February | 2019 | On The Commons

If homeowner associations are so amazing and beneficial to the homeowners, why do proponents find it necessary to lie about them? Why can’t they just be honest and explain why non HOA housing is for all intents and purposes non-existent? Why aren’t prospective homeowners told the truth about what they are buying? Is it because the truth will scare them away if they understood what they were getting into? And why is it that most of the buyers out there who do understand what HOAs are really all about, steer clear of them if they can?

Bill Davis joins us On the Commons. Bill, a Texas attorney and one of a handful of attorneys nationwide who understands HOA and Condominium laws and will represent the homeowners against their HOA. He somehow manages to find cases with a twist. The case we talk about this week is no exception. Oh, the lies are there, including the ones about the HOA preserving the values of the properties and the amenities and being granted the right/duty/authority to collect assessments and enforce the covenants. All the usual. There is, however, one whacking great big lie about this whole set up. Remember, it pays to know your rights and to know what your Declaration really says. You will have to tune in to hear this BIG LIE!

Listen to Bill Davis

Tell us your stories in your own words

We seem to live in a culture of unprecedented intolerance, incredible rudeness and bullying. None of these traits are conducive to a society that is civilized, fair or pleasant. In fact the opposite is true. Do we continue down this path, unchecked, acting and behaving like animals? What are the consequences of such abusive behavior?

For a glimpse of where we might be headed, we need to look no further than the HOAs that are forced on America’s homeowners. Without the checks and balances required by the Constitution and absent any oversight the so called leaders in these associations act and behave like the adult versions of the bullies they probably were in school. And absent any “adult” to prevent the abuse, there will be tragic consequences.

Deborah Goonan joins us On The Commons. We are both very saddened to announce that a homeowner who fought to protect her home, her family and her rights lost the biggest battle of all, her life. Many of you had corresponded with Andrea Barnes over the years and are familiar with the terror and insanity she had to put up with in her HOA. Andrea was a young mother of 3 children that she loved and was very proud of. She was a very talented photographer and a gifted writer. And as everything in HOAs the problems and the HOA complaints were petty.They included her trashcan, a birdhouse her kids made her in school, a hose wheel (unapproved? Wrong shade of gray? who knows!). So quite apart from the barrage of violation notices for petty alleged infractions, the association isolated her, the abuse spilled onto the kids at school and they removed her from the community Facebook page.

They parked at the end of her driveway and sat there watching the house. Oh, she also had Meniers disease, a disability that is not outwardly visible but a disability nonetheless. The stress she lived under in her association was relentless. But then this is what HOAs are about. I have to wonder if the HOA had the authority to do any of the things they did to Andrea and do to countless other homeowners on a daily basis. It is time to pull the plug on homeowner associations! It is time to learn how to be a caring, polite and civilized country once again.

Listen to Deborah Goonan

On The Commons

Monthly Archives: February 2019

Bill Davis

Tell us your stories in your own words

Deborah Goonan

Tell us your stories in your own words

News and Views About Homeowner Associations