Barry Walter's Wall of Shame
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Campground Receptacles
Cost? Sorry, it's a "trade" secret. Ask Barry Walter.
KOA
The "repair"of our brick walls have cost us several hundreds of thousands of dollars (perhaps much more) in just the past two years. Barry Walters (NTRCA's maintenance director) claims adamantly that the cause of this problem is rogue homeowners who plant banana trees! Would you believe no one on our NTRCA board questioned this "explanation" in the board meetings? The blame game has its benefits, but not for homeowners.
A walking tour of our community will easily demonstrate that this problem is not remotely concerned with banana trees or rogue homeowners. It is instead an issue of HOA sprinklers that are directed at the walls. The lime in the sprinkler water breaks down the mortar between the bricks. In addition, the water rusts the metal mesh that is sandwiched by two layers of brick. When this mesh rusts, it pushes out the bricks. Simple... and costly.
Can you think of a reason why our association would support blaming homeowners over addressing the real problem?$
Does this sound like collusion and racketeering? Demand open books, open records, and open meetings. Stop the secrets! Stop the corruption!
HOA Origins and Purposes
HOAs Won't Tell You
1. "We Can't Wait to Get Our Hands on Your Money -- Or Even Your Home." Many people who belong to homeowners associations do not understand just how much power these groups have over them.
2. "We're More Secretive Than the CIA." Like corporate boards, which have a fiduciary responsibility to make disclosures to shareholders, a homeowners association board is supposed to be up front with its members. But all too often, boards play things close to the vest. "The board will say everything is confidential and they can't tell you anything," says Willowdean Vance, president of the American Homeowner Association, a consumer group based in Lake Forest, Calif. "They're just on a power trip and it's absolutely deceitful."
3. "When in Doubt, We Sue." Board members will tell you that the last thing they want is to go to court. But it happens all the time. Experts estimate that in California, 75% of the homeowners associations are embroiled in a legal tangle of some kind. Chicago attorney Mark Pearlstein, who represents associations, figures that 60% of all condo boards and homeowners associations in Illinois are involved in some kind of legal suit.
It's partly a reflection of our increasingly litigious society. But that's not the only reason. "The association lawyers tell the board to enforce every rule," says author Evan McKenzie. "They say, 'If you make one exception, the whole neighborhood falls into chaos.' But who gets paid every time you take an owner to court?" The lawyers, of course.
4. "You Won't Be Able to Sell When You Want." Besides being expensive, lawsuits often mean that you won't be able to sell your home when the time comes to move. "Would you want to go out and buy a property that was in the middle of a lawsuit?" asks Oliver Burford, executive director of the Executive Council of Homeowners, a trade group for California associations. "I wouldn't." Naturally, banks don't like lending money for homes on which lawsuits are pending, either.
5. "We're Poorer Than We Look." Every association has a reserve fund. It's like a savings account, and it's meant to be tapped when things go wrong or the property falls into disrepair. But often these funds are in terrible shape themselves.
6. "We Can Make Up the Rules as We Go Along." By law, a majority of the homeowners in an association have to approve any change in the bylaws. But many boards sidestep this by simply changing their house rules, which are as binding as bylaws but can usually be rewritten without asking all the homeowners. "Even if you were to be given the rules today, they're probably already out of date because [boards are] constantly making changes to the rules at whim," says Elizabeth McMahon, a co-founder of the American Homeowners' Resource Center, a San Juan Capistrano, Calif., consumer group. "And they couldn't care less if you don't like them."
7. "We Don't Want You at Our Meetings." Monthly meetings are open to all homeowners. At least in theory. "A lot of times, however, meetings are moved at the last minute to limit the questions from homeowners or to keep information from them," says Willowdean Vance, president of the American Homeowner Association, a consumer group based in Lake Forest, Calif., which has fielded a number of complaints from homeowners who were shut out of meetings.
Even when you can attend, the board may not acknowledge you. "Board members won't come out and say that they don't want you at their meetings," says Vicki Satern, co-founder of Common Ownership Alliance, a Washington, D.C., consumer group. "But basically, that's what their goal is."
"When you come to a board meeting," says B. William Smink, the association's attorney, "you can sit, you can observe, but you cannot speak because the board is there to exercise its business judgment."
8. "We're in Over Our Heads."
Most board members are volunteers, and they generally get their training on the job. Sometimes their inexperience means they bungle the bookkeeping, resulting in higher fees or assessments. Sometimes they fail to do their homework on outside contractors, meaning that you get shoddy workmanship in your common areas. And sometimes, as Mary Lindsey knows all too well, they can cause much bigger problems.
9. "We Work for Nothing but Get Compensated in Other Ways." Being on the board is a thankless job, board members will tell you. That's probably true much of the time. But strictly speaking, it's not always so. The thanks they often get may surprise you.
