Category Archives: QFCA

Rules for Radical HOAs

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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.

Finally, emerge from your voyage of discovery and analyze how the HOA movement has slowly and stealthily taken over the American real estate development and home building industry. Slowly, this industry has moved almost a quarter of all Americans into a political system which is completely outside the control of the U.S. Constitution.

Make no mistake, Homeowners Associations are absolutely a form of government. They control your roads, your sewer, your trash pickup, maintenance of your local water system, policing of your neighborhood. They even form your court system, since traditional courts have washed their hands of most HOA conflicts. And to an incredible degree they control your personal finances. Of course, just like in a traditional government you pay taxes. Your monthly dues and the sudden demand for a $10,000 or $20,000 special assessment are taxes.

What rights do you actually have in an HOA? Well, what rights do you have under facism, or marxism, or communism or any other kind of non-constitutional dictatorship?

Nila Ridings is right. We all need to read Rules for Radicals, just to see what we’re up against.

(link to wiki and Rules for Radicals)

 

Emergency Meeting!

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

I think this HOA should have called it a memorial service not an emergency meeting. The money is already gone.

The checks have been written to credit card companies, a mortgage lender, and relatives of the culprit. She’s lawyered up and ready to fight her neighbors after stealing their money! Will this be another case of the HOA members paying for the legal representation of the accused thief?

I’ve literally seen so many of these stories about HOA board members or property managers stealing the HOA funds, I’m not shocked anymore. I feel no sensitivity about it. I used to feel angry but no longer do. Proof that too much of one thing becomes ordinary and expected, I guess.

Get ready for some more of those severe court-ordered sentences of 20 hours of community service!

Associa, CAI and Crooked HOA Transfer Fees

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Transfer fees are among the biggest scams in the housing business. North Carolina residents tried to get them outlawed. Colorado is trying. New Mexico is trying. Transfer fees are a ‘little’ item on your paperwork that pops up when you try to sell your home. If you live in a Homeowners Association of any kind you’re likely to learn that you have to pay the fee before you can sell to a buyer. Transfer fee. That means some property manager had to photocopy the HOA covenants, probably a hundred or so pages. But you don’t photocopy them one page at a time. No, they’re on his computer. Push one button and the printer spits them all out in a couple of minutes.

So, what do transfer fees cost? Well they can cost the buyer anywhere from 150 to 4000 bucks. For photocopies! And many a house sale has fallen through because someone in the transaction has to come up with that extra money.

Where does the money go?  Simple. It’s a transfer, remember? A transfer directly into the pockets of some board officer or the property manager. That’s why HOA giants like Associa and CAI fight like the dickens when state legislators start getting wise and drafting proposals to reign these crooks in. With those two phony organizations constantly lying about how they “represent homeowners,” it’s blatantly obvious they don’t represent the interests of homeowners. No, they just represent the dollars they can sneak out of a homeowner’s pockets.

(link to Albuquerque article on transfer fees)

 

 

Kansas Legislators, We Are Counting On You!

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guest blog by Nila Ridings

Why was I in Topeka testifying in front of the Kansas legislators today? HB 2557. Kansas now has this bill in the Local Government Committee being discussed to make amendments to the Kansas Uniform Common Interest Owners Bill of Rights Act.

The bill needs a lot of work but the legislators were all ears today. Some were very open about how they are hearing from more and more of their constituents that are having HOA problems.

House Representatives Scott Schwab and Amanda Grosserode both spoke in favor of the bill. I supported the bill with many changes and additions and strongly encouraged the committee members to learn who the CAI is and how they operate. Next came the CAI attorney and property manager who tried to convince the legislators all is well in the HOA neighborhoods. Kansas legislators were not buying it! Being a Realtor himself in Wichita, one representative spoke strongly about how HOA problems are getting worse and he’s hearing about it more and more. Afterwards, I spoke with him and he was very familiar with the case of Jerry Berg* being beaten with a crowbar by the HOA board member in his condo association.

(*Jerry Berg’s story can be found on this website http://neighborsatwar.com/2013/06/insanity-in-kansas-2/            He was also recently interviewed on Shu Bartholomew’s HOA radio show www.onthecommons.net)

Observing the discussion was a reporter from the Kansas City Star. Another was a homeowner who had been in a legal battle with her HOA, but will not speak on record for fear of more retaliation. A few more attorneys. And, last but not least, the Special Assistant to the Kansas Attorney General who asked him to attend and learn more about what is happening with the HOA issues in Kansas!

Readers…we are making headway. We are truly making headway. When I worked on the Kansas Uniform Common Interest Owners Bill of Rights Act back in 2008, 2009, and 2010 the term HOA or Homeowners Association was foreign to the legislators. Today, that is certainly not the case. It appears the legislators phone lines and emails are on fire with unhappy HOA member constituents demanding help!

For a chuckle, I’ll share this. The big time CAI attorney spews out the number of Kansas homeowners living in HOAs. He then says, and you see only one or two of them have complaints. (Okay, yes, I nearly jumped out of my chair!) Trust me, if homeowners were not so frightened of their HOA board placing them on their radar for abuse, I could fill buses with people to testify for this bill to pass.

I will not be able to take busloads of people to Topeka, but I’m asking for your help. Keeping in mind this bill is being written with the intentions of helping HOA homeowners and states seem to follow what other states do…would you please send a short note of support to the email below and ask the Kansas legislators to support HB 2577? I would love to hear that hundreds of emails of support were received from all across America. Let the Kansas Legislators know we are counting on them to blaze the trail for better legislation for HOA victims all across America.

rich.mergen@house.ks.gov

Subject: Local Government Comittee- HB 2577

Here’s a sample of what would be a sufficient email:

Dear Kansas House of Representatives:

As an HOA homeowner I am asking you to support HB 2577 because all across America we are experiencing far too much abuse and there is very little to no rights for us. We have limited protection and no place to go for help. Please listen to the homeowners, not the members of the Community Associations Institute (CAI).

I live in (name of your state) and I’m hoping my legislators will follow your lead.

Thank you for your public service and willingness to recognize the need for better legislation for those living in HOAs.

Your Name
City and State

http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2015_16/measures/hb2557/

 

You Can’t Make These Things Up!

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Wow!

Crazy story from the city of Commerce in Los Angeles County. A community newspaper reported on a growing scandal involving an alleged two million dollar kickback scheme involving the mayor of Commerce and several city officials. At least two of the officials live in a gated community there. Now an  HOA board member, in the foulest imaginable verbal assault, has told the newspaper delivery guy that he’s no longer allowed to deliver the paper to homeowners in the HOA.

(link to story about HOA members who aren’t supposed to know about this scandal)