deseretnews.com | Flag-flier OK under law, official says
Fred Pilot found this one. After 9/11 HOAs across the nation were making people take down their American flags. Dont' ask me why, but they were. So Congress passed a law protecting flag display rights against HOAs. But we still get examples of HOAs trying to do it anyway. If I live to be a hundred I will never understand this anti-American flag nonsense from community associations. Even CAI tells them not to do this.
DRAPER — A Utah homeowners association will be breaking a federal law — or at least the spirit of the law — if it doesn't allow a Draper veteran to continue flying the American flag on the front of his home, a congressional spokeswoman said.
Lisa Wright, press secretary for Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., said the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 was written to ensure that Americans such as Draper's Kevin Capito are able to fly the flag at their homes.
The legislation was sponsored by Bartlett, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush on July 24, 2006.
Capito said he believes that law is being violated by the Village Townhomes homeowners' association, which, through a property-management company, has ordered him to remove the flag mounted at a 45-degree angle above his front door.
Community Management, which manages the townhomes, notified Capito that the external mounting is in violation of the HOA's covenants, conditions and restrictions because it was not an approved exterior improvement.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
thedesertsun.com | HOAs bilked; 60-year-old arrested
Another property manager scandal story, from Fred Pilot:
A 60-year-old Cathedral City woman has been charged with embezzlement for allegedly taking more than $361,000 in a homeowners association scam. San Bernardino sheriff's deputies arrested Mary Lambert Clark, also known as Mary Jacquelin Clark, at 57-459 Buena Suerte Road in Yucca Valley on Tuesday, according to San Bernardino County jail records. Riverside County investigators had issued a warrant for her arrest. Clark managed nine homeowners associations with at least two in Palm Springs, according to a felony complaint filed at the Riverside County Superior Court.
Another property manager scandal story, from Fred Pilot:
A 60-year-old Cathedral City woman has been charged with embezzlement for allegedly taking more than $361,000 in a homeowners association scam. San Bernardino sheriff's deputies arrested Mary Lambert Clark, also known as Mary Jacquelin Clark, at 57-459 Buena Suerte Road in Yucca Valley on Tuesday, according to San Bernardino County jail records. Riverside County investigators had issued a warrant for her arrest. Clark managed nine homeowners associations with at least two in Palm Springs, according to a felony complaint filed at the Riverside County Superior Court.
Daily Herald - Man claims law lets him display US flag in condo
From Nancy Levy:
DRAPER, Utah -- A man who spent four years serving in the Air Force says his homeowners association told him to remove his American flag from over the doorway of his home, despite a federal law that protects such displays. "Basically, they said they would put a lien on my house if it wasn't taken down," said Kevin Capito. "Personally, I don't feel it's unreasonable to want to fly the flag."
From Nancy Levy:
DRAPER, Utah -- A man who spent four years serving in the Air Force says his homeowners association told him to remove his American flag from over the doorway of his home, despite a federal law that protects such displays. "Basically, they said they would put a lien on my house if it wasn't taken down," said Kevin Capito. "Personally, I don't feel it's unreasonable to want to fly the flag."
Sip some wine, mingle, maybe buy a house
Think of this the next time somebody tells you that people who buy into HOAs know exactly what they are getting into. Nice photo of prospective homebuyer chugging wine while looking at a picture of the house of his dreams. No copy of the CC&Rs in sight.
It's common enough for an art gallery to serve wine, or a wine shop to show art, but pairing wine with selling homes may be more unlikely. Yet in downtown Kirkland Thursday evening, visitors to Windermere Real Estate's new Living Room sipped shiraz beside paintings of flowers and pictures of local homes for sale. It's a low-key way for people to start a home search, office owner Aaron Shriner said. "This is their opportunity to come, get information, ask questions then tell us who it is they want to work with."
...Shriner pointed out, without being asked, that he's not going to get buyers drunk so he can sell them a home.
