There are thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of news articles about people who’ve been royally shafted in the American HOA system. There’s a very good article in today’s Fort Worth Weekly entitled “Hostage, Sweet Hostage.” It tells the story of a family who moved into a Texas HOA looking for security and safety. But an argument over a vehicle led to harrassment, fines, lawsuits and has cost this family their peace of mind.
This gated HOA has used a weapon against the family: locking the gate so they can’t reach their home, their guests can’t visit, the babysitter can’t enter to care for the kids. And when the family protests, HOA officials just flatly refuse to talk to them. Ah, but the HOA president finally talked to them. But only after joining hands with the family and praying before lowering the hammer.
The Good Lord knows I don’t want to bore readers of my blog posts! But my feeling is that there are so many HOAs being victimized by embezzlers, that the name of every HOA crook ought to be publicized far and wide. These crooks are not only rotten people for stealing, but they’re stealing from neighbors who put them into positions of incredible trust. In many cases, they’re stealing from elderly retired people who just can’t afford to pay special assessments to cover the HOA’s losses.
Well, bore you or not, the latest embezzler to be sentenced to prison is 63 year old Nancy Walker. She managed the treasury of the Ballenger Creek Meadows HOA in Frederick County, Maryland. She stole more than 137,000 bucks. She claims she gave the money to an internet acquaintance she’d never met; a man who alternately claimed he was in a South African hospital, and later in a South African jail. It’s a great sob-story, but it doesn’t change the fact that Walker stole from neighbors who had trusted her.
She got a sentence of 18 months in prison and restitution. Why HOA thieves never get more than 18 months is a mystery to this blogger. But the restitution is no mystery. She’ll never pay it.
San Clemente is a picturesqe California coastal town. But the big local controversy is a huge condo complex that went bankrupt five years ago. The empty building attracts rats, drug dealers, and has a massive impact on other homes in the Timbers at Towne Center Homeowners Association. Homes worth nearly $300,000 a few years ago now sell for less than $150,000. That is, when they can sell at all. Homeowners say they occasionally get interested buyers. But they’re chased away at the thought of living next to a garbage dump.
The city can’t do anything. Banks won’t lend money.
One adjacent homeowner says the neighbors complain bitterly about the long term eyesore. But they reject any attempt by the city to raise taxes to help pay for the project’s removal.
It’s so typical of Homeowners Associations, which often seem suicidal when it comes to adapting and finding peaceful solutions to local problems. Sometimes it’s hard to feel sorry for them.
Oh yes, embezzling is endemic in American Homewers Associations. Just Google “homeowner association and embezzle.” Then stand back and watch the numbers.
The latest one is Dale Palmer, a Kansas City man who managed HOAs in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin. This creep thought he could get away with embezzling more than 750,000 dollars. He’s going to prison for 46 months, but that’s a laugh. He’ll get off about two years for good behavior.
Those of you living outside Nevada might have missed one of the most important editorials of the week. Of the month. If you love your family and your home, please take the time to read this from the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
