Category Archives: Foreclosures

Nila Ridings

A home is a necessity although, the type of home can be the stuff of which dreams are made. So many people fantasize about the size, the style, the location of the house they hope to live in with their loved ones. They imagine the furniture, the number, and the size of the rooms they will have. Once they have visualized the house, they work on making their dream a reality. Bit by bit, they save money and assemble all the bits they will need to build the home of their dreams. But what happens once they make their dream home a reality. What happens if that home happens to be part of a mandatory membership residential association?

Nila Ridings joins us On The Commons and tells us about her home. In her case, her dream home, a townhouse, happened to be in a homeowners association. It was perfect for her as her monthly dues covered some outdoor maintenance she didn’t feel able to handle herself. She paid her dues diligently, but the maintenance she was paying for was never performed. The HOA’s negligence caused some severe problems. Nila then did the one thing a homeowner should never do, but it is the only thing they feel is within their control — she withheld her dues. If she is paying to have specific jobs done and the association is not performing its part, it makes perfect sense not to pay the dues. But the association has the ultimate power over the homeowners, and in this case, they exercised their power. What happened to Nila should never have happened, but sadly it happens too often. The courts were no help at all.

Please listen to Nila’s story, do not withhold your assessments, and if you want to make any legislative changes, start by making the associations more accountable to their members by performing the jobs they are paid to perform. Currently, it doesn’t appear there is any requirement for them to perform the jobs they are paid to do. Oh, I can hear the screams. Tune in to hear Nila’s story.

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Bill Davis

Regular listeners to On The Commons know that I find the practice of fining a neighbor appalling. However, proponents of this practice will argue that it is the only way to control people’s behavior. I still haven’t figured out why John has the right, authority, or duty to ensure complete and total obedience to stupid rules such as whether or not the grass is mowed correctly? Regardless of how reprehensible, I do have to admit that I find the practice of having someone wandering around with a clipboard in hand, documenting transgressions, no matter how minor, does seem to keep the grass at the approved height and the trashcans out of sight. Perhaps the actual government, state, Federal, and other small governments could adopt the HOA M.O. to prevent car thefts, break-ins, and other real crimes. Maybe if all the real criminals were fined and foreclosed on, they would not have anywhere to stash their loot.

Bill Davis joins us in a brand new show On The Commons this week. Bill takes us behind the scenes and explains how very easily and quickly homeowners find their homes being auctioned off at a foreclosure sale on the courthouse steps. Actual governments should have it so good. Please tune in and listen to Bill explain it all.

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Nila Ridings

Nila Ridings

They told us time and time again that residential associations, no matter what form, whether HOA, Condo or, coop, are there to protect our property values. By preventing our neighbor from doing something obscene like choosing the wrong shade of white for their window shades or keeping a garden hose in the front yard or, heaven forbid, having a red front door, we and our property values will be safe. Is it true? DO red front doors strip away our property values? 

Nila Ridings, a former homeowner who bought a townhouse in a homeowners association for all the reasons one might voluntarily choose such a home, joins us On The Commons. Nila talks about all the reasons she chose the house she did and then takes us on a journey through her nightmare and fills us in on what went wrong. We’ll find out just how well her HOA-controlled property did when they foreclosed on her mortgage-free house and her retirement and savings accounts were depleted. She has made it her mission to warn other homeowners about the dangers lurking around every corner and tucked between every blade of grass in the uniformly cut and manicured lawns. Hear her story in her own words.

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Jan Bergemann

Jan Bergemann
Jan Bergemann

The story goes that any homeowner in a mandatory membership homeowners’ association who is behind in their dues is inherently bad, they don’t want to pay their fair share and deserve to be kicked out. That’s the story the HOA industry lobbyists tell state legislators when lobbying for increased power for the HOA and the industry.  They paint a picture of these horrible freeloaders who think nothing of living off their neighbors. “It’s NOT FAIR” they cry. If there was even a grain of truth to any of that, it would be reason enough to pull the plug on a housing concept doomed to fail but instead the people caught in the trap are called every name under the sun and demonized.  

The story goes that any homeowner in a mandatory membership homeowners’ association who is behind in their dues is inherently bad, they don’t want to pay their fair share and deserve to be kicked out. That’s the story the HOA industry lobbyists tell state legislators when lobbying for increased power for the HOA and the industry.  They paint a picture of these horrible freeloaders who think nothing of living off their neighbors. “It’s NOT FAIR” they cry. If there was even a grain of truth to any of that, it would be reason enough to pull the plug on a housing concept doomed to fail but instead the people caught in the trap are called every name under the sun and demonized.  

But let’s take a look at the Florida family who live in Nottingham Harbor in Jackson Florida to get a real picture of what really goes on in HOA land.  

