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.
Purely by accident Mr. Plumbean changed his neighborhood. I think if he would attend some HOA meetings across the country he could change the mindset in HOA Amerika!
Like many of you, I follow the HOA stories that Judy Thomas has been writing in the Kansas City Star’s HOA Hell series. The comments that people make are very interesting and most are supportive of the homeowners, not the HOA. One comment read something like this: “This story reminds me of a book I read in elementary school.” I was so curious I asked for the name of the book and she wrote back The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Manus Pinkwater.
Egads! I hate to publish links to CAI press releases. As I do this, just remind yourself that CAI rhymes with lie. The Community Associations Institute just loves to help struggling seniors, right? That’s what they’re trying to pretend right now. They’re going to help pack meals for low-income or struggling old folks.
If CAI really wanted to help seniors, then they’d start advising some of their hundreds of thousands of member Homeowners Associations to quit fining, liening and confiscating the homes of seniors who are too weak to fight the petty dictates of the local lawn Nazis.
Be cautious of a phone scam that’s sweeping the country. You get a text on your cell phone supposedly from Bank of America. It says “Your Bank Card has been locked as a security measure! Follow http://xxxxxxx(my deletion)xxxx and update your profile to unblock your credit card.”
This scam has been used for a number of years, but several friends I called tonight said they had just gotten such a text. So apparently this one is going around again. Banks won’t text you and tell you to update your profile. So beware!
Being an injured veteran, back home from fighting our wars abroad, you’d think Americans might be a little more understanding and compassionate. But the tiny-minded Water Oaks neighborhood on Florida’s Emerald Coast apparently feels like it’s a little too good for a lowly former Army NCO.
Sgt. First Class Shane Jernigan is a first class fellow. His neighbors are acting like a bunch of slimy low-lifes. Jernigan has been in one fight after another as his Homeowners Association tries to make him so miserable he’ll leave. But he’s a fighter. This HOA and its law firm (one of the most notoriously litigious in the whole state) is trying to spend him to death.
The Kansas City Star continues to be the premier newspaper providing in-depth news coverage of the national HOA abuse scandal. In this category, at least, the Star is acting like a national newspaper, not a City newspaper. People in all fifty states and Canada are following the expose’ by reporter Judy Thomas and her team. Finally, some true muckraking by a journalist who has the guts to stand up to this massive and corrupt lobby.
