I hear from so many people who tell me they will NEVER, EVER buy in an HOA again. NOT EVER!!! However, finding a good old fashioned, stand alone house with no strings attached, no extra layer of government and no financial liability in case of mismanagement or other misdeeds, is getting to be as hard as finding a needle in a haystack in many parts of the country. Residential associations are such a lucrative business for local municipal governments who mandate them, developers who build them and lets not forget the special interests who milk them for all they’re worth. And the owners pay for all the junked up add ons to what was once respected as a private castle. And hammering in the final nail is your state representative. He or she has been bought and paid for by special interests.
Jan Bergemann joins us On The Commons. Jan is the founder and president of the Florida based Cyber Citizens for Justice. Jan has worked tirelessly for years trying to get legislation enacted to protect the rights of home and condo owners in Florida. With every homeowner friendly bill it has been a case of one step forward and several backward. This year is no exception. We’ll talk to Jan about one bill in particular that would allow HOAs to LEGALLY operate under cover of darkness. Really. We scratch our heads, wondering about the utter insanity of it all and ask why we allow it? Why are homeowners and citizens allowing the tail to wag the dog? When are we going to be able to differentiate between the truth and all the lies and when are we going to realize that we also have a voice in this game?
We are told that homeowner associations are here to stay. I am not convinced that is the case. However, until we come to terms with the fact that what we are dealing with is a flawed concept, one that goes against everything we hold dear, we will stubbornly insist on trying to make them work. The fact that after a half century of fiddling with the legal structure, proposing bills to either try to make them more owner friendly or empower them even more, all we seem to accomplish is to create an even bigger headache for ourselves at a much greater expense.
Frank Short joins us On the Commons for his annual St. Patrick’s Day round up of Virginia homeowner and condo association bills. There were loads of them this year. Some were proposed legislative fixes inspired by, or requested by angry or wronged owners and introduced by helpful legislators while many others seek to increase the powers of the associations. Whether any of the owner friendly bills would actually fix many of the major problems that plague these mandatory membership residential associations is doubtful. We’ll talk about the bills, what they would, or could have done. But at the end of the day, we never really address the need for so many laws to prop up a really bad idea instead of asking whether there is any value in the HOA concept for the owners. Maybe one day we’ll actually get there.
Sometimes we just have to take a really bad idea and make it that much worse, don’t we? We start off with a scheme to provide municipalities with a means of collecting free tax dollars – THAT was the 1st bad idea in this chain of horrors we have created. The second bad idea was allowing them to mandate involuntary membership HOAs. To keep the owners under control, and as a favor to the special interests, state legislators sponsored bills giving associations greater powers. The bills kept coming so something that should be simple has become so unbelievably complicated. Add to that well intentioned, but largely ignorant, homeowners who have made it their business to dream up more “laws” further stripping owners of rights and you have a monumental mess. Will we ever learn to “Keep it Simple”? As the song says, “The answer is blowing in the wind!”
John Cowherd joins us On The Commons. John, a Virginia attorney and a frequent guest on the show represents homeowners in condominiums and homeowner associations as part of his practice. He is also a blogger. In his Blog , Words of Conveyance, he talks about cases and highlights news in the world of real estate. Notwithstanding a growing family and a growing practice John manages to keep his finger on the pulse of what is going on in the land of controlled living. We talk about the changes in residential neighborhoods brought about by all these “bad ideas” that have been piling up. We brainstorm about some of the issues and problems facing Americans, whether they own or lease in residential associations, they are all subject to the same intrusive and petty rules and disasters. With all the bad ideas needlessly complicating every day life, there is, as you can imagine, a lot to talk about. Tune in.
