This is why I could never live in the suburbs.

I dunno about that kronicfeld. My idiot association has my name spelled wrong, and has my address wrong, in the subdivision they manage!

Those people are morons.

Someone has to sign for certified mail. And you can't tell me a Real Estate professional wasn't aware of homeowner association obligations.

In my small association, (150 members), it's not uncommon to run $15-20K dollars in arrears because of a few deadbeats who won't pay - this is the money that keeps the lawns mowed, the roofs fixed, the pool running, the potholes repaired and insurance paid. It's not like anyone makes a profit.

And most HO associations bend over backwards to try and get this stuff paid up - and often let it go in arrears for a year or more before finally getting tough.

He estimates that 1,000 lawsuits are filed each year in Harris County by homeowners associations seeking foreclosures.

Okay. I'm ignorant. How can an HA have the power to foreclose on a home? A tax lien I get. This makes no sense.

I could never live in a place like that. I still give a big F-U to anyone I know that supports homeowner associations.

ScienceRocks:

I could never live in a place like that. I still give a big F-U to anyone I know that supports homeowner associations.

Amen.

I live in a HOA neighborhood and I like having a nice neighborhood. I would never consider taking someone's home because they haven't paid the dues so I can have a maintained monument and grass, that's ridiculous.

My wife, by the way, sells foreclosed property every Friday on the King County Court steps. They're all properties of people who had not paid their association dues. I can't stand what she does.

I should also add that she goes to great lengths to make sure the the properties are not sold(allowing payments, extending deadlines, etc). It still doesn't make it right.

$420?

-whuh?

What sucks is non-HOA neighborhoods (at least around here) are disappearing fast! Old neighborhoods are being "revitalized" and HOA's are being installed. I often see "NO HOA" on property ads, because it's getting so rare and desirable.

No, this is why we need the 2nd Amendment.

Someone has to explain to the non-homeowners WTH this is all about. It sounds unfair on the surface of it, but I'm trying to figure out how she never got a notice about the debt for, I'm guessing, over a year. There's a lot of information that's missing here.

Bareit: Does she enjoy her job?

Bareit:

My wife, by the way, sells foreclosed property every Friday on the King County Court steps. They're all properties of people who had not paid their association dues. I can't stand what she does.

That sounds like a scary job- ugh.

fark her. She's rich so she deserves it.

/popular sentiment these days.

Dumbass tag supercedes. If the association has no legal recourse for delinquent homeowners, how would they collect money? I wouldn't like to see what the value of my condo would be if there was no maintenance of the courtyard/facade/roof/air conditioners/boiler/heating/doors/decks/storage/streetlamps/sidewalk/should-i- stop-now because douchebags knew they didn't have to pay it.

Homeowners' associations are total asshats when it comes to enforcing piddly little crap. There's always some old lady with no life who walks around noting "problems".

However they do come in handy when some guy moves in next door and wants to install a 30-foot ham radio antenna on his roof.

How appropriate, I am studying for Property II law final, right now.

Arthur Dent feels her pain.

WTF is a homeowners association? What do they do?

I could see her not being aware of a $420 assesment. In an association, special assesments are done fairly commonly. My condo complex (that I can't wait to get out of) has done two in the last two years, one for $1000 and the other for about $300, for lighting and repairs. There are no bills sent for the dues, once a year you get a package of envelopes for the next 12 months. I've got mine on autopay, so if I miss a letter about an assesment, they may not contact me for months about it.

Just because someone signed for certified mail doesn't mean she herself got it. My assistant was slapped with a huge court judgment from a long past-due utility bill after she missed a court date she didn't even know about. Turned out that they claimed to have served her at her home when her time card proved she was at the office.

Frankly, before they sell her house, someone should talk to her on the phone or in person to make absolutly sure she knows about it. She's extensivly renovating the place, maybe a workman signed for it and lost it, maybe a renter lost it. Maybe it's been going to the wrong address. It seems like common sense before you sell somoenes house that you call them up and make sure they are aware.

I lived in a townhome with a HA for 5 years, in that time I watched the services go down drastically while the dues went up, and woe betide anyone who did something that went against HA rules and regs, they would drag homeowners up in front of their little quorum and tick them off for the pettiest things(or fine them). The people that were (self elected) in the HA really had no life apart from biatching about other homeowners (The VP was a neighbor and all she talked about was the HA)I thankfully now live in a single family home and do all my own landscaping etc and would think very hard before I would have anything to do with a HA in the future. Coonts

However they do come in handy when some guy moves in next door and wants to install a 30-foot ham radio antenna on his roof.

Yeah, well when there's a disaster, I'll take my ham radio gear and go help out another community that's not run by a bunch of asshats.

notices were sent to Bernhardt by certified mail

If that's the case, then she would have to sign for them and should have known what was going on. If however, there's some shady garbage going on there, and the HOA is asked to produce the paper trail for those certified mails, this could get real sticky for them. Ya know, fake signature, "lost" documentation, that sort of thing.. Case could be lost by the HOA immediately on those grounds.

..and they wonder why "homeowners" go into their meetings and shoot people up...

HOA = Satan

Edumacate me--do homeowners' associations actually hold title to the properties under their management? Or do they simply extract extra fees for handling maintenance tasks? If the latter is true, can homeowners refuse to join the association and yet still move into the neighbourhood?

