Town That Served As ‘Hunger Games’ Backdrop On Sale For $1.4 Million « CBS Charlotte

Town That Served As ‘Hunger Games’ Backdrop On Sale For $1.4 Million « CBS Charlotte

"Shepherd, 83, told the Associated Press that fans have swarmed his 72 acres of land, despite the fact that it’s all private property. “Day and night, they’re driving through, taking pictures, getting out and walking,” he said. “I’m just bombarded with people.”  Shepard is no Hunger Games enthusiast, having never read any of the series. He is now even less enthralled by its passionate fan-base, which is why he has put the property on the market for $1.4 million."

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Not a bad deal--it works out to less than $20,000 per acre, and with no homeowners' association.

The pros and cons of homeowners associations - Yahoo! Finance

The pros and cons of homeowners associations - Yahoo! Finance

"Most associations work reasonably well most of the time, but there are tons of examples of really troubling rules," says Evan McKenzie, associate professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of the book "Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government."

Among other actions that have aroused controversy, associations have banned owners from renting out residences and have forbidden inflatable lawn ornaments at Christmastime.

HOAs and condo associations are bound by state laws. Florida, Nevada and Virginia have ombudsmen to hear complaints. In the rest of the states, the state government plays a minimal role, McKenzie says.

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This is basically an "on the one hand, on the other hand," article.

Rodney Gray's new documentary: The Hoax

NEW HOA DOCUMENTARY FILM, THE HOAX

Hi there, I'm Rodney Gray. I am a former U.S. Marine, an actor and a filmmaker, who is currently directing and producing a feature documentary on the homeowners' association (HOA) industry for submission to film festivals and future distribution, but also as my MFA production thesis at the University of North Texas.

My new film, The HOAX, follows an investigative reporter, homeowners, and HOA reform activists as they reveal shocking evidence of financial and psychological hardships experienced by people throughout Texas and Nevada. A few of these people, including the filmmaker, have been the subject of adverse actions from the very HOAs created to help them.

Please feel free to visit our websites to find out more information, get updates and watch the teaser trailer.

The HOAX Movie Website:

http://thehoaxfilm.com/

The HOAX Trailer Tease and Campaign Website:

www.indiegogo.com/thehoaxfilm

Spread the word and please share these links. Help us bring injustices into the light.

Best to you all,

Rodney

Austerity in Heaven’s Corridor

Austerity in Heaven’s Corridor
"The Left should be paying attention to Florida. If you’ve ever desired a nightmarish vision of the legislature-driven austerity measures sure to proliferate around the country in the coming years, look no further than the Sunshine State’s 2012 budget. With little protest, Florida lawmakers are eviscerating public welfare and rapidly turning the state into a haven for the exploitation of workers. Despite the laughable “moderation narratives” now propagating in local newspaper coverage–which depict it as part of a trend away from rightist absolutism–the 2012 budget is nothing less than an unqualified victory for free market zealots everywhere: its legislatively-imposed austerity measures and multi-billion dollar tax cuts will no doubt serve as a useful model for other “business friendly” Southern states and the country as a whole."
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I don't follow Florida public affairs except where condos and HOAs are concerned. This article paints a picture of the state as a model for the nation.

Architects float answers to rising seas around the world – USATODAY.com

Architects float answers to rising seas around the world – USATODAY.com
BANGKOK (AP) – A floating mosque and golf course for the submerging Maldives islands. Amphibious homes in the Netherlands lifted to safety as waters surge beneath them. A hospital perched on 400 stilts to protect patients from Thailand's devastating floods and the encroaching sea..Around the world, architects and city planners are exploring ways mankind and water may be able to coexist as oceans rise and other phenomenon induced by climate change, including extreme, erratic floods, threaten land-rooted living. With the Dutch at the helm, projects in the cutting-edge field of aqua-architecture are already in place, including a maritime housing estate, floating prison and greenhouses in the Netherlands..
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Makes sense that the Dutch would be doing this, after all those years living below sea level.

Americans brace for next foreclosure wave | Reuters

Americans brace for next foreclosure wave | Reuters

Many more U.S. homeowners face the prospect of losing their homes this year as banks pick up the pace of foreclosures.

"We are right back where we were two years ago. I would put money on 2012 being a bigger year for foreclosures than 2010," said Mark Seifert, executive director of Empowering & Strengthening Ohio's People (ESOP), a counseling group with 10 offices in Ohio.

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The Housing Bubble keeps on giving trouble.

