Posted on 02/17/2011 12:33:34 PM PST by MissTed
The debate is over how much power an association should have and Harvella Jones, President of the National Homeowners Advocate Group, says associations can serve a purpose, but they've gone too far.
“My goal is to stop the foreclosures because they don’t have the right to take our homes for maintenance fees when the Constitution does not give them the authority,” says Jones.
Jones adds some associations have been compared to the mafia for how they act.
“That is how they operate sometimes and sometimes they use strong arm methods to shut you down when you start complaining,” Jones says. “I have had people been physically abused at meetings where they couldn’t even talk or anything of that nature.”
But Sandy Denton, Chair of the Texas Community Association Advocates, says in the long run associations provide a valuable service to homeowners.
“Probably the most recognizable benefits include protection and enhancement of property values so that next door to you someone doesn’t have their car up on cinder blocks for weeks on end,” says Denton.
Despite some of the negative attention, Denton notes most people support the role associations play.
“70% of the people believe that the rules of their associations help protect property values and 89% believe the boards work in the best interest of their community,” Denton says.
A bill that would prevent HOA foreclosures is currently in committee in the Texas legislature.
Amen!
Yes.
next question
Unless you don't believe in the rule of law.
In which case, what goes around, comes around.
You bet!
.my HOA board has appointed themselves board members for life, it seems.
“Probably the most recognizable benefits include protection and enhancement of property values so that next door to you someone doesn’t have their car up on cinder blocks for weeks on end,” says Denton.
A land where you can’t put cars up on cinder blocks is not a land worth living in or fighting for.
Though I do get angry when they attempt to break the law and illegally restrict the proper display of our Flag.
Our current president is a retired FBI agent and is always working to achieve HIS goals and is lying about it as he does it.
I have nothing against the FBI - The agents I have been associated with professionally have been 100% top notch.
It's just that this guy is now retired and is using his ‘skill-set’ against the majority.
He'll be gone as president in a few years once some more of the sheepole get trodden upon.
***If you sign a contract, you are obligated to abide by the terms of that contract.***
Unfortunately, the terms of the contract are often changed by the HOA Board(s) of Directors. Residents are not always aware of the domineering, power-hungry, communistic bent of candidates who covet these elective offices.
When purchasing a home in these HOA communities - it’s wise to understand you don’t own dirt - you have only one freedom - which is the right to squat in your house and pay the mortgage.
I belong to the lake association here but its pretty hands off. It consists of about 2 dozen home owners and basically we just pitch in to pay for weed control.
These homeowners associations are really just a reflection of the people in them.
Our current president is a retired FBI agent and is always working to achieve HIS goals and is lying about it as he does it.
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I have been associated with more than a couple of FBI/Polixe/LEO types and it usually ends up the ones that get in a position like this were drivers, office types, very rarely hands on agents in the field ‘doing the work’.
Much like a lot of these Associations will get some ‘shoe clerk’ as president or Commander and they take out their frustrations on the scintilla of power they get to take over.
Jock wannabes fit the same mold....
I am glad I don’t have one in my neighborhood. If there was one to form, my wacko socialist 0-loving neighbors would be the first to sign up and try to run it. Most of the people in my neighborhood are normal people who want to be left alone.
Adolf & Eva would have things set up as a typical backwards socialist paradise by trying to ban any and everything that didn’t meet the dim party mindset.
My sympathies to you on the control freak you have.
FBI/Polixe/LEO
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OOPS...Police....but we ‘knew’ that ....<: <:
Your HOA seems to be an authentic ‘home-owner’ entity.
Most HOAs begin as builder/developer-driven enterprises - so rules & regulations are directed at keeping property values high through restrictive covenants.
Even after a builder/developer community is completed and home-owners are responsible to one another; an element of command and control remains with the ‘BOD property nannies’.
They are so close to lab experimental communes for future Gubmint control - they should be outlawed;)
HOAs are private associations, something that the federal constitution says is the right of all citizens, and something government cannot prevent.
There is no reason to discuss the whether a private association's rules are "constitutional" in that sense.
However, every private association sets up it's own rules and regulations. Some of those rules have the force of a "constitution", and some are like laws, and others are like regulations to implement laws.
