2008-11-19T16:55:30Z http://onthecommons.net/comments/atom.aspx Quick Blogcast tag:onthecommons.net,2008-11-04:1504143 Mari D. Parlade, Esq. http://www.parladelaw.org 2008-11-04T17:35:27Z 2008-11-04T17:35:27Z tag:onthecommons.net,2008-11-04:1503174 Agreeable 2008-11-04T12:47:18Z 2008-11-04T12:33:18Z
Mari, thank you for fighting the good fight even at your own risk and expense. I suspect slowly but surely more victims will come out of the woodwork in HOAs everywhere. Your work is shedding light for us to find a path out of these catch-22's.

Thank you.]]> tag:onthecommons.net,2008-10-12:1440368 Agreeable 2008-10-12T23:50:48Z 2008-10-12T22:27:36Z
I'll cross my fingers they will.

What's the solution? Realize that HOA is not a full government (and should not be) since they don't have firehouses, jails, or formal court systems. So there needs to be some real accountability to their constituents as well as to and by (true) government law enforcement (as Shu recommends).

Condos have a contract --- that's a security... ripe & routine for fraud. Condo sales should require full securities-level standards at sale, resale, and forever. Any governing documents should be delivered in text format for easy analysis (and comparison to signing documents) to prevent bait-and-switch at signing time and beyond. Full disclosure + verbal promises binding. No exceptions.

However, HOAs are currently trivially abusable with crooked developers, owners, property managers, and attorneys. A stacked board is trivial for developers to setup at transition, often undetected (noone believes in conspiracy, collusion, racketeering, and/or organized crime by such nice "volunteers" right?), and virtually impossible to dislodge as incumbents when protected by developer, HOA attorney, and the all-powerful property manager running interference for them. The political playing field needs to be leveled and safeguarded for all homeowners, to fight developer appointee MUCFraud (Mixed Use Condominium Fraud) et al..

By the way, watch out making the HOAs more powerful about collecting dues. MUCFraud involves developers using dues to subsidize their commercial business via unsuspecting owners' dues. Via crooked developer appointed HOA board. Under cover of a crooked property manager. Via graft from owners to developer via crooked property manager. Via predatory HOA documents to launder dues from owners to developer commercial interests.

Also, I am uncomfortable making condo associations any more powerful. They already risk becoming (and are at MUCFrauds) a powerful form of involuntary income graft and common property piracy. I know MUCFraud routinely sets new owners up as a fixed income stream for the developer (without full disclosure, of course) and coopts their common property for commercial use (without express permission, through manufactured consent). All through (e.g.) an HOA or a mysterious Outdoor+Utilities Association.

The laws need to change to balance the power back into the individuals (not the HOA). The politics need to be full disclosure; no votes destroyed (not even ballots), so that full inspections can take place to expose any and all election irregularities. If someone needs privacy (even of their vote), don't live in an HOA. Anti-fraud measures need to take precedence over privacy/confidentiality/proprietary issues.]]> tag:onthecommons.net,2008-09-10:1355113 John Bosch 2008-09-10T20:09:16Z 2008-09-10T18:40:41Z tag:onthecommons.net,2008-09-08:1348156 TM 2008-09-08T16:28:27Z 2008-09-08T13:29:16Z tag:onthecommons.net,2008-09-01:1327757 MUCFraud Victim 2008-09-01T00:18:43Z 2008-09-01T00:14:24Z
"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.]]> tag:onthecommons.net,2008-08-28:1321016 Richard White http://www.talkwithcam.com 2008-08-28T23:57:09Z 2008-08-28T22:53:01Z tag:onthecommons.net,2008-08-25:1310983 MUCFraud Victim 2008-08-25T17:57:00Z 2008-08-25T17:57:00Z
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.]]> tag:onthecommons.net,2008-08-24:1308113 Richard White http://www.talkwithcam.com 2008-08-24T21:35:48Z 2008-08-24T21:35:48Z tag:onthecommons.net,2008-08-23:1306036 MUCFraud Victim 2008-08-23T19:29:47Z 2008-08-23T19:29:47Z
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.]]>