Tuesday, June 17, 2008

NBC2 News Online - Foreclosures: 'It's a nightmare across the board'

NBC2 News Online - Foreclosures: 'It's a nightmare across the board': "LEE COUNTY: The number of foreclosures in Lee County is up 350-percent for the first five months of the year. Now, the crisis is proving painful for more than just delinquent homeowners. NBC2 found out why people who can afford to keep their home are also paying the price. Less than a year ago, Lisa Norman bought a condo in the Terraces at Riverwalk. Now her neighbors are becoming scarce and she's feeling the hit. She just received a $500 bill out of the blue from her homeowner's association. 'I can't afford it. It's not in my budget,' said Norman. She has until August 15 to come up with the money. A section in the association's contract allows for 'special assessments' for unexpected events. The homeowner's association says the high number of foreclosures falls into that category. Homeowners were not paying their fees and the association was left with the bills for things like water, lawn maintenance, and keeping the pool in good shape."
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I think this situation is going to snowball, as the threat of insolvency goes from owners to HOAs to local governments.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The HOA is a financial black hole. As the number of foreclosures increases, the HOA brings down the rest of its captives with special assessments. Then there is nothing left but a privatized CID ghetto and the municipality, which is the entity that insisted that the HOA be there in the first place, ends up carrying the load that it tried to avoid with privatization load shedding.

The real shame of it all is that it is the taxpayers, and not the lamebrained officials who insisted on the HOA being instituted in the first place, who will have to pick up the tab for this financial desolation.

Evan McKenzie said...

This idea of the HOA or condo association as a financial black hole is exactly what concerns me. The owners are the ones who stand to get stuck with the bills, no matter how enormous they end up being.