Category Archives: Fraud

Legislative Shenanigans in Arizona

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guest blog by Dave Russell

Here’s more background to the enactment of Arizona’s SB 1482 which will profoundly impact homeowners across the state.

You need to look no further than the “stakeholders” of the bill: The Arizona Association of Realtors, CAI and the Arizona Association of Community Managers, all of which have formed an alliance here in Arizona.

This was a bunch of individual bills all log-rolled into one. Individually, each one of these groups would never have let most of this pass.

The CAI convinced the Arizona Association of Realtors “that if we all work together, everyone can get what they want.” You know, except for the homeowners living in HOAs.

After the housing market crash, most Realtors are now managing rental properties to subsidize their dwindling incomes. Unfortunately, the Realtors ran into a snafu when it came to renting units in HOAs. It was those pesky, city sponsored, crime prevention programs, requiring criminal background checks and photo identification on tenants.

 Probably one of the only useful things an HOA does is, preventing those convicted sex offenders and drug dealers from living next door to you and your children. Well the Realtors somehow decided that these programs were interfering with profit, and wanted the Arizona Legislature to eliminate them.

No surprise here, the Realtors worked their mojo with Rep. Michelle Ugenti (Realtor) and Sen. Gail Griffin (Realtor) to sponsor their unconstitutional legislation.

The Realtors can now rent to any criminal they want, as SB 1482 has abolished the basic requirements of every statewide HOA crime prevention program. The only good thing an HOA has done, so we toss that out the window.

The Arizona Association of Community Managers (offshoot of the CAI) can now have their property managers take the homeowner to small-claims court, and self represent. Of course the legislation doesn’t address how much the management companies and their HOA managers can charge the HOA for “legal fees” performed by non-attorneys. I’m sure those “legal fees” will exceed what a real attorney would have charged.

Now let’s not forego the unfair disadvantage to Mr. & Mrs. Homeowner, who probably never set foot into a courtroom. That’s right, it’s the inexperienced homeowner vs. the HOA gurus. Sounds fair? Not.

Arizona HOA legislation is almost like the hit show “Survivor” where the teams build secret alliances, while competing in challenges to earn either a reward, or an immunity from expulsion from the game in the next of the successive votes for elimination.

Ward’s note: Dave Russell will be featured on Shu Bartholomew’s OnTheCommons.net radio show August 30th. It should be fascinating.

Marketing of HOAs

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guest blog by Beanie Adolph

Incredible! How can something so destructive of family life and of the American system of governance continue to dominate American housing?  MARKETING! Chant the lie over and over:  HOAs protect property values. THEY DON’T!  Promise Utopia but hide the reality.  Deny every plea for full disclosure – for openness.  In 2004, two realtors were discussing on an industry blog how to ensure a buyer knew “what he was getting into” and concluded “…if ALL the potential pitfalls are enumerated, no one in his right mind would purchase.”

Most buyers saw the opportunity of owning the home of their dreams at a manageable price with the added inducements of “amenities” previously available only to members of country clubs. There was, then, and still is the lie that HOAs protect property values. There was not and still is not any disclosure that:

  • The quoted cost does not include the extra costs, e.g. increase in assessments and all types of fees.
  • The Reuler-Hailey paper* states “… some HOA managers contract with HOA boards at below-market rates with the expectation of making up the difference from individual owners. How? With a myriad of specific purpose fees, such as resale certificate fees, document fees, collection fees, inspection fees, and violation enforcement fees.”
  • Most new developments are HOA developments and buyers really do not have a choice.
  • Buying into an HOA is far worse than co-signing a note with strangers. A note has a fixed amount, defined terms, and can be paid off. In an HOA there is a lien that can never be paid off. The homeowner is a guarantor for all debts incurred by the HOA, and his house is security for their spending sprees.
  • The reality is that amenities are not “freebies” but burdens that constantly deteriorate, and are the responsibility of the homeowner.
  • HOAs are private quasi-governments that regulate and control the behavior of citizens without the same due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment.
  • The HOA system places rules and regulations above the rights and freedoms guaranteed to all Americans.
  • Once an HOA is established the governing documents ensure its continuance forever.
  • The HOA Industry constantly lobbies state legislators to increase their power – their control.  Their bills usually have homeowner-friendly names but not homeowner-friendly results. Lobby Watch, June 1, 2011, revealed funds raised for PACs, the distribution to the legislators, and how they voted.

