Posted on 02/15/2015 9:08:46 AM PST by Oldpuppymax
Using Agitprop and elements of the Delphi propaganda method (3), lethal Home Owners Associations (HOAs) are moving north out of huge Miami-Fort Lauderdale territories up along Florida’s I-95 corridor to take over more and more personal property rights of unsuspecting homeowners in gated, HOA communities. And the effects are not pretty! “Resetting the default position. . .exploits the structure of the choice to encourage a more desirable option,” says Cass R. Sunstein, author of the book NUDGE. (1) Employed by the Obama Administration as a regulatory czar, it was Sunstein’s job to have the American people do what the government wanted them to do, all the while believing it was actually their own idea!
A heuristic is a term applied to getting a student or other type of governmental human unit to do what government wants them to do by programing certain choices involving quick decisions and empirical thought processes rather than theory based decision. Most conservatives should be quite aware of the United Nations inspired Agenda 21, Seven/50 attempts to take over private property of unsuspecting Americans. ”Choice Architecture,” a devastating term developed by Sunstein and co-author Richard Thaler, is defined this way: “…If you want a person to reach a desirable outcome and you can’t change the heuristic she’s following, then you have to meddle with the choice architecture, setting up one that when matched with the given heuristic delivers the desirable (for govt) outcome,” writes the former Obama czar. (2) Nudging HOA residents along the path of cessation of private property rights plays into big government agendas!
Remnants of Agenda 21 are destroying the peace of neighborhoods and towns in South Florida. All along the coast, citizens and local governments are being traumatized by the All Aboard Florida project that seeks to run at least 32 trains...
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
I recommend you obtain advice from professional sources, which is always preferable. The title report should list things like HOA agreements, easements, known encroachments, leins, unpaid taxes, etc.
I offer that, perhaps, you might consider your position from other angles... There is nothing wrong with painting your house like a Jack-O-Lantern. It shows a certain whimsy. However, permitting some tin pot Hitler tell you "CAN'T" presents the question of whether you deserve your freedom.
There is the option that YOU are the tin pot. It would explain your position.
You appear to have some personal experience with unscrupulous land developers/builders and with new Homeowners’ Associations.
Pink houses and 5 cars parked on the cars are addressable by the city or county in most places. You don’t need an hoa to do it.
They build them because the developers want them. The buyers have little choice.
In the past I’ve owned several single family rental properties; never would a buy a home that has an HOA, there is no excuse; a copy of HOA rules and regs, is provided to every potential buyer. I did own one rental in a HOA, the fees where very low, the rules where few and not at all grievous, as I seen that begin to change I sold.
When I see the number of HOA’s here in SE Florida I am not surprised to see how willing people are to live under and pay for life under a dictatorship, as if the local city, county, state and federal gov’t wasn’t enough for them.
HOA’s have become so bad; not having one has become a primary selling point and values increase more rapidly, older neighborhoods are making a come back.
My hoa is currently trying to take control of the back 10 feet of my property. Without compensation of course.
It’s difficult and varies by state. The hoa is essentially a non profit corporation. The property owners are the ones who control it. Basically a majority vote by the members can be enough but common property is frequently an issue.
Where do you want me to start?
1.) Sued for foreclosure over an under $1 accounting error by the HOA? (sued over a - $0.68 negative balance ,, later found to be a slight positive balance)
2.) “power wash your driveway” order ,, repeated twice after the wash was done...
3.) Yes a community clubhouse was cancelled by US Homes when they held a slight voting majority before turning the HOA over to the owners (they got one vote per lot not built house)
4.) ARC demand to alter my house claiming I made a unauthorized change... change was made by first owner 18 years ago... before THIS HOA (as opposed to prior hoa run by developer) existed.
I could go on ... I now have to make quarterly HOA payments in person (a 20 mile drive to a management company) to avoid being targeted with the old “your check was late” scam with late charges..
Can’t you do your payments on-line to avoid the trip?
.
You are correct that can happen. Fortunately, several attorneys lived in our HOA, and when that situation arose, they came to meetings to explain to the overreaching board member that her job is to enforce the existing covenants, not make up new ones to her personal taste. Nipped that in the bud.
