On the Commons with Melanie Mckeddie
Hosted and produced by Shu Bartholomew, On The Commons is a weekly radio show dedicated to discussing the many issues surrounding mandatory homeowner associations, the fastest growing form of residential housing in the nation.
Homeowner associations provide the most hospitable environment for fraud, embezzlement, harassment and abuse of any organization in the United States. Claiming the relationship between the HOA and the unit owner is a private, contractual one, law enforcement and legitimate government agencies refuse to investigate allegations of wrong doing, leaving the owners to fend for themselves. We have all heard the horror stories of individual homeowners being victimized and terrorized by the bullies on the board, their legal henchmen and management. Quite often those who have been targeted for abuse are too afraid to speak up and fight back, thus allowing the injustices, abuses and horrors to continue. But what happens when an entire development is "hijacked" and held hostage? Is there a way out for the owners?
On The Commons this week we are joined by Melanie McKeddie. Melanie is an attorney in Arizona who, along with other attorneys in her firm, specializes in HOA law but in a complete departure from the other experts in the field, Melanie and her colleagues represent primarily the owners. One of the cases that she is currently working on involves probably the worst abuse of power yet. According to documents filed with the court, the president of the association is a convicted felon and disbarred attorney. And that's just for starters. Please join us On The Commons. We'll find out what this law suit is all about, get to meet some of the characters who have been named as defendants in this case and learn just how bad things can get in a mandatory membership association and just how low property values can drop in an HOA. You won't want to miss this one.
On the Commons is produced by OTC Multimedia Productions
Download | Duration: 00:59:01
The "ditty" at the end of the show, as well as the tone of your show is disturbing and not representative of all HOA's. I live in an HOA where there are no architectural controls, nobody telling you what color to paint your house or advising you when to raise and lower your flag. We also do not foreclose on peoples homes. I live in an HOA that has well rights as well as a common bridle path that runs behind our properties. We ask our homeowners to pay $18.00 per month to help in the maintenance of those paths as well as for upkeep on the irrigation system. Should you request water to be delivered to your half or full acre property twice per month we ask an additional $45.00. If you want to litter your yard with junk, build carports without permits or create guest homes on your properties, we stay out of the way. You will be in violation of City of Phoenix codes, but we leave you alone. Your guest today from AZ doesn't seem to see things as simply as I do. I am sorry she did not discuss our situation with you. I would have loved to have an opportunity to hear her stale and played out rhetoric.
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Thanks for listening to the show and taking the time to write. The lyrics and music to “One Way Ticket to Hell” were written by the award winning songwriter Harry Flagle and donated to the show. Harry wrote the song after he and some of his relatives had problems with their associations. The kind of problems you are saying is not representative of all HOAs.
And I appreciate that. Not all HOAs are a total disaster. I don’t know how old your HOA is. The older ones tend have somewhat more homeowner friendly documents than the newer ones. The newer ones have more restrictions and give the association/board far too much power.
You also didn’t say whether you were on the board of your associations? If you are then you should know what goes on in your association but I caution you that being on the board is no guarantee of that either, if you have outside management. I have known good board members who were completely unaware of what the manager was doing. And if you are not on the board there is an even greater chance that you do not know what is happening in your association. I have heard from folks who insist that their association doesn’t foreclose (court records indicate otherwise) or that there are any problems at all in their development, this despite the stories that have been enjoying front page headlines. If it is not happening to them then it just isn’t happening!
I also hear from lots of homeowners who are at their wits end. Many are desperate, frustrated, scared and have nowhere to turn. In fact the number of home and condo owners who contact me for help has increased dramatically recently. By the way, I am not the only one who hears from them. This is no way to live. There is something seriously wrong with the system.
So while I am very pleased that you are happy and your HOA is working the way it should, I hope it remains that way for you and your neighbors. Just realize that you are only one board away from having it all turn around on you and that you may, one day, be at risk of losing your house because your mailbox is dusty, there is a crack in your flower pot or you dog is over the weight limit by a couple of ounces. Those stories are all too real, they happen every day and should not be dismissed.
Thanks again for tuning in and giving me some feedback.
Shu Bartholomew
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Mike Spelman response above is nice and I am happy HE lives in HOA LA-LA-Land. The reality is though, that far too many of these groups, (boards and their associates), are abusive, practice open discrimination, target unsuspecting vulnerable population, n ad God help you/your family, etc., if one of them is jealous of you, or, doesn't like you.
What is happening in far too many of these groups is a new terrible form of Domestic Violence and property theft. I encourage Mr. Spelman to simply ask any victim. Maybe, he should call his ststes attorney general's office or human relations, in his state. How about if he views some of the horrific cases, especially those against women/single parent homes. He will not need to look far. Please advise him simply google: "homeowner association hell." The Justice Department(DC)has cases on their web site! These criminals need to be prosecuted, no matter who they are or who they know, and their victims rectified.
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HOA Victim, it's actually even worse than you describe. Entire properties are being setup as a fraud of unsuspecting purchasers by developer(s) and lawyer(s). The HOA is stacked with developer biased owners, and then the property is run for the developer at the homeowners' expense. This fraud is being deliberately setup on Mixed Use Condominiums, which I call MUCFraud. It's hell on earth as its a financial burden as well as nearly impossible to overcome the political hurdles of a crooked (developer + property manager + lawyer(s) + homeowners) all scamming to graft money and pirate property rights for developer interests.
Of course none of this scam is declared in the presales or closing documents!
So the "abnormal" control freak owners is no longer about "personality conflicts". It's about using smoke and mirrors of personality conflict to rob owners blind on their own property.
