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Obama Lawn Sign Battle Rips Apart Community, Bankrupts Homeowner's Association
Christian Post ^ | 2/11/13 | Myles Collier

Posted on 02/11/2013 12:50:46 PM PST by OKRA2012

A confrontation over a political sign and a community's Home Owners Association has occupied four years and nearly half a million dollars in legal fees.

(Excerpt) Read more at global.christianpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
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To: Mr Rogers
Mr Rogers said: "On a 2-1 vote by the BOD, a paint scheme requirement was added to the rules."

I should clarify that only a majority of the Board members was required to pass rules and regulations. Similarly, we had a three member Board.

Some things were spelled out pretty clearly in the founding documents of the condo. For example, a unit owner could have one small dog or one cat. It would have been up to the Board to define "small" as applied to a dog.

Our work was somewhat complicated by the fact that the developers were liberals. I'm sure that they pictured their creation as a Utopia for the unit buyers.

The developers fenced in the individual areas behind every unit. This created the perception and the fact that each unit owner had access to his own yard. The problem arises, however, that the founding documents, recorded with the county recorder, specified that those spaces were, in fact, common areas, subject to the rules regarding common areas, and were to be maintained by the association.

From a legal and practical standpoint, the Board did not have the authority to change the nature of the ownership of the common areas. But we also struggled with how to maintain all these different, fenced-in areas. Much as with our national politics, liberals love to make rules and love to then ignore them and act like it is no big deal.

101 posted on 02/11/2013 4:58:55 PM PST by William Tell
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To: William Tell

A big part of our problem was that the rules in the CC&Rs took less than half a page, and literally were rules like “No barbed wire fencing is allowed”.

One of the problems was the question, Could the HOA impose restrictions on use? One lawyer told us no. Another said yes. I’m inclined to believe the lawyer who said restrictions on the use of property required a change to the CC&Rs, and couldn’t be done by a simple majority vote of the BOD. But many of us bought our property before the HOA formed, and our impression was based on the CC&Rs...which the HOA seemed to disregard in favor of “Anything I want, I get”...


102 posted on 02/11/2013 5:11:41 PM PST by Mr Rogers (America is becoming California, and California is becoming Detroit. Detroit is already hell.)
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To: CharlesWayneCT
You think the HOA elections are about anything more than “hey, who is willing to put up with the crap for the next 3 years”?
In all my years in an HOA community, I don’t remember a single time when anybody running for the board was asked anything about their beliefs.

Therein lies the problem. BTW, did you vote to confiscate property from some one who didn't pay their dues?

When the board was getting too uppity, I just got a few people each year to sign up to be members, and that put and end to that.

I don't support democracy, I support Contitutional law.

BTW, the world does not revolve around “you” :-) Sometimes, “you” is just a generic term; especially when it is qualified to indicate people who take a certain action — the part you didn’t quote.

I support individual rights as long as those rights do not infringe on others.

On the other hand, when you enter a partnership, there most certainly is a form of control. If you got married, you would know that. Marriage is a form of partnership, and once married, you don’t get to do “whatever you want”. Heck, if you enter the partnership of “having sex with a woman”, and you got her pregnant, you’d know that such a partnership comes with control over your earnings, when you had to pay child support.

LOL...you confuse a voluntary "partnership with a woman as a contract.

Marrying is defined by law as a contract, not a partnership. The partnership is religious.

Six year olds understand the differences between partnership and contracts.

Do you understand the difference between voluntary and Government mandated?

No, you don't.

Where do HOA's derive their power to foreclose on a home owner who is delinquent in his does?

How is it they can keep the proceeds as a profit?

Are you a communist troll?>

103 posted on 02/11/2013 5:17:05 PM PST by Las Vegas Ron (Medicine is the keystone in the arch of socialism)
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To: CharlesWayneCT
You think the HOA elections are about anything more than “hey, who is willing to put up with the crap for the next 3 years”?
In all my years in an HOA community, I don’t remember a single time when anybody running for the board was asked anything about their beliefs.

Therein lies the problem. BTW, did you vote to confiscate property from some one who didn't pay their dues?

When the board was getting too uppity, I just got a few people each year to sign up to be members, and that put and end to that.

I don't support democracy, I support Contitutional law.

BTW, the world does not revolve around “you” :-) Sometimes, “you” is just a generic term; especially when it is qualified to indicate people who take a certain action — the part you didn’t quote.

I support individual rights as long as those rights do not infringe on others.

On the other hand, when you enter a partnership, there most certainly is a form of control. If you got married, you would know that. Marriage is a form of partnership, and once married, you don’t get to do “whatever you want”. Heck, if you enter the partnership of “having sex with a woman”, and you got her pregnant, you’d know that such a partnership comes with control over your earnings, when you had to pay child support.

LOL...you confuse a voluntary "partnership with a woman as a contract.

Marrying is defined by law as a contract, not a partnership. The partnership is religious.

Six year olds understand the differences between partnership and contracts.

Do you understand the difference between voluntary and Government mandated?

No, you don't.

Where do HOA's derive their power to foreclose on a home owner who is delinquent in his does?

How is it they can keep the proceeds as a profit?

104 posted on 02/11/2013 5:17:20 PM PST by Las Vegas Ron (Medicine is the keystone in the arch of socialism)
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To: Beelzebubba

I don’t think it’s a crime, just part of the HOA rules. We looked at a few homes that we ended up not buying because we were not allowed to read the HOA rules and I was not going to go into it blind.


