Category Archives: Realtor

Please Make This Kansas Story Go Viral!

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Explosive!Guest blog by Nila Ridings

I recently spent eight long days in Wichita at the federal courthouse observing the pre-trial hearing of an HOA lawsuit where a Homeowners Association board member attacked and severely beat a homeowner with a crow bar! These six photos, taken at the hospital, show the viciousness of the attack.

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It seems the homeowner discovered work being done on a neighbor’s condo that also happens to belong to the mother of an HOA board member. While others had been on a long waiting list to have their work orders completed, the board member opted to make his mother’s condo top priority over everyone else. The homeowner took his camera and phone to the nearby common area and proceeded to document this “special treatment.”

The board member saw him taking pictures while looking out his condo window, grabbed a crowbar from his garage and started clobbering the camera holding homeowner. The homeowner did not fight back. Obviously, one man was taken to the hospital by ambulance and the other went to jail!

Surprisingly, the District Attorney declined to press charges. The injured homeowner proceeded to file a civil suit in federal court. And as bizarre as this sounds, the HOA members, not their insurance company,  are paying all the legal bills because the board member claims his actions were part of his “official duties” as a board member. The legal bills are already estimated at more than $200,000 and the case hasn’t even gone to trial yet!

The homeowner who was beaten began sending emails expressing his anger and frustration with the board of director’s conduct. He did not send any to the defendant. He admitted to the judge that it wasn’t one of his better moments when he attached the somewhat crude “Revenge Song” by Miles Betterman. The HOA board’s legal team actually played that YouTube song in the courtroom, claiming it amounted to a “death threat” to a board member.  Give me a break! 

The board is seeking a court-ordered injunction to take away this HOA member’s First Amendment rights to communicate with his neighbors. The board also created an HOA “no call” list and they fine this homeowner $100 for every email he sends. The U.S. Constitution be damned!

The community is divided with supporters and haters on both sides. This community has been plagued with lawsuits causing property values to plummet. Even more dramatic, the HOA members have installed security cameras aimed at every nook and cranny of this neighbor’s condo. They even have them installed in their cars! 

One other interesting note: While being interrogated about life in this Kansas Homeowners Association, the board member on the stand was asked about a suicide committed by a female resident of the HOA. The woman reportedly had told neighbors she could no longer take the harassment from this particular board member. She hanged herself from a tree right next to the entrance sign to this HOA. I was stunned: When questioned under oath about this tragedy, the board member chuckled.

Dear Readers, let me take you by the shoulders and shake you until you totally understand the madness that’s happening in American HOA neighborhoods!!! “Love thy neighbor” is a completely dead commandment when it comes to life in an HOA!

Insanity!

I cringe to think of the special assessments these HOA homeowners are going to have to fork over when the dust clears. If this homeowner wins a sizeable lawsuit over the crowbar beating or the invasion of his privacy….put a fork in it…this HOA is done!

This story is so sickening, that I’d like to close with the only amusing part of the pre-trial hearing. It involved the HOA attorney and happened on Day 2. 

The HOA attorney is very large with a girth that rivals that of Governor Chris Christy. Can you envision that image? While standing at the lectern and questioning a witness his suspenders came loose letting his pants drop down to the floor on one side while he was gripping the other and still questioning the witness. The judge didn’t see it, but those of us in the gallery sure did!  Priceless!   I nearly burst my lungs trying to keep from laughing out loud!

 (Editor’s note:)

Please help this story go viral. Every homeowner in America should read it. Send it to everyone on your email list and ask them to do the same. Send it to your friends, and make the same request to keep it moving throughout our country.

I’m including a link to the song that was actually played as evidence in this Federal Court of law in the case described above. If you are easily offended DO NOT click on the link. If, however, you do listen to the song, just keep in mind that it was introduced into the U.S. District Court record by a well-known Kansas Homeowners Association and its attorneys and is now part of the official court record. Actually, this song could eventually become the national anthem for the anti-HOA movement. Bizarre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my7sxZ0KfHU

 

Hanging The Flag

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Upside down flagA neighborhood in Pendleton, Oregon is furious with a homeowner who’s begun flying his flag upside down as a protest against President Barack Obama. The upside down flag is recognized internationally as a symbol of distress.

Oregon has long been one of the most left-leaning states in the country and it’s full of Homeowners Associations. The surprising thing is that an Oregon neighborhood is protesting any display of the American flag at all, right side up or upside down. While this blogger takes no public position, left or right, on politics, he still believes that American citizens have a Constitutional right to Freedom of Speech. And historically that means freedom of expression, even if the way a belief is expressed nauseates others.

We’ll see what happens in this case. But this kind of display of the American flag usually ends up in lawsuits, liens, foreclosures, or even violence.

