Kenneth R. Harney - FHFA's proposed ban on private transfer fees could cost homeowners: "Andrew Fortin, vice president of government affairs for the 30,000-member Community Associations Institute, which represents homeowners and association managers nationwide, said that banning investments in mortgages on properties with transfer fees payable to associations 'is potentially a big problem.' Among other negatives, it could force associations to increase annual assessments on individual homeowners.
Fortin said his group 'shares the concerns of FHFA about programs that create neo-feudal arrangements' with outside investors, but believes the agency needs to better distinguish between profit-motivated transfer fees and those that benefit public interest and nonprofit organizations."
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Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link. CAI seems to want to protect HOAs power to assess transfer fees. Fred predicted they would take that position, by the way.
2 comments:
Yeah, because the fees that CAI is trying to protect don't actually go to the HOA corporation. Instead they go to the parasitic vendors represented by the CAI trade group.
Contrary to the concerns expressed by CAI, the assessments will not need to increase due to this lack of transfer fees. What happens today is that the management companies contract with the HOA to allow them to charge the homeowners (who aren't contracting parties with the management company) a "transfer fee". The HOA will never see this fee and the HOA board will not even have access to these records of what the management company took from the homeowners. What the management companies fear is that the HOAs boards will not allow the management companies to charge these fees when the HOA itself becomes responsible for what the management company wants to bilk from homeowners.
I point to §5.017 of the Texas Property code which was the result of an amendment to an unrelated bill. Senator John Carona chaired the senate committee that did this and the subject matter wasn't even proper for the committee. But you see, Sen Carona is the owner of the largest legion of HOA management companies in the U.S. Accordingly, he took the language of a bill that was introduced to void transfer fees and turned it into an enabling act for the benefit of HOA vendors - expressly "managing agents". So you see, it was never about the HOAs getting the money.
It's time for a recognition that these homeowners should not be obligated to pay the management company any fees resulting from the contract between the HOA management company and the homeowners. The homeowners were not party to those agreements and did not consent to them.
THe best part about this? You only find these transfer fees in HOA-burdened property. So much for HOAs preserving property values!!
"Andrew Fortin, vice president of government affairs for the 30,000-member Community Associations Institute, which represents homeowners and association managers nationwide, said that banning investments in mortgages on properties with transfer fees payable to associations "is potentially a big problem." Among other negatives, it could force associations to increase annual assessments on individual homeowners."
Memo to Mr.Fortin:
Privatizing local government via mandatory membership HOAs has long increased costs for property owners. The not only pay property taxes, but also HOA assessments to support this dual layered public/private scheme.
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