Lexington neighbors fight for right to help with one another's chores

http://tdn.com/news/local/lexington-neighbors-fight-for-right-to-help-with-one-another/article_4f703382-d57f-11e3-a9ba-001a4bcf887a.html

"Friendly neighbors at Lexington’s Tim Wa Estates scored a victory Tuesday afternoon after battling for months with local property managers. Kalama-based interim property managers of the mobile home park were demanding that a neighborhood volunteer group, Helping Hands, stop offering their free services to elderly and ailing neighbors. They claimed the group violated the park’s “no solicitation” rules. The rules left residents fearing even going next door to borrow a cup of sugar, let alone lending a hand on a neighbor’s yard work. They said they tried to resolve the dispute for months with no response. But late Tuesday, Amber Monte, president of California-based holding firm Investment Property Group, which owns Tim Wa and oversees the Kalama managers, said those managers are gone from the park. “We’ve removed the employees involved from any further involvement with the property,” Monte said in an email. “We’ve contacted Helping Hands directly to relay our complete support for their charitable services and good deeds.”
----------------------------
I guess all's well that ends well, but it started as yet another example of property managers mindlessly ordering people around in some absurd effort to enforce rules for no good reason and in defiance of common sense.

Broomfield HOA Facing Controversy Over Plan To Kill Rabbits � CBS Denver

Broomfield HOA Facing Controversy Over Plan To Kill Rabbits � CBS Denver

“So they’re going to trap the rabbits in 60 cages and as we walk around our neighborhood we’re going to see these animals trapped awaiting their execution,” said Tasker.

-----------------

I don't believe I have ever heard the word "execution" applied to a rabbit. Why not have a community-building barbecue featuring something that tastes like chicken?  

Home buyers want new, but don't want to pay for it

In March, the median sale price for an existing home was $198,500, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median price for a newly built home was $290,000. While some of that premium can be attributed to the fact that builders are now focusing more on higher-end buyers, and therefore building more luxury homes, there is in general at least a 20 percent premium for new construction...Unfortunately for the builders, just 46 percent of the people who strongly prefer a new home are willing to pay the 20 percent premium that new homes typically cost. And even fewer of those who said they somewhat prefer a newly built home would pay the higher price. In total, just 17 percent of those who said they prefer new would actually pay for new.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/home-buyers-want-wont-pay-131356086.html
-------
Thanks to Fred Pilot for this link. Builders are catering increasingly to the affluent. The 1995-2006 housing boom was in part fueled by efforts to expand homeownership down the income distribution. That's all over now. The home ownership rate is falling, more people are renting, and the new housing market is for the wealthy. The rest of us can accept trickle down housing, as Anthony Downs described back in 1975

Return of 'mansionization' has some L.A. homeowners grumbling - latimes.com

Return of 'mansionization' has some L.A. homeowners grumbling - latimes.com: "Six years ago, Los Angeles politicians imposed new limits on the size of new and renovated houses, promising to rein in what they called "homes on steroids" dwarfing blocks of smaller buildings.

But as the housing market rebounds and construction picks up, many homeowners complain that "mansionization" has revved up — reigniting long-standing policy battles and sometimes bitter fence fights over the face and feel of L.A.'s neighborhoods.

Builders are snapping up smaller, older homes, razing them and replacing them with bigger dwellings. Increasingly, sleek, square structures are popping up along streets known for quaint bungalows."

---------------

Yuck. I lived for many years in and around LA, and the older neighborhoods do have a lot of charm. I'm not a huge fan of "sleek, square structures," as a general rule. But I'm writing a paper now on the increase in segregation by income that has hit many cities over the last three or four decades, and it is apparent that in today's economic and legal environment, the rich take over the neighborhoods they want, and they remake them in the image that suits them. And then they whine about being persecuted and invoke memories of the Third Reich if anybody complains about it.

