Want to know how to crash an entire neighborhood’s property values? Just tell homeowners that absolutely no Christmas lights or decorations are allowed, even inside the windows of a home. Violators will be fined. Then spread the word to all Realtors who might want to list property in that area. Bam! Your home is worth tens of thousands of dollars less.
Muirfield Village Homeowners Association. Mesa, Arizona.
Yep. The board has been threatening action against any fool who puts up Christmas decorations. Most of them have been taken down. We’re not talking Dickens’ Scrooge or Suess’s Grinch, here. We’re talking about board members whose collective brain capacity is that of a pet rock. I take it back. A pet rock is probably a little smarter.
And this one, my friends, is being committed by a Federal Judge and a US Attorney. The hundred million dollar HOA scam that led to 43 federal convictions in Las Vegas is over. But the judge has ordered all the records from that scam and prosecution to be sealed.
As a reporter I spent a lifetime getting official records unsealed. When things are sealed, there are usually some dirty secrets in those records that make public officials not want to be accountable to the public they serve. This particular sealing of records is incredibly suspicious because of all the public officials who were involved. In the beginning of this investigation there were plenty of hints that one or more Nevada judges was involved. There was also suspicion about a ‘high up’ national political figure who had his fingers in the pie.
As long as these records remain sealed, there will be suspicions that U.S. Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr. is intentionally covering up something in his own ranks or his fellow judges. Too many people were hurt by this scam. Too many people lost their life savings and their homes. They absolutely deserve to know every detail of this investigation just to see how far the stench of corruption traveled. Nevada has a long history of being run by the mob. The voters deserve to know the truth. ALL of the truth.
Once again, kudos for the Las Vegas Review Journal. While the rest of the news media across America decided this story was too complicated to cover, reporter Jeff German published every possible detail. He deserves the Pulitzer!
I blogged about the Cobblestone Community Homeowners Association a few days ago, but the update linked below is worth reading. While I can refute this reporter’s claim that “Most homeowners’ associations work and work well….” Hmmm, this leads me to believe this reporter is a novice. In truth, every Homeowners Association is one vote away from disaster. They don’t protect property values, they don’t ensure personal security, they don’t protect you from embezzlers on the board or in the management company.
The lawyer quoted in the story says he’s frustrated. Of course he is. He knows how dangerous HOAs can be!
Las Vegas TV reporter Darcy Spears is the First Lady of HOA exposures and she’s got another great one. This time it’s not a crooked board. It’s an HOA management company that’s doing its level best to ruin a little old lady. Phony dues, phony charges, threats of liens and foreclosures. Even the HOA board which fired this company says it’s all bogus.
Well, I’m no longer a fan of the so-called ‘Ahmed, the Clock Kid.’ He’s the Texas 14-year-old who assembled a clock and thought it was cool enough to show his science teacher. In our no-tolerance world a kid can’t even point his finger and say “bang, bang” without the police being called. When the cops started interrogating Ahmed about whether the clock was a bomb, it became a viral sensation. He was solicited by colleges, got an invitation to the White House.
Now, it seems that Ahmed and his family want to sue the school and the police department for $15,000,000. Apparently Ahmed was so ‘traumatized’ by the incident he deserves that princely sum to help him get his life back together. He once had a great future ahead of him. But I wouldn’t hire him now. I wouldn’t want to contribute to his tuition.
This country’s tort lawsuit machine gives a lot of people around the world some good reasons to despise us.
