Category Archives: Patriotism

Nevada ‘Mouth’ Moves Again

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Ah, Barbara Holland, how we love thee! Ms. Holland, who writes a column in the real estate section of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, complains about a recent guest blog that lists some of the complaints against her: One is that she gets paid for writing her newspaper column which is massively biased in favor of Homeowners Associations.

Ms. Holland, who describes herself as the “Dear Abby of Homeowners Associations,” will never deny that writing her newspaper column has made her very rich in the real estate business. Her ‘voluntary newspaper column’ is the kind of self-promotion that every entrepreneur dreams of. Whether she gets paid ten or twenty bucks per column by the newspaper is absolutely immaterial. Barbie Baby, you started piling up your millions in the property management and Realty business the day your first column was published. In the most corrupt real estate market in the nation, most honorable people would be scared to death to identify themselves as being the “Dear Abby” or “Dear Ann Landers” of anything HOA related.

But all of that is petty infighting and beyond the point. The issue at hand is the stupidity and short-term thinking of the Nevada Supreme Court which ruled that an HOA’s Super-Priority lien could extinguish the mortgage company’s first deed of trust. Bottom line: thousands of Nevada homes that are in crisis can be snatched up by real estate bottom feeders who grab homes for a couple thousand bucks at auction, and flip them for hundreds of thousands of dollars each. A windfall profit. A disaster for those in the mortgage business. And Barbie tells us, “No big deal.”

In fairness to Barbie Baby, here’s her latest take on the subject:

(link to Barbara Holland’s column on Nevada court decision)

Now that “Dear Nevada Abby” has spoken, let’s look at some totally different conclusions made by far more astute financial folks at the Wall Street Journal, reporters like Joe Light (joe.light@wsj.com). The link below sometimes asks for a registration, but any good Internet researcher can find a way around that.

(link to WSJ article on Nevada mortgage mess)

(link to parallel article in Bloomberg News)

Now, to you, Dear Reader. Do we believe in dear ‘Self-Interest Nevada Abby?’ Or the financial folks on the national scene who are actually talking to the nation’s lending institutions about all the impending consequences?

Another HOA About to get Burned for Discrimination

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The good news is that we’re beginning to hear of more and more cases around the country where the homeowner is winning against the HOA bullies. And one big source of those victories involves a Homeowners Association refusing to admit that it’s interfered with ADA laws. Even if you’re a powerful HOA, don’t try to smack down a federal agency that’s entrusted with protection of the handicapped. Still, the skulls of too many HOA board members and managers are too thick to beat common sense into.

We, here at Neighbors At War, are doing our best to keep the jackhammer fired up.

The latest case involves a family in Gilbert, Arizona, members of the Coronado Ranch Homeowners Assocation. Steven Vroman is confined to a wheelchair. His doctor recommended exercise like swimming. He built a small pool in his backyard, but then discovered that he had to be out of direct sunlight. His disease prevents his body from regulating its own temperature. And that could lead to a stroke. So Vroman put in a shade structure to allow his transition from the home into the pool without being subjected to the hot Arizona sun.

Well, the HOA board members, obviously feeling like they were taken advantage of, decided to put Vroman’s swimming pool project on hold, or as we used to say back in the days of telephone operators, “Put him on terminal hold.”

Month after month went by with no action on the part of the HOA. So Vroman has had to file a federal lawsuit.

A word to the wise at Coronado Ranch. You’re going to lose this one. You’ll spend a fortune in legal fees trying to jack this man around, and the federal courts will declare the whole lot of you to be losers. Total losers. You’ll have to pay Vroman’s legal bills as well. Then, sure as shootin’, you’ll each get his with a special assessment to pay for legal costs, damage awards and who knows what else. And you’ll each be getting a slap-in-the-face that all busy-body neighbors should have to endure.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/Gilbert-couple-suing-HOA-279380682.html

Love Those Happy Homeowner Calls!

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

“Nila! This is Enock. WE WON!!!!”

Ward posted a blog with the video about Enock and Ines Berluche and their battle to keep their religious statues in their landscaping on September 30, 2014.

On this rainy day in Kansas hearing such a happy and excited voice just made my day! I asked if the legal fees were covered. Enock said Liberty Council provided their defense at no charge. That information added to the excitement of the phone call.
I promised to share this news with our readers in hopes it will provide renewed strength to those who fight these HOA battles. We are hearing from more homeowners that are winning their cases.

Tell me, are the judges getting wise to the antics of the HOAs? Are they seeing how ridiculous their bullying and abusing of the homeowners truly is? Something tells me they are.

Let’s hope this is the last time the Berluche’s hear from the HOA board. For now,

CONGRATULATIONS are in order.

Thank you for making my day, Enock!

WHO IS BARBARA HOLLAND?

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A Response To Her Recent Attack On Jonathan Friedrich

guest blog by Jonathan Friedrich

Ms Holland presumes she is the ”Queen Bee” of all community managers in the Las Vegas area.

