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.
The daughter of a Nashville family nearly died after accidentally getting a window blind cord wrapped around her neck. But their HOA won’t let them put up safer blinds.
This one is personal to me because a close friend had this happen to his child. His son was playing in the basement standing on a chair pretending the window blind cord was a lasso. My friend heard things suddenly go quiet and went downstairs to check. His son was hanging by the neck, the cord wrapped around his throat. He saved his son and the paramedics took the child to the hospital. He lived. But many others across the country have died.
How does an HOA board have the gall to forbid the use of safer blinds?
Across the country, more and more major news agencies are either doing, or are planning extensive stories on the HOA mess. It’s more than a mess. It’s a national outrage. It perpetuates the outrageous lie that a Homeowners Association will protect your property values. Not in my experience!
Here’s the link to an excellent story beginning with the victimization of an innocent family.
For you HOA board members who are planning on buying drones to spy on your neighbors, you’ll have to watch out for some new regulations. Your drones will have to be registered in a federal database. Although I generally hate excess federal regulations, this one is kind of cool because your name and address will go into a database which is a public record. We’ll all be able to learn which board members or management companies are using this incredibly invasive technology.
I wrote about this a few weeks ago: Some ladies in an Arizona HOA were forbidden from using the clubhouse to make Christmas packages for needy kids.
Well, outrage must have been a sight to behold, but the HOA has relented and the ladies are back at their customary spot, making those goodies. It wouldn’t have happened without public pressure.
Don’t ever tell yourself the world of Homeowners Associations can’t get any wackier. The stories are sometimes too outrageous to believe. Here’s another.
The president of the Coronado Place Homeowners Association in Tucson is handing out speeding fines and then threatening to shut off the water if those fines aren’t paid. Under Arizona state law, that’s illegal. But it took public exposure by a great reporter at KVOA News to embarrass this women into backing down.
