Fighting Back, Legislation

Fatemeh Mojtabai

Over the years industry lobbyists have convinced state legislators, and in some cases US legislators that they represent the homeowners living in residential associations, be they condominiums or homeowner associations.  Gradually over the years they have managed to get legislation enacted stripping owners of rights and property and thus empowering associations.  When contacted by their constituents the legislators have explained that the homeowners themselves requested the new laws.  Of course that is not true.  They have even gone on to say that it is the homeowners fault for their problems because they bought into an association governed development.   Hopefully times they are a changing. With their ability to network, connect online and compare notes, homeowners are getting much more savvy. And they are getting active.

Fatemeh Mojtabai joins us On The  Commons.  Fatemeh, a condo owner in Massachusetts, encountered the perils of condo living first hand a few years ago.  She searched online and discovered that contrary to what we are often told, her story was not “an isolated incident”. Further, she didn’t do anything to deserve the problems she faced and yes, it happens all the time. She met others with issues and problems in their own neighborhoods, started talking and connecting with other home and condo owners across the country and together they have started a new organization called  HAARRT   in order to empower homeowners and build a network of groups working together.  We talk to Fatemeh about HAART, about the need to get legislation enacted to provide the framework to protect the sanctity of home and property rights and to assert control over what is rightfully ours.  Tune in and find out how you can be a part of this movement and why you might want to.

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Abuse, Condominium, Fighting Back

Jonathan Dessaules

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An often cited benefit for residential associations used to be that they allowed the members greater control over their immediate surroundings. The other bonus they were promised was that collectively  they would gain political clout.  At least that was the sales pitch, along with the ever present promise of enhanced property values.  It all sounded wonderful and in a perverse sense sounded sort of logical. But as we have learned over the years not everything works the way it is supposed to.  In fact in the case of residential associations, the opposite is true.  Not only don’t the members have control over their immediate surroundings but have lost sovereignty over their own private spaces.  The existence of an HOA or Condo association is infinitely more intrusive and tyrannical than a neighborhood where the residents are on their own and allegedly have no control.  

Jonathan Dessaules joins us On The Commons. Jon is an attorney in Phoenix, Arizona.   As part of his practice   he represents homeowners against their associations.  He is one of a handful of attorneys nationwide who will only represent the owners and not straddle the fence hopping over to the HOA side when they feel like it.  Currently his is in a class of his own in Arizona.  He also has a  blog where he discusses HOA issues and gives general guidance.  It’s a great page to check out for quick guidance on some of the more common issues facing homeowners.  We talk to Jon about all the usual HOA issues common to all American homeowners but we also talk about a long and protracted case that he recently won.  His clients own a unit in an upscale condominium where the fees are in excess of $1,000/month. The condo shut the key card down, impeding access to the private unit and banned the use of the amenities until the owners forfeited  a  right they had.  So much for having greater control of your immediate surroundings in a residential association.  

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From the HOA Trenches

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Apathy, Fighting Back

Shelly Marshall and Michael Marshall, PhD

If people knew what they were getting into, would they still buy in an HOA?  I was convinced that they wouldn’t, but I was wrong. Thirty years ago, when I first became aware of HOAs and started to understand what we were dealing with, HOA mandates were already in place in Fairfax County and probably across the country as well.  However, there were still pockets of older neighborhoods, so some choices still existed.  Now, even most of those older neighborhoods have been razed to the ground only to be replaced by some new faddish fantasy that will no doubt sound positively utopian but in practice be unworkable.

Shelly Marshall and Michael Marshall, PhD join me On the Commons.  Shelly is an  HOA Warrior.  She is a prolific writer of self-help books including a book on HOAs, what to look for and how to understand what you are getting into.  Dr. Marshall, Shelly’s brother, is a Psychology Professor and practitioner.  This dynamic duo have combined forces to answer the question; “Why can’t people hear us?”.  Shelly warned Mike about the risks involved in buying a condo and told him to keep looking but that didn’t stop him.  For a while everything went well until one day when  his utopian dream came crashing down.  So why didn’t he listen?  Why don’t people learn from other people’s stories?  Mike and Shelly, along with Deborah Goonan, are working on a case study, doing some research with the intent of publishing a paper answering this question.  In an easy to understand and simple way, Mike explains the psychology behind human nature.  He and Shelly fill in with facts, stories and typical situations that take place every single day. This is a very exciting piece of research and a fascinating interview.  For all those people who believe that “HOAs are here to stay,” are you listening?

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Management, Political Process

Julio Robaina

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The founders realized that in order to establish a government among men they would have to obtain the consent of the governed.  In other words, in order to govern a group of people one needs their permission.  So where and how did we go off the straight and narrow when it comes to getting the “consent of the governed” in the millions of residential associations in the US?  What I find bewildering is that while the “governed” in HOAs and condos far outnumber the “governors”, they do not face much resistance.  

