It Can Also Mean Home Ownership Abridged!
Conceptually, HOA (homeowner's association)-governed communities are good for people. They provide a sense of connection, neighborhood infrastructure, and a wide-variety of social opportunities—and are often considered to have a positive impact on maintaining home resale values. However, an HOA can wield a tremendous amount of power over the people, property and community it governs—including the ability to foreclose on your home.
It's not just about the color you paint the exterior of your home, where you place a fence or whether you left your garage door open. An HOA is a contractually authorized pseudo taxing agency—and as leverage to enforce that tax, it can foreclose on your home for even a minor perceived infraction of its rules. And the board of an HOA often assumes the license to change the rules! The real irony is, if you fight the rules you must do so in court—and when you do, you’re paying your attorney fees and your opponent’s (via your HOA dues)! This is where the bad and ugly stories come pouring in!
For instance, a man in Rancho Santa Fe, California supposedly violated his HOA's "architectural design rules" by planting too many roses. This "gardening crime" cost him his home. Or how about the 82-year-old Texas widow who owed $814.50 in back dues to her HOA. As a result, she lost her $150,000 home to foreclosure. Then there's the case of the Arizona couple who had a mere $66 homeowner's association debt and yet faced the loss of their home; to save it, they spent more than $7,000 in lawyer's fees! This is not to say HOAs don’t have value—I only point out that they hold a lot of “legal” clout. Thus it’s pretty easy to get in a situation where you’re forced to deal with their attorney or the court. There's got to be a better way than going it alone if this happens!
AARP Magazine reports, "6.5 million 50-plus households resided within an HOA environment in 2005 (almost double that of the 3.7 million in 1995)." That's a staggering statistic that represents a high number of potential legal problems for people that believe “I’m a quiet, honest hard-working person—why would I ever need an attorney?” Don't wait for an innocent issue to make you an innocent victim of a potentially over-reaching authority. Be prepared. Plan ahead. See Get Help Now in the sidebar at right.
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1 comments:
I have been on our HO board for many years. The current property manager used my property address to secure the garbage bill, it has not been paid for over a year and continues not to be paid while my home is now under a tax lien and my escrow account has paid out over 150k for these taxes. 80 k was paid off but the liens keep coming in. I have no idea what recourse I have?
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