While it is common knowledge that many people do not like involuntary membership residential associations they nonetheless believe they are a necessary evil. For years we have been told that HOAs “Protect property values”. That’s about as bogus as the notion of “if it hurts it has to be good for you”.
Joining us On The Commons this week is Nila Ridings. Nila’s father had warned her about HOAs and had advised her to never buy a unit in one. She learned the hard way why he was no fan of them. Join us as she debunks the myth of protecting property values, strips the top layer off the outer shell of the units to expose the crumbling structure of “common” housing and tells us what it took to codify a homeowner bill of rights in Kansas.
Buying real estate is an emotional purchase. People fall in love with the house, the furniture, a feeling, the smell of brownies baking in the oven, a view or the potential the plot has. The sad part is that if that purchase is in an involuntary membership association it comes with extra fees, hidden costs and lots of traps for the uninitiated. The glossy brochures or the real estate sales people never tell you that the sparkling pool that looks so refreshing and inviting could cost you your house. Or that the rose bush you plan on planting in YOUR front yard could land you in court.
And when you discover that you ended up with a lot more than you bargained for, what do you do? Where do you go for the answers?
Joining us On The Commons this week is Shelly Marshall. Shelly owns a house in a rural recreational association in Utah. When some of the full time residents decided to change the rules and the feel of the neighborhood they did not expect Shelly and her neighbors to object. But object they did. They got organized, learned everything they could about associations, laws, documents and how to work as a team. When it was all over with, Shelly wrote an e- book, called HOA WARRIOR and she maintains a blog at hoawarrior.com. Everyone out there, wondering where to turn and what to do next, tune in to the show, check out her website and read her book.
The stories vary little and over time have become predictable. The same words are used over and over again when talking about life in an HOA. Fear, harassment, fines, threats, abuse, vandalism. Over the last four or five decades, America’s residential neighborhoods have been transformed from tidy, happy communities into places of terror. Places where individuality, personal expression and personal freedom have given way to war zones. Far from the love affair Americans allegedly have with their HOAs, the truth is homeowners say they hate their HOAs.
And with very good reason.
Joining us On The Commons this week is Dr. Robin Huhn. Robin lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Like many homeowners, she has experienced firsthand what it feels like to be caught in the cross hairs of the neighborhood bullies. She is currently on the board of her association and shares with us her experiences as a homeowner, a board member and an advocate for the owners. We will hear about some of the calls and emails she gets and will learn what life is like when one finds oneself living in a house that has been targeted. My guess is that many of my listeners will understand exactly what she is talking about.
First homeowners are obligated to pay property taxes to their local government. Then the same municipality mandates associations for all newly constructing dwelling units, forcing the owners to pay assessments in addition to property taxes for the services those taxes were initially intended to pay for. But along the way, these same associations have been granted incredible powers and many have abused those powers. The ensuing horror stories have convinced some legislators there is a dire need for some adult supervision in residential America. But, unlike other laws enacted by our legislators, the homeowners will be taxed yet AGAIN for that oversight.
Why is none of this making any sense to me? And at what point are we going to answer the all important question of whether or not HOAs as a viable form of housing?
Joining us On The Commons this week is Jan Bergemann . Jan is president of Cyber Citizens for Justice www.ccfj.net and is a staunch advocate for fairness in association controlled housing in Florida. Over the years he has fought for, and succeeded, in getting legislation passed that has evened out the playing field a little. We will hear about the bill that was recently enacted, what it does and how it provides for some protections for condo owners and also we will hear about his plans for the next legislative session.
Reports of embezzlement, theft, corruption, abuse and criminal activity in residential America are becoming a daily occurrence. If it is true that only 10% of crimes ever see the light of day, and I have no reason to doubt that statistic, then the reports are a mere drop in the bucket of what is really going on. Does that 10% hold true for what the FBI uncovered in Nevada as well?
Joining us On The Commons this week is Dr. Gary Solomon . Dr. Solomon is a psychology professor in Nevada, an author and a human rights advocate. He has coined the phrase “HOA Syndrome” to describe the physical, medical, psychological and emotional effects of life in mandatory membership homeowner associations. Please join us for a fascinating discussion about what is going on today, the fall out of the massive FBI investigations on the corruption in Nevada and his predictions of how far the HOA abuses will go, the surveillance techniques that could be used and how he believes the insatiable greed for money will be satisfied. And don’t miss his surprising twists and connections to other industries.
