"Colorado legislators received so many complaints about HOAs that in 2010, they voted to create an HOA Information Office and Resource Center to gather complaints and help homeowners Through Dec. 1, the center had collected 478 complaints, a third of which named managers. Many of the rest centered on poor management practices — from a lack of transparency to ignoring homeowners' concerns About 2 million people in Colorado live under more than 8,000 HOAs, according to state estimates.
"At the CAI's request, the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies is conducting a "sunrise review" to determine whether HOA managers should be regulated. Nine states and the District of Columbia license or regulate community managers."
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When CAI starts asking for regulation, you know the situation is bad. I think many of the mom and pop property management firms are struggling these days. Financial problems trickle up from the owners to the association to the professionals. If the owners can't fund the association, the association can't hire professional management. I realize managers and lawyers do everything possible to sign up associations as clients and start the fee machine, but with all the unfinished subdivisions and foreclosures eventually owners just can't afford management fees. Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.
7 comments:
Interesting statistic. I read the Denver Post article. However, I think the statistics about the article that are at the end of the article should also be noted. I copied and pasted the results as they were displayed when I visited:
THIS ARTICLE IS THE:
#1 most-clicked article of the hour
#1 most-clicked article of the day
#1 most-clicked article among Colorado readers of the day
#1 most-clicked article among Colorado readers of the hour
4th most-clicked article among readers outside Colorado of the day
#1 most-clicked article among readers outside Colorado of the hour
#1 most-clicked article among Denver readers
#1 most-clicked article among business articles today
Hmmmm. Statistical sIgns of unrest about HOAs and unscrupulous agents?
Horror stories...Has anyone heard the ones from Pennsylvania (where illegal), Florida, Texas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Nevada, California, etc.???
You know the horror stories and fraudulent, targeted, farmed fraud-closures, in by these abusive groups, property managers, attys, insurance "professionals," etc., and their "clan" have been an atrocity and tragedy for years
in areas of America...Now, the "educators of the industry," realize there is a problem! Well, when I see CAI step up to the plate, and pro bono, file lawsuits, for those intentionally and fraudulently made homeless by one of these abusive groups, maybe I will believe their "concern." They can start with rectifying the elders, disabled, and other vulnerable population households that have been devastated and left homeless, due to one of the "calculated and learned," attacks against an innocent and unsuspecting homeowner. Maybe, they should start with some of their own, who in my opinion were recruited, to cause this very abuse, targeting the most vulnerable in given
locales. My opinion and experience.
For those that haven't clicked on the link, the Post story starts by telling the situation of Val and Ann Ford, who had their home foreclosed by the Southcreek Townhomes Master HOA for "a misplaced trash can that Ford used to collect debris from a nearby community mailbox." Fines and fees have escalated to $9,000.
"But Ford said he thinks the HOA is looking for any chance it can to punish the couple. In late 2010, before his wife's surgery for breast cancer, the HOA won a court order allowing it to garnish their bank fund. The HOA took all the money the couple had saved for the surgery, almost delaying it, Ford said."
This puts a lie to the claim by Colorado's Independence Institute think-tank that "Since HOAs are very local and small, participants are often neighbors and hence have incentive to settle disagreements in a civil manner." ("Free-Market Alternatives To Zoning" Feb. 28, 2009, by Brian T. Schwartz).
I get the feeling that Colorado has been completely overrun by CAI. They got everything they want there and more regarding pro HOA and Condo legislation.
Now it is night of the living dead time there, with Colorado-ians cannibalizing each other without constraint in their HOAs and Condos.
CAI's dream; unlimited, unconstrained conflict financed with the equity in our homes.
> When CAI starts asking for regulation,
> you know the situation is bad.
Or, the CAI wants to shut down competitors.
According to Joe Felice, a property manager and CAI member in Colorado:
"Under the proposal currently supported by the Legislative-Action Committee (LAC) of CAI-RMC, however, I would not qualify to be licensed as a manager in the state of Colorado, because I have not taken any class from CAI, have not passed any test given by CAI, and do not have any CAI-sponsored designations. My comments on the recent Sunrise Review Application by the Legislative-Action Committee of the Community Associations Institute – Rocky Mountain Chapter are listed below. Licensing, in and of itself, would do nothing to increase the 'professionalism' of a manager, as claimed. All it means is that an individual has gone through the process, obtained the necessary credentials, and paid the required fee. Licensing may, however, impart the impression (sometimes incorrectly) that a manager is more 'professional.'"
Read his entire comment at http://www.hindmansanchez.com/blog/state-legislation/colorado-manager-licensing-making-headlines
Mike Reardon above is absolutely correct. This demonstrates, once again, why most HOA reform is doomed to failure.
The sad part is that many of us are willing to fool ourselves into believing that progress is being made.
The story concludes
"I think there is interest in HOA manager regulation, but touching HOA law is always a bit dicey around here," [Colorado state Senator Morgan] Carroll said of the vested interests surrounding the state's HOA laws.
Anonymous said... "For those that haven't clicked on the link, the Post story starts by telling the situation of Val and Ann Ford, who had their home foreclosed by the Southcreek Townhomes Master HOA for "a misplaced trash can that Ford used to collect debris from a nearby community mailbox." Fines and fees have escalated to $9,000."
What is it about H.O.A. corporations and trash cans?
"In Georgia, a decorated Army veteran who lost a leg in Afghanistan is now ensnared in a battle on the home front — with his homeowners association. The HOA filed a lien on his house related to the placement of his trash cans."
HOAs From Hell : More Horror Stories, More Fraud -- And the Prospect of Legislative Action
by Judy L. Thomas, McLatchy, 12/23/2016
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