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.
Ah yes, believe all you want that your Homeowners Association protects the value of your property. But you’re spitting into the wind. All these years you’ve believe a falsehood spread by an industry that will NEVER be in the business of protecting your home value. This industry believes in the Almighty Dollar, no matter how it’s obtained.
The Pine Ridge HOA in Bushkill, Pennsylvania is a perfect example. A wave of non-dues-paying owners combined with a huge number of foreclosures has pulled this neighborhood right to the brink of bankruptcy. They’re struggling to find an answer. The answer is…there is no answer. You thought you were buying a retirement home? You ended up with a piece of Florida swamp land. Valueless. You believed the lie. You discovered what those of us in the Homeowners Rights movement have been warning you about.
The news story linked below has some interesting elements you might want to see.
Homeowners Associations don’t like veterans. They also don’t like veteran’s widows. Widows, you see, threaten the marriages of all other couples in the neighborhood. So ladies who get themselves elected to HOA boards try just about anything to boot widows and single women from their homes.
Hyperbole? Don’t bet on it. We’ve seen situations like this happen all over the country.
This one widow in Texas may have won a temporary reprieve, but that’s because she went to the news media. Without that, she’d most likely be on the street thanks to her oh-so-charitable HOA.
Credit reporting agencies see an incredibly lucrative opportunity in Homeowners Associations. And corrupt HOA boards see a marvelous way to further harass homeowners who dare to fight back against the Lawn Nazis. Hold back your dues because your HOA is doing something blatantly illegal, and it’ll lower your credit score.
Hire a lawyer to fight back against an unjust fine or lien, and yup, you might not be able to get that car financed or that mortgage modification approved.
These fundamentally unconstitutional institutions (try saying that three times) have found a new way to hammer beleaguered homeowners. It’s beyond belief, and it very well could end up contributing to the coming collapse of the HOA housing market. The more you learn about HOA abuse, the lower go the property values in HOAs. Developers, government agencies, embezzling management companies and abusive board members love seeing this happen. It’s more money in their pockets which means less in yours.
Like most HOA issues outside of the one I live in, someone sends me something to take a look at. Shadowmoss was today’s “Take A Look At This!”
It appears in the first video that an older person with one leg and a wheelchair has been contacted by an attorney over $200 in delinquent dues. The process has begun to foreclose and take his home. There is one really decent man among the homeowners that says he’ll pay the $200 on behalf of that homeowner because the money means nothing to him. THANK YOU MR. CONCERNED NEIGHBOR WITH COMMON SENSE AND A BIG HEART! He does question why nobody on the board bothered to talk to the homeowner before unleashing an attorney on him. The answer seems to be the property manager did it!
This is one of the many millions of problems with HOAs. Board members do not want their time occupied with the daily operations of the HOA. So they hand it all over to a property manager who has not been vetted or had any background checks done on them. In the second video you will see how a homeowner took her time to investigate and uncover the truth.
I commend this group of homeowners for trying to recall their board members, investigate the property manager, and get answers to their legitimate questions. They have a nice website with an appeal to their neighbors to get involved. They have posted several videos on youtube of the board meetings as well. I hope they are successful in taking control before they get hit with some big surprises like so many of us living in nightmare HOAs have been.
Four days ago I blogged about a retired Air Force pilot suffering from leukemia in San Antonio. The city is trying to fine him because of his uncut lawn. Other bloggers put out the word as well. I’ve now learned that volunteers in Texas are stepping forward to help this man in his time of need.