However they do come in handy when some guy moves in next door and wants to install a 30-foot ham radio antenna on his roof.

Anyone else find something... unnerving about this statement, or what it implies?

We have a homeowners association and very strict covenants. I love it. I wouldn't want to live in any neighborhood that didn't have one. I don't have to worry about my neighbor not taking care of his lawn or painting his house some weird color. I don't have to worry about ugly storage sheds or rusty swingsets next door.

Our homeowners dues cover the neighborhood maintenence, the fountains, the pools, the golf course, the clubhouses, the playgrounds, and all the other ammenities that we get. When I consider how much we get out of all that stuff, the monthly homeowners dues seem very small.

As for the lady that lost her house...I find it very difficult to believe that she "didn't know". Someone recieved all the certified letters. The didn't just disappear. More importantly, when you live in a neighborhood with a HOA, you sign a contract spelling out exactly what you are responsible for and the consequences of failing to meet those obligations.

Similar thing happened to me once. I paid some crackwhore to suck my wanker and toss my salad. Stupid biatch only sucks me off without fulfilling my side order. As she's a crackwhore and doesn't own a house, I did the only thing I could to collect the debt she owed me: beat the shiat out of her and took every cent she had.

Some people just have to realize that there are rules and regulations that must be followed in a civilized society for said society to remain civilized.

Nice Phil Hendrie reference 2xhelix

I think condo associations are different than HOAs. I fully approve of condo associations, because you're all sharing a common structure, and it's not always clear who "should" pay for a repair. Should only the top floor pay for the roof??

Home Owner Associations for single-family home neighborhoods, however, are total pure evil incarnate. There is often nothing shared between individual homes that needs paying for (besides perhaps a pool or gate), and HOA's generally just spend their time and money making sure the whole neighborhood nicely conforms to their idea of perfect suburbia. My brother recently had to ask his HOA for permission to replace his broken front door, and they presented him with a short list of "approved" doors. WTF?!?!?!?!

So lemme get this straight. I pay you, and that buys me the privelage of having you tell me what I can and can't do with my own farking house? Oh, and if I don't play buy your rules, whether I agree or not, you take more of my money. Perfect! Sounds like a real smart move. Sign me up!
/homeowner
/made a point of NOT buying into a HOA

Sorry this is where i get my assault rifle and elmer fud hat and go hunting for those rascally little association leaders.

Seriously these associations should be illegal!

[b]darthgarlic[/b]
[i]WTF is a homeowners association? What do they do?[/i]

In my complex, complain incessently.

In condos or other types of communities with shared public space, they basically run things. They govern what can be done in public areas, maintain parking lots, roofs, landscaping, etc, and are a condiut for complaints about things. Ususally there are dues involved which are supposed to go toward these things.

In my condo complex, they have been a source of a colossal waste of money (landscaping a large area that turned out to be owned by a shopping center next door, which all got ripped out when they built an addition), and a source of deep seated hypocracy where the association President sits on his deck and has loud, drunken conversations until 4am, but if my dog barks at noon I'm in the shiathouse.

Can't wait to move into a house. Just a few more months of paying off debt and I can do it.

I hope she uses HA-approved lumber on the doors and windows when she barricades herself inside her former home with a shotgun.

http://loan.yahoo.com/m/primer13.html

HOA remind me of a HS student council, or some college club that sucks up to the alums.

That said, it's not like this chick didn't have a clue about real estate, HOA, etc.

/HOA-free

Foreclosures in Houston, bling bling...I don't see her house for sale though.

I think the better method of recovering money are liens.

I hate HOAs even though ever since buying a house, we've been stuck in them. In addition to banks encouraging them, I also think the cities themselves are to blame. Most new subdivisions are responsible for maintaining their own streets , lighting, and other things that used to be taken care of by the city. It still blows my mind that I am responsible to an HOA for the sidewalks in my neighborhood. That's what taxes are for!

Add on the futile attempts at legislating good taste to the point that everyone just gives up on account of frustration (this may be isolated to the horrible place I lived in before).

It's always done under the auspices of property values and trying to reclaim that good ol' yesteryear neighborhood that didn't exist anyway.

It's crap I tell you! crap!

I really hope everyone involved with that HOMOwners ASSociation dies a slow, horrible, painful death and that their kids suffer for this also. These people go to far.

There is now way in hell I would ever put up with an HOA. I would end up in jail for impaling them for a nice display in my front lawn.

In addition to "complaining", consider that HOA are made up of many volunteers from the community who are willing to take time out of their schedules to plan events, run community watch programs, welcome new neighbors, plan for improvments in the community, install new playgrounds, represent the neighborhood in city council meetings,...should I go on?

I'll admit it. I am biased. I am our Community Watch President and chairperson of our Safety Commity. But I stand by my belief that a well run HOA is great for the community.

PlatinumDragon:

Edumacate me--do homeowners' associations actually hold title to the properties under their management?
No

Or do they simply extract extra fees for handling maintenance tasks?
Fees yes, no maintenance done.

If the latter is true, can homeowners refuse to join the association and yet still move into the neighbourhood?

No

Read the fine print biatch

thems the breaks