But the payment plans these attorneys are using have captured the attention of Austin lawmakers.
HOA/homeowner relationships have spawned nearly 60 bills filed this session.
Janet Ahmad of the group Home Owners for Better Building said, “They have been gouging people, with all of these fees. They are losing their homes; they are pricing people out of the market.”
But Ahmad said no bills have made it through…and there are only two days left in the session.
---------------------------------------------------The score at the top of the ninth: HOA bar, 60. Consumers, 0.
3 comments:
"HOA/homeowner relationships have spawned nearly 60 bills filed this session....The score at the top of the ninth: HOA bar, 60. Consumers, 0."
If the aftermath of the Michael Clauer incident didn't result in any reform -- or even the mere appearance of reform -- then the situation is more bleak than I imagined.
Instead of trying to come up with dozens of competing reform measures that would only be exploited by the industry anyway, only one reform is needed:
Make membership in an HOA truly voluntary, in that a homeowner can resign his membership from the HOA; without having to sell his house.
This proposal to prohibit mandatory membership in an HOA union as a condition of home ownership is no more radical -- and no more of a "government interference with a private 'contract'" -- than the Republican Party's position on membership in a labor union as a condition of employment (pp.26 - 28 of their 2008 Platform).
If homeowners are no longer a captive revenue base, then according to the Right's theory of free markets, HOAs will have an incentive to stop behaving like the bullies and sociopaths they currently are.
If an HOA union is truly providing a valuable service, then enough homeowners will want to be dues-paying members. Or even make voluntary donations to the HOA.
If not, then the HOA corporation should go out of business, rather than being treated by lawmakers as though it were Too Big Too Fail(tm).
Sure, there will be some issues, such as the "free rider" problem. But the same is true of the Republican's position on prohibiting mandatory membership in a labor union as a condition of employment.
Allowing consumers to "vote with their wallets" is a much more pro-free-market policy than telling homeowners to "vote in corrupt Chicago-style elections, or leave your home." The only reason that conservatives, Republicans, libertarians, and Ayn Randians would oppose prohibiting mandatory membership in an HOA union as a condition of home ownership are:
(1) they are hypocrites, with respect to their position on mandatory membership in a labor union as a condition of employment
(2) they are closet-collectivists, who really believe that Communistyism can work, if only the right people were put in charge ("if it's a problem, join the board!")
(3) their real goal is to empower and enrich parasitic corporate lawyers at the expense of individual American home owners
HOA Reforms Quietly Passed In Austin
According to KERA, 3 bills reining in HOAs ability to foreclose are awaiting the Governor's signature.
Exactly who are POAs there to "preserve property value" for? Certainly not the owner.
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