New Territory Sentinel
Sugar Land, Texas
First State Texas Homeowners Conference
The first Texas Homeowners for HOA Reform conference brought homeowners to Houston from across the state. Also attending the October 11, 2008 conference was the nationally known host of "On the Commons" - Shu Bartholomew.
As many related the abuses and problems they have suffered, it became evident that these are not "isolated instances" but the norm. A power-point presentation of the updated HOAdata.org database confirmed that foreclosure filings, fines, fees, and other charges have increased dramatically. Although presented at the conference, the 2002-2007 information has not yet been posted to the HOAdata website.
The structure and secrecy surrounding HOA operations encourages the injustices and abuses suffered by homeowners as they have become the victims of embezzlement, discrimination, extortion, and economic terrorism. The primary beneficiaries of the HOAs are not the members but rather the vendors of the association.
Homeowners listed their problems and the solutions needed. A consensus for action will now be determined and sent to members for their approval.
There is NO “Homeowner’s" Association in New Territory!
We do, however, have a money draining “association of contractors” who will take our last dollar, while they control us with fear and manipulation about purple houses, and the need to turn-in our neighbors for better property values. Meanwhile, they harvest our equity in bloated annual dues, fines, fees, foreclosures, selling off our common property, and "waste, waste, waste."
Good communities are not built on economic and judicial terrorism, or the corruption and deception of embedded contractors, they are instead, built on informed residents supporting positive change.
Our HOA supported the CAI in sending 7 full-time lobbyist to Austin to lobby against a handful of retired people demanding basic homeowner rights against the abuses of unrestrained Home Owner Associations (HOAs). They also paid for busloads of HOA employees to come to the capital in support of Judicial terrorism and corruption. It is not surprising to many that Senator John Carona and many of our elected officials were supportive of these crimes.
Please, when you find that you or others are a victim of HOA crime, do not silently sell your house and not speak of the bitter crimes. When you do this you allow HOA crime to grow. Many of you will recognize real extortion at the closing table when you sell your home. You will probably see thousands of dollars that you must pay in fines, for trees or shrubs that you planted "without HOA permission," or your pool approval was lost, etc. Please report these crimes to the Attorney General, and all of your elected officials. They need to know of the crimes AND your strong disapproval about it.
Child predators should not be "stakeholders" in writing child protection bills anymore than HOA/CAI predators should be stakeholders in writing homeowner protection bills. We have a lot of damage to clean up in this legislative session.
Why do we need it in New Territory?
Why would an HOA be against it?
Why do HOA boards refuse to create a money saving, energy efficient, and healthy green-home approval process?
Why does our association refuse to allow "Sub-urban Harvest" access to our community?
Did you know:
NTRCA can remove your dog from your own backyard while you are at work....CC&R link
Hmmm...who would allege that your dog is barking, if your dog rarely barks... How about that one fascist neighbor who doesn't like your politics - or religion - or ethnicity. No problem to your HOA, they will still make money by removing your dog, without any notice, and far worse.
A large percentage of US homeowners now live under the rule of a Homeowner Association. While some may manage effectively, many do not. My personal experience with HOA governance as it relates to water conservation is highlighted in the brief 3/18/09 Albuquerque Journal article below.
The Xeriscape Council is collecting data to try to determine to what extent HOAs across the country discourage or hinder water conservation efforts outdoors. I know that many still try to mandate high water use grass and require placing it curbside where it is never used as a lawn – only as a sponge. This continues even though most new research shows that good landscaping or xeriscaping is a more important factor than sod re home values! (In normal times, of course.)
Would you please contact me with any examples of HOA actions that hinder or prevent water conservation or forward this request and article to anyone you think may be interested or live in an HOA. This information will be a great help as the Council works to develop a strategy to try to deal with this issue nationwide.
Please refer this request to as many interested people as you can.
Thank you for your help.
Abq Journal
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Towne Park HOA Ordered To Pay $14,000
Formal Requests for NTRCA Documents, illegally refused, with impunity.