Woman attacks HOA president after he nixes neighborhood watch program, deputies say - Sun Sentinel

Woman attacks HOA president after he nixes neighborhood watch program, deputies say - Sun Sentinel: Roberts told the president their Oakland Park Mobile Home Park, located in the 1100 block of Handy Oak Circle in unincorporated West Palm Beach, was experiencing an uptick in crime, deputies said.

But the president said the association didn't have the money to do that. He told deputies he raised his voice at Roberts when he told her the idea wouldn't work.

Roberts, who was calm when describing her idea outside the president's house, became enraged after the president raised his voice, according to the report. She started cursing and stood at his doorway, keeping him from shutting his front door, deputies said.

U.S. Homeownership Rate Falls to the Lowest Since 1995 - Bloomberg

U.S. Homeownership Rate Falls to the Lowest Since 1995 - Bloomberg:

"The share of Americans who own their homes was 64.8 percent in the first quarter, down from 65.2 percent in the previous three months, the Census Bureau said in a report today. The rate is the lowest since the second quarter of 1995, when it was 64.7 percent."

------------------

Is this a problem?  At that low point of 1995, the Clinton administration and HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros started the National Homeownership Strategy, which was intended to make home ownership affordable for the lower middle and working classes.  Their goal was to get the homeownership rate back up.  One of their plans was to make financing easier to come by for people of modest means (see below).  I'm not blaming the housing crash on this program, because the major culprits were the financial institutions.  Some things went well for a while, with people getting the benefits of home ownership, but then in the early 2000s, the market went competely crazy.  Zillions of crappy condos and blighted HOA properties were slapped together, and lunatic loans were made to people who could never pay, just so they could be securitized and sold, and on and on.  It's a long, sad story.  However, one question we should ask is how high the homeownership rate should really be. I'm not sure that we need to view this as a problem presently.



-------from the announcement of the NHS:---------

MAKING FINANCING MORE AVAILABLE, AFFORDABLE, and FLEXIBLE.  The
inability (either real or perceived) of many younger families to qualify
for a mortgage is widely recognized as a very serious barrier to
homeownership. The National Homeownership Strategy commits both
government and the mortgage industry to a number of initiatives
designed to:

     Cut transaction costs through streamlined regulations and 
     technological and procedural efficiences.

     Reduce downpayment requirements and interest costs by making  
     terms more flexible, providing subsidies to low- and  
     moderate-income families, and creating incentives to save for 
     homeownership.

     Increase the availability of alternative financing products in housing 
     markets throughout the country.

Judge okays the sale of a widow's $280,000 home over unpaid $6.30 tax bill | Mail Online

Judge okays the sale of a widow's $280,000 home over unpaid $6.30 tax bill | Mail Online

And no, this isn't an HOA foreclosure. These are property taxes.

Nevada Public Radio -- News 88.9 KNPR

Nevada Public Radio -- News 88.9 KNPR

Here's a link to listen to the mp3 of the Nevada Public Radio program I was on this morning.

Listen to me live on Nevada Public Radio

http://www.knpr.org/son/archive/detail2.cfm?SegmentID=11146

The HOA: Help Or Headache?

Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on google_plusone_shareShare on emailMore Sharing Services

AIR DATE: April 23, 2014

This past weekend, KNPR ran across this story by the Las Vegas Review Journal about a man, geese and an homeowner's association. And that got us wondering about how HOA's are doing now in Nevada, some of the problems with HOAs, as well as the history of the organizations in Las Vegas and nationally.

GUESTSEvan McKenzie, law professor and HOA expert, University of Illinois Chicago
Mike Randolph, founder Homeowner’s Association Services
Michael Buckley, attorney

Illinois Supreme Court: owners can't refuse to pay assessments over dispute

This is final stage of the Spanish Court Two v. Carlson case.  Illinois is the only state (to the best of my knowledge) that allows condo associations to collect overdue assessments using forcible entry and detainer actions in Housing Court, the same as the landlords who are doing the same to tenants who haven't paid rent. But renters are sometimes allowed to "deduct and repair," or even refuse to pay rent at all, if the landlord has breached the lease.  Can condo owners do likewise? No.  Even though the association can treat the owner like a tenant by bringing a forcible action, the unit owner can't assert this tenant-type of defense.  Sauce for the goose is not for the gander. Thanks to Fred Pilot for letting me know this decision came down at last.

