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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