Julio Robaina joins us On The Commons.  Julio, a former state of Florida Representative spent time traveling around the state, holding hearings trying to understand the extent of the problems and the reason for the discontent in Floridas HOAs and condominiums.   He listened to the owners’ stories and their ideas and suggestions of how to “fix” the problems.  Once educated on the issues and armed with information, he drafted his bills designed to protect the rights of the homeowners residential associations. He now co-owns a management company so he is still very much involved.  We talk to Julio about what he learned and whether the laws and protections put in place by him several years ago are still enforced now.

 

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Assessments, Condominium

Tyler Berding

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Have you noticed how sometimes the best of intentions can have disastrous  consequences?  A perfect example is  trying to provide affordable housing to the masses, give local municipalities free tax dollars while double taxing the homeowners (who think they just bought something affordable) to pay for essential services.  T o achieve all that, we commingle private property and common property and the cherry on the top of this scheme is putting Larry, Curly and Moe in charge.  If that is not a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what is.  We have tried to make this work for decades  but have failed miserably.  The real tragedy is that we not only refuse to learn from our mistakes but we keep building on them without improving them. 

Tyler Berding joins us On The Commons. Tyler is a founding partner of Berding and Weil, a California law firm that represents Condominiums and Homeowner Associations.  He has  been following all things related to Common Interest developments for the past several decades and speaks on the topic in various forums, including Community Associations Institute, (CAI) and the California based Executive Council of Homeowners, (ECHO).  He also participates in writing legislation designed to regulate both commercial and residential CIDs.  Tyler has long been writing about the failures of the business model, primarily of condominiums.  To prove his point, Pinnacle Condominium Association in San Rafael, California has just approved a $145,000 special assessment for each of the 36 owners in order to make the much needed repairs to the common elements. We talk about the obvious problems with the business model and the problems that can and do rear their ugly heads.  We also talk about our penchant for providing affordable housing to everyone.  The question really is, just how affordable is “affordable housing”?  Is housing built out of cardboard and scotch tape affordable in the long run?  Can well built housing that will still be standing in 20 years or longer, be affordable?  Or is to time to pull the plug on the “American Dream” of homeownership?  

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Abuse, Fighting Back

Bill Davis

As my mind goes back over the decades to the Christmases of my youth, I recall the love and warmth of my family, friends and the neighbors.  I smile at the memories of decorating the tree and the house, and relive the excitement of the coming festivities and the general sense of goodwill and joy.  Of course, I had never even heard of an HOA.  They didn’t exist back then and I can’t help but think how much better off we were.  The biggest gift we had was that we were left alone and allowed to celebrate the way that made the most sense to us.

In the years since, we have changed the landscape of residential America.  No longer are people left to their own devices and allowed to enjoy decorating their homes without threats and interference.  Every little item is micromanaged to the point where the joy of Christmas has been taken out of it.

How did we ever get to that point?

Bill Davis joins us On the Commons.  Bill, a Texas attorney, found himself in a number of law suits having to protect his rights and his property from his HOA.  Having learned about HOA law and seen the games that were being played, it was a natural transition to representing other owners who found themselves fighting to protect hearth and home.  We talk to Bill about some of his cases, and a few of the “games” that he uncovered.  Many people would not be surprised at how much some of the board members resemble a good old-fashioned crime family.  Bill is always entertaining and his interviews are always an eye-opener.  You will want to hear what he has to say.

On the Commons will be back in the middle of January, 2018.  In the meantime, we wish you all a healthy and happy holiday season.

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Freedom vs. Communism

Ileana Johnson

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I find it ironic that we raise our children to value individuality, diversity, acceptance and freedom, yet sadly what we teach them by example is the exact opposite.  In fact we have created a world where individuality is tantamount to a sin, diversity and acceptance can best be described as mere suggestions not to be taken seriously and freedom is a totally foreign concept.  We have allowed special interests to create an artificial world where even the freedom of self expression can be, and is, detrimental to our health and wealth.  How else does one celebrate individuality except through self expression? And  how do we handle diversity?  If we hide all the things that make us different and unique, how do we learn to accept and embrace our differences? Like everything else, the best place to start is at home.  Let’s do away with all the insanity that is part and parcel of mandatory HOA living.  Like Communism, it is never going to work.  It is time to take a lesson from a children’s song “Come with me, take my hand and we’ll go to a land where you and me are free to be you and me.” 