27-home subdivision disbands homeowners association, reverts to control of Smithfield City - The Herald Journal: Allaccess

27-home subdivision disbands homeowners association, reverts to control of Smithfield City - The Herald Journal: Allaccess: SMITHFIELD — A 27-home subdivision has opted to disband its homeowners association and revert to the control of Smithfield City, a move that was approved by the Smithfield City Council.

The 5-1 vote regarding the Three Creeks subdivision took place during the council meeting on Wednesday, March 26. Councilmember Brent Buttars was the lone nay.

The subdivision first sought the change in January, but more information was needed before a vote could take place.

Under the final terms approved by the council, the homeowners agreed to contribute a one-time lump sum of around $20,000 to the city to partly offset the city’s costs in taking care of the subdivision near 700 Canyon Rd.
------------

Privatopia, Utah sector, just got a little smaller.

Debate grows over concealed weapons at community associations - chicagotribune.com

Debate grows over concealed weapons at community associations - chicagotribune.com:

"Physical assaults are uncommon, but they happen, according to the 2012 national survey "Violence in Homeowner Associations," conducted by the Community Associations Institute. The 1,314 respondents included managers, staffers and homeowners.

Among the respondents, 13 percent reported they had been physically assaulted one or more times by an angry resident, and 52 percent reported they had been threatened with physical violence one or more times by such a resident.

Associations rightly should be worried, said association attorney Marvin Nodiff in St. Louis. Concealed carry was legalized in Missouri in 2004.

"I call it a time bomb," he said. "At some point, we will have an angry meeting and someone will shoot off a gun."

------------------

Here's irony for you.  The gun lobby has been telling people the government is coming for their guns, which is complete nonsense. There isn't the slightest prospect for federal gun control legislation. Congress couldn't even bring itself to pass a background check law after the massacre at Sandy Hook.  And in any event, the current Supreme Court is almost as protective of gun owners as they are of rich people and big business.  But in the real world, HOA and condo boards really do have the power to ban guns, unless the laws of their state say they can't. And there are reasons they might want to ban guns, such as liability for accidential shootings and fear that the local angry owner will take up arms against perceived private tyranny--which has already happened a few times. Maybe in states with strong gun cultures, BODs will be less likely to interfere with gun owners' rights, but in Chicago guns were banned until recently, so I can see boards freaking out and enacting gun bans.

Homeowners’ association challenges judge’s ruling

Homeowners’ association challenges judge’s ruling: DADE CITY —

"The Bayhead Landings Property Owners Association, which battled one of its members in court over wheelchair access, has appealed a judge’s ruling that its deed restrictions expired more than three years ago.

County Judge William Sestak agreed with three Bayhead Landings homeowners that the association board failed to follow its own procedures for extending the neighborhood deed restrictions in 2010. He issued a court order March 24 ruling that the deed restrictions and covenants expired on Jan. 1, 2011."

------------

And the saga continues..

Bill would make homeowner association meetings accessible to all

Bill would make homeowner association meetings accessible to all: Despite feeling defeated the Whitts took their issue to Senator Wilton Simpson who introduced Bill 1450, requiring all homeowner association meetings to be accessible to handicapped people.

"It's for everybody that's disabled," said John. "There is veterans fighting wars coming back disabled and I wouldn't want him to go through what I went through."

The homeowners association says it has tried to accommodate the Whitts’ needs several times and it doesn’t understand their specific requests.

--------

Sometimes a failure to communicate can have broad repercussions.

