whole lot of elderly homeowners who trusted you!
Sherman McCray fought for his country in the Korean War. He worked ever since as a long-haul trucker. He uses a wheelchair to get around.
Somehow, Sherman got about $338 dollars behind on his dues at the Vistas subdivision. By the time he collected the money and went to pay, the Vistas in Lake County, Florida had a little surprise for him. No longer was it $338 bucks. No, once the lawyers, the debt collectors and the HOA late fines and fees kicked in, the amount was raised to $4272.42 and going higher ever day.
McCray can’t believe his neighbors could do that to them. With his heart attack, his gall bladder removal, and various other charges, McCray thought he could argue the case himself in court. The Vistas HOA doesn’t mess around when it sees a homeowner drowning. No, they school up like sharks and slam that house into foreclosure quicker than you blink your eye.
Mary Goldin, president of the Vistas Homeowner Association, didn’t respond to a request to explain. They never do. They never ever do.
The wise guys in Florida are picking up some sneaky new tricks. Most homeowners who are overdue on their debts to HOAs owe less than $15,000. HOAs aren’t required to notify primary mortgage holders that the homeowner is in arrears on HOA payments.
HOA lawyers tell their clients to file for repayment in county court rather than circuit court. Circuit courts, of course, are working on huge backloads. So the HOAs can get a foreclosure in about half the time by going through county court. The major lenders suddenly discover the rug’s been whipped out from under them, and the HOA which was owed the smallest debt now gets the entire foreclosed house.
It’s slick. It’s almost foolproof. And it allowed one person to grab a one million dollar house for just $10,000. Is something wrong with this picture? Is this kind of sickness really endemic in America? What have we wrought? What have we wrought?
