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.

On the 7th Day, God Didn’t Actually Rest: He Sent Mankind an Honest Lawyer

      No Comments on On the 7th Day, God Didn’t Actually Rest: He Sent Mankind an Honest Lawyer

This blog credits honesty. And in the HOA quagmire that is North Carolina, one lawyer has raised his head and taken an extreme moral, social and safety risk by speaking his heart.  He says he’s seen the HOA mess from both sides and has strong opinions about the need for reforms.

If you’re a Christian, you’d better drop to your knees and thank God for this Jewish lawyer.  He speaks the Truth, and is certain to be crucified for it.

I’ll link his editorial right here. And if you know this guy, tell him you appreciate his honesty.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/02/03/1826206/whoa-hoa.html#storylink=cpy

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association


“Texas, Our Texas, All Hail the Mighty State…”

      No Comments on “Texas, Our Texas, All Hail the Mighty State…”

Ah yes, how I remember singing the Texas State Anthem when I was eight or nine years old and studying the Blue Book.  Do Texas kids still study the Blue Book, or is that an antique of the 1950’s?  “Remember the Alamo, remember San Jacinto!”

Since life in Texas, I migrated to Washington DC, and Germany, and Seattle, before finally settling in Colorado.

But after learning about the national HOA movement, I began thinking that Texans were wimpy little pea-brains who’d passively turned their life savings over to the trial lawyers by moving into covenant-protected neighborhoods. Texas homeowners were being raped by the tort system and weren’t even fighting back.

Then I started hearing names like Beany Adolph and Michael Clauer, Harvella Jones, Frank Larison and Becky Oliver. It seems some Texans do have guts after all. They’ve even marched on the State Legislature to demand some changes in the law to prevent gestapo-run HOAs from getting their hands into every cookie jar that wasn’t cemented down.

Yes, the Legislature did pass some OK legislation in the last session. Admittedly, it was a little weak, a little weasel-worded. But still, Texas is now ahead of all other states in trying to protect at least a few of the Constitutional rights Americans have always thought they possessed. At least Texas HOAs can no longer toss out Jews, or Christians, or patriots who want to fly the flag.

God bless Texas.

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

Whew! Who Did This Work?

      No Comments on Whew! Who Did This Work?

Sometimes a blogger should just shut up and pay compliments to the work of others.

My readers have learned over the months that I’m massively angry about how easy it is to embezzle money from Homeowners Associations. And because it’s easy, it happens everywhere. In fact, my upcoming book, “Neighbors at War: the Creepy Case Against Your Homeowner Association”  provides a list of hundreds of HOAs where board members have stolen millions and millions of dollars from their neighbors.  And yes. I do publish names and kick butt.  In fact, the new definition of a Homeowner Association Board may be “five arrogant people running wildly through your retirement savings!”

Yes, that’s hyperbole, but it doesn’t miss the mark by much.

OK, I promised to keep my mouth shut and give somebody else a compliment. So, here it is: Whoever decided to assemble the following list of HOA embezzlements and publish them on the web should be nominated as my “hero of the month.”  Admittedly, I have to grit my teeth and acknowledge that the author of the list may be aligned with the Community Associations Institute, an organization which has raised lots of suspicions about their own honesty and intent. Am I sleeping with the Devil? I hope not.  But here’s their embezzling list. Read it and weep.

http://www.communityassociations.net/xmlarticles/fraud_embezzlement.html

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

How D’ya Like Your HOA Re-sale Value Now, Bunky?

      No Comments on How D’ya Like Your HOA Re-sale Value Now, Bunky?

Washington State is such a pretty place to live. They call it “The Evergreen State.”

And a boat-load of Homeowners Associations were all going to help protect and preserve property values for all those new owners. Well, it’s not working out so well for folks in the Hazel Dell Townhomes, part of the Timbers at Town Center HOA in Vancouver. About six years ago, crowds of real estate agents dragged their clients in to buy some of those ritzy new townhomes. Now, HOA dues are going unpaid, a lot of personal wealth has been shredded, common areas are uncommonly unkempt. At this point, a townhouse owner probably couldn’t unload his property in a bad poker game.

It’s an old, sad story. The developer went broke in 2006, leaving a bunch of homes unsold. He transferred his bankrupt company along with the CC&Rs to the neighborhood. One of those rules is that it takes a quorum of 50% of the community to elect a board, to hold a meeting or even to petition the courts for help.

Now the homeowners are whining to the State Legislature that it’s “just not fair.” Maybe the Legislature will help out, and maybe not. The problem isn’t the developer. The problem is that investing in covenant-controlled housing is a big fat “P.S.I.” (pretty stupid investment). It’s just another case of “the big lie” being told over and over again by every real estate agent in Kingdom Come.

They’ll call me a fibber for saying it, but the real truth is that, “No, the HOA does NOT protect your property values.

In the meantime, many homeowners in The Evergreen State could reasonably call it “The Ever-Broke State.”

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association

The Stench Continues Rising Over Vegas!

      No Comments on The Stench Continues Rising Over Vegas!

Hoo boy, just when you thought the HOA news out of Las Vegas couldn’t get any smellier, any more corrupt, any more bizarre… it does.

The Paradise Spa Home Owners Association has certainly had its problems during the economic implosion. Fires. Construction defect lawsuits. Insurance money that just never appeared. The neighborhood kept deteriorating and needed repairs just didn’t get done.

Your home is supposed to you be your best investment. Isn’t that what we were always told?  But buying a home in Paradise Spa was a bad investment for a lot of folks.

Now comes word that the former treasurer of the HOA has been indicted for theft and embezzlement.

Massoud Yashouafar!

Oh, his lawyers will say he was innocent, of course.  It’s only an allegation. Innocent until proven guilty, and all that. OK, OK.

But more than a million bucks! How in hell can some people look themselves in the mirror each morning?

Ward Lucas
Author of
Neighbors At War: The Creepy Case Against Your Homeowners Association