Irish Protest Against Household Tax As Austerity Pain Bites Further : The Two-Way : NPR

Irish Protest Against Household Tax As Austerity Pain Bites Further : The Two-Way : NPR

This weekend, Ireland's 1.65 million householders were supposed to register to pay a new tax; an annual household charge of 100 Euros. That's about $133. By the time the deadline expired at midnight Saturday, only about half had done so.

Hundreds of thousands now face the prospect of penalties and, potentially, prosecution. Is a tax revolt in the making, that could disupt the government's strategy for getting the economy back on its feet — and make it still harder to implement future austerity measures?

Trayvon Martin: homeowners could pay in Trayvon Martin case - Orlando Sentinel

Trayvon Martin: homeowners could pay in Trayvon Martin case - Orlando Sentinel
This story is taking off. Now it is being picked up by the powerhouse site Findlaw:

Homeowners May Have to Pay in a Trayvon Civil Action

Thanks to Fred Pilot for the Findlaw link.

Colorado HOA: Chickens must go

Then Vidia’s dad built a nice coop for them and fenced the yard so they could run around freely.

Pow! That newfound freedom led to the neighbor complaint and now an order from the HOA to evict the chickens.

“We didn’t realize we were breaking the covenants,” said Maya Hurdowar, mother of Vidia. “City regulations say you can have chickens. We didn’t know it was against HOA rules. We wrote them. But they said they are allowed to be stricter than the city law.

“We wrote them and asked them for a variance, for my daughter’s sake. These are her pets.”

The variance was not granted. On a 2-1 vote, the HOA board voted to enforce the covenants.
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It's easier to get a variance from a municipality than an HOA as these HOA inmates discovered with their domestic poultry. That's because HOA boards see CC&Rs as set in stone giving them no flexibility. That lack of accommodation often leads to frivolous litigation that wastes money and judicial resources.

Homeowners, legislators want HOA rules to move forward for Myrtle Beach area

For Pat Howard, a Murrells Inlet homeowner, it’s been one issue after another with his homeowners’ association.

From money being spent on items the community wasn’t aware of, to an increase in late fees, to an insurance amendment without homeowners’ approval -- the list of complaints goes on and on.

It’s time, he says, for the state to step up and start overseeing homeowners associations.

Howard’s situation is one of numerous complaints some residents have about homeowners associations and how those groups use their power. They and local legislators say there’s a need to govern HOAs in South Carolina, which doesn’t oversee the groups.
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It's the same story that has been playing out in various states for at least the past two decades. HOA reform is stuck the familiar wash, rinse, repeat cycle.

'There is nothing to scrutinize' - Lowell Sun Online

'There is nothing to scrutinize' - Lowell Sun Online

"In other states, courts are scrutinizing whether the foreclosing party has the right to foreclose and concluding that in most cases (they haven't) demonstrated that right with proper documentation,

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said Debra Fortenberry, a Colorado Springs attorney who helped draft the initiative with Brunette and the Colorado Progressive Coalition. "In Colorado, there is nothing to scrutinize," she said.
No other state allows for a foreclosure without the lender first proving it is the right entity to do so. Colorado allows foreclosure lawyers to sign a "statement of qualified holder," which basically says they think their client owns the note or mortgage without ever actually seeing it -- a practice some states have labeled as "robo-signing."
Colorado law allows a foreclosure to continue even if the lawyer gets it wrong -- and doesn't hold anyone accountable for the mistake. It's a crime in Nevada, one of the states to use deeds of trust like Colorado. 
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Great example of public policy makers letting the banks and mortgage servicers make whatever public policy they want. Now maybe the people will change it.

Read more: http://www.lowellsun.com/business/ci_20297412/there-is-nothing-scrutinize?source=rss#ixzz1qi7Sckbw

Is Conservatism Our Default Ideology? - Miller-McCune

Is Conservatism Our Default Ideology? - Miller-McCune
 “When effortful, deliberate responding is disrupted or disengaged, thought processes become quick and efficient,” the researchers write in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. “These conditions promote conservative ideology.”
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This explains a lot. If you stop to think about it.

Don't question your HOA or you might get arrested - Friday, March 30, 2012 | 2 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun

Don't question your HOA or you might get arrested - Friday, March 30, 2012 | 2 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun

Frank and Stebbins accused two board members of “forgery” — essentially knowingly signing a false statement — which was probably also imprudent. According to a police affidavit, Frank told the investigator a “flagrantly false” board resolution related to the surplus was “used to deceive the community membership and government agencies concerning the improper disposition of millions of dollars of overcharged/surplus homeowner assessments.”
After an investigation, Henderson Police exonerated the board members and then arrested … Frank and Stebbins.

