Author Archives:

About

Ward Lucas is a longtime investigative journalist and television news anchor. He has won more than 70 national and regional awards for Excellence in Journalism, Creative Writing and community involvement. His new book, "Neighbors At War: the Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association," is now available for purchase. In it, he discusses the American homeowners association movement, from its racist origins, to its transformation into a lucrative money machine for the nation's legal industry. From scams to outright violence to foreclosures and neighborhood collapses across the country, the reader will find this book enormously compelling and a necessary read for every homeowner. Knowledge is self-defense. No homeowner contemplating life in an HOA should neglect reading this book. No HOA board officer should overlook this examination of the pitfalls in HOA management. And no lawyer representing either side in an HOA dispute should gloss over what homeowners are saying or believing about the lawsuit industry.

Idiots, Idiots, Idiots All!

      No Comments on Idiots, Idiots, Idiots All!

Just when you think you’ve heard the stupidest story ever about an HOA board, along comes an idiotic decision that just makes you shake your head.

It’s election season, and you’d think Texans would have a little more common sense than most people. I spent some growing up years in Texas, and I loved considering myself a Texan. But combine the words ‘Texan’ and ‘Homeowners Association’ and you just get twenty-seven degrees of STOOPID.

The Stonebridge Ranch Homeowners Association in McKinney, Texas has a rule that a political sign can’t have more than one name on it. Huh? Yup. Y’all listen up, ya hear? Only one name on each sign. So, a McKinney homeowner fought the rule…and lost. But he came up with a solution that’ll just leave you shaking your head.

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2016/08/25/mckinney-homeowner-fights-back-whenb-hoa-cracks-down-on-political-signs/

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2016/08/25/mckinney-homeowner-fights-back-whenb-hoa-cracks-down-on-political-signs/

Loretta Lock Finally Admits She’s A Thief

      1 Comment on Loretta Lock Finally Admits She’s A Thief
guest blog by Nila Ridings

Charleston Harbor HOA in Kansas City North, Missouri has been the latest victim of over a $100,000 embezzlement!

On August 19, 1938 a thief by the name of Loretta Lock was born. She sells real estate and advertises how honest she is! And her performance in the courtroom would have you thinking she’s a little old church lady who laid down her knitting needles and forgot her hearing aids in a rush to stand before the judge and plead guilty to stealing from two hundred of her neighbors! Annually, they each pay dues of $400. So her stint as the board treasurer and neighborhood thief required some very careful transacting.

You see, Loretta loves to gamble! Not with her money, but with her neighbors’ money. At times she used the HOA ATM card at the casino. Other times she just wrote herself checks.

Here’s a little twist to the story. Her husband is an attorney. So sometimes she wrote him checks, too, for his fabulous legal advice! Don’t you just love this story?

How did she get caught? Well, you’ll read about that in the attached article. But those of us who’ve been around this HOA embezzlement game table for a while know she could have pulled this off without ever being busted. Let’s just say she’s a very dumb criminal.

The Charleston Harbor board president, Chaz Wood is very smart. He wasted no time getting the police involved when the bank mentioned a $50,000 deposit that was made the day before he arrived with another board member to become signors on the HOA account. Red-headed Loretta had been stalling about turning over the financial records. Imagine that!

The board made a fatal error. Claiming they wanted to “save money,” they decided to forego the annual audits that are required by the CC&Rs. Never pass on doing the annual audits. That is precisely why my HOA, to this day has ten million dollars unaccounted for! No audits is a “Welcome To Steal Here” sign!

This case was being kept very quiet until an anonymous tipster spilled a few beans. From there, reporter Judy Thomas was like a bird dog on a pheasant hunt! And everybody knows I despise liars and thieves! We were off and racing to the Clay County courthouse and it’s a long way from Overland Park! Many thanks to the person who took a stand and made the call that changed it all.

Loretta Lock has gotten her fair share of continuances on this case. But we are committed to going back on October 21, 2016 to see if the judge is going to throw the book at her or let her walk with some probation restitution. Either way, I feel justice was served today when Judy Thomas exposed this despicable fraud of a woman in The Kansas City Star. I adore the homeowner who walked up to Judy and said, “Keep it above the fold!”

Many thanks to Judy Thomas for continuing to help us educate homeowners on the risks of buying into an HOA!

(link to Loretta Lock story in Kansas City Star)

 

HOA Neighborhood Shaming

      4 Comments on HOA Neighborhood Shaming

Shaming. It’s another word for bullying. For abusing. Often, public shaming is more hurtful than physical abuse. If you’ve never read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel, The Scarlet Letter, then you’re missing one of most powerful works in the history of literature. And if you’re honestly in this fight against the national Homeowners Association scam then you need to read Hawthorne to begin to understand how mean and horrible public shaming really is.

I don’t get too many emails from homeowners in Michigan, but there’s a big HOA controversy in that state right now. A new couple applied to their Livingston HOA to have their home construction plans approved. They were. Then the couple was asked if they could move their proposed home a few feet to save some trees. They did. After spending 200,000 bucks to build their foundation and do the framing they were hit with an HOA lawsuit, claiming they moved their house without permission.

Now the whole neighborhood is torn apart. There’s vandalism, there’s a petition to recall the board. But this new couple will forever live with the shame of having caused all this ruckus.

Shaming. It’s probably the most vicious weapon that HOA Nazis have in their evil arsenal.

(link to Livingston Daily story on the HOA feud in Michigan)

 

Organized Crime? You Betcha!

      2 Comments on Organized Crime? You Betcha!

Organized crime is endemic in the HOA industry, absolutely woven throughout the faulty fabric of the whole structure of Homeowners Associations. Racism, bribery, blackmail, criminal harassment, theft, extortion, embezzlement, phony liens and foreclosures.

If you go back through five years worth of blog posts on NeighborsAtWar.com you’ll see hundreds, even thousands of posts and links to stories of criminal activity in Homeowners Associations in virtually every state in America. Board members, treasurers, management companies, HOA lawyers, even the federal racketeering convictions of 43 HOA officials in Nevada. It’s a vast criminal empire that only recently is beginning to attract attention from the nation’s news media. So this next paragraph and the associated link shouldn’t surprise you much.

Sperlonga LLC, a data collection firm, has now made a deal with Equifax to begin adding HOA dues and payment history to the credit records of homeowners. Your late HOA payments, whether real or phony, will now have the same weight on your credit report as bank loans and auto payments. Welcome to the future, Bunky!

(link to press release by Sperlonga Data)

 

 

“Complaints Against HOAs Are So Rare” -CAI

      5 Comments on “Complaints Against HOAs Are So Rare” -CAI

When some media outlet reports on the latest outrage involving an out-of-control board of lawn Nazis, the CAI invariably sends out representatives who use the same old tire lined: “These complaints are so rare and isolate, they’re not even worth talking about.” They use that same lie whenever they testify in front of State Legislatures.

Here’s another of those “Oh, so rare,” and “Oh, so isolated” stories:

 

http://counton2.com/2016/08/22/neighborhood-attempting-to-overthrow-hoa/