First a few facts about Ms. Holland:

The column that she posts each week in the Review Journal SHE PAYS FOR. She is not a columnist working for the newspaper. If you observe near the very top of the page under the “Real Estate” banner the words “promotional section” are printed. This is another way of saying this is an advertisement!

Ms. Holland has built a successful business through the use of this advertisement tool.Ms. Holland, who is a licensed community manager number CAM.0001049-SUPR, has had numerous complaints filed against her with the Nevada Real Estate Division in the past. Ms. Holland makes a very nice living off the backs of people living in Homeowner Associations.

Ms. Holland’s unprovoked rabid attack on me in her paid column on September 27, 2014 for expressing my “global” view on the Nevada State Supreme Court’s decision only shows her myopic view of HOA life and her own financial well being.

What Ms. Holland fails to realize is the big picture that banks will be very cautious about lending in Nevada. This can translate into higher interest rates or refusal to lend at all!

As a Commissioner on the Common Interest-Community Commission I had a sworn duty to protect ALL of the people of this State and not just the special interest groups. This is what I did and continue to do.

Ms Holland, on the other hand, only has to look after her own special business interests. She is part of an ever growing and controlling industry that is threatening the very fabric of American life and liberty of its citizens.

To quote Ms. Holland “its about time we caught a break.” But it’s the homeowners who really need a break!

Homeowner associations have almost unlimited powers. When you purchase a home or Condo in an association you consent to be “ruled” by a group of individuals known as a “board.” This board decides what your monthly assessment is, how much will be spent on your behalf and on what, what color you can paint the exterior of your home, when you can open your garage door and for how long it can stay open, what plants and flowers you can plant. In short an HOA can and does control your life.

HOAs were created back in the 1960s to keep Blacks, Jews and Asians out of “private” communities. Is this the American way of life? I do not think so.

Oh, Ms. Holland I almost forgot to mention all of the corruption, embezzlements of funds by board members and or the managers and kickbacks to managers all costing owners millions of dollars a year. Let us not forget the abuse and attacks against owners who speak up and speak out against board members.

As a Commissioner I witnessed many of these acts first hand.

So Ms. Holland we the homeowners do need a “break”.

Ms. Holland, with her tunnel vision view of the world, owes me an apology. But I don’t expect one from her.

(link to Las Vegas Review Journal article)

Due process? Fugeddaboudit!

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guest blog by Robert E. Frank, USAF (Ret.)
founder, HomeOwnersCoalition.Org & veterans advocate

John Tarlton likes the idea of due process, but seems to think something like 3.4 would be too costly for small organizations. It says: “4. The parties may present witnesses and all witnesses shall be subject to cross-examination by the opposing party and may not, without the consent of all the parties, be present when other witnesses are testifying except for the alleged violator who may be present for the entire hearing and may testify if he or she so chooses.”

Really?? Too costly to ensure fair challenges and cross examination to possibly false statements by someone in the hearing process (including directors, CAMs, etc.) who wish to do possible harm (minor or extreme) to a member? While false statements might be innocently made in board hearings, under no circumstances should they be allowed to stand. Our nation allows rigorous challenges against false witnesses, and justice demands nothing less.

I believe competent association managers and/or volunteer directors can figure out low-cost ways to protect the vital interests of both members and the association without violating something as basic as the “right” to challenge false witnesses and expose “possible criminal violations” by false hearing statements. Regardless, if the rule is worth enforcing, and the member violation is worth charging, the board’s cost of defending the accuracy and appropriateness of the charge is an unavoidable cost.

I say possible criminal violations because the outcome of most board hearings is cash coming out of the pockets of members. Any submitted/accepted false witness statements by anyone in the hearing process could be grounds for various types of common criminal statute violations including theft, extortion, etc.

Having personally seen false claims being accepted by boards against innocent members that resulted in arbitrary/unfair hard cash penalties and sometimes extreme impacts against out-of-favor members, I cannot imagine why industry professionals would tolerate policies for such to be created or allowed to exist in any developer-sponsored CC&Rs. Protection of all due process rights could/should be embedded in every CC&R.

Judgments by HOA/Condo Boards must ALWAYS be seen as done fairly, justly and above board. We professionals must demand nothing less than EQUAL justice for ALL members–not just the favored few.

And, IMO state legislatures are derelict in their duties if they allow CC&Rs to contain provisions where the basic due process protections for all owners and other occupants are not guaranteed.

Individual rights MUST prevail in this nation–EVEN in HOAs and Condos. The majority cannot be allowed to overrule such individual rights to protect property and freedom. It is embarrassing and deeply troubling when so many of the professionals in this HOA/Condo business are able to look the other way and ignore this major flaw in our governance practices.

Since the costs of operations are borne by, and benefit, all members, failing to protect all due process rights for all individuals under CC&R governance rules is indefensible–in my view.
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This situation should remind us of Patrick Henry’s passionate demand for liberty or death…. Our personal property rights have been “taken” and we have no choice but to reclaim them for our survivors in the future.