Think of this the next time somebody tells you that people who buy into HOAs know exactly what they are getting into. Nice photo of prospective homebuyer chugging wine while looking at a picture of the house of his dreams. No copy of the CC&Rs in sight.
It's common enough for an art gallery to serve wine, or a wine shop to show art, but pairing wine with selling homes may be more unlikely. Yet in downtown Kirkland Thursday evening, visitors to Windermere Real Estate's new Living Room sipped shiraz beside paintings of flowers and pictures of local homes for sale. It's a low-key way for people to start a home search, office owner Aaron Shriner said. "This is their opportunity to come, get information, ask questions then tell us who it is they want to work with."
...Shriner pointed out, without being asked, that he's not going to get buyers drunk so he can sell them a home.
Subprime bailouts would get costly - Apr. 13, 2007
What the heck. We bailed out the S&L industry (well, liquidated it might be a better choice of words). Now the proposal is to bail out the homeowners who gambled and lost in the subprime mortgage market on homes that they couldn't afford. I wonder if there will come a time when somebody proposes a taxpayer bailout for HOAs that didn't set aside enough in reserves to maintain their common areas.
NEW YORK (Money) -- Want to pick up the check for every homeowner who got saddled with a risky mortgage? It's a big one - on the order of $120 billion. Lawmakers and consumer groups in recent weeks have been calling for assistance for those at risk of defaulting on their mortgage. On Wednesday, Congressional Democrats led by Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) advocated steering hundreds of millions of dollars into nonprofits to help the growing number of homeowners who are having trouble paying their mortgage. But economists and industry experts say the cost of a bailout would be significantly more than that. Christopher Cagan, director of research at First American CoreLogic, says rising mortgage payments on adjustable rate loans will force 1.1 million homeowners into foreclosure over the next 6 years. He estimates the cost of paying off the debt for those borrowers would be $120 billion.
What the heck. We bailed out the S&L industry (well, liquidated it might be a better choice of words). Now the proposal is to bail out the homeowners who gambled and lost in the subprime mortgage market on homes that they couldn't afford. I wonder if there will come a time when somebody proposes a taxpayer bailout for HOAs that didn't set aside enough in reserves to maintain their common areas.
NEW YORK (Money) -- Want to pick up the check for every homeowner who got saddled with a risky mortgage? It's a big one - on the order of $120 billion. Lawmakers and consumer groups in recent weeks have been calling for assistance for those at risk of defaulting on their mortgage. On Wednesday, Congressional Democrats led by Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) advocated steering hundreds of millions of dollars into nonprofits to help the growing number of homeowners who are having trouble paying their mortgage. But economists and industry experts say the cost of a bailout would be significantly more than that. Christopher Cagan, director of research at First American CoreLogic, says rising mortgage payments on adjustable rate loans will force 1.1 million homeowners into foreclosure over the next 6 years. He estimates the cost of paying off the debt for those borrowers would be $120 billion.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Rising foreclosures reshaping communities - USATODAY.com
Here is a Fred Pilot find from USA Today on the impact of the high and rising rate of mortgage foreclosures on neighborhoods, not just the folks who lose their homes. From what I have read, I'd say we aren't yet seeing the light at the end of the foreclosure tunnel. And of course many HOAs are trying to figure out how to handle non-payment issues.
And as thousands of homeowners across the nation are learning, it's not only home values that are being affected by the foreclosure crisis. When foreclosures rise, as they have in Water's Edge and other middle-class areas amid the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market, they can unravel the social fabric and reshape neighborhoods. The crime rate can rise while the quality of the schools goes down. Homeowner associations can see their treasuries drained. Nearby businesses close their doors, and local tax revenue suffers. These problems used to be concentrated in poor, urban and minority neighborhoods where mortgage defaults are more common. The real estate boom, turbo-charged by looser lending standards that began in 2000, changed that. Communities across the country, including some exclusive neighborhoods, have begun to feel the collateral damage of the pandemic use of adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, that required little or no down payments or proof of income.
