The Power of HOA's and a letter for homeowners. Should you Beware before you give or sign your Consent away? Real life experiences!
See links for these stories below in sources.
Comment for a homeowner, who has been on the board before and has been in the neighborhood for years to see and experience how everything works together.
I believe you being at the meeting and stated that~ would have more weight.
Some things brought out in the open are put on Pause.
Even with evidence of this billion dollar company's practices towards homeowners, there was an attempt to diminish verified practices and terrible feedback on how they operate.
Honestly it was like listening in on congress.
No offense meant towards the entity's operators.
The entity as you know has it's own attorney's that represent the entity Over the people residing in said entity.
Main goal besides wanting certain perceived perks of hiring and upping dues was enforcement.
You likely know how that will pan out for all.
A letter to homeowners in a little neighborhood in Indiana
Dear homeowners,
When it was brought to my attention that an HOA was seeking to hire an outside property management company and initially [allegedly as stated by other homeowners] felt they could do so and didn't need the vote of the people who were homeowners seemed like a red flag.
HOA board found out they did need a percentage of homeowners to agree with their decision to hire an outside company for management help.
Immediate questions
- What power did they have to enforce and even foreclose on homeowners?
- What did we know about the property management company and their practices?
- How often could they continue to raise dues
- Why couldn't the homeowners work together to cut costs rather than bring in someone from the outside?
Was shocked to find out nothing was known about the conflict of interest for the management company the board of the HOA wanted to go with as their choice.
They stated they wanted Associa over any local company for reasons which appeared to be
due to the sales pitch and
how large the company was.
His name is John Carona.
Look him up or see the sources provided.
Does LARGE equal good for the people who own the homes where this property management has power to enforce the rules?
Over and over when asked questions about the negative feedback and even hiring the needed positions the board requires, one thing stood out
there was a claim that more enforcement was wanted.
Posed yet another question when talking to people in our neighborhood.
- How many really wanted more enforcement?
Even IF at first this seems like a great idea, what about your fellow neighbor.
Some out there stated that they live by those already going through challenges and sometimes even going it alone.
Others worried about neighbors, who after a certain time in the world are struggling due to sickness or other difficult factors.
Do we really want a company who
-was started by someone wearing two hats?
-In addition to starting a company now worth a billion dollars, he was a senator known and -verified to pass legislation that allowed these enforcements to fine homeowners and then take them to court when the fees were insurmountable and foreclose on their home?
According to the Texas Tribune,
*Senate Bill 507, Carona’s bill from the 2001 session. It guaranteed that the HOA industry could keep wielding its foreclosure powers over homeowners — with no oversight from any state agency or elected official.
As reported by the Dallas Observer,
"In 2011, he merrily defended that law from being reformed. (In something of a Dallas politician's tradition, he also apparently ran away from Brett Shipp as the newsman was brandishing a copy of Associa's company policies at him, trying to show him a rule that said homeowners could be foreclosed on if they fall four months behind in HOA fees.
Carona had previously denied that Associa had that policy.
When Shipp tried to give chase, Carona ordered him removed from the Senate floor.
See sources to hear a homeowners story which as some in the neighborhood might say,
"would make your toes curl!"
-Is due process required in looking at not just the pros of this huge management company with all the resources to carry out mandates along with
-is it necessary to consider the ethics of the person who founded, chairs and is the CEO
of Associa [aka CASI, whom board has chosen] prior to hiring them for the board in "helping" or assisting the HOA board? You decide!
Is it possible that what may appear shiny and helpful and oh so comforting to people in having perceived help,
actually be leading down a very dangerous path for homeowners.
Boiled frog analogy perhaps?
Does the past history of Associa show that it is there to help homeowners or to help an entity that has your dues to level legal action and in some cases foreclosure?
Should we as homeowners heed the Beware warning of so many others out there?
Consider,
Associa also operates under other names like CASI
When looking at feedback you can go look up, you will find not just testimony, but verification that Associa purchased a lot of homes during the pandemic.
There are reports from many that this allegedly led to more rental properties in HOA's.
As what appears to be yet another conflict of interest,
has Associa at times allegedly purchased homes [under other names] they have foreclosed on and either sold or even used them as rental properties under other names or sold to other realtor companies?
It is verified they are allowed to foreclose on homes.
Would it be possible for them to increase the amount of rental properties under another name? You decide!
See in thread provided what some employees are saying from a subreddit on HOA's.
I have also included quotes from the Texas Tribune, Dallas Observer and feedback from their very own page from an Associa office that operates under another name in Carmel, IN.
You can go here to see these reviews from other homeowners
https://www.cas-indiana.com/associa-reviews
Associa owns Community Association Services of Indiana
1.5 (12 reviews)
Carmel, IN, US.
Headquarters in Texas
here are the reviews for this Carmel office
None of this is meant to send fear, but rather a cautionary tale.
Consider the story of a homeowner's nightmare stated in the Texas Tribune,
Shawn Riggs lives on Sally Lunn Way in a beige two-story house that he bought for $137,559 in 2003. Like all his neighbors — and a growing number of people across the state — Riggs belongs to a homeowners’ association, which charges monthly or annual fees to care for common areas, enforce deed restrictions and, at least in theory, maintain property values. One day this past February, Riggs went to the post office to retrieve a certified letter. He had been in a long-running spat with the Brookfield Owners Association over some mistaken fines levied against him for not taking care of his lawn. Riggs believed the letter would contain good news. For almost two years he’d been waiting for the property managers to acknowledge what he’d been saying since he’d received a nasty little notice warning him to cut his grass or else: They had gotten the wrong yard.