Chris and Robin Rolling bought a house in Nottingham Harbor to live and raise their seven children.  Robin as a petty officer in the navy and her husband Chris, like so many people recently lost his job and his income.  Robin was the family’s sole financial supporter for a time.  The predictable happened, with less income they had to decide on what is more important, feeding their 7 children or feeding the coffers of the over bloated HOA legal team.  They made the same choice all of us would have made under the same circumstances and they fell behind in their HOA dues by $800.  They proposed a payment plan which was rejected by the association so that the debt with penalties, interest and HOA ATTORNEY FEES soared to $5, 800.  That is a $5000 increase!nThere were still 7 kids that needed to be fed but now the “community” decided to bury them even deeper.

Jan Bergemann Joins us On The Commons.  Jan is the founder and president of the Florida based Cyber Citizens for Justice  a grassroots homeowner friendly group that seems to do as much good as CAI manages to do harm.  CCFJ heard about the Rollings and decided to prevent the foreclosure of their home. We’ll talk to Jan and find out just how CCFJ managed to help the Rollings and keep the family of 9 in their home.   The HOA got their back dues plus a whole lot more.  I ask myself exactly who are the freeloaders in this story.  Tune in and I am confident you will reach the same conclusion I did.

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Nila Ridings

Nila Ridings

Those who have a great deal to gain from the dysfunctional common interest development system will have you believe that HOAs protect property values.  And those who know better will tell you that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.  The greatest value of homeownership is peace of mind and the ability to live in one’s safe haven.  But when an HOA comes between an owner and their home simplicity, commons sense and JUSTICE go away.

Nila Ridings joins us On The Commons.  Nila, is a homeowner who has learned the truth about associations the hard way.  Contrary to maintaining her home to preserve the values of not only her unit but that of the entire neighborhood, she discovered that relinquishing control of her money and her ability to maintain her home as she would have maintained it herself was a mistake.  Despite the fact that she had paid her dues, her house was falling into disrepair while the HOA.  Instead of making the necessary repairs her association took her to court to foreclose on her home.  We’ll talk to Nila and get the details of how she got to this point and we’ll find out just how well her HOA protected her property values.  

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Bill Davis

Why is it that the single largest asset you own comes with more restrictions and controls placed on it than any other item you have?  Own a car?  You can choose the size, make, model, color, you can add seat covers, additional side mirrors to enhance your vision of your surroundings, add bumper stickers about your child’s scholastic achievements, your favorite teams, your pets, places you have visited or any other message that is near and dear to your heart.  No approval needed from anyone for the color of your vehicle or permission to add more side mirrors.  Permission for a bumper sticker announcing your pride in your children’ scholastic and athletic achievements?  After all, isn’t it all part of your right to free speech?  You own it, you control it. So why is it that your home, arguably the largest expenditure you have, the one item that reflects who you are and what you like more than anything else, is so burdened with rules, regulations, threats, fines and yes, foreclosure because you violated someone else’s aesthetic sensibilities.  Whatever happened to being king and queen of your own castle?

Bill Davis joins us On The Commons.  Bill, a Texas attorney whose legal practice includes representing homeowners in HOAs has a unique insight into HOA problems.  He has seen the bad and the ugly from all sides.  We talk to Bill about what makes living in an HOA such an awful experience for so many homeowners and how the association and their legal council seem to have unfettered power over the owners.  We also talk about the “carrot” or the BIG LIE that convinces housing consumers that there might be some benefit to giving up so much control over their lives and homes by subjecting themselves to an HOA. We talk about THE BIG LIE, the assertion that HOAs protect and enhance property values.  What exactly are property values?  How do HOAs protect these values when so many homeowners are losing their homes and their fortunes to the HOA boards, managers and their attorneys?  And just what is the value of homeownership in modern day America? 

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Mary Ann Fordyce

Not too long ago a friend sent me a link for a video and recommended I watch it.  I did.  I was shocked and horrified when I realized I was looking at a homeowners’ association.  As far as I could see, there was no rhyme or reason to have an HOA in this bucolic part of the country.  I have since learned that the property owners in this otherwise peaceful setting each own hundreds of acres of land accessible by dirt roads.

We’ve allowed ourselves to be fooled into believing municipal governments just don’t have the money to provide the services real estate tax dollars are supposed to pay for, therefore HOAs are a necessity to provide those services. Not that I believe that for a moment but if I did, try as I might, I could not find any reason to justify the imposition of an HOA on this particular neighborhood.  Check out the video and please let me know if an HOA makes sense to you.  I am convinced we have lost all sense of reality and sanity in this country.

