Official California Legislative Information - Bill Information SB 551--CID ombudsman
Fred Pilot alerted me to the passage by a 23-13-4 vote in the California State Senage of the (presently toothless) CID ombudsman bill. This is a pilot program for an official with no law enforcement or election observation powers. It would be nice if this new official could do more than serve as a CID law webmaster. May not be in the cards, though.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Request for assistance...
I'm working on a new book on HOAs, covering things that have happened since Privatopia was published. There is an issue I want to write about, but I haven't been able to find a source on it, and I'm hoping some reader may remember this or know where to find information on it.
Way back in the late 1990s, I recall reading that in Florida a controversy had erupted between HOA/condo lawyers and property managers over whether managers were qualified to interpret CC&Rs. The lawyers, of course, took the position that you have to be a lawyer to interpret the covenants. This cuts against the other argument lawyers make: that any and all owners are legally assumed to have read and understood those very same covenants that no PM can accurately interpret. Can anybody tell me if my memory is accurate on this, and if so where can I document it? I have already checked the opinions issued by the Florida Attorney General and found nothing on this.
Thanks for whatever you folks can come up with.
I'm working on a new book on HOAs, covering things that have happened since Privatopia was published. There is an issue I want to write about, but I haven't been able to find a source on it, and I'm hoping some reader may remember this or know where to find information on it.
Way back in the late 1990s, I recall reading that in Florida a controversy had erupted between HOA/condo lawyers and property managers over whether managers were qualified to interpret CC&Rs. The lawyers, of course, took the position that you have to be a lawyer to interpret the covenants. This cuts against the other argument lawyers make: that any and all owners are legally assumed to have read and understood those very same covenants that no PM can accurately interpret. Can anybody tell me if my memory is accurate on this, and if so where can I document it? I have already checked the opinions issued by the Florida Attorney General and found nothing on this.
Thanks for whatever you folks can come up with.
Monday, January 30, 2006
UIC News Release
May as well give UIC a little plug, since I work there:
Study Finds McHenry, Will Counties Lead Nation in Homeownership
Two of Chicago's collar counties -- McHenry and Will -- lead the nation in homeownership rates, according to a report by University of Illinois at Chicago researchers. Owner-occupied units make up 85 and 84 percent, respectively, of housing in these counties, compared to a national average of 69 percent. The other three collar counties -- Lake, Kane and DuPage -- ranked 19, 21 and 29 among 230 counties nationally for which data were available. Cook County, the metropolitan core, ranked at only 188, with 61 percent owner-occupied units. Other large urban counties had similar rankings. Such widespread homeownership in outlying areas implies that sprawl is caused by low land prices and growing prosperity rather than by highway expansion, according to Siim Soot, director emeritus of UIC's Urban Transportation Center, and Joseph DiJohn, director of the Metropolitan Transportation Support Initiative at the center.
May as well give UIC a little plug, since I work there:
Study Finds McHenry, Will Counties Lead Nation in Homeownership
Two of Chicago's collar counties -- McHenry and Will -- lead the nation in homeownership rates, according to a report by University of Illinois at Chicago researchers. Owner-occupied units make up 85 and 84 percent, respectively, of housing in these counties, compared to a national average of 69 percent. The other three collar counties -- Lake, Kane and DuPage -- ranked 19, 21 and 29 among 230 counties nationally for which data were available. Cook County, the metropolitan core, ranked at only 188, with 61 percent owner-occupied units. Other large urban counties had similar rankings. Such widespread homeownership in outlying areas implies that sprawl is caused by low land prices and growing prosperity rather than by highway expansion, according to Siim Soot, director emeritus of UIC's Urban Transportation Center, and Joseph DiJohn, director of the Metropolitan Transportation Support Initiative at the center.
Castle Coalition: Interactive Map & State Overviews
This website is from the Institute of Justice, which represented Suzette Kelo in the Kelo v. City of New London decision. The clickable map lets you see where alleged eminent domain abuses are going on. Too bad there is no such map for HOA abuses.
This website is from the Institute of Justice, which represented Suzette Kelo in the Kelo v. City of New London decision. The clickable map lets you see where alleged eminent domain abuses are going on. Too bad there is no such map for HOA abuses.
Real estate advice: Development's prices fall just before closing
I found this link at The Volokh Conspiracy. It goes to a Bankrate.com item in a Q and A column:
Q. Dear Real Estate Adviser,
I have a contract to buy a new town home for $800,000, but recently I learned that since I signed, the builder has reduced the price of the same type of town home by $100,000.
A. ...As a general rule, values of new-construction multifamily housing -- including townhomes, condos and co-ops -- are a little more mercurial than single-family homes and can suffer losses faster than conventional homes when a market softens. But in the last few months, some single-family home builders have cut prices up to 25 percent in a few previously red-hot markets such as Las Vegas. These scenarios usually occur when speculators quit investing. Until recently, investors accounted for as many as one in four transactions in several of the hotter markets.
I found this link at The Volokh Conspiracy. It goes to a Bankrate.com item in a Q and A column:
Q. Dear Real Estate Adviser,
I have a contract to buy a new town home for $800,000, but recently I learned that since I signed, the builder has reduced the price of the same type of town home by $100,000.
A. ...As a general rule, values of new-construction multifamily housing -- including townhomes, condos and co-ops -- are a little more mercurial than single-family homes and can suffer losses faster than conventional homes when a market softens. But in the last few months, some single-family home builders have cut prices up to 25 percent in a few previously red-hot markets such as Las Vegas. These scenarios usually occur when speculators quit investing. Until recently, investors accounted for as many as one in four transactions in several of the hotter markets.
Real estate advice: Development's prices fall just before closing
I found this link at The Volokh Conspiracy. It goes to a Bankrate.com item in a Q and A column:
Q. Dear Real Estate Adviser,
I have a contract to buy a new town home for $800,000, but recently I learned that since I signed, the builder has reduced the price of the same type of town home by $100,000.
A. ...As a general rule, values of new-construction multifamily housing -- including townhomes, condos and co-ops -- are a little more mercurial than single-family homes and can suffer losses faster than conventional homes when a market softens. But in the last few months, some single-family home builders have cut prices up to 25 percent in a few previously red-hot markets such as Las Vegas. These scenarios usually occur when speculators quit investing. Until recently, investors accounted for as many as one in four transactions in several of the hotter markets.
I found this link at The Volokh Conspiracy. It goes to a Bankrate.com item in a Q and A column:
Q. Dear Real Estate Adviser,
I have a contract to buy a new town home for $800,000, but recently I learned that since I signed, the builder has reduced the price of the same type of town home by $100,000.
A. ...As a general rule, values of new-construction multifamily housing -- including townhomes, condos and co-ops -- are a little more mercurial than single-family homes and can suffer losses faster than conventional homes when a market softens. But in the last few months, some single-family home builders have cut prices up to 25 percent in a few previously red-hot markets such as Las Vegas. These scenarios usually occur when speculators quit investing. Until recently, investors accounted for as many as one in four transactions in several of the hotter markets.
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