guest blog by Nila Ridings
Today, I had lunch with one of the escapees from Quivira Falls Community Association. Sixteen years of his life was spent in this rotten hellhole. He finally walked away and let the place foreclose. Only to say today he wishes he had done it years ago.
He tried for years to see the financial records. Filing a pro se lawsuit produced no results. When it rained, the hillside between his and his neighbor’s front door washed mud all over his sidewalk. It was often times over an inch deep so walking to the door resulted in muddy shoes. The front door has big pieces of peeling paint to greet visitors.
A dead tree stood out front for a long time before somebody took a saw and cut it down leaving the stump to rot. His fence around the patio is falling down and missing pickets. The hillside behind it is all weeds.
This is the ‘quality’ of maintenance provided by Quivira Falls if you are one of the “pariahs” as a former board president called those she does not like in the community newsletter.
When this man tells the story about the “blow and go” paint jobs prior to my mistaken purchase into Quivira Falls, it’s hysterical. The board hired a painting company that sprayed the townhouses with paint; windows, screens, doors, and foundations included. One warm night after the “blow and go” he decided to open his second story bedroom window. One push and the entire window flew out and crashed onto the patio below. Fortunately, he had some carpentry skills and was able to install a replacement window.
After lunch we removed all of the new door knobs, light fixtures, tools, and other supplies from the garage. I will donate all of it to Habitat Restore tomorrow. At one time, he had plans to completely redecorate the inside of his unit, but finally accepted the fact it was a waste of time and energy. He stopped paying the HOA dues and mortgage payments. And gave up hope for better days in Quivira Falls. He set himself free of the insanity to live out the rest of his life in a rented apartment which he loves.
To help him walk away and never look back, I agreed to be the Power of Attorney and coordinate the foreclosure with the attorneys and mortgage company. Without any hassle, they were nice enough to give me a set of keys after they changed the locks. Imagine that: A foreclosure company is far more pleasant to work with than the Quivira Falls board members that are also neighbors! They asked me if they should expect the owner to protest the foreclosure and I said, “Oh no! That will never happen because he’s delighted that you are taking the place off of his hands!”
And the light at the end of the Quivira Falls tunnel is getting brighter for another escapee.
