Zillionare FaceBook founder Mark Zuckerberg is trying to start his own HOA in Palo Alto, California. He just doesn’t want anyone else to live there except him.
Understandably, when Zuckerberg built his own mansion he wanted some privacy and bought up all the homes around him. He can afford to toss around 38 million bucks. But he’s being sued by a couple who claim they were conned into selling their property at too low a price to a ‘mystery’ corporation that turned out to be Zuckerberg.
I sympathize with this billionaire wanting some privacy and security. He’s probably got more stalkers and paparazzi than George Clooney. But with his wealth why would you subject yourself to the incredible invasion of privacy that happens during depositions and court testimony? To Zuckerberg, 1.7 million dollars is pocket change. Pay these reptilians off and get on with life!
So many people are buying retirement homes in Mexico. But before you make that leap, study a recent condo seizure by a court that ruled Americans have no rights in Mexico. This poor lady (linked below) spent hundreds of thousands of dollars for her Mexican condo. But a lien filed by the workers against the developer ended up in her losing everything.
Actually, this same kind of thing could happen in many countries. As an American, you have rights that no one else in the world possesses. Treasure those rights. Guard those rights. Be militant about those rights. And just remember the old saying: “Anyone who ever made a difference was once called a trouble maker.”
Some folks thought I was crazy when I claimed a Nevada Supreme Court decision could make it impossible for many people to get a mortgage. The court ruled that a 6000 dollar HOA lien could extinguish an 800 thousand dollar mortgage.
How is that possible?
How is that fair?
What mortgage company official in his or her right mind make loans in such an area? Is it any wonder that thousands upon thousands of Nevada homes are for sale and there are no buyers?
Question: If you knew you could steal $40,000 and only get a 60 day jail sentence, would you do it? $20,000 tax free dollars a month is pretty tempting, isn’t it?
Well, that’s the sentence given a 72 year old Idaho woman when she embezzled that amount from her seniors-only community, the Florida Estates HOA. She said she stole the money because she was depressed.
The sentence gets even more interesting. After her two month jail sentence she’s required to make $40,000 restitution at the rate of $200 a month. I’m not very good at math but it looks like that’s about 17 years. And she’ll be 89 when she’s finished paying. I suspect most of the neighbors she ripped off will be dead or institutionalized by that time.
I’ve written repeatedly about the ethics-challenged former Texas state senator John Carona. He’s the billionaire who owns a company that oversees about 9,000 Homeowners Associations across the country. And his rules for homeowner behavior are beyond bizarre.
One that still gets my goat is that a homeowner can be fined for the behavior of any guest who ‘intends’ on visiting his property. No kidding! A Home Depot truck was stopped for speeding. The fake officer asked where the driver was making his delivery. And that homeowner got fined because the Home Depot truck’s first stop was at that homeowner’s house.
Every time you think it can’t get any wilder, just hang around this website. It just gets crazier. I’m surprised more authors haven’t written fiction books about the HOA movement.