As Riggs had explained, it was his neighbor’s house that had been pictured in the notice he had received in June 2011. So he printed out images from Google Maps to prove it. He had emails documenting his increasingly vociferous objections. He had even received a response from the property managers saying his protests had been “noted” in his file.
None of that was in the letter, though. Instead, typed in capital letters across the top of the page were the words “CITATION — FORECLOSURE.” Riggs, a trim 39-year-old technician at a semiconductor equipment plant, felt like his chest was going to pop open. Over time, $50 in disputed fines had ballooned into more than $2,000. Now they were coming after his house.
I first met Riggs in mid-March, a few weeks after he received the foreclosure letter. By then he had decided to fight back, even if it meant it would cost him more to sue than to settle. He wasn’t going to let the Brookfield Owners Association shake him down. “Your HOA should not have that much power,” he told me.
And yet, in many cases, an HOA does have that much power. According to estimates by the Community Associations Institute, the industry’s chief lobbying group, almost a fifth of the U.S. population — including 3.4 million Texans — now live in a residence that is managed by some type of property owners’ association.
A cautionary tale for what HOA's have done.
NC homeowner claims her house was foreclosed and sold by HOA without her knowing
The law is tilted in favor of HOA's state some investigators.
Police called on property owners after HOA increases monthly fees to $350
VERIFY: Can failing to pay HOA fees lead into foreclosure of your home?
I think it would be a Great Idea!
We were told at the meeting that the the Treasurer could not be hired from within the neighborhood due to conflict of interest.
Many of us didn't see why the position itself could not be hired outside as the HOA hires an attorney to protect their interests.
There was a lot of focus on the board wanting the management company to take the burden off of the board for enforcement and helps with other tasks.
They really liked their app, which may be ran by a third party as it is called Town Square, [board was told people would get better and faster comms as the board can't always answer right away] but saw a lot of negative reviews for it saying the opposite of the sales pitch.
We were told by the president that even if the roles of treasurer and secretary were filled, they still wanted the help of Associa.
Just a thought and heard others in the neighborhood as,
is an HOA really needed at all?
#HOA, #PropertyManagementCompany, #Associa, #CASI, #Foreclosure, #Homeowners, #HomeownersBeware, #HOAboard, #WeThePeople, #HomeOwnersAssociation, #HOAfees, #HOAfines, #HOAforeclosures, #HOAabuse
Helpful sources,
https://www.fcasok.com/blog/neighborhood-association-vs-hoa/
https://www.texastribune.org/2013/05/20/conflicts-and-interests-sen-john-carona/
Add for warnings to people NOW prior to Christmas
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VERIFY: Can failing to pay HOA fees lead into foreclosure of your home?
Police called on property owners after HOA increases monthly fees to $350
New laws target abusive homeowners’ associations
Verification that laws are in place to protect the HOA's rights over homeowners' rights!
Verification of the abuse of HOA's at times.
Hear from an attorney how sometimes HOA's will sue homeowners in an attempt to get them to shut up about their overstepping and abuses.
One of the rights and protections people have in subdivisions with homes vs subdivisions with condo's is You have the Right To VOTE!
Go to your board meetings when you can!
This attorney states to be aware that a ploy some HOA's use is. . .
near to elections or when a vote will be taken on an issue,
they will send out a lot of violations which has made those people receiving them
think they cannot vote or will feel to uneasy to go.
Please beware this is just a PLOY!
No matter what violations people have and even if they have fines or are behind on dues they have the Right to Vote!
USE it as your voice should be heard and represented!
Be aware that there are No Term limits for Board Members.
Some people have the idea of a time limit and having people sit out for a few years, then may join again.
It has been stated by professionals in the legal business. . .
the people who are in favor of HOA's are the Property Management Companies and attorneys, who represent HOA's because they make their money off of the homeowners whether directly or indirectly.
Hear how rapidly the attorneys will rack up a bill to homeowners if the HOA or Property Management Co tries to sue and the fines they will levy and use to revolve and hike up the cost to the homeowner.
Many times these HOA's don't get enough homeowners voting and these same people stay in office.
Ask Amy Episode 13: Your rights in your HOA
If you need help consider,
HOA Reform Coalition
Hear this professional state that an HOA is used to shift the control away from homeowners into an entity that the Development controls.
HOA law loophole leaves some homeowners powerless
Declarant is the legal term for the developer or builder.
HOAs Are SEIZING Homes
Do some HOA Boards get drunk on power and then target you just as the government or those IN government attack people as Political Targets? You decide!
Check out what has happened to others.
CORRUPT HOA gave me 29 Tickets in ONE DAY! (Hiring a Lawyer)
from the comments in the vid above,
Post from August 29, 2024
Her mortgage was paid, but she still lost her house. It was sold to her HOA for $3.24
Archiving from 8.31.2024
Post in August 2024 after the HOA August meeting.
New laws target abusive homeowners’ associations