There was a time when owning real property came with what is known as a Bundle of Rights. These RIGHTS included possession, control, exclusion, enjoyment and disposition. These were RIGHTS and NOT PRIVILEGES. It makes perfectly good sense that when you buy something, including real property, you have the right to own it and use it as you see fit. You can invite people on your property or keep them off. Enjoy it and dispose of it, if you so wish.
Does that simple concept still hold true today?
Joining us On The Commons this week is Tom DeWeese. Tom is the founder and president of the Virginia based American Policy Center. He is a prolific writer, an activist, and has been an advocate for freedom and property rights for many years and for the past decade has been warning us about the dangers of Agenda 21. For more information check out his web site. http://americanpolicy.org/. We will talk about the many threats to our freedoms and our property rights and how those rights have been slipping away over the past few decades. More importantly we’ll also talk about what we can do about them.
What is an HOA? The term and the concept seem to be shrouded in misunderstandings, misinformation and deliberate misnomers. If there is so much confusion about what it is, can we all get on the same page to talk about a common concern and actually understand each other?
Joining us On The Commons this week is Bill Davis . Bill, a Texas attorney who, after years of being caught up in the quagmires of controlled living, is starting to take on HOA cases – representing the homeowners. That is a very good thing for Texas owners. Join us as we talk about HOAs in general, what they are and what they are not. We also talk about the problems in general and some of the misinformation that is rampant in the world of residential corporate Amerika.
After 5 years of investigating the corruption in Las Vegas homeowner associations, the FBI has turned over 3.1 million pages of documentation, 198 audio files, 25 videos and 1,100 photographs into evidence. At least 26 people have been indicted on a number of charges, four prominent people involved with the law firms and HOAs in question have allegedly committed suicide, reports of leaks from the US Attorney’s office in Las Vegas prompted the FBI fraud division to step in and take over, allegations of mob connections have surfaced recently.
I suppose this is just another “isolated incident” in a housing scam that allegedly is designed to protect property values.
Joining us On The Commons this week is Senator Mike Schneider. Senator Schneider, from Las Vegas, Nevada was aware of the problems with and in HOAs way before the Feds arrived to clean things up. Over the years he has sponsored legislation to try to regulate some of the problems but the forces of evil proved to be immune. We’ll get a better understanding of how and why so many homeowners in associations were subjected to such a massive fraudulent scheme.
“Isolated incidents” in America’s mandatory membership residential associations seem to be multiplying like the plague. Hardly a day goes by without hearing of at least a new horror story. But if one was to talk to the HOA professionals, the managers, the attorneys and anyone else who feeds at the trough of an HOA, one would be assured that the homeowners “agreed” to being abused, they “want” the restrictions because they protect “property values”.
Just in time to celebrate the 4th of July, we have yet another flag story.
Joining us On The Commons this week is Billy Martin. Billy has spent his life defending his country and everything it stands for, including the Stars and Stripes. He is passionate about the flag. But Billy is now being fined $200 a DAY for flying a flag on HIS property. I asked Billy if he didn’t “agree” to all this when he bought his townhouse. After all, isn’t that what the legislators will be told when they try to protect their constituents from such abuses? You will have to tune in to find out what he said.
Proponents of HOAs will have us believe that every horror story, every abusive board, every corrupt manager is just “an isolated incident”.
If something happens once one could argue that it is an isolated incident, if it happens twice, you might believe that it is a coincidence but when there is a pattern of abuses and the same stories keep popping up all over the country, year after year after year, it is clearly a problem. In the case of HOA abuses, it is a serious problem.
Joining us On The Commons this week is Rodney Gray. Rodney started out as a stage and screen actor and with college degrees in film and business, making documentaries was a natural transition for him. With several awards for acting and producing short documentaries, Rodney produced a documentary on the “patterns of abuse” in HOAs called The Hoax and he maintains a web page at http://thehoaxfilm.com/