Here is a Fred Pilot find from USA Today on the impact of the high and rising rate of mortgage foreclosures on neighborhoods, not just the folks who lose their homes. From what I have read, I'd say we aren't yet seeing the light at the end of the foreclosure tunnel. And of course many HOAs are trying to figure out how to handle non-payment issues.
And as thousands of homeowners across the nation are learning, it's not only home values that are being affected by the foreclosure crisis. When foreclosures rise, as they have in Water's Edge and other middle-class areas amid the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market, they can unravel the social fabric and reshape neighborhoods. The crime rate can rise while the quality of the schools goes down. Homeowner associations can see their treasuries drained. Nearby businesses close their doors, and local tax revenue suffers. These problems used to be concentrated in poor, urban and minority neighborhoods where mortgage defaults are more common. The real estate boom, turbo-charged by looser lending standards that began in 2000, changed that. Communities across the country, including some exclusive neighborhoods, have begun to feel the collateral damage of the pandemic use of adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, that required little or no down payments or proof of income.
Monday, April 09, 2007
adn.com | wildlife : Frozen bay turns otters into easy prey
More global warming. I think we all need to dismantle suburbia, scrap our cars and make the tires into sandals, and return to a hunting and gathering economy.
An extra-cold winter on the Alaska Peninsula has frozen sea otters out of the bay and pushed them onto the tundra near Port Heiden where they're easy prey for wolves, humans and hunger.
More global warming. I think we all need to dismantle suburbia, scrap our cars and make the tires into sandals, and return to a hunting and gathering economy.
An extra-cold winter on the Alaska Peninsula has frozen sea otters out of the bay and pushed them onto the tundra near Port Heiden where they're easy prey for wolves, humans and hunger.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Urban Dictionary: Gore Effect
I found this link on Instapundit. Now I understand why it is so cold.
Gore Effect
The phenomenon that leads to unseasonably cold temperatures, driving rain, hail, or snow whenever Al Gore visits an area to discuss global warming. Hence, the Gore Effect.
- Australia, November 2006: Al Gore is visiting two weeks before summer begins. The Gore Effect strikes: "Ski resort operators gazed at the snow in amazement. Parents took children out of school and headed for the mountains. Cricketers scurried amid bullets of hail as Melburnians traded lunchtime tales of the incredible cold." (The Age)
- New York, March 2004: "Gore chose January 15, 2004, one of the coldest days in New York City's history, to rail against the Bush administration and global warming skeptics... Global warming, Gore told a startled audience, is causing record cold temperatures." (NY Environment News)
I found this link on Instapundit. Now I understand why it is so cold.
Gore Effect
The phenomenon that leads to unseasonably cold temperatures, driving rain, hail, or snow whenever Al Gore visits an area to discuss global warming. Hence, the Gore Effect.
- Australia, November 2006: Al Gore is visiting two weeks before summer begins. The Gore Effect strikes: "Ski resort operators gazed at the snow in amazement. Parents took children out of school and headed for the mountains. Cricketers scurried amid bullets of hail as Melburnians traded lunchtime tales of the incredible cold." (The Age)
- New York, March 2004: "Gore chose January 15, 2004, one of the coldest days in New York City's history, to rail against the Bush administration and global warming skeptics... Global warming, Gore told a startled audience, is causing record cold temperatures." (NY Environment News)
Hillsborough: There goes the neighborhood
This is the nightmare that some Tampa Palms homeowners have been dealing with for four months: Cows. Lots of them. Trampling all over their nice lawns and destroying plants in their gated townhouse community called Palma Vista, where homes run from $300,000 to $450,000. The cattle belong to Abram Cuesta, 52, who rents space on the neighboring 640 acres belonging to the widely known Tampa developer, Giunta Group. No one seems to know exactly how or why the cows are getting into the 80-home Palma Vista complex, but people there want it to stop - so much that the homeowners' association recently filed for an injunction to stop the cows and a lawsuit against Cuesta.
