Category Archives: Fighting Back

Empowerment, Fighting Back

Wes Rocki

I find it ironic that we spend the first 18 – 22 years of our lives learning how to be adults and to make decisions that will affect us and our lives only to end up in an HOA, feeling like we did in when we were in kindergarten.  “Eat your vegetables”, “Wash your hands”, “Pick up your toys”, “Go to bed” and if you don’t behave, it is “time out” or “NO TV”.  Only as an adult, supposedly having been taught how to make the right decisions, in an HOA it tends to be, “Your blinds are the wrong shade of white”, “You have an unapproved garden  hose”, “no cars in the driveway”, “Too many roses in your yard” OR ELSE, “fines” “foreclosures”. and other nasty penalties hurled in our direction.

We’ve all heard the saying, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!” .  It makes sense and sounds easy enough but what if life hands us more than mere lemons?  What happens when life comes at us full force, out of the clear blue and knocks us for a loop?  And that can be especially true if we live in one of the nation’s hundreds of thousands mandatory Homeowner associations.  How do we make lemonade out if that mess?  And that is especially true when one of the absolute big taboos is HOAs is “LEMONADE STANDS” ?  Even children trying to be helpful and mature beyond their years have found themselves in the crosshairs of a rather stupid HOA. What to do?

Dr. Wes Rocki, MD, PHD joins us On The Commons.  Wes is a retired physician who has been working in alternative medicine for a while.  Much of his focus has been on self-healing which is something that is sorely needed in every life and especially in what resembles battle zones in our neighborhoods.  We talk to Wes about our natural and normal reactions to finding ourselves being attacked and in harm’s way.  We find out how to protect ourselves or, at a minimum, how to react and even how to put our opponents off balance.  We touch a little on “fear” which is a big part of how we are controlled and put at a disadvantage.  We talk about how we react and can take charge of at least part of the situation.  You will want some of Wes’ advice in your survival tool kit.

Tell us your stories in your own words 

 

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Abuse, Fighting Back

Jonathan Friedrich

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First you scare them, then you promise to protect them and then you own them.  Once that is accomplished, perpetrating the biggest consumer scam is a piece of cake.  Buying a few state legislators’ assistance, creating a very lucrative stream of “free” income for the municipalities, paving the way for developers to increase their profit margins exponentially seals the deal.  And that is how simple it has been to force housing consumers into HOAs where they can be robbed of their homes, their wealth and health and their peace of mind.  The lies that have been repeated over the decades to scare prospective homeowners appear to have become universally accepted truths.  After all, if you keep hearing the same thing over and over again, if must be true, right?  However, the one thing that is true is that non HOA controlled housing is almost nonexistent in most of the country.  So being told that the house you are buying is in a mandatory membership homeowner association is no surprise. 

Jonathan Friedrich joins us On The Commons.  When he retired, Jonathan left New York in search of lower property taxes and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where he bought a house that needed a lot of work.  He rolled up his sleeves and got to work.  When he bought the house he was given an HOA disclosure package which contained a Declaration of Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions commonly known as CC&Rs.  Jonathan’s concern was getting away from crippling property taxes and not so much HOAs.  His focus was fixing the house he had just bought and making it habitable. He also became involved in his new community.  And that’s when the imperfections of his association and association living in general started rising to the top.  He dealt with all the usual insanity that seems to go along with HOAs which not so surprisingly led to the court house.  After 5 long years in court, Jonathan won his case.  But as the saying goes, the devil is in the details and to truly appreciate the win one has to hear the details of his story, in his own words.  The twists, the turns, the lies, the misrepresentations made along the way should alert consumers of what to look for and where to look when buying a house.  There may be more to come as Jonathan is not finished cleaning up the mess. Stay tuned.    

Jonathan also has a web page HOA Corruption – Check it out.