Dr. Ileana Johnson joins us On The Commons.  Ileana is a published author, her book,  Echoes of Communism.  She is  a columnist, commentator and blogger.  Her blog is called  IleanaJohnson .  She grew up in Romania under the Communist regime where no one was permitted to have more than anyone else, and uniformity was the order of the day. As she described daily life in Rumania, where respect for people and property were non existent, I was struck by the similarities to modern day life in America’s HOAs. The similarities were many but the differences were sometimes simply titles.  “Economic police”? “Chair of the Architectural Control Committee”? After all, a thug by any other names still smells as foul.  (With apologies to William Shakespeare) .  “Come with me, take my hand we’ll go to a land where you and me are free to be you and me.”   You will want to hear this interview.  

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Uncategorized

Neil Brooks

Years ago, I asked Linc Cummins why he and his colleagues pushed the idea of HOAs so hard.  What was their incentive and what were they thinking?  Linc is one of the three founders of CAI so he has been involved with building HOAs from the very beginning.  His answer surprised me.  He explained that we were becoming a more transient society and as we moved from one place to the next, we left behind friends and family and in the process lost our support systems.  He said he envisioned creating a “community” where people worked together, helped each other, became a family and formed that support network.  Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?  Unfortunately, the exact opposite seems to have happened.  Far from working together as a community, the HOA has created different classes of people, those with power and authority and those without.  Rather than community, we have “war zones” and instead of a network of support, we have a divided group of people living in a dysfunctional development.  

Neil Brooks joins us On the Commons.  Neil could be the poster child of what happens when this gang of neighborhood thugs band together against one of their neighbors.  Except Neil is one of many poster children across the country who have suffered unspeakable harm in a system with no checks and balances.  Instead of creating a sense of family who would support each other, Neil’s neighbors ganged up against him.  We learn about Neil’s disability and find out why he was not able to find the peace and quiet he needed to recuperate.  The problems with his neighbors exacerbated his medical problems.  He is currently facing a fairly grim future.  We talk about his experiences in particular and the problems in HOAs in general.  Can HOAs ever become the nurturing extended community Linc and friends envisioned all those years ago or are they destined to be dysfunctional enclaves to be avoided at all costs?  

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Uncategorized

Dr. Bonner Cohen

Gone are the days when being a property owner meant having dominion over your property.  With the imposition of mandatory membership residential associations and the restrictive covenants that are attached to the deed,  homeowners have lost some of the most basic and fundamental rights of the use and enjoyment of their homes. Those restrictions range from something as basic and mundane as a choice of plants, to the approved shade of white for the interior window blinds to something a little more serious like having a fence to keep children and pets safe and even to having children and pets at all.  

Are restrictive covenants and neighborhood Nazis the only threat to a property owner’s right to ownership?

Dr. Bonner Cohen joins us On The Commons this week.  Dr. Cohen is a Senior Fellow with the National Center for Public Policy Research, a position he has had since 2002.  He is also a Senior Policy Analyst with the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow;  and the author of The Green Wave.  Dr. Cohen takes us on a trip down memory lane and reminds us of the advantages and opportunities we enjoyed in the past and compares them to the way we live today. He explains how and why, slowly, very slowly,  rights,  education, health, wealth and the way we live have been adversely affected.  He very clearly helps us follow the laws, regulations and policies that have stripped us of things we once enjoyed and took for granted.  The changes were gradual, the results were by design and we never noticed them until they were here.  Is it too late or can we wrest control of our world back from the special interests?  

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Fighting Back, Property Ownership, Property Rights

Jan Bergmann

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Anyone who has ever spent any time studying the condition of housing, American style, has to wonder how We the People, took a fairly simple and straightforward concept of homeownership and turned it into such a disaster.  Oh, we have been fed a lot of platitudes, lied to and with smoke and mirrors watched as individual private rights were turned into duties and obligations, making the owner a serf.  No matter how one looks at it, the condition of homeownership in the US today is plain wrong.  I will be offered explanations such as, “You agreed”, HOAs protect property values”, “It is the way of the future”  “Get used to it, it isn’t going away.”  It is all nonsense. Not everyone is going to just roll over and accept the status quo.  Remember, heroes are not made of doormats. 

Jan Bergemann joins us On The Commons.  Jan is the founder and president of the Florida based Cyber Citizens for Justice  a grass roots organization protecting the rights of individual property owners   A hard working and very active advocate in all the areas affecting Floridians, Jan has studied the stories, the laws, the cases and the trends for a number of years, and he has some rather unique insights into what is happening.  While his observations are mostly focused on his state, the issues are definitely more national in scope.  We talk to Jan about the confusion of what an HOA really is. Proponents and attorneys will tell us it is a “contract” and that we “agreed” to the provisions of the Declaration.  While we can argue that ” we agreed” till the cows come home, the fact is HOAs are contractual in nature. It should, therefore,  be relatively simple to understand, shouldn’t it?  Why isn’t it?  And just what are HOAs, really?  Tune in, we’ll tell you – well, we’ll tell you what they are not.  So, what are they?  

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