This is the nightmare that some Tampa Palms homeowners have been dealing with for four months: Cows. Lots of them. Trampling all over their nice lawns and destroying plants in their gated townhouse community called Palma Vista, where homes run from $300,000 to $450,000. The cattle belong to Abram Cuesta, 52, who rents space on the neighboring 640 acres belonging to the widely known Tampa developer, Giunta Group. No one seems to know exactly how or why the cows are getting into the 80-home Palma Vista complex, but people there want it to stop - so much that the homeowners' association recently filed for an injunction to stop the cows and a lawsuit against Cuesta.
The News-Herald - MultiVest VP admits guilt
Nancy Levy sent this follow-up on one of the property manager embezzlements currently moving through the criminal justice system:
Woman pleads guilty to mail fraud for role in bilking homeowners associations out of more than $3.5 million: A Mentor woman admitted Friday
to playing a role in defrauding more than 70 condominium and homeowners associations throughout Northeast Ohio. Kathleen DeSalvo, 52, stood in a Cleveland federal courtroom filled with attorneys, former employees, victims and U.S. District Court Judge Christopher A. Boyko, and pleaded guilty to a federal charge of mail fraud Friday morning.
Nancy Levy sent this follow-up on one of the property manager embezzlements currently moving through the criminal justice system:
Woman pleads guilty to mail fraud for role in bilking homeowners associations out of more than $3.5 million: A Mentor woman admitted Friday
to playing a role in defrauding more than 70 condominium and homeowners associations throughout Northeast Ohio. Kathleen DeSalvo, 52, stood in a Cleveland federal courtroom filled with attorneys, former employees, victims and U.S. District Court Judge Christopher A. Boyko, and pleaded guilty to a federal charge of mail fraud Friday morning.
Condos Feel the Mortgage Crunch - washingtonpost.com
Nancy Levy sent this piece that documents what I've been concerned about with the housing market headed south. People who find themselves short of cash are shorting the condo association. This will mean more foreclosures.
In a sign that the turmoil in the subprime mortgage industry is affecting entire communities and not just individual homeowners, condominium association officers, property managers and real estate lawyers throughout the region say they are noticing more delinquencies in monthly fees. "If someone is not paying their mortgage, they're not paying their condo fee, and the condos need money to pay bills," said Jeffrey van Grack, a community association lawyer with Lerch, Early & Brewer in Bethesda.
Nancy Levy sent this piece that documents what I've been concerned about with the housing market headed south. People who find themselves short of cash are shorting the condo association. This will mean more foreclosures.
In a sign that the turmoil in the subprime mortgage industry is affecting entire communities and not just individual homeowners, condominium association officers, property managers and real estate lawyers throughout the region say they are noticing more delinquencies in monthly fees. "If someone is not paying their mortgage, they're not paying their condo fee, and the condos need money to pay bills," said Jeffrey van Grack, a community association lawyer with Lerch, Early & Brewer in Bethesda.
AccuWeather.com - Record-Shattering Cold Threatens Crops
I got your global warming right here:
A brutally cold surge of arctic air into the eastern half of the United States will easily bring record-low temperatures on Easter morning and could cause significant losses in some of the nation's most prolific agricultural areas.
I got your global warming right here:
A brutally cold surge of arctic air into the eastern half of the United States will easily bring record-low temperatures on Easter morning and could cause significant losses in some of the nation's most prolific agricultural areas.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Florida attorney general orders Lauderdale condo to allow Jewish mezuzahs on doors: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Here is another isolated anecdote that is totally unrepresentative of the Nirvana that is community association living. This time it's another chapter in the utterly brainless condo association war on mezuzahs, with the Florida AG weighing in heavily on the side of religious liberty. Apparently the association responded to the bad press by allowing the original complainant to have his mezuzah. The Florida AG says, no, everybody should have the same right.