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." Mahatma Gandhi
What happens to forclosed property after Bill
Gammons buys
it ?
Coming Soon!
NTRCA Serves Man GREAT VIDEO
Alert
Alert
Alert
NOW
and insist on * open records, *open meetings, fair elections, and NO HOA foreclosure rights that extort money from homeowners
A “vendor association” with vendor interests owns you and your property. Homeowner associations increasingly create maintenance dependent projects to fund their vendors and themselves. For example, it is in your HOA’s interest to direct sprinklers toward brick fences, so that they can make expensive repairs or replacements. Expensive maintance made necessary from rusting interior wire mesh that repels bricks, and mortar decay from the lime in the sprinkler water. In addition, HOAs fertilize our grass (down to and around our lakes) three times a year, and then blame animals for the nitrogen buildup in the lakes. In this way, embedded vendors make hundreds of thousands for over fertilizing grass and for treating algae blooms from fertilizer runoff in our lakes, and from their fabricated need to destroy beautiful waterfowl. Take special note of who your maintenance director is and the other associations, and people, he has partnered with.
HOAs are not required to have open books and meetings. Therefore, they often make backward and no bid “deals” with other vendors. When homeowners show up for monthly meetings, the board simply goes into an executive session where the “real business” is covertly done out of the eyes of the public. “Reports” are often made through a hand-selected real estate agent who benefits from lucrative HOA advertising, for reporting HOA infomercials. Board members and their family members often benefit from similar contracts. In addition, it is common practice for HOA managers to purposely undercount houses in each subdivision. This was easy to hide or call a mistake, before “Google Map” made it easy for any interested person to get a correct count. The HOA undercount is often 4%. Where that extra money (hundreds of thousands every year) goes is anyone’s guess, but the loss is significant and consistent over time.
HOA vendors want (and get) far more money than your increasing annual dues can pay them. It is true that assigning fees for an almost unlimited number of issues produces much income, especially at home closings, but the real bonanza of “other income” comes from fines, attorney fees, and foreclosure proceedings against targeted individuals. These targeted neighbors are often targeted, not for breaking any more rules than you have; instead they are covertly targeted for ethnic, religious, or political reasons. These illegal practices are difficult to prove, especially when one prejudiced neighbor attacks another with a hidden agenda disguised as “keeping property values up.” The HOA simply pursues the victim, while the rest of us just keep to ourselves.
HOAs often hire private “constable” contractors over Sheriffs contracts, because constables specialize in “civil” suits. When HOAs want to foreclose, serve papers, or strong-arm homeowners, they have their civil-suit vendor in place. This is the last thing that these vendors want homeowners to know, so they keep reminding you that they (the constables) are contracted to “protect” you. Nothing could be further from the truth.
HOAs are not required to have fair elections, so they don't. Sham elections are done with manipulated proxy votes, board position “applications,” manipulated and appointed neighborhood representatives (who alone vote for board members.) In addition, an honest board member can be "voted out" of office at any moment, as is often the case.
Having a community association run by community members is not better or much worse than one run by a Professional CAI Management group. A positive difference that protects homeowners will only come from legislation that requires: OPEN BOOKS & MEETINGS - FAIR ELECTIONS, - NO FORECLOSURES, - and NO REAPPORTIONMENT OF ANNUAL DUES. Call your elected officials today.
At present, HOAs are privatized governments without transparency or accountability. Nevertheless, they appeal to city and state government officials because HOAs pay for parks, roads, utilities and other responsibilities that tax-strapped cities would otherwise have to pay. As the economy worsens, our constitutionally controlled government will legislate in favor of more unregulated privatized governments (HOAs) unless you demand OPEN BOOKS & MEETINGS, - FAIR ELECTIONS, - NO FORECLOSURES, and NO REAPPORTIONMENT OF ANNUAL DUES. These legislative changes will bring about the transparency and accountability that are necessary for our associations to serve the needs of homeowners.