Tell us your stories in:  your own words 

Gates provide security.
No, they don’t!
One of the many LIES designed to scare and protect you

 

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Fighting Back

Judy Homeowner

Homeowner and condo associations abuses have always been with us as long as HOAs and condos have existed.  However, in the early days of this housing concept very few homeowners spoke out.  They were embarrassed and believed they were at fault.  They didn’t want their friends and family to know they had been sued, fined or ridiculed for such offensive crimes as painting their house the wrong shade of beige or having too many rose bushes in their yards.  They were ostracized and isolated from they neighborhood and retreated within themselves, did not talk to their neighbors and quietly sold their homes and heads hung low, moved away.  In those days it was still possible to find a home that was not saddled with the atrocities of an association, but as housing choices evaporate and HOA housing became the only viable option available to consumers, the voices are getting getting louder.  More and more people caught in the web of residential associations are expressing their anger and their frustrations.  

Judy, a homeowner joins us On The Commons.  Judy is one of the many angry and frustrated homeowners who want to wrest control of their lives  and  homes back away from the special interests and the neighborhood thugs.  After putting a lot of thought into the status quo, she looked at some of the problems and the issues homeowners face on a daily basis and came up with a long list of things she believes need to be done to return residential America back to a desirable place to live.  We talk to Judy about her thoughts and her ideas.  Many of them have been discussed before but some are new.  She has a call to action for fellow owners and activists and a creative way of raising the much needed funds to fight back and protect our rights and our properties.  

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Empowerment, Fighting Back

Wes Rocki

If I could draw I think I would write the HOA book as a series of cartoons because that’s how my mind tends to work.  Many of those cartoons would be funny, others not so funny.  But over the years never has there been a sumo wrestler in any of my imagined doodles or cartoons – until this interview.  That’s when I started putting sumo wrestlers in the picture .  But a gratuitous, enormous hulking, naked man in what appears to be a diaper, in the middle of a manicured, sterile, characterless, controlled residential association wasn’t quite connecting.  So, I decided to read up on sumo wrestling and sumo wrestlers. And all of a sudden it was a perfect fit, diaper and all.  I discovered, among other things, that although some of these massive men appear to be invincible, they have been toppled by smaller opponents.  A sumo historian is quoted as saying he believes the circular ring was chosen to assist smaller fighters to slip away and that the sumo rules tends to root for the underdog.

If you find yourselves in the bullseye of an HOA battle, facing what may seem like a sumo wrestler, grin at the diaper and know that you can win.

Dr. Wes Rocki, MD, PhD joins us On The Commons.  Retired from practicing conventional medicine, Wes now focusses on alternative medicine, including techniques on self help and self healing.  He explains how we can empower ourselves to better handle any conflict.  We talk about how we can step away, mentally and emotionally to get a better grasp of the situation.  Wes gives us a lot of really good advice on how to not only survive being at the center of an HOA storm but how to survive emotionally, reframe the conflict, empower ourselves and win against that massive sumo wrestler in the ring with us.  So many light bulbs went off during the course of this interview.  Listen and be empowered.  Well worth a second listen. 

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Abuse, Fighting Back

Ward Lucas

In the movie, Wait Until Dark, Audrey Hepburn played the role of a blind woman who was alone in her house when some “bad guys” broke in.  She sensed they were in her house but she could not see them.  It was a pretty terrifying scene.  But it is the same scenario that repeats itself every day in the hundreds of thousands of HOAs across the country.  Homeowners are subjected to the same terrifying situations that Audrey Hepburn’s character was experiencing.  So much of what is being done to individual homeowners, or as the HOA industry so cavalierly puts it, ” isolated incidents” is being done under cover of darkness.  Neighbors are kept in the dark or don’t want to get involved for fear of becoming yet another neighborhood “isolated incident”.  Sometimes the only way to deal with the abuses is to shine a bright light on the situation and in this case, the light is the press.  On the rare occasions when a media outlet decides to tell their readers about a homeowner who is being abused, the bright light the news article or the TV story shines on the ‘bad guys” puts enough pressure on the HOA to start acting and behaving like mature, responsible adults.  But, getting the attention of the media is a battle on to itself.  