Why do homeowners endure this?

Two of the most powerful motivations are fear and greed.  Homeowners, legislators, and politicians bought the concept that HOAs protect property values.  No facts were ever given to support the statement, but prospects of pink houses, cars up on cinder blocks, and unacceptable neighbors were the threatened  alternative.  In one TV debate the CAI attorney must have thought one car on cinder blocks was not scary enough.  He described a non-HOA community adjacent to his where one house had “6 or 7 cars up on cinder blocks, grass overgrown, trailers out.” When the goal is to instill fear the argument has no limit.

It is a fact that property values are determined by the economy and affect homes in and out of HOAs.   According to an exhaustive study of Harris County homes, homes not in HOAs fared better. Fear was and still is a major factor.  But in HOAs the fear of being targeted with fines, fees, and foreclosure keeps most defenseless owners silent.

* Statutory Evolution of Condominiums and Property Owners Associations in Texas, by Sharon Reuler and Roy. D. Hailey, September 2002. Mortgage Lending Institute, U.T. School of Law

Arizona HOA Sues Embezzler

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Wow! You don’t see stories like this every day. But an HOA management company is being sued by an HOA over a minor little infraction of the law… the embezzlement of 3.4 million dollars.

The Edge at Grayhawk Condo Association in Scottsdale thinks embezzling is a crime. These homeowners pay dues of $300 a month. But they just felt that their money was going down a rat hole. And the rat, they think, is Eagle Property Management.

The cops are looking into the matter, and the company president is refusing to talk to anyone.

With embezzlement from HOAs the largest unreported crime in America, how dare these rich homeowners complain because they got ripped off?

If you live in an HOA, you’re gonna get ripped off.

Live with it.

(link to Arizona embezzlement story)

 

Community Associations Institute (The Disinformation Institute)

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guest blog by George Staropoli

Think in terms of the Third Reich and the Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Josef Goebbels in charge.

CAI is the modern incarnation of the Ministry. If, as has happened, CAI goes unopposed with its ongoing propaganda campaign about the grand and glorious benefits of HOAs without even whispering “constitutional violations” or “de facto private governments” who will believe anything is amiss?

What? Those malcontent, troublesome homeowners who don’t know how to live in a community with rules? That handful of trouble makers? They can’t even write decent legislation! Let the CAI lawyer/lobbyists explain the issues to you legislators so you can make better decisions.

Who would you believe?

Over the years CAI in Arizona has been basically silenced in the public media, because I would confront, challenge, and expose their lunacies and false statements whenever I could.

In the 2000 – 2005 time period the CAI repeatedly slandered homeowner advocates. We often heard statements from legislators like, “You’re just trying to get out of a contract.” “You agreed and you should have read your contract.” “Anyone who didn’t read or understand their CC&Rs and signed anyway was really stupid. I wouldn’t do anything like that.” Or even worse, “If you don’t like your HOA, just move out. That’s all!”

This year the Arizona Legislature approved SB 1482 without any questions being raised in committee. The bill was simply voted on and passed. Why? An almost identical bill was passed last year but failed in the courts. Also last year I repeatedly confronted and exposed CAI simply by quoting erroneous statements their lobbyists had made in public. Many legislators began to realize CAI was feeding them bad information. Of course, the previous law was eventually thrown out by the courts because it was fundamentally illegal.

However, CAI lobbyists still walk the halls of the legislatures whispering in each lawmaker’s ear, spreading the same old disinformation. This will never change unless voters contact their legislators and truly educate them on the issues.

More Reason For HOAs To Fear The Southwest Drought

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As I’ve said many times on this blog, our nation is facing a massive financial crisis involving a pending collapse of the dollar, with nowhere to hide. All it will take is a tipping point, just a single event. It could involve an investment gone wrong, a weather event, a crisis involving war between two nations anywhere in the world, or some moment where the world fears the stability of the US dollar. Mortgage companies will massively decrease lending for home purchases. And there’s no doubt these same mortgage companies know that the most fragile investments are in Homeowners Associations where property values can become wildly unstable because of misfeasance or malfeasance by HOA officers or managers.

But the science story linked below is one I’d never considered.

(link to drought induced earthquakes)