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Thanks to Rodney Gray and others for sending me this link.  It turned out that Frank and Stebbins were right about the position the IRS would take on the surplus, although that issue, amounting to a tax liability of $1.35 million, is disputed and is still being negotiated. In the meantime, the cops arrested them and they were charged with making a false police report. Say what?  Eventually the case against Frank and Stebbins was dropped, but as reporter Coolican says, "This seems to be a curious use of government resources." What is the nature of the relationship between the HOA board of directors and the Henderson police and city government, that such a thing would happen? Strange days, indeed.

Gazette.Net: Lawsuit could impede HOA debt collection

Gazette.Net: Lawsuit could impede HOA debt collection

Fontell, a former accountant who now is unemployed and past president of the Norbeck Grove I Condominium Association, has been fighting a $236.71 condominium fee that dates back to 2003 — ignoring letters and calls claiming she had to pay, according to court records. She said she already had paid the assesment and The Management Group, Inc., which oversees operations of the Norbeck Condominiums, made a billing error. In 2008, the Norbeck condominium association successfully sued Fontell in a Montgomery County District Court, a ruling she successfully appealed in circuit court, where the condominium association filed the lien against her in hopes of collecting its debt, according to court records. Circuit Court Judge Robert A. Greenberg ruled in 2010 the association had waited too long to seek its money, violating the state’s three-year statute of limitations on such claims.
Since the 2010 lien, Fontell said she’s been unable to work as an accountant, a field where credit checks often are part of job applications, or sell her Olney condominium.
Last year, staff with the state’s Attorney Grievance Commission informed Fontell the lien against her and the other liens filed by The Management Group Associates, Inc.’s president, Jeff Gatling, constitute an unauthorized practice of law as they should have been filed by an attorney, not Gatling.
Fontell, who is representing herself after being unable to find a lawyer willing to take on her case pro bono, is seeking compensation under the U.S. Fair Debt Collections Practice Act.
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Very interesting case, now before a federal court.  Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.

HOA could be sued in Trayvon Martin civil suit | wtsp.com

HOA could be sued in Trayvon Martin civil suit | wtsp.com

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The residents who live in the gated community where Trayvon Martin was killed could soon find themselves in a legal battle.
Several attorneys say if Martin's parents file a civil suit, the homeowners association for the Retreat at Twin Lakes could be named in the case, meaning residents of the community could end up paying big money for the 17-year-old's death.
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Fred Pilot sent some links along on this issue. As you can imagine, I've been thinking about this possibility since I first heard that the case involved some sort of alleged neighborhood watch program in a gated community.   It seems likely that such a lawsuit will happen unless Zimmerman is prosecuted and acquitted.  If so, I don't know how this will play out because the facts aren't clear yet., and I don't want to prejudge it.  The critical issue is the nature of the relationship between Zimmerman and the HOA.  Another story says this:


A civil lawsuit in the Martin case, legal experts said, would be predicated on establishing a relationship between Zimmerman and the Retreat at Twin Lake association, as well as establishing a relationship between Twin Lakes homeowners and a crime watch group that Zimmerman led. The homeowners association acknowledged Zimmerman and the neighborhood crime watch in a February newsletter, according to the Associated Press. The newsletter encouraged residents to contact Zimmerman in case of an incident, it said. "If you've been the victim of a crime within the community, after calling the police, please contact our captain, George Zimmerman ... so we can be aware and help address the issue with other residents," the newsletter said.

That suggests a connection between Zimmerman and the HOA.  There are several questions that have been raised or that come to mind:

• What documentation, if any, exists that confirms or defines the nature of this "captain" role that Zimmerman was playing?
• Did the HOA know that Zimmerman was armed when we was out and about acting as "captain"?
• What training, if any, did Zimmerman have to do this? And what steps did the HOA take to make sure that their "captain" was trained properly?
• Neighborhood Watch programs are registered with the National Sheriff's Association.  This one wasn't. Why was this HOA operating an unregistered program? . Here's what they have to say about this:  "The alleged action of a “self-appointed neighborhood watchman” last month in Sanford, FL significantly contradicts the principles of the Neighborhood Watch Program,” stated NSA Executive Director Aaron D. Kennard, Sheriff (ret.). “NSA has no information indicating the community where the incident occurred has ever even registered with the NSA Neighborhood Watch program.” 
• Had there been any complaints brought to the HOA about Zimmerman's behavior in this role? What did they know?
• What should they have known?  What level of supervision or oversight did the HOA have over Zimmerman, and was it consistent with the standard of care and practice that prevails in this industry.
• The industry, by the way, has already taken steps in the wake of this tragedy to advise associations that they should avoid any such responsibilities.  Here's what CAI has to say, in a press release: "I would not advise board members to inject themselves into the role of telling members how to set up a neighborhood watch. The board cannot be the eyes and ears that the owners or neighbors can be," says Beth A. Grimm, a Pleasant Hill, Calif., attorney who is a member of CAI's College of Community Association Lawyers (CCAL).