The threat of bankruptcy may be a new source of competitive advantage in post-recession urban politics

blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2014/03/26/the-threat-of-bankruptcy-may-be-a-new-source-of-competitive-advantage-in-post-recession-urban-politics

Interesting take on the post-crash dynamics facing cities. Expenses that were long considered untouchable may now be on the chopping block...in bankruptcy court.  And the threat of Chapter Nine proceedings changes the dynamics of negotiation with public employee unions.

Justice Watch: Suit Claims D.R. Horton Left Miami Gardens HOA In A Mess | Daily Business Review

Justice Watch: Suit Claims D.R. Horton Left Miami Gardens HOA In A Mess | Daily Business Review: "D.R. Horton Inc. markets itself as "America's homebuilder."
On its website, the Fort Worth, Texas-based company advertises it will make residents' dreams come true.
At Majorca Isles in Miami Gardens, that dream has taken on the qualities of a nightmare with broken front gates and random garbage piles left by outsiders. There's also a padlocked, half-finished park choked with weeds and a malfunctioning heated pool, which usually is under repair and sometimes green. Not to mention the gym, where equipment has not been maintained properly.
In a Jan. 29 lawsuit filed in Bankruptcy Court, the court-appointed trustee for the master homeowner association alleges D.R. Horton left the HOA in financial shambles, essentially abandoning the project when the housing market collapsed.
The trustee, forensic accountant Barry Mukamal, a partner at Marcum in Miami, is a seasoned bankruptcy veteran. He said he's never seen a builder undercut an HOA and community like D.R. Horton did at Majorca Isles."

-----------------

Really? Come on up here and look at what Neumann Homes did to Clublands in Antioch, IL

Residents of Struggling Cities Opt to Skip Town | FiveThirtyEight

Residents of Struggling Cities Opt to Skip Town | FiveThirtyEight:

"Eighteen U.S. metro areas had unemployment rates of 12 percent or higher in 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and all but three of them saw a net decline in migration — that is, they saw more people move out than move in.

These cities are overwhelmingly in inland California, where the collapse of the housing bubble left deep and lasting scars. California accounts for 13 of the 18 cities with unemployment rates of 12 percent or above,2 and for 18 of the 56 with unemployment rates in the double digits." [emphasis added]

----------------

Many cities, large and small, are dealing with multiple problems--unemployed residents, cratered housing markets, vanishing employers, increased social service and pension costs-that make them unable to deal with maintaining public infrastructure.  This problem is one reason cities have been promoting CID housing, with its private infrastructure.  But that crutch isn't working all that well presently. It has been obvious for years that HOAs and condos will be dealing with their own private infrastructure crisis, and that is happening right now.

Bill aims to resolve conflict over homeowner association managers

Bill aims to resolve conflict over homeowner association managers:

"Attorneys say community managers are doing more things, like filling out legal paperwork, that rightly should be done by qualified lawyers.

Managers, and the homeowners they work for, counter that they should be allowed to fill out forms without the expense of an attorney, which is sure to increase association fees."

-----------

Homeowners Associations Are Short on Cash

Homeowners Associations Are Short on Cash

Indeed they are.

Drought battle focuses on homeowner rules, meters | UTSanDiego.com

Drought battle focuses on homeowner rules, meters | UTSanDiego.com

"With California in the grips of a prolonged dry spell, state lawmakers are looking to grant members of homeowner associations the freedom to plant drought-resistant landscaping without the fear of fines. One cornerstone bill cleared its first hurdle Wednesday when the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development approved legislation carried by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego. Her bill seeks to override some homeowner association (HOA) regulations that effectively require residents to keep lawns and other water-guzzling landscapes pristine — even during dry spells. “Homeowners who install plants that are less water-intensive should not be penalized for recognizing California’s water crisis and proactively conserving,” Gonzalez told the committee."

--------------

Of course, CAI is against it. Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.