Couple lose their home over $120 debt

The Sacramento Bee ^ | January 24, 2004 | Michael Kolber -- Bee Staff Writer

[DelaWhere]

Couple lose their home over $120 debt By Michael Kolber -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 a.m. PST Saturday, January 24, 2004 Get weekday updates of Sacramento Bee headlines and breaking news. Sign up here.

COPPEROPOLIS -- A retired couple's dispute with their homeowners association has spiraled out of control in this Calaveras County community -- and now they have lost their home less than a year after failing to pay $120 in annual dues.

[Lurking Libertarian]

except to say that the house was auctioned for $70,000... I can't imagine a house worth $250,000 being auctioned off for 70.

Houses sold at foreclosure sales (any kind of foreclosure) routinely sell at deep discount, because the buyer knows to expect years of expensive litigation before they take possession.

[Lurking Libertarian]

But how can you enter into a contract which abridges inherent, intrinsic rights given by God and recognized under the Constitution? How can government justly enforce such contracts? Are you saying that you can contractually sign away your rights? I was always told you can't, but it happens all the time.

Every contract abridges some of your rights. If you sign an employment contract, you give up your right to stay home and loaf. If that contract requires weekend work, you give up your right to observe the Sabbath. If you take a job as a truckdriver, you are waiving your right to drink alcohol whenever you choose. Etc., etc., etc.

[MaryFromMichigan]

What is the english translation of your tagline?
Inquiring minds and all that. :)

[Lurking Libertarian]

What is the english translation of your tagline?

"Not under man, but [only] under God and the law." It's a quote from an old English judge named Coke; I picked it up in law school.

[MaryFromMichigan]

Thank you.
I enjoy reading your posts.

[Lurking Libertarian]

I enjoy reading your posts.

Thanks!

BTW, I tried your tagline on my wife. She says, "yes, he is still wrong."

[MaryFromMichigan]

Well then, my work here is done...

[tang-soo]

jeesh, sounds like Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.
I sentence thee to twenty years of hard labor for stealing that loaf of bread.

[tracer]

A couple of "senseless shootings" here and there will put a timely end to this kind of thing. The ASSociation and their attorney have pushed their luck and gone beyond the bounds of decency in beating up on an old couple when a simple small claims court judgement would have done the trick.

"He had a knee replaced and then was bitten by a spider, which required months of recuperation."

Spider. Did you say spider?

Now where's a good lawyer when you need him to find the Association liable for failing to properly control arthropod pests. Sounds like a case that's ripe for about slam-dunk $250,000 settlement out of court.

After all, the ASSociation's negligence caused the old guy pain and suffering and the loss of his house.

I may yet go to law school at age 55 -- being a hitman is work for dummies who will work for $500 an hour on a sporadic basis..... *~) (with fingers crossed behind my back)

[JDAS1969]

I read what your all saying but you don't seem to have the whole story so here it is. When this all started happening both Mr. and Mrs.Radcliff where having health problems. Now the H.O.A. claims to have provided the Radcliffs with all means at their disposal to notify the them of their lein. All except taking a 1(ONE) minute drive to knock on the door. They call themselves a HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATIOIN which from the concept of what H.O.A.'s are supposed to represent means AN ASSOCIATION OF HOMEOWNERS COMING TOGETHER TO PRESERVE THE LIFE STYLE OF THE COMMUNITY AND SUPPORT EACH OTHER. Where was the neighborly help in this situation? All the neighbors I've talked to totally support the Radcliffs. As far as the son's not helping. You can't help someone if you don't know they are in trouble. Especially when they don't even know they are in trouble.

[Godfollow]

What's there to litigate... the bank can't resell the house till it is cleared of any encumbrances can it? Anyway, we're a little scant on facts to make much of an issue one way or the other... perhaps the people in the story were not as destitute as made out to be... who knows...

[tahiti]

Let's try another example.

You seek employment with a private corporation or partnership.

As part of the contract for employment you sign a non-compete, non-disclosure contract which includes the statement that your telephone use of the company telephone system will be monitored, at anytime, for any reason, by anyone, without you being made aware of when it is being monitored.

You have no 4th amendment right to object to and prevent that stated corporate procedure.

[pointsal]

The HOA probably needs a load of horse manure dumped on its front steps.

[JDAS1969]

IN REGARDS TO THE RADCLIFFS HORROR STORY
I tried to get a copy of the CC&R's at Copper Cove Lake Tullochs Owners Association Office. I told them I was interested in buying a house down the street and would like to review the CC&r,s before I purchased and was told that they "WOULD NOT GIVE ME A COPY. " I was directed to any local real estate office that they would have a copy I could obtain. The real estate office told the only thing they had on the Association was the original charter from 1969 and that if I wanted a current copy I would recieve it from the sellers of the property or title company AFTER I purchased the property.

[pamlet]

Well - yes property taxes stink - and as a retiree the "no state income tax" is not a draw.

I suppose it's where you settle as to the HOA fees - ours are a pittance really - 48.00 a YEAR - not a month... and if you're lucky enough to find a lot in Unit One - it's only 24.00 a year.. laugh...

As to property taxes - we moved here from North Carolina, where we paid a state income tax - as well as property tax. I'm sure there are better states out there - but as the bumper stickers here say... "I wasn't born in Texas, but got here as fast as I could" ... or " Not a Texan by birth, but a Texan by the grace of God" ... haha

[FITZ]

You do realize the benefits of living in a development with a HOA, right? You see, the HOA works to insure that property values remain high through various things - making sure lawns are uniformly cut, your mailbox is of a pre-approved design, you only have certain types of trees and plants, you never ever park in the grass or leave your boat in the driveway, you only paint your house one of four approved colors, you never add a shed or any other detached structures, etc.

Sounds like a dictatorship. What if you want to go on vacation when someone thinks your grass is too high? You can't plant the trees you want but what the others dictate? I'd pay more for a house outside an HOA just to have a little breathing room. But then I wouldn't live in a cult either for the same reasons.

[RGSpincich]

I think the CC&Rs are filed at the recorders office, too. Wonder if they still charge a buck a page for copies?

[maxwell]

Sounds like a bunch of misery-minded busybodies trying to gouge some old folks...

[RGSpincich]

In addition those agents are wrong on the CC&Rs coming after you close escrow, if that's what they meant. You as the buyer must have ample time to approve of the title report and CC&R's before closing escrow on property in California. It's in the standard purchase contract. The documents will be provided to you upon the opening of escrow. Which means you have to have a pending contract on the property so, in a way, the agents could have been right.

[JDAS1969]

I see thank you