And just like a real government, the "constitution" (usually "Deeds and Covenants") are part of the founding of the association, and are very hard to change, requiring large majorities of the members of the group. The laws are passed by a representative government elected by the members of the association, but cannot violate the "constitution" of the association. And the elected representatives often are allowed by their constitution to create committees to perform executive branch functions, and write guidelines (regulations) consistant with the "laws" and "constitution" of their association, which are enforceable on the members of the association, who freely chose to associate with that group.
But of course the real government doesn't let this all happen in a vacuum, and so in most states there are limits to what a private association of homeowners is allowed to do to itself. And the states provide a judicial override for all association activities, giving members of the association one additional appeal beyond the laws of the association they freely joined.
There are associations that abuse their rights, that give only lip service to the elective process, that use force and intimidation and hope people don't know their rights.
But a vast majority of the complaints against HOAs are people who freely purchase property governed by the HOA, but then don't like what a majority of their fellow association members have decided are the rules. Anarchists they are, and those so inclined should probably not enter into free association with those who like order and civil society.
You have to find the neighborhood that's right for you. If you hate other people telling you what you can do with your own property, don't buy a home in a neighborhood of people who prefer a neighborhood where the neighbors follow guidelines which make things more pleasant for everybody.
BTW, I'd love to see how the adamant anti-HOA folks would handle a neighborhood pool without rules.
No one's getting their home foreclosed on for not paying a simple $75 maintenance fee. They get their home foreclosed on for not paying $75 each and every month for several years running, for not paying the HOA-assessed fines on those missed payments, for not paying the thousands of dollars in fees, late fees, fines, and legal charges that the courts determined that they legally owed to the HOA. They get lots of chances to stay out foreclosure. But chances are, these foreclosed-on former homeowners were delinquent on far more than just a couple years' worth of HOA dues. They're probably behind on the car payments, the utility payments, and the credit cards, too.
Don't expect to buy into an HOA-controlled community, and then get away with behaving as if the HOA doesn't exist. If you don't like how your HOA asserts itself in the neighborhood, get in their face at the HOA board meetings, better yet get yourself elected to the board and change it from within. If you don't want to deal with an HOA, don't buy into communities that have them. Otherwise, pay your fees every month. No one gets foreclosed on when their account is up-to-date.
That is highly unlikely. If you tell me what state you live in, I can tell you what the HOA state guidelines are. Beyond that, it is true that some people love being in power, and they work hard to collect proxies for the annual meetings that every state I’ve seen requires for HOAs.
Which means if you want to change things, you do have to find enough people who agree with you to collect enough proxies to show up at the meeting and get elected.
Meanwhile, most HOAs, like mine, have to beg people to serve on the board. People show up and complain about what we do, and I tell them — nominate yourself, you’ll get elected to the empty positions, and then you can vote to change everything we do. Nobody wants to bother, they like to complain, and they are the first to call if the pool isn’t open, or the grass isn’t cut, or they don’t like how their neighbor parks their car on the street.
That is true, but I should note that there are cases where the account is overdue because of fines levied for rules violations, not because of a failure to pay the normal fees.
I generally defend HOAs, but would not have a problem with saying that an HOA can't foreclose to collect a fine, without winning a court judgement for the fine first. A lot of HOAs bend their rules, using fines to try to trick people into doing what they want, knowing that if the homeowner fought them, they'd lose.
Being able to foreclose without first proving a violation and getting an outside judgment on a fine gives a pretty large stick to an HOA to use to beat up homeowners who may in fact be in the right.
I have almost no sympathy for homeowners who fail to pay their dues. Everybody's dues go up to cover their delinquencies, since the grass still needs to be cut, the state-required paperwork and audits still need to be performed, the pool needs lifeguards, and the playground needs to be maintained.
And unfortunately, the lawyers need to be paid.
Like any other government.
“When purchasing a home in these HOA communities - it’s wise to understand you don’t own dirt - you have only one freedom - which is the right to squat in your house and pay the mortgage.”
And when the mortgage is paid off you still pay rent to the govenment in the form of property taxes. We used to live in an HOA sub-division before I retired but learned our lesson and bought a house with three acres in a cul-de-sac with eight other houses in a semi-rural area. There is no HOA but if you can afford to live in our neighborhood you won’t be the kind of person to trash your property.
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