Posted on 06/01/2010 9:07:42 PM PDT by Dr. Marten
Michael Clauer is a captain in the Army Reserve who commanded over 100 soldiers in Iraq. But while he was fighting for his country, a different kind of battle was brewing on the home front. Last September, Michael returned to Frisco, Texas, to find that his homeowners' association had foreclosed on his $300,000 house—and sold it for $3,500. This story illustrates the type of legal quagmire that can get out of hand while soldiers are serving abroad and their families are dealing with the stress of their deployment. And fixing the mess isn't easy.
(Excerpt) Read more at motherjones.com ...
Didn’t any of the geniuses on the HOA board realize this woman was ill and make an attempt to contact the husband overseas about the problem?
I hope they’re real proud of themselves.
You can’t do that in CA unless the arrearage is more than a year old or $1800, and in neither case can the sums demanded under threat of non-judicial foreclosure include late fees, fines, attorneys fees, etc. - only the raw principal. There’s also extensive notice required. Also, in CA, HOAs are governed by the FDCPA, the FCRA and the Davis-Stirling Act. Further, they’re required to offer arbitration and to accept reasonable payment plans.
TX is notorious for outlaw, abusive HOAs.
The HOA doesn’t provide anything anymore than the government does. It’s the resources of the membership that provide. The HOA isn’t even a governing body. The CC&Rs are the ruling documents. The HOA simply has a duty to carry out the CC&Rs.
If a member doesn’t pay his dues, the HOA can foreclose, judicially or non-judicially, depending on the state. But if a homeowner has a beef with the HOA, they have to take them to court. The individual homeowner has no power whatsoever against the HOA except what they can glean through civil court.
He did not have a mortgage on the house, he owned if free and clear. So a bank would not be involved.
Did you read the story? The HOA lawyers did say that neither party was active duty.
The house was owned by the couple free and clear no mortgage.
The wife was severly depressed.
Mail to Iraq stinks.
There is an 8 hour time difference, they are ahead so phone calls are hard.
While they have internet access, it is sporatic and the sand storms sometimes knock it out for days. Plus, in the military jobs are not 9-5. Sometimes you hear from then for a few days in a row, sometimes you don’t hear anything for weeks.
If he decent neighbors, someone should have tried to either contact his wife or him. It is truly disgusting that they live in a neighborhood where a woman whose husband is deployed and she has 2 kids and nobody in the entire so called neighborhood obviously never even bothered to see if she was ok or needed help.
Well, as you just attested, you got to know your neighbor, therefore you would have noticed the distress. I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that nobody in the “neighborhood” tried to figure out what was going on.
My son up and joined the Army. I didn’t put out a big sign or anything. Well, word spread fast. Everyday my neighbors ask how he is doing, can they send him anything, etc.
Its easy to figure. when I lived in the country I knew my neighbors and we did things as a community, yet when I lived in the subdivision (for 18months) my wife walked about 3 times a week with my boys and she knew more people on other streets than she did on our street, and when we were moving out my neighbor across the street came over to welcome us... We spent time outside and out of probably 30 houses we knew 2 families and one more by sight.
Its all about “personal responsibility”....pay your bills and bad things don’t happen.
You have not been unduly harsh; we have both vigorously defended our positions. My apologies back to you if I came across that way.
Been a pleasure debating with you!
FReegards!
>OWS: So what if Soros is Jewish?
Soros, being a thief and a Nazi Collaborator, is living proof that there were Jews who did help the Nazis.
>I’m Catholic and that does not make me responsible for the Kennedys or Nancy Facelift.
True... but if you were arguing that it was the moral obligation for the nation to welcome ALL immigrants, legal or not, wouldn’t I be justified in asking if you WERE a Pelosi-style Catholic?
>Slinging the term Nazi around at the drop of a hat will tend to offend targets who happen to be Jewish.
Then they shouldn’t be National Socialists...er, Democrats!
(Ok, correlation and causation are two different things, granted; and there are plenty who aren’t screwed-up in the head.)
>I don’t always agree with Hildy but she is a good woman and a valued FReeper.
I wasn’t saying that she wasn’t. The Nazi were [in]famous for property-rights... or the lack thereof.
In this particular case the Constitution, our Constitution, is clear: Amendment 6 deals with the right to jury trial for criminal cases & Amendment 7 with the right to jury trial in civil cases [wherein the value under dispute is greater than $20]... and ALL material transfers are ether civil or criminal, no?
>Get to know her better and Having represented HOA’s as an attorney
My condolences. ;)
>(now recovering), I would imagine a court reversal of the foreclosure in question since Texas cannot evade what used to be called the Soldiers’, Sailor’s and Marines” Relief Act
That could be invoked, yes... as well as a law from the 40s, I believe. {Though I’m more in favor of going straight to the State and/or Federal Constitutions.}
>by adopting non-judicial remedies [against that Relief Act] and depriving a homeowner of property without due process of law, since the attorney for the HOA filed a false affidavit that the husband was not on active duty (much less in time of war and in the war) and since the case seems to stink to the heavens (a technical legal term?).