And that leads to another question.  If it turns out that the HOA is civilly liable in this case, who would pay the judgment?  If the HOA has a liability insurance policy, which I assume they do, undoubtedly they will turn to that carrier for a defense and indemnification up to the policy limits, which is usually $1 million.  But does that policy cover the actions of volunteers, or just directors and officers of the association?  As association attorney Donna Berger says, "The vast majority of homeowner associations do not have insurance policies that cover the acts of their volunteers, according to Berger. If that is the case with Retreat at Twin Lakes, the residents could be responsible for satisfying any judgment against the association, said Berger, the community associations lawyer not involved in the case."

 That would leave the association potentially facing an uninsured judgment that could involve a great deal of money.  Who would pay that judgment?  Some readers of this blog know that I have been writing about this for some time.  The answer is, "the unit owners." This situation has come up several times in California in the Le Parc case, and in the Oak Park Calaveras saga. I talk about these cases in my latest book, Beyond Privatopia. 

By the way--try and find that responsibility in your CC&Rs. We constantly hear from the industry and the courts that you are stuck with the terms of the governing documents because you should have read and understood them. Fine. But here is an obligation that nobody knows about:  responsibility for uninsured debts and judgments of the association.

Don’t question your HOA or you might get arrested

Frank and Stebbins believed the board was piling up excess reserves -- more than $3 million -- when that money should have been returned to homeowners. Not returning it placed the money at risk of IRS tax liability, they insisted.

Frank and Stebbins built their case and then sought advice from friends in the legal community to avoid a boomerang lawsuit from the HOA board. They were advised to bring the issue to local law enforcement, meaning Henderson Police. Bad advice.

Frank and Stebbins accused two board members of “forgery” -- essentially knowingly signing a false statement -- which was probably also imprudent.
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Indeed. It's understandable that most HOA inmates can't afford to lawyer up to go after the board or don't have the inclination or ability to file a pro se court petition. But calling the cops to sort out HOA issues probably isn't the best move.

Homeowner's Association: Remove Our Name From Facebook Page Or We'll Sue - The Consumerist

Homeowner's Association: Remove Our Name From Facebook Page Or We'll Sue - The Consumerist
 A Tennessee woman says she's being bullied by her homeowner's association, all because she used the name of her subdivision to create a private Facebook page for residents. 

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Thanks to Mystery Reader for this example of what happens to anybody who tries to create a sense of community in a "community" association. 

Bank of America Sold Card Debts to Collectors Despite Faulty Records - American Banker Article

Bank of America Sold Card Debts to Collectors Despite Faulty Records - American Banker Article
 Bank of America has sold collections agencies rights to sue over credit card debts that it has privately noted were potentially inaccurate or already repaid.
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The biggest domestic problem this country faces is not the federal budget deficit or overall government debt.  It is the crushing debt burden that has been imposed on the middle class and the poor.  And nobody is doing anything about it.  The Obama administration is desperately concerned about the health of the big banks, the Republicans are shamelessly flacking for the rich and powerful, and the Democrats are floundering around trying to decide whether they should be Republican Lite or make a teensy-weensy move back from the moderate right to what used to be the center. In the meantime, home mortgage debt (secured by homes that aren't worth a damn), consumer debt, medical bills, and student loans leave most of us struggling and one layoff away from filing Chapter 13. 

HOA scandal: FOUR 'commit suicide' after probe into Nevada homeowners association fraud | Mail Online

HOA scandal: FOUR 'commit suicide' after probe into Nevada homeowners association fraud | Mail Online
Guess what is making news across the pond?

Man tags own home: Neighbors dislike graffiti — and message | kens5.com San Antonio

Man tags own home: Neighbors dislike graffiti — and message | kens5.com San Antonio

KENS 5 asked McClain if he would say that he tagged his own home. "Yes I did," answered McClain.
The message reads "To the mother f----- that stole my truck. You are a dead man."
McCain says he didn't mean it as a death threat. "I would just like my stuff back," he added.
The message also reads "2K NQA." McClain explained that means he is offering a cash reward of $2,000 for information, no questions asked...According to the San Antonio Police Department, McClain is not breaking the law. SAPD spokesman Matt Porter said McClain did not use profanity, because he did not spell out the expletive. Also, he says according to homicide detectives, McClain did not threaten anyone specifically. Finally, the city is not allowed to regulate what people paint on their homes.
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 For some reason the neighbors have a problem with this.