I have yet to see this crime investigated, much less prosecuted, though Melania McKeddie's case comes awfully close (just not explicitly Mixed Use Condo --- more implicitly due to the conflict of interest of the wannabe developer).
MUCFraud needs to be stopped. I think and hope McKeddie's case will help expose this style of fraud, coercion, and (I believe) racketeering.
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I am sorry but I totally disagree with the thought that all associations are bad. To the contrary there are many properly operated and have no mishandling of funds and operations. The final responsibility of the operations lay with the owners. While the board has responsibility to properly operate the association, the owners have the final responsibility to elect good directors and properly manage the decisions of the board. The problem is that owners do not understand that there comes a time to help, volunteer, and become a worker for the community. Too many fail to read the documents, understand the duties of the association, and only want to blame others when the board “takes” control and fails to properly operate. I have been part of an investigation when an employee took funds from the association. The board failed to monitor the money and the members failed to monitor the financial reports and the decisions of the board. If just one owner had said let me read the monthly financials, he may have spotted the missing funds as the board did not even read and find the errors for six months. By that time the employee had long gone with more than $24,000. However, getting back to the opinion that all associations are bad is wrong. In 1985, Dr. Fay Mayberry, the Florida Director of Condominium Division said that she was surprised that most condominiums are operated properly even when the boards did not have experience. I believe that the same is true today. If the members take time to read the documents and ask questions; associations have a better chance to be known as properly operated associations. Frankly, I blame the owners and members that let others elect the directors. You would be better off to encourage owners to become more educated and more involved in the association. It is not good to “let others do the work”. Owners must understand that there is no such thing as a maintenance free community. I say the glass is more than half full rather than to say the glass is almost empty.
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Richard, who is who is saying that "all associations are bad"? If someone is saying that, I agree with you, some are good.
Aside from straw man arguments however, there are serious problems and weak links in the current HOA situations where even vigilant owners can get flattened by unscrupulous lawyer(s), property manager(s), and owner(s) in the service of unscrupulous developer(s).
I know. I have experienced it. Reread my posting before yours. Then clarify what you're trying to say. I assume you're a well-spoken property manager from http://www.tcpalm.com/news/business/real-estate/ . If so, I think your educational efforts are wonderful and useful (I even squirreled away some advice for my own reference).
However, I caution you not to overlook your own educational needs in the face of new information, e.g., Melanie McKeddie's legal fight, or my own warnings of such situations being designed into developments from the beginning. I am now a highly vigilant owner, and I have been basically gang-raped of my (and owners at large) rights by developer-select owners under cover of the developer-select property manager. Vigilance buys nothing except pain in these circumstances, and even you (if you were as vigilant as I was) would have been run over, I believe.
In other words, vigilance isn't the answer. As McKeddie's extreme case (and my experience) shows, the current law is not the answer. Neither McKeddie (I gather) nor I have been able to get law enforcement to do their job. So the system has broken down.
So while some or (I hope) most HOAs are legit and sound, there are some extreme and pernicious situations where anything but is the case, and these are falling through the cracks even with vigilant owners on top of the situation.
So, if someone accused ALL HOAs of being bad, that's a shame. However, the problems McKeddie, many others, and I describe go far beyond simple maintenance oversights. These are deliberate acts of lawlessness and financial/rights violence with virtually no easy fix.
OnTheCommons.net is very valuable for exploring, documenting, and uncovering these extremes. (If my google research serves correctly) your Treasure Coast newspaper column seems extremely valuable as well for covering more "normal circumstances" situations. However, I do not believe your perspective trumps the ones being documented on this web site. There's a lot more than "normal circumstances" at work in HOAs, such as lockouts of vigilant owners from participating (i.e., runs counter to your argument that owners dont' should enough responsibility --- sometimes they're locked out of any opportunity).
So HOAs are becoming high stakes, and with high stakes and unregulated power comes corruption. Even if you don't recognize it now, I suggest you keep your eyes open for it. You may be surprised to find that vigilance takes on a whole new meaning and challenge fighting higher stakes fraud than you've (apparently) recognized at an HOA.
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Yes, I do write a syndicated column that is published in many papers,Tampa is one. My remarks were based on the statement that one person made that they had a bad experience and would never live in an association again. Recently I started to discuss apathy in my columns and my podcast. I believe that if owners would be more involved with their association, it would reduce many of the problems. I just hate to see people make flat statements that are downers. If you go back to the 7/11/08 radio show/podcast where Florida's Rep. Julio Robaina spoke on the new condo laws, maybe you will see that there are several positive directions of association state laws. Common area communities are the way of the future. HUD published a document in 1979 on this subject. The problem was that they under estimated the number of units/lots. I just prefer to say the glass is half full rather than it is half empty. We must make our associations work! I should say work properly! That means volunteer and do something for your association. RW
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Mr. White, I enjoyed your latest message immensely. It made me feel like there's hope for these types of property after all:
"Common area communities are the way of the future. HUD published a document in 1979 on this subject. The problem was that they under estimated the number of units/lots. I just prefer to say the glass is half full rather than it is half empty. We must make our associations work! I should say work properly! That means volunteer and do something for your association. RW"
I shall have to digest that thought, but if you're right, we do need to make sure the glass is more than half full. Agreed.
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I need to talk with someone about an HOA problem in Lake Havasu,AZ. Just as the market was collapsing and construction loans were impossible to get the board began to enforse a "Failure to build" clause which has grown to over $6175.00 and growing by $20.00 per day. Now I need to sell the property (at a loss ) and they will not waive the penalty for a new owner....Shortly after the board began to enforse the fine I got a letter from a realtor saying he had a client "in the neighborhood" interested in my lot and would I accept an offer. The offer was half what I paid for the lot. It turns out the "client" and the realtor are both board members.
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