I see you’re going on a similar path as I.
One thing that bugs me, is “Precedent;” I get the feeling that ‘precedent’ is elevated to a position above the law [to some degree]. {I’m reminded of Jesus condemning the religious-leaders of His day saying: “you use traditions to make the law of God to none effect!”}
>Foreclosure is an equitable (fairness) remedy and taking a fully paid for $300 home from an active duty soldier’s family, selling same for a 99% “discount” to a third party (and if the third party is a crony, Katy bar the door) seems a tad inequitable and then some.
It seems fraudulent and/or larsinic [conjugation?]; if there’s any cross-state-lines in the transaction (like the buyer being from another state) it might also qualify for RICO.
>I hope the soldier gets the home back and goes after the HOA and its attorney. The attorney may claim negligence but the Bar should consider exemplary discipline.
That would be just.
>The HOA is entitled to a deduction for the assessments but the HOA can also be “assessed” damages and attorneys’ fees by a federal court or probably a state court.
And, IMO, should be... $800 really isn’t a lot of money when you’re talking about the values of MULTIPLE houses. It really looks like someone was trying to get the property any way it could.
Thanks, but I did read the story. The problem isn't this soldier's allegedly mentally ill spouse, but his own lack of preparation. Before every service member is deployed, they are given a legal briefing by their unit JAG. I know, I was one of those JAGs who gave those briefings. These briefings are so important to the DOD, that they mandate that their attendance is annotated in the soldier/sailor's Service Record Books. This is because the DOD wants to avoid stories just like this.
At those briefings, servicemen & women are advised to send letters to their creditors informing them of their deployment and notifying them (the creditors) of the servicemen's rights under Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act (SSCRA). With such notification, the creditors are warned that under no uncertain terms, legal actions - including foreclosure - are disallowed during the servicemember's deployment, per federal law. The creditors are also informed about the civil penalties they face for violating the SSCRA.
Not surprisingly, the wickedly liberal Mother Jones, makes no mention of this well-known and WIDELY practiced procedure by service men and women. While I'm not an apologist for the HOA, because what they have done is plainly idiotic and possibly illegal, the lion's share of the blame lies with the service member himself for not ascertaining and asserting his federally protected rights prior to his deployment.
You are correct. They did file - they falsified same and said that neither party was on active duty. That tiny tidbit is in one of the last paragraphs of the story.
Besides, as a Christian, I should know better than to throw insults around. Besides being un-Christlike, it diminishes whatever point I may be trying to make.
(3) No sale, foreclosure, or seizure of property for nonpayment of any sum due under any such obligation, or for any other breach of the terms thereof, whether under a power of sale, under a judgment entered upon warrant of attorney to confess judgment contained therein, or otherwise, shall be valid if made during the period of military service or within three months thereafter, except pursuant to an agreement as provided in section 107 [App. § 517], unless upon order previously granted by the court and a return thereto made and approved by the court.
(4) Any person who shall knowingly make or cause to be made any sale, foreclosure, or seizure of property, defined as invalid by subsection (3) hereof, or attempts so to do, shall be fined as provided in title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned not to exceed one year, or both.
I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about. Any homeowner, at any time, can look at the books and challenge any expenditure.(they don’t,) They can show up at board meetings (they don’t.) They can make their grievances public in the newsetter (they don’t.) People would rather complain than do any work.
Thank you. :)
Exactly. Not all home owner ass. board members are idiots but often the idiots seem to collect there. They enjoy sticking their noses into other peoples business when normal people are content to live and let live. That's why it doesn't surprise me that this particular home owners ass. thought it was perfectly ok to sell a 300,000 home for 3,500. No common sense, or as you put it, idiots.
That's what happened to me. I own several rental units in a condo complex and was president of the HOA until a few years ago. We had a manager that worked very cheaply and things got done. A new home owner, a lawyer no less moved in and decided he could do a better job by managing the HOA himself and since he lived on the property talked everyone else into supporting him. He and his henchmen voted me out and fired the manager.
Since then our HOD have tripled, our termite policy was allowed to expire, there is no longer any maintenance on the outside of the buildings, the parking lots or roofs, and there is apparently no contingency fund anymore.
After dealing with this guy home owners have begged me to take over again but the manager I used is no longer interested in managing the property thanks to the way he was treated previously, and frankly neither am I. We take care of our units and make sure the insurance is paid and beyond that have washed our hands of the place.
Yah... hindsight is 20/20. My husband picked up the other phone and listened in as a witness.
Sorry-I did not mean to imply the soldier had done anything wrong. I should have read the entire article. I hate collection attorneys and it does not surprise me they lied. While it can be undone, it will cost this hero money, time, and aggravation. Certainly not the thanks he deserves. I hope there is a fee shifting provision. If it was in Jersey, I would help him.
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