Just in time for Passover, Laurie Richter won the right to keep her mezuzah on the doorpost of her rented Fort Lauderdale condominium. But that's not good enough for Attorney General Bill McCollum. He gave the association at The Port Condominium, in the 1800 block of Southeast 17th Street, until 5 p.m. today to change its rules so all its Jewish residents can hang mezuzahs...Neither condo board president Ronni L. Rosenberg nor association attorney Henry Howell Fox could be reached for comment. The association's rule prohibits anyone from attaching, hanging, affixing or displaying anything on the exterior walls, doors, balconies and windows, which are considered common property controlled by the association.
Here is another isolated anecdote that is totally unrepresentative of the Nirvana that is community association living. This time it's another chapter in the utterly brainless condo association war on mezuzahs, with the Florida AG weighing in heavily on the side of religious liberty. Apparently the association responded to the bad press by allowing the original complainant to have his mezuzah. The Florida AG says, no, everybody should have the same right.
Just in time for Passover, Laurie Richter won the right to keep her mezuzah on the doorpost of her rented Fort Lauderdale condominium. But that's not good enough for Attorney General Bill McCollum. He gave the association at The Port Condominium, in the 1800 block of Southeast 17th Street, until 5 p.m. today to change its rules so all its Jewish residents can hang mezuzahs...Neither condo board president Ronni L. Rosenberg nor association attorney Henry Howell Fox could be reached for comment. The association's rule prohibits anyone from attaching, hanging, affixing or displaying anything on the exterior walls, doors, balconies and windows, which are considered common property controlled by the association.
Times Community Newspapers - Homeowner dream turned nightmare
This is a detailed account of how a middle class couple in Virginia went from relative riches to rags, starting with buying a condo using two interest-only mortgages. Things were going fine until life didn't go as planned...
They are a fairly typical Loudoun family. He is a 35-year-old engineer for a technology company in Fairfax, pulling in $80,000 a year. His wife teaches yoga. College-educated, they have two daughters: a 5-year-old and a newborn. In August 2005, the housing market in Northern Virginia is piping hot. The couple buys an 1,100-square-foot condo in a brand-new Ashburn community for $336,000, using two interest-only mortgages. The plan? To live there for a few years, build equity, then move to a bigger house where the family can grow. But that's not what happened to this family, who would not allow their names to be used because of the sensitive nature of the situation. After a year of spiraling financial problems, the man said, the bank foreclosed on their condo, and now banks, collections agencies, hospitals and homeowners associations are after him for tens of thousands of dollars.
This is a detailed account of how a middle class couple in Virginia went from relative riches to rags, starting with buying a condo using two interest-only mortgages. Things were going fine until life didn't go as planned...
They are a fairly typical Loudoun family. He is a 35-year-old engineer for a technology company in Fairfax, pulling in $80,000 a year. His wife teaches yoga. College-educated, they have two daughters: a 5-year-old and a newborn. In August 2005, the housing market in Northern Virginia is piping hot. The couple buys an 1,100-square-foot condo in a brand-new Ashburn community for $336,000, using two interest-only mortgages. The plan? To live there for a few years, build equity, then move to a bigger house where the family can grow. But that's not what happened to this family, who would not allow their names to be used because of the sensitive nature of the situation. After a year of spiraling financial problems, the man said, the bank foreclosed on their condo, and now banks, collections agencies, hospitals and homeowners associations are after him for tens of thousands of dollars.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Ailing Margate widow, 85, fights condo board to preserve her independence: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Here is another one of those isolated anecdotal-type things that are so unrepresentative of the blissful life millions of people are enjoying in condomiminums:
Rose Normoyle worked as a real-life Rosie the Riveter in an aircraft factory during World War II, building the planes that helped America preserve freedom. Now, she's fighting her condo board so she can maintain her own freedom.At 85, her memory is failing, she is confined to a wheelchair and she must have 24-hour care. But Normoyle, a widow, doesn't want to move into a nursing home. Instead, she wants to remain in the apartment at Lakewood on the Green