Privatized Police State
Constables, like Troy Nehls, enforce and "streamline" Civil Issues, i.e. Foreclosures and Fines, etc. for the HOA. How "safe" do you feel knowing that, if they supported your rights against an abusive HOA, they would likely lose their nearly $400,000.00 contract with the HOA?
50+ Comments on his "desire" to "target the innocent" are telling...
If you like your HOA's board, you are still only one board away from tyranny.
.Absolutely Vital Links
Board President
It is unfortunate that City Council member, Russell Jones, did not stay at the Senate Hearing and listen to the multitude of victims of Home Owner Association abuse who
testified after he spoke his mind and left. He would also have heard one of
his constituents testify about his own law firm's predatory actions against
the homeowners of Meadowcreek and their new board, as well as other local
HOAs that his firm so lucratively "services." No wonder Russell Jones is so
"Pro HOA!"
Studies have shown that HOAs absolutely do not maintain or add to home
values. Instead, studies show just the opposite. A great many people who have
experienced a typical HOA, will never buy into another one. Certainly this growing
awareness and decreasing demand to be owned and abused by an HOA
will continue to adversely affect ongoing property values well into the future.
At the Senate Hearing one victim spoke of fines received because of insulating tape on a water pipe – a freezing protection, which most homes had - including the board's. More intimidating threats and harassment escalated to expensive lawsuits and eventually the homeowners were compelled to move to another neighborhood. The foreclosure "process" of fining and multiple fees, and not the foreclosure itself, is the most lucrative part of "foreclosure".
Many homeowners reported similar experiences, but in truth, many more people
suffer in silence, because the laws have been written by the HOA lawyers for the benefit of HOA lawyers, in order to maintain their "gravy train" - http://www.texashoareform.org/Documents/TheHOAGravyTrain.pdf.
Clearly, people are never given this information at their closing and almost
all remain in the dark until they are selectively targeted! The homeowner has no
ability to object, and can only continue to pay ever-increasing dues. The
reason that homeowners have no say is because HOAs are not required to have
open records, open meetings, or fair elections. Dues are cleverly reapportioned
so that disputed fines can lead to unpaid dues and then the “process” of foreclosure.
Homeowners and non profit organizations are finally catching on to the HOA
scam and this is why we are seeing more Senate Hearings with participating
organizations such as The League of Women Voters, Texans for
HOA Reform, LULAC, HOBB, Public Citizen, AARP, the ACLU, and many others.
If you have had problems with an HOA please let the Senate Panel know your experience
AND that:
We must all demand laws that give homeowners:
1. HOA open records and meetings,
2. HOA fair elections (not manipulated by proxies and marginalization
tools),
3. End the HOA extortion foreclosure racket. (After all, if a
doctor saves your life and he does not get paid, he cannot legally foreclose
on your home for payment. Why then should an HOA implement the foreclosure
racket for an alleged garbage can left at the street?)
4. An HOA end to reapportionment of assessments that keep homeowners
"owing the company store."
Typical
Daily show
League Of Women Voters Facts and Issue study on The HOA Industry - LINK
An HOA Reform
Pink Flamingo Action Plan
Homeowners for HOA Reform
through
is offering
Donate $30. to KPFT and KPFT will send you a gift of two 33 " tall Pink Flamingos (with important HOA reform information included).
As you know, Pink Flamingos are absolutely "forbidden" in every known HOA, therefore, you must:
#1 Only keep your flamingos in your front yard for a few days.
#2 Then pass them on (with important information) to only one of your neighbors.
#3 Inform your neighbor do the same as you.
#4 Ideally others will order more Flamingos, and continue...
... and soon a flock of flamingos will descend on our HOAs with a clear message that:
Real neighbors will flock together to protect their shared rights and dignity from the privatization and corporate takeover of their homes.
Order your Flamingos today:
call KPFT
713-526-4000 or http://www.kpft.org/