Mary Ann Fordyce joins us On The Commons.  Mary Ann has a chicken business in a rural community in Texas, where many of her neighbors are also business people, several have livestock and there is at least one other chicken businesses owner as well.  Not surprisingly this chicken owner was a board member who sold Mary Ann her first chickens and got her started on her business.  And for awhile, all was well.  But then life in this peaceful corner of the country changed.  We’ll talk to Mary Ann and get some of the details of why her dreams came crashing down and how she lost first one house and is now hanging on, trying to protect the second house she and her husband bought, from being foreclosed on.  I’ll ask her what purpose her HOA serves and how it protects her when her closest neighbor is a mile away.  I’m sure no one will be surprised to hear what happened to the only common area these property owners had.  Maybe the fate of that park is the answer to why an HOA was even part of this neighborhood?  Check out Mary Ann’s web site Blue Star Ranch . This lady is determined to help educate housing consumers about the perils of HOAs.

 

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Ryan Torrens

Some people insist on referring to HOAs as communities. If we describe people; who live in the same geographical area as a community; that might be accurate.  However, in a contrived situation like today’s mass-produced residential associations, geography is about the only thing most of the owners have in common.  The hierarchical structure of a forced membership association does nothing whatsoever to foster a sense of community, rather it seems to cause isolationism and imposes fear in the residents.  In a very real sense their real governments and left to fend for themselves against all manner of abuses have abandoned the owners.  In some of the worst cases, homes are being stolen by those in the upper echelons of the HOA hierarchy and sold on the courthouse steps for pennies on the dollar.

Ryan Torrens joins us On The Commons.  Ryan is a young attorney in Tampa Florida who was introduced to the horrors of foreclosures right out of law school.  Shortly thereafter he started his own firm, The Torrens Law Group, where he specializes in protecting homeowners facing foreclosure from banks and homeowner associations.  We talk to Ryan about the situations that promote a climate that not only favors foreclosures but also in some respects makes them commonplace.  We get tips on what to do when a homeowner finds themselves in that situation, and probably more importantly, what not to do.  We also talk about key legislation that might go a long way in preventing some of the worst abuses.  

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John Cowherd

20160702cowherd On The Commons celebrates 16 years of bringing you news and views of condo and homeowners associations.   This is the first show of our 17th year on the air.  Thanks to everyone for making this possible.  

Sometimes it appears that the the powers of the world are stacked against the individual.  No matter what the situation, the individual often finds him or herself standing alone, facing seemingly insurmountable odds.  How did we ever get to this point? That sense of having lost control is growing across all areas of life.  It has even invaded our most cherished private sanctum, our home.  But I believe that the power and the will of the people is not quite ready to be relegated to the annals of history.  Every so often there is a glimmer of hope and a sign that all is not yet lost.  And that little spark you see in the dark comes from the Virginia Supreme Court.

John Cowherd joins us On The Commons.  John is an attorney in Northern Virginia and one of a handful of attorneys nationwide who will represent homeowners in their battles with their homeowner and condo associations.  John also has a blog called Words of Conveyance so he is always on the lookout for news and stories of interest to share with his readers and our radio audience.  Today we will talk about The Day the Universe Changed as a result of a Virginia Supreme Court decision issued on June 16.  In his blog, John quotes Steve Emmert, a VA appellate law blogger, who claims this decision represents a “nuclear explosion”.  That can only be good for homeowners.  Join us as John walks us through the case and explains what the Parrish v. Federal National Mortgage Association is all about and explains how this case may help homeowners facing foreclosure and eviction.

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John Cowherd and Jeremy Moss

20160423cowherdandmoss

Newton discovered that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Is that what we today call “unintended consequences”?  How often do we head down one path towards a goal without thinking through the end results?  Could we avoid many of the pitfalls we are dealing with if we stopped long enough to think things through?  

One of those unhappy and unpredicted results may well be the sheer number of zombie foreclosures being reported nationwide.  The unfortunate circumstances the homeowners find themselves in and the rather significant negative effect those vacant houses have on their immediate surroundings is an area of concern.   And since most of the housing in many parts of the country is in mandatory membership residential associations, these zombie foreclosures also impact associations through lost assessments.  

John Cowherd and Jeremy Moss join us On The Commons.  Both are attorneys in Virginia and both specialize in HOA and condo association law.  They also both have blogs where they discuss zombie foreclosures.  Jeremy’s blog is called The Moss Report  and  you can access John’s blog at Words of Conveyance   John, changed his practice and now represents homeowners in HOAs.  Jeremy, an attorney with Mercer-Trigiani, represents associations. I am grateful to both gentlemen for coming in to the studio and sharing their thoughts. We’ll talk about zombie foreclosures, explain what they are and talk about why we have so many of them now.  We’ll also discuss different ideas on how to deal with them. There is a lot to learn by listening to this interview.

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