The link below is from the Las Vegas Sun newspaper and the column is a so-so explanation of Homeowners Associations. For the completely ignorant it may have a couple of bits of knowledge. The major reason I’m linking it is not because of the column. It’s the comment by a reader about something happening in his own HOA. That single comment is more informative than a dozen Las Vegas Sun columns.
(link to Las Vegas newspaper. DON’T MISS THE COMMENT AT THE BOTTOM!)
Yes, welcome to your new condo. You’re going to love living here. The neighbors all get along and we don’t seem to suffer the kinds of problems felt in many other Homeowners Associations. You’re buying into a little bit of Heaven, your own private home. Welcome, welcome, welcome!
Oh, we’re sorry we couldn’t give you copies of the covenants, the budget and insurance papers in time for your real estate closing. At the time you requested them, the paperwork was tied up in some minor snafu. But it’ll all get worked out soon.
I love the FBI. I love the many federal agents I have known. But my pet peeve is that the FBI, which keeps track of annual crime statistics, does not keep track of the number of Homeowners Associations which have been hit by an embezzlement by board members or property managers. Thus, it’s my belief that embezzlement from HOAs is the largest unreported crime in America. Nobody keeps track!
The HOA industry, and the politicians who support the industry – perhaps for dubious reasons – use the same talking point, over and over again:
“Vote the bums out!”
What a joke! As many have pointed out here on this blog, there are many factors that make a mockery of the fair election process in homeowners or condo associations.
The very first problem is that votes are allocated according to the corporate model of governance, and not based upon a democratic basis of “one person, one vote.” In Association Governed Residential Communities, voting interests (notice I did not say “rights”) are tied directly to the share of property owned within the association.
Nila Ridings, the homeowners rights firebrand from Kansas, raises a question that deserves consideration.
Now, I’ve read Rules for Radicals a number of times over the years. Saul Alinsky was the Chicago activist who taught that sneaky underhanded rebellion was a way to take over society. But read a little more deeply into his writings. Forget the politics. Forget left and right, Democrat and Republican. Forget conservative and liberal. Just sink deeply into his rhetoric and his logic.
