For the past week I’ve been in the Pacific Northwest attending a 50th class reunion. What a thrill! I’m convinced that my high school classmates were some of the classiest people in the world. It’s rare that you make a friend who sticks with you for five years. It’s incredible when you can walk into a room and discover a roomful of people who are still your friends after five decades.
Life is short folks and every day is a gift. Hold on to what’s true and fight for what you believe. If you know you’re right, never turn and look back. Your success in life is measured by how hard you’ve fought for others.
Ward
guest blog by Nila Ridings
If you live in a townhouse or condo this story is a must read. It contains details you may not have thought of. It raises awareness of how board members are not qualified to hire contractors and oversee construction rebuilds.
What it does not mention, unless I missed it, is the fact while you are displaced from your HOA property you are still paying for the mortgage, taxes, insurance, and HOA dues. All while you are paying for a place to stay unless your insurance provides coverage for temporary housing. And do they consider a year or two temporary?
Some of our readers may recall I grew up in the construction industry. My father was a custom home-builder and developer so I spent a lot of time on construction sites and have a very clear understanding of the process from dirt to dishwashers. I’ve been the general contractor on several of the remodeling projects I’ve done on houses I’ve owned, including one where a fire destroyed the kitchen. Coordinating sub-contractors, negotiating pricing, and choosing materials is a full-time job that requires tremendous organizational skills and the ability to anticipate the next step in the process so the job can move forward toward completion.
I shudder to think about a disaster rebuild in my HOA or any HOA that would be coordinated by board members who do not know beadboard from chipboard or quarter round from crown moulding which would promise a full scale fail as the end result from day one. Imagine moving back to a nightmare like these folks in the article below! Put yourself in their shoes because it’s not all that unlikely you could be wearing them someday.
(link to story about disastrous rebuild attempt)
With all the tens of billions of dollars being embezzled from homeowners and Homeowners Associations across the country, you’d think sending a crook to prison wouldn’t be that unusual a news story. Sadly, stories like the one linked below are pretty rare.
An embezzler in Utah who operates in a number of states has been sentenced by a federal judge in Nevada to three years in prison. Oh yes, he has to make four million dollars in restitution. At least those are the terms of his plea bargain. What? He stole all those millions and has no way to pay it back? Then why isn’t he in prison for life?
(link to Salt Lake City Tribune story on tiny sentence for big fraud)
Don’t beat me up! I know there are other good, honest HOA lawyers out there someplace. Well, at least one or two. But I haven’t met them yet.
But this lawyer actually ‘gets it!’ He understands about the kind of fascism found in many of America’s Homeowners Associations. He understands that HOAs are often a rat trap that ruin targeted homeowners at will. He gets the fact that once a bully board is in control of the HOA they can unleash unbelievable racism, discrimination and abuse. He understands that HOA lawyers are a corrupt layer of infection that can quickly contaminate the atmosphere of a neighborhood. He understands that HOA lawyers have little or nothing to do with ‘justice,’ it’s all about how much money can be pocketed from homeowners who find themselves in a hopeless situation.
I’m linking this lawyer’s short blog below, mainly because he says all of the above but with a lot more diplomacy. But it’s really worth printing out and saving. If you’re a homeowner living in Texas, this connection could someday be very valuable to you.
(link to J. Patrick Sutton Law in Austin, Texas)
I seem to be getting more and more calls from reporters around the nation asking about HOA problems. Most of them are skeptical when I talk about how massive the national HOA scam is. So it really helps them to read newspaper columns like the one I’ve linked below.
It’s written by a seemingly level-headed HOA board member who’s discovering just how underwater he is in trying to deal with the difficulty of straightening out a crooked HOA.
It’s well worth reading the link…and possibly forwarding it to others.
(link to problems in one North Carolina HOA)