Special favors and perks for board members are fairly common. The potential for abuse is inherent in the way these things are organized. The board members give themselves and their friends privileges and they never get hassled. The worst-case scenario: The board retains a contractor and board members get kickbacks.
10. "We're Incredibly Petty." In many associations being hard-nosed about the rules is practically the board's raison d'etre. "Some of these board members have nothing better to do. So instead of taking care of the property, they censor people's lifestyles," says Vicki Satern of Common Ownership Alliance.
Sometimes the pettiness is subtle. When one Virginia homeowner asked for permission to hang Christmas tree lights in 1992, the board didn't like the idea but didn't know how to prevent it. "We struggled with this one," says lawyer Benny Kass, who represented the association. "But we finally concluded that the restriction against hanging lights was valid because you were pounding nails into the wood, and that was a fire hazard." Ho-ho-ho
And here are some other things HOA's won't tell you ...
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if you don't like your HOA, then join the Board!
if you don't like your HOA, then join the Board! ·if you want freebies, then join the Board to receive HOA perks. You won't have to pay assessments, and you could vote yourself a salary for your "service." If any neighbors complain, just point to the open-ended covenants for protection!
if you want freebies, then join the Board to receive HOA perks. You won't have to pay assessments, and you could vote yourself a salary for your "service." If any neighbors complain, just point to the open-ended covenants for protection! ·if you are in with the HOA, then you and your neighborhood friends won't have to pay assessments or follow the disgusting HOA rules. Just make the neighbors you don't like pay and claim the "Privacy Act" for cover up and protection!
if you are in with the HOA, then you and your neighborhood friends won't have to pay assessments or follow the disgusting HOA rules. Just make the neighbors you don't like pay and claim the "Privacy Act" for cover up and protection! ·if you are on the Board, "padded" reimbursements checks can be written to you -- enjoy the profit! No one will ever know, because your Board can protect you with the "Privacy Act"
if you are on the Board, "padded" reimbursements checks can be written to you -- enjoy the profit! No one will ever know, because your Board can protect you with the "Privacy Act" ·you, as an HOA Board member, can ignore neighborhood complaints about discrimination. You can claim protection under the "Privacy Act" or the holes in the covenants that allow the Board to interpret the covenants
you, as an HOA Board member, can ignore neighborhood complaints about discrimination. You can claim protection under the "Privacy Act" or the holes in the covenants that allow the Board to interpret the covenants ·if any association member wants to see the HOA financial records, deny them so you and your friends won't be exposed; just claim the "Privacy Act"
if any association member wants to see the HOA financial records, deny them so you and your friends won't be exposed; just claim the "Privacy Act" ·as a Board member, just promise residents what they want when you need their votes (like when you want to pass a new set of Communistic covenants.) For your "new" friends," you can remove their HOA liens from record free or charge; waive their assessments; make them a Board member or a chairperson; "overlook" their violations of covenants; or whatever you need to do to get that vote! Besides, what can anyone do to you? Sue you? Not when you're a Board member with a nice big, protective insurance policy. Right??!!
as a Board member, just promise residents what they want when you need their votes (like when you want to pass a new set of Communistic covenants.) For your "new" friends," you can remove their HOA liens from record free or charge; waive their assessments; make them a Board member or a chairperson; "overlook" their violations of covenants; or whatever you need to do to get that vote! Besides, what can anyone do to you? Sue you? Not when you're a Board member with a nice big, protective insurance policy. Right??!! Doesn't all of this make your stomach turn? It happens all the time ... HOA's are private governments that can do what they want and change the rules whenever they like.
Thank you
Sugar Land, Texas
Waste or Premeditated Contract Work?$
Warning: If this happens to you, none of your neighbors will come to your defense. Do not waste your time. They are not well-informed and will believe that the HOA would not do such a thing unless it were completely justified and that it is not legal for the HOA to act in such an abusive manner. Your neighbors will give the HOA the benefit of the doubt, not you - because your story will sound so foreign and outlandish that it couldn't possibly be true. They will believe that whatever the HOA did was completely and totally justified. They will think you are just upset because you are losing your home and that you deserve to lose your home. Your neighbors will pat your hand and tell you how sorry they are that this has happened to you, but they will do nothing to come to your aid, or even ask the HOA board members to explain themselves. They won't want to get involved, no matter how unjust and abusive the HOA's actions, so they will let the HOA destroy you.
Thank you to the writer below, for her painful depiction of how the HOA system operates with impunity, by marginalizing its victims.
Everyone should know the well rehearsed psychological tactics of "privatized HOAs governments." These tactics are used like herding cattle, and in the end, all of the cattle end up on a plate. In this way, HOAs, by design, become "organized crime."
Don't bother calling a constable - he was hired by the HOA when his brother sat on the HOA board. Don't bother suing - the board will hire their attorneys and charge you directly. If you refuse to pay them, they will foreclose on your home!! It is "organized" and it is truly a "crime"...
