Category Archives: privacy

Another 50,000 Month

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Once again, this website has passed the 50,000 mark for people visiting us during the previous month. That kind of growth doesn’t come from me or my guest bloggers, although I love them dearly. It’s because YOU are spreading the word about the scam known as the American Homeowners Association Movement. And people are paying attention.

Some family members just got back from Spring Break week in Florida with stories about yet another family member who’s gotten his back up over a minor HOA dispute. An unmowed lawn, a too-high hedge, and the wrong kind of lamp in the window.  He plans to fight the HOA. I plan to plead with him to pay all the fines, shut up and carefully plot his escape.

You will not, you cannot win a fight against your HOA especially in Florida. Just pay the fines. Once you have to hire a lawyer, the tens of the thousands or the hundreds of thousands you spend will pale in comparison to the amounts in the original dispute. In other words, you lose. If you lose you’re a loser. The HOA system is not built to protect property values or neighborly love. It’s a contentious, dispute-driven organism which creates losers. But as an organism it does have a life cycle. Its death is inevitable.

If you can make a clean escape, or change the system from within, or spread the word to other homeowners…then you’re a winner.

A huge winner.

 

More Krap from CAI

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Well, the Community Associations Institute is raising its ugly head in the California drought debate. The state is desperately short of water. The rain’s not falling, the water canals have either dried up or been diverted to rescue the obscure delta smelt. Southern California is a rat’s nest of Homeowners Associations.

But let’s not let those lush grassy HOA lawns go unwatered. As California assemblymen debate ways of forcing HOAs out of the lawn watering business, the CAI is lobbying heavily against more drought-tolerant landscaping.

The CAI says any changes in green grass would “ruin the ambience” of neighborhoods. It would lead to a “patchwork quilt of individual landscape designs.”

If the state runs dry a lot of those neighborhoods will be vacant anyway. And nothing ruins neighborhood ambience more than empty and shuttered houses.

(link to Union-Tribune San Diego drought story)

 

A Second Look At Fire Safety

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Wow! $20 and a canister the size of a tuna can proves to be a life saver.

Hardware stores sell them. Installation is simple. Buy one for you and one for a gift…far better benefits than another pair of slippers or a chotsky for the bookshelf.

(KCTV5 story on fire suppression device)

And…Don’t Let The Dryer Start A Fire!

Clean the lint trap with every use. And keep the exit lines cleaned, too.

Sometimes this might require hiring a professional. I found a company that cleans heating and cooling duct work that also cleans dryer lines. I had this done when I bought my townhouse and was shocked when I saw the pile of lint outside. The technician said from his experience I was lucky I did not have a fire. And from the volume of accumulated lint it probably had not been cleaned since the place was built twenty years earlier!

(Consumer Reports story on dryer fires)

 

Condo Fires In The Past 90 Days

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guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
The new year is not off to a good start for Ewing Township, Dallas, Branson, and Boulder.  Condo fires have left them with injured firefighters, displaced residents, and causes unknown. 
 
It is time to discuss fire safety in your home, condo, townhouse, or any other abode.
 
1 ) Do you own fire extinguishers?
  
2 ) Do you know how to use them? 
 
3 ) Are they stored with fast/easy access? 
 
4 ) Have they been checked by you or professionals? (see the video in the link below)
 
5 ) Do you have working smoke alarms with good batteries?  Are they tested monthly? 
 
6 ) When house guests visit do you show them where the fire extinguisher nearest their room is located?
 
7 ) Do you move the BBQ grill away from flammable surfaces and keep an extinguisher nearby?  (see link below for helpful hints)
 
8 ) When you stay in hotels do you make a note of where the fire alarm is and how many doors you are from the stairwell exit?
 
9 ) Do you know to NEVER throw water on a grease fire?  Use flour, baking soda, or smother the fire with a towel. 
 
People who do not have a fire extinguisher or know how to use one panic at the sight of smoke or flames.  It’s best to know how to fight the fire than to run around screaming.  Or grab your cell phone and start filming as some of these condo residents have done.
 
Many local fire departments will come out and change smoke detector batteries for you.  Check with yours if you need some help.
 
Last but not least, the link below offers information on buying an insurance policy for your condo.  There is a difference between condo and homeowners insurance policies.
 
In attached housing we can quickly become victims if our neighbors lack concern for safety.  Who knows what chemicals they may be storing?  Or how often they fall asleep with a lit cigarette.  Which ones leave their laptop computer on their bed all day which can cause the battery to ignite?  Lest we forget the ones that have saved newspapers and magazines since 1962 and then stack them to the ceiling.
 
With all this risk for fire it would make sense that sprinkler systems should have been mandatory to obtain building permits!  Oh wait…THAT would have taken money out of the developers’ pockets and raised the sales cost on the units.  
 
Money versus Safety.   Money always wins.
 
 
 

Last Call…Who Gets Stuck With The Condo?

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Occasionally I talk with a condo or HOA homeowner who tells me they are working to pay off their mortgage so they can leave the property to their kids debt-free when they die.  None of us knows when we are going to take our final flight, but we all know the risks of owning in a condo association or HOA.  For those who don’t, I’d suggest spending time on this website and reading Ward’s book, Neighbors At War!
 
I’ve watched the results of this plan play out over the past few years.  When heirs live out of state they sell for whatever they can get or turn their new property into rentals.  Rarely, do they move into the unit.  And they have no clue what is going on inside of the HOA , who is running for the board, how many lawsuits are pending, or if the HOA has taken out a million dollar loan.  They’re clueless and have absolutely no interest in knowing more.
 
If they can’t get the property sold and don’t want a rental, they are stuck paying monthly dues to the HOA. While there is no water, sewer, or trash usage during that time the HOA bill continues, along with taxes and insurance.  If at some point the HOA slaps a lien on the property there is an amount to be paid that nobody knows about. Or, the lien was satisfied but the HOA never released it.  Possibly the deceased wasn’t aware of it, but it’s there and it has to be paid before the place can be sold.  Or an assessment pops up and heirs are on the hook to pay that, too.  Suddenly, this inherited real estate becomes a pain in the neck and/or a financial burden to someone who can’t afford the extra expense or deal with all the added stress.
 
We learned in Neighbors At War that mortgage-free HOA properties also become targets for non-judicial foreclosure.  Since corruption never misses an opportunity the dead are not exempt from HOA abuse either.
 
During a recent conversation with an HOA property owner I learned something that I expected was coming.  This individual wanted a reverse mortgage only to learn that isn’t possible because the HOA is not FHA approved.  The advice given was to take out the maximum amount in a mortgage, enjoy life with the money, and when the money runs out or the final breath is taken, the kids can let the property go back to the mortgage company and walk away.  If the HOA opts to foreclose, so be it. (Who needs a good credit rating to get into the cemetery?)
 
Bottom line is: hundreds of thousands of dollars tied up in a covenant controlled and often times corrupt HOA is not a way to leave your heirs feeling loved.  It could bring them a financial burden that could drastically change their lives and leave them feeling angry with you for leaving them in such a financial mess.
 
No one lives without dying.  Careful thought should be given to how we wish to be remembered.  Hopefully it won’t be that generations to come are left sitting around holiday decorated dining room tables discussing Mom and Dad or Aunt Matilda’s HOA nightmare that was “supposed” to be an inheritance!