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.
 
Home!  Ah, a word that can make us all feel nostalgic, especially when the memories of “home” are happy ones.  A place where you grew up as a child, a place you came to when starting off your new life as a married couple, a place to raise your family, a place to celebrate the joys of life, the milestones you reach, the successes you enjoy.  A place where your children grow and become adults, a place that is full of memories.  A place that wrapped its arms around you and kept you safe and warm and offered you a safe harbor when you needed it most.  A place of your own.  And for those of us lucky enough to grow up in a traditional neighborhood, in a real home, a home that was our own, where we could be ourselves and where we had a certain degree of autonomy.  A place we loved to be.
 
But wait – what happened?  Why is it that home no longer seems to be that safe harbor?  Why do we fret about “going home”?  Who are those people who have been living in the house next door for all these years?  And the people across the street? 
 
On The Commons this week we are joined by Nancy Hentschel.  Nancy lives in Sugarland, Texas and owns 3 houses in three separate HOAs in Texas and she maintains a web site at http://www.newterritorysentinel.com/.  Prior to moving to Texas, Nancy and her family lived in a real, HOA free, community on the East Coast so the added expenses, the fear, the closed books and records, the creative ways the association raises money were new experiences and real eye openers.   Please join us On The Commons this Saturday, October 24, 2009.  We’ll talk about her observations, the fear that seems to keep neighbors from being neighbors and building real communities and we’ll find out why her house in Arizona does NOT have an HOA.