The secret to the HOA situation is that if you want the benefits of an HOA, you have to be willing to attend meetings, pay attention and do some of the work of keeping things positive, whether it is recruiting other conservatives to the board, volunteering to create a newsletter so there will be transparency, setting up a committee for a specific and limited purpose, etc.
off topic. And wrong factually. I never said anyone NEEDED an HOA - I just said they are neither good nor bad necessarily.
Somehow I missed that one, although the reruns will go on forever. Sounds very funny! That series was so well written it even made Kelsey Grammer tolerable.
Once again, you cannot understand the issue. I don’t live in an HOA neighborhood, so I’ve not surrendered my rights to anyone. When I did live in an HOA neighborhood, I did’t surrender anything then either - because as an adult with intelligence, I knew what I was getting into.
You act like HOA’s invade innocent neighborhoods from Mars and force people into a miserable life. That’s just stupid frankly. Millions of people voluntarily live in HOA neighborhoods. This is not a rights issue regardless of whether you can figure it out.
They don’t necessarily have anything to do with government. I’ve been in one that didn’t have a damned thing to do with any branch of government. I bought, I moved in, lived there, liked it, moved out, rented it, and we’ve had 4 renters who lived there and liked it.
Different strokes for different folks, but it’s got nothing to do with government per se.....altho some governments have meddled - but that’s the gov problem, not the HOA problem.
Saw 106 - but you sent that to yourself...(we all do that sometimes) - so I had not seen it earlier.
If you live in one of these communities, you need to be an active member of the HOA. If you don’t actively participate, the kooks will take over.
“The fact that you did not have a problem in a 3 year time frame doesn’t invalidate the notion that it can (and does) happen in many cases.”
OK. But my Mom’s neighborhood went downhill with an HOA. My daughter’s neighborhood is going downhill with an HOA.
As I pointed out, an HOA can be good for some neighborhoods. However, those who haven’t lived in one may not fully appreciate what Nanny-States they can turn in to. In ours, it varied each year with the BOD. One BOD was into total control. There would be a recall and they would be thrown out. The next year would be quiet. Then the folks who ruined the previous BOD would be the only ones who bothered to vote, and the 3rd BOD would be as bad as the first.
Over 6 years, every other BOD was recalled due to their overbearing behaviour. The final BOD allowed a vote on continuing the HOA, and the tired homeowners voted it out.
Before living in one, I had no idea what petty tyrants tended to float to the top of an HOA. We had butt-wipes patrolling the neighborhood, looking for someone they could complain about. Every other BOD tried to pass rules that frankly would not have stood up in court.
I went to multiple meetings and told the BOD that if they adopted the rule, I would sue. They would then consult the attorney, who would tell them the CC&Rs did not permit them to do what they wanted to do. Or they would pass the rules, and then be forced to back down by angry homeowners.
In the years since the HOA was adopted, property values have gone up, not down. The market as a whole locally has been flat. But then, this was never supposed to be a ‘gated community’ type of place. The CC&Rs had no restrictions in them that were not already in the County Code. The BOD had very limited authority to pass more - but every other BOD tried.
BTW - I was on two of the post-recall BODs. It was a very happy night for me when the vote came in overwhelmingly to disband the HOA.
There is just no substitute for forming a coalition of like-minded neighbors and either running for the board yourself or going door-to-door to get like-minded people to go to the meetings and voice an opinion or vote on an issue. You would have to be tactful until you are sure you have adequate backing. Go with a cheerful attitude of wanting to meet the neighbors — fair weather is often the best time because people are outdoors — and just say you are wondering how people feel about this or that issue because some of your other neighbors are complaining, and you are thinking of running for the board. Be sure you use those opportunities to find out what others think instead of putting your own complaints forward, so that you don't inadvertantly cause a backlash against yourself. Just ask questions about issues and find out where people stand.
Most times the problem in these communities is apathy, which is what allows the popinjays to take over. By the time people get aroused, it's often too late. If your community is amenable, a system of "block captains" often works -- each block has its own meetings and discussions, and the block captains agree to do it for a year and attend all the meetings or send in a substitute. This way, more people get involved, and unless you have criminals in your community, most people do want to make good choices for their property values.
The saving grace is often that the HOA is strictly volunteer, and people just don't follow through. Be wary if your community has a paid board or a salaried manager. Then you have trouble.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.