Our Supreme Court has recognized that citizens have a right to desecrate Old Glory. That couldn’t happen in some countries. I find it interesting that in certain totalitarian regimes like Cuba it’s impossible to fly the flag upside down. It looks the same either way. That has to have been an intentional design by a country that didn’t want its citizens putting out calls of distress.

If an official flag is ever designed to fly over HOA Amerika it will also have to have a design that can’t be flown upside down, sort of like the all-white flag of surrender.

Just a few random musings on a dull afternoon.

http://tinyurl.com/lf2eq8a

original source:

http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2013/06/03/oregon-man-flying-american-flag-upside-down-to-protest-obama-presidency/

 

Some Fun From Blog Fans

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 guest blog by Nila Ridings
 
“If you wrote a blog post about your own HOA (or one you know about), what would the title be?”
 
That was the question Ward tossed out to his Facebook followers.  In the same way he didn’t disappoint us with his book, we hope he isn’t disappointed with our bloggin’ titles.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy YOUR FANS’ creativity, Ward!
 
Presenting the titles:
 
“Wake Me Up When This Nightmare Is Over!”
 
From the Board Of Directors: “Don’t Ask For Any Records, Or You Will Be Wearing Cement Shoes!”
 
“The Inmates Are Now In Charge Of The Asylum.”
 
“Do Not Threaten To Sue Me And Invite Me To Eat A Hamburger With You In The Same Sentence!”
 
“HOAs…The Gathering Place For People Of Short Stature Who Are In Need Of Being In Power!”
 
Board member to resident: “Crowbar Or Gavel; Either Way I’ll Win!”
 
“Share The Truth”
 
“What’s Mine Is Mine..And What’s Yours Is Mine!”
 
“How To Supplement Your Retirement Income By Skimming, Scamming, And Being On An HOA Board.”
 
“Elect Me To The Board! I Need One Accomplishment To Put In My Obituary!”
 
“Predator Lawyers: The Fallacy And Foolishness Of Thinking You Own Anything!” 
 
“Watch Out For The Mink Creek HOA Board Of Directors – The GOOD OLD BOYS Are Up To Their Old Tricks!”
 
“Evil Behind These Gates!”
 
“I Will Never Buy In An HOA Again!”
 
“The Self Serving Board Of Directors At Mink Creek HOA”
 
One contributor even offered up the perfect HOA Board spy song! 
 
 
Music video by Rockwell performing Somebody’s Watching Me. (C) 2004 Motown Records, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
 
Now, who was it that said HOA members have lost their sense of humor?  Pick your favorite and comment on it!
 

Colorado Fires

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This is a tough time of year for many Coloradans. Our summer skies are filled with flashes of lightning; a gorgeous sight from a distance, but dry lightning can play havoc when the vegetation is dry. Over the past few days more than 500 homes and a number of businesses have been destroyed here. One of the most devastating fires was in the Black Forest, a hilly, tree-filled area just north of Colorado Springs. At the time of this writing, the fire is still burning, only half controlled.

Over the next few months, I’ll be monitoring the news from there very closely. Many of these homes are in subdivisions controlled by a Homeowners Association. In recent years, storm and fire devastated HOAs have been completely unreasonable with homeowners who are trying desperately to rebuild. There are cases in Florida where homeowners have been slammed with fines because the tarps used to cover damaged roofs were not of a uniform blue color. No kidding!  And in New Mexico, a homeowner was sued because he was living in a small trailer while trying to rebuild his burned-out home.

From a Constitutional standpoint Homeowners Associations are fundamentally flawed. They have nothing to do with democracy, and everything to do with fascist minority control over the majority. And when Nature, herself, demands that neighbors cooperate to recover from disaster, Homeowners Associations often go to extremes to make sure cooperation is impossible.

In my heart I hope that Colorado residents work together to recover from this nightmare of flames and ash. In my mind, I know I’ll be doing stories on those who are doing their best to increase the emotional and financial damage to their fellow neighbors.

People Are Learning

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Hundreds of thousands of homeowners across the country are getting educated about Homeowners Associations. They’re not doing it by reading my book, or any of the others on the market. They’re learning by cold, hard, first-hand experience.

A lady in Houston, Texas named Crystal Stemberger is an author, a successful personal finance blogger, and a fulltime blog advertising manager. Her business and blog are called Budgeting the Fun Stuff. And it really is a fun site for browsing.

But the reason I’m mentioning her is an excellent blog she wrote about her experience as a new member of a Texas Homeowners Association, where she’s discovering the unnecessary and demeaning bullying which is targeting her. A weed, a wrong-headed claim that her car was parked on the street for longer than the mandated six hours. Threats of fines. Not only is her column good, the many comments below it are also informative. And it shows that the word is spreading about the vulgarity of rogue Homeowners Associations. The national HOA movement is slowly killing itself.

Here’s the link to Crystal’s column:

http://tinyurl.com/pxdkgnv

original source:

http://www.budgetinginthefunstuff.com/home-owners-association-bullies/