105 posted on 02/11/2013 5:19:08 PM PST by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: Mr Rogers

The Kansas story is a reprint of the WP story. The case is an interesting example of how the facts of a story sometimes get lost when the media tries to “spice it up” with creative headline writing. It wasn’t really an Obama Lawn Sign Battle that ripped apart a Community, it was more accurately described as a Homeowners Association Spat as the WP did. That wouldn’t have inspired the same level of outrage the other headline did, though. So... truth be damned, hype the headline! That’s so common that every time I run across a story like that I go in search of the actual facts, just as you did. It’s quite frequently a fruitful search.


106 posted on 02/11/2013 5:21:58 PM PST by ArmstedFragg (hoaxy dopey changey)
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To: Las Vegas Ron

hmm ~ i don’t believe Virginia law allows an HOA to forecloseon someone, but they do go to court to file leins against the property for nonpayment of dues. Then, when the property is ever sold they can collect. in our area many people need security clearances to hold their jobs so they can’t afford to have a lein on their home ~ they come to terms quickly.


107 posted on 02/11/2013 5:27:16 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah
I can't speak for VA, I can only comment on the two States I've lived in, Cali and Nevada.

HOA's here in Vegas are ruthless tyrants.

108 posted on 02/11/2013 5:34:39 PM PST by Las Vegas Ron (Medicine is the keystone in the arch of socialism)
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To: Mr Rogers
Our Covenants require 90% assent to any changes in the covenants. That means A SIGNATURE FROM 90% OF THE PROPERTY OWNERS.

We never have changes.

109 posted on 02/11/2013 5:36:05 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: Beelzebubba
It's the housing density thing ~ in general setting up a Planned Unit Development with a combination of SFD, condos, common areas, and major fixtures like basketball courts, playgrounds and swimming pools will allow you to build larger homes, closer together and still offer the residents the amenities of open space that they OWN and CONTROL.

In areas where everything is flat as a board and the summer season is a good 6 weeks in between the end of corn planting and the beginning of wheat harvesting (creating serious amounts of allergenic dust) HOAs probably don't have much utility.

110 posted on 02/11/2013 5:41:30 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

Actually, I wouldn’t object to that sort of HOA. You know what the rules are before you buy, and only a clear consensus of the community can change them. Our rules changed anytime 2 members of the BOD wanted a change...

;>(


111 posted on 02/11/2013 5:42:41 PM PST by Mr Rogers (America is becoming California, and California is becoming Detroit. Detroit is already hell.)
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To: Neidermeyer

There’s almost always a bank with a mortgage on the line ~ the tax lein problem is rare in these HOA communities.


112 posted on 02/11/2013 5:44:08 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: MrB
HOAs... for people who think the Federal, State, County, and Municipal governments don’t have enough layers of control over their lives.

I believe that is a direct Jack Spirko quote.

113 posted on 02/11/2013 5:46:38 PM PST by backwoods-engineer ("Remember: Evil exists because good men don't kill the gov officials committing it." -- K. Hoffmann)
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To: Las Vegas Ron
i tend to avoid living in radioactive wastelands without a local source of water ~ other than a fossil lake at the top of a serious volcano.

you should too!

It's just impossible to imagine the horror that comes with Western Water Rights Laws and HOAs!

114 posted on 02/11/2013 5:49:28 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: Las Vegas Ron
i tend to avoid living in radioactive wastelands without a local source of water ~ other than a fossil lake at the top of a serious volcano.

you should too!

It's just impossible to imagine the horror that comes with Western Water Rights Laws and HOAs!

115 posted on 02/11/2013 5:49:47 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah
Here is the area where I live. No common property was owned by the HOA. However, the HOA did once consider retroactively banning horses - something I told them would result in my hauling their butts into court!


116 posted on 02/11/2013 5:49:54 PM PST by Mr Rogers (America is becoming California, and California is becoming Detroit. Detroit is already hell.)
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To: Mr Rogers

Pretty liberal HOA if what I see in the picture is a couch out there in the weeds!


117 posted on 02/11/2013 5:52:37 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: sergeantdave

It does make sense. Why should property owners be shackled on how they can use property that has restrictions on it written by someone who owned it 100 years ago? It has its uses.


A VERY limited doctrine for restrictions that are clearly against public policy (or the law) such as racial and religious prohibitions.

No pertinence to owners agreeing to paint their houses certain color tones, or not to have basketball hoops.


118 posted on 02/11/2013 5:54:00 PM PST by Atlas Sneezed (Universal Background Check -> Registration -> Confiscation -> Oppression -> Externination)
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To: muawiyah

What bothered them varied by the day. I’ve been written up because they saw a shovel in my front yard...in August...100+ temps. Yes, while digging holes to plant trees, I DID go inside and get a glass of water. The wicker chair, BTW, was there for a few hours so my wife could watch while my daughter and I were riding.

No prohibitions in the CC&Rs. Apart from no barbed wire fences, and no chain link across the FRONT of the property, there was no shooting guns (also found in Arizona law for that area) and a 1250 sq ft minimum house size for new homes being built. Political signs were the minimum allowed by Arizona law. And that was it. There were no more restrictions in the CC&Rs.

When the first BOD try to impose more, the developer fought them. He wrote that it went against the concept that the properties had been sold under and would affect his ability to sell the remaining lots. And this was the guy who wrote the CC&Rs! With his support, the first BOD was forced to resign to escape recall. And that set the pattern for the next 7 years...


119 posted on 02/11/2013 6:05:20 PM PST by Mr Rogers (America is becoming California, and California is becoming Detroit. Detroit is already hell.)
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To: muawiyah
i tend to avoid living in radioactive wastelands without a local source of water ~ other than a fossil lake at the top of a serious volcano. you should too!

LOL...where does your water come from?

Ever hear of glass houses and stones?

120 posted on 02/11/2013 6:55:33 PM PST by Las Vegas Ron (Medicine is the keystone in the arch of socialism)
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