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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.

My HOA Protects My Property Values!

Well, Bunky, that’s the biggest lie you’ll ever hear.

Several years ago, I warned all of you about the pending crash of the Las Vegas housing market. It happened exactly as I predicted. At the heart of the problem is the government’s reliance on Homeowners Associations to perform traditional government functions and services. All HOA contracts are corrupt at their core. They were a flawed model from the start, and what’s going on in Las Vegas foreshadows what’s coming for the rest of the nation.

Rare, Rare, Rare Embezzling Arrest!

Whoa! This doesn’t happen very often. But apparently there’s so much fraud and embezzlement from Miami condo owners that police are making a tentative attempt at cracking down. The link below shows an arrest by a special police squad formed to combat condo embezzlement.

Finally, One CAI Member Gets It Right!

This letter to the editor of a Pennsylvania newspaper by a CAI member is terrifying. He doesn’t use the words ‘fascist’ or ‘communist’ but it’s a pretty wild look at what homeowners have done to themselves by buying into the concept of Homeowners Associations. This country has essentially sold its soul to the devil. We have created a parallel system of government which has no controls, no ethics, no honesty. It’s a system of trial lawyers, by trial lawyers, and for trial lawyers. Homeowners have no access to traditional Constitutional rights. And the concept of true home ownership is a thing of the past.

Elder Abuse and Financial Kidnapping

The link below is horrifying, but really should be read by everyone concerned about elder abuse. It involves state agencies that declare an elderly person ‘incapacitated’ and appoint a guardian who takes over that person’s care and gives the guardian unlimited access to the older person’s bank accounts.

While I was an investigative reporter for the NBC affiliate in Denver I reported on several such cases. Then, attending my 50th class reunion last month, I spoke to a longtime neighbor (and a good-lookin’ gal, too!) about a different kind of theft. Seems that a sibling was executor of her parents’ rather substantial estate and that sibling stripped out all the assets. My friend didn’t get a dime of what her parents left her.

Imagine The Mosquito Liability!

The video associated with this news story is actually pretty funny. But the subject matter isn’t funny. Killer mosquitoes actually do exist!

In Smyrna, Tennessee, a homeowner is furious because the town won’t do anything about an outbreak of giant mosquitoes in the retention pond behind his house. With Zika, West Nile, Chikungunya, dengue fever and who knows what other diseases carried by these bugs, the lawsuits are going to be flying.