Ward Lucas joins us On The Commons.  Ward is an award winning print, TV and radio journalist who, over his career has covered stories of war while fighting his own war to protect his property in a homeowners association.  His experience and expertise were put to great use when he wrote Neighbors at War, the Creepy case Against your Homeowners Association.  The term ” Neighbors at War” has caught on and is used often in HOA stories.  Ward also maintains a blog by the same name.  All his posts give an estimated reading time.  We’ll find out why.  We’ll also ask him how to capture the attention of the mainstream media and what we, as homeowners with all sorts of different backgrounds, can do to become more effective communicators.  I always have fun talking to Ward so tune in and join in the fun.  Oh, and as an added bonus, we’ll hear all about his latest book.

Audrey Hepburn in a scene from Wait Until Dark.  This is how many homeowners live in their HOAs.
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Breach of Contract, Condominium, Fighting Back

John Cowherd

In a grossly twisted misrepresentation of facts, homeowners in residential associations are told that their relationship with the association is a contractual one.  They are told that “they agreed”.  OK.  Let’s assume this is correct (although I still maintain that no sane person would ever agree to the conditions in homeowner associations if they actually knew what they were getting into).  The “contract” in this case says that the homeowner agrees to pay the corporate entity a certain sum of money either monthly, quarterly or annually and in return they will get certain services.  Sounds straightforward enough, doesn’t it?  The contract usually includes a list of remedies available to the HOA in the event the homeowner breaches his or her end of the bargain.  However, there is no corresponding list of remedies available to the homeowner when the HOA fails to uphold its end of the contract.   The only option they have is to hire an attorney and go to court.  So why isn’t there a list of cheap remedies for the owners  when they are not getting what they are paying for?   Can they fine the HOA or withhold their assessments?  Maybe that should be part of every “contract” that comes attached to a home.  

John Cowherd joins us On The Commons.  John is a Virginia attorney who represents owners who find themselves having to defend their rights in their associations.  He is a blogger.  He writes about current cases and court decisions affecting property owners in Virginia.   His blog is called Words of Conveyance   In his latest posting he writes about Lambert V. Sea Oats where the condo owner scores a victory in court. It’s a classic breach of contract case that involves a broken door jamb, of all silly things.  It was the condo’s responsibility but they failed to live up to their end of the sacred contract.  The condo owner, Martha Lambert, had to sue the condominium to collect the $500 she spent fixing the door jamb.  And that’s when it starts getting interesting.  We talk to John about the ins and outs of the case and start realizing that judges may be somewhat reluctant to award fees in the thousands of dollars to settle a $500 item.  The case went up to the Virginia Supreme Court and was remanded to the lower courts who had awarded Martha only $350 of the approximately $9,000 in legal fees it has cost her.  So, should these contracts be more equitable and provide remedies for the owners in the event the associations is in breach of the governing documents?  What do you think?

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Abuse, Fighting Back, Stress

Deborah Goonan

 

There was a time when we believed that if something hurt it had to be good for us.  We’re a lot smarter now and realize that pain is an indicator that something is wrong.  We are also learning that not all pain is physical.  Increasingly it is emotional and psychological and that is especially true in the case of the pain inflicted on owners by residential associations.  Finally homeowners are refusing to accept the false assertion that HOAs protect property values.  They are no longer willing to put up with the abuses common in residential associations just to protect the mythical notion that their property will be worth a dollar or two more if they spend thousands of dollars in medical bills.  They know it is a lie.  So why, they now ask, do we really need HOAs?  Who really benefits from them?  

Deborah Goonan joins us On The Commons. Deborah is a prolific blogger and a tireless researcher.  Her blog, Independent American  Communities  tracks all the latest trends and stories in America’s many forms of residential associations. Lately she has been writing about HOA members who are talking about disbanding the corporate structure of the neighborhood.  We talk to Deborah about the growing number of homeowners looking into dissolving the corporation that is part and parcel of their neighborhood and returning it to the people who live there.  She tells us that homeowners like their homes and their neighborhoods, they just can’t stand their HOAs and all that goes with them.  In a recent blog about Walnut Grove, an Omaha neighborhood, she starts with a quote that reads: “The first step to getting what you want is having the courage to get rid of what you don’t want.”  And that’s just what some homeowners are doing.  They want their homes, their neighborhoods and to be left alone to live in peace and to get what they want they need to get rid of what they don’t want – the HOA.  

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Democracy, Empowerment, Fighting Back, Uncategorized

Robert Dublirer

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The New Jersey Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, ruled that the Mediterranean South co-operative building in Fort Lee, New Jersey violated an owner’s right to free speech by prohibiting him from distributing campaign literature when he ran for a seat on the board.  The co-op had a house rule that prohibited owners from distributing written material, the reason given is to “preserve the residents’ quiet enjoyment of their units and to cut down on paper pollution”.  But, as we know, what is good for the goose is not always good for the gander because when the board distributed their diatribes, quiet enjoyment was never a consideration and apparently, unlike all other paper, the board’s missives did not pollute.  On a somewhat humorous note, (or is it ironic?), the board included the following sentence in one of their leaflets;  “Can you imagine the disaster that would befall upon Med South and all of us if this group of selfish people ever got control of the Med South Board?” 

Robert Dublirer joins us On The Commons.  Rob is a former New York Prosecutor, so well versed in the law and quite comfortable in a court of law so after years of having his rights trampled on and being lied to, he decided to put his knowledge and skills to work.  He sued the Mediterranean South co-op to protect his right to communicate with his neighbors.  The rules and regulations adopted by the board include some of the most restrictive gag orders on what the owners are allowed to talk about and discuss.  Join us as Rob fills us in on all his battles from the time he moved in and was not given  a handicapped parking space to ending up, not only protecting his rights, but also arguing for the rights of his fellow New Jersey HOA denizens.  

 

 

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Fighting Back

John Cowherd

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As I watched homeowners lose more control and sovereignty over their own property, privacy and lives I was convinced that there had to be a breaking point.  At some point they would all, not only resist this intrusion but push back and push back hard.  They had to!  Or did they?  As the battle between owner and special interests intensified, bullying and misinformation became the norm giving rise to chaos and being outnumbered and out maneuvered, owners for the most part retreated.  A few owners across the country did decide to armor up and fight back.  But is it enough and are they fighting the right battles?  do they know what they are doing?

John Cowherd joins us On The Commons.  John, a Virginia real estate attorney, an advocate for homeowners , a blogger and a frequent guest on the show has been following the various advocacies across the country as they build groups, recruit members, come up with strategies and start lobbying for improved laws protecting the rights of the owners.  Are they making any progress?  Are they on the right track?  Do they know what they are doing?  We’ll talk about the state of affairs in America’s millions of association controlled developments and what needs to be done to “empower the people”.  It is THEIR homes and THEIR lives that are dangling on the end of strings controlled by puppeteers with a very different agenda.

Reminder:  If you haven’t yet, please take the survey. 

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Fighting Back, Mismanagement, Powers of Association, Uncategorized

Mark dos Santos

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20161217dossantos1

I hate using the word community when talking about HOAs.  “Community” infers a sense of belonging, of having similar goals and interests and a way of communicating together to further those interests.  In an HOA the ties that bind everyone go much deeper than simply sharing the same goals.  Like it or not, the private fortunes of the entire neighborhood are at risk.  It is incumbent on everyone in the neighborhood to know exactly how much is in the collective kitty and where the money is kept. I can’t imagine a single governing document that would deny a homeowner the right to inspect the books and records. Nor can I imagine any governing document prohibiting the members of the association from “communicating” with other members of the so called “community”.  Unfortunately the unimaginable is all too common place. 

Mark dos Santos joins us On The Commons.  Mark owns several homes in different associations in different states.  For the most part there are no major problems that he is aware of.  So based on his experiences with the problem free HOAs he probably would never have stepped back to take a look at the big picture.  But that one problem was an eye opener.  

He started doing a little digging and didn’t particularly like what he discovered.  Firsr of all, the lack of transparency made his job so much tougher.  He got to thinking about it and dug a little deeper. He started looking online and discovered he wasn’t alone.  He started a blog called South Carolina Homeowner’s Forum to share his findings and “communicate” with others in South Carolina.  Mark has a better chance of building a true “community” with his blog than his HOA does.

20161217dossantos2We are still Following the money.

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