Category Archives: Home Assoc

BAM! The First Las Vegas HOA Corruption Indictment

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It could be the first of many; but the first actual indictment for corruption in the Las Vegas Homeowners Association investigation was handed down Friday, December 9th.

Dax Lee Louderman, a former employee of a construction company, was charged with stealing more than a half million dollars in a construction defect case. Louderman was charged with 13 counts of theft from the Stone Canyon HOA.

Louderman was charged in state court rather than in federal. But it appears to be a spinoff from the massive federal investigation of fraud and corruption in more than a dozen Las Vegas Homeowners Associations. In recent weeks, ten targets of the federal investigation have pleaded guilty to theft and corruption, and the stacking of HOA boards with officers who would direct construction and legal expenses to certain lawyers and construction companies. Presumably, those ten suspects will now testify against other targets in the case.

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

Another HOA Embezzlement Case

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Ho hum, it’s just another embezzlement from a Homeowner Association. I don’t want to bore you with too many details, since these happen with unbelievable regularity.  I haven’t done an official study, but it seems that there are more HOA embezzlements than purse snatchings. Is that possible? It’s just so incredibly easy to steal from your neighbors when you’re an HOA board officer or manager. The difficult thing to understand is how you can look your neighbors in the eye. If anyone can enlighten me as to how that miracle can be accomplished, please do. That kind of bald-faced dishonesty just mystifies me. But there’ll be another embezzlement tomorrow. And the next day. And the next.

Source: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/12/06/1906375/police-say-former-treasurer-of.html

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

Homeowners Association Nightmares Never Stop

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Estrella Bryant was trying hard to keep up with her mortgage payments on her home in San Francisco, California. Like many other struggling homeowners, she thought she could delay a dues payment to her Homeowners Association. Wrong choice. She was unprepared for the nightmare that followed.

The Parkview Heights Homeowners Association told her she owed $560 in dues. The case was turned over to a collection agency, which then tacked on its own fees and attorney’s fees.

The nightmare grew. Bryant said her big mistake was thinking that an HOA was there to help its member homeowners, the exact opposite of what the typical HOA does.

The HOA’s collection firm said it would be glad to arrange a payment plan, as long as she signed an agreement to pay the collection agency’s fee first.  (By the way, it’s absolutely illegal in California for collection agencies to make debtors sign such agreements!)

As soon as Bryant signed the agreement she saw the collection fees, the attorney’s fees, HOA dues and interest continue to rise.

Bryant was one of the fortunate few who found an attorney who would take the case pro bono to save her home.

Anyone in California who finds themselves in a similar situation should contact CalHomeLaw.org. The organization has waged a vigorous fight against illegal practices by Homeowner Associations and collection agencies. They also have excellent material on how Homeowners can use Small Claims Court against out-of-control HOAs.

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

Disabled Child Gets the Finger from his HOA

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Handicapped youngsters are often the target of ire from Homeowners Associations. Despite laws to protect the handicapped, there’s a special kind of rancor directed at families who have special needs children.

The latest example is in Lexington, Kentucky. The Andover Forest Homeowners Association has told the parents of a child with cerebal palsy that no exception from HOA rules would be granted their son.

Three year old Cooper Veloudis is the center of the storm. His therapist told his parents, Tiffiney and George, that their special needs son might be encouraged to be more active if he had, say, a playhouse in the backyard.

A playhouse? For a handicapped kid? Outrageous violation of the rules, according to the HOA.  And it’s fining the Veloudis family fifty dollars a day for each day that Cooper’s new playhouse is left standing.

“Illegal structure!” the HOA told the family. “Get rid of it!”

George Veloudis says he has pictures of other such “illegal structures” throughout  the neighborhood. Ah, but the typical HOA isn’t required to enforce the law evenly. Besides, pressure on the family might encourage them to pack up and move out, a common plight facing families with a handicapped youngster.

HOA officials won’t talk to the media. Perhaps they’re embarrassed?

On second thought, probably not.

A tip-o’-the-hat to LEX 18 Television in Lexington for reporting on this story.

http://www.lex18.com/news/playhouse-for-boy-with-cerebral-palsy-causing-controversy-in-lexington-neighborhood#!prettyPhoto/1/

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

HOA Dues: For Some, it’s Poison

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Members of Homeowners Associations must pay their HOA dues, on time!

That’s as it should be, of course. After all, homeowners agree in their original real estate purchase agreements to abide by all HOA rules and restrictions. But in thousands of cases across the country, people’s homes are being snatched and sold at auction, sometimes without notice, after a late payment or other violation of vague neighborhood rules.

Tony Goodman, of San Antonio, Texas, is just another in a long line of homeowners to find themselves threatened with homelessness.

Goodman, who was unemployed for nearly a year, says he was unable to pay HOA dues on his $165,000 home in the Lookout Canyon Creek Homeowners Association. He owed $769. With surprise collection fees and attorney’s costs that sum rose to more than $2000. Goodman says he worked out a payment plan with the HOA’s lawyer, Tom Newton, but the plan was rejected by the HOA twice.

Reporter Brian Collister, of WOAI TV, says he tried to get both the attorney and the Homeowners Association to discuss the Goodman case. Neither would talk to him. Collister says he then showed up at a Homeowners Association meeting and tried to ask questions about the home seizure, but the HOA ordered Collier to leave and then called the police.

Tony Goodman was eventually one of the few “snatch and sell” victims who was able to save his house. After all the negative publicity in Texas, the Lookout Canyon Creek HOA agreed to let Goodman make payments to head off the foreclosure.

Others, many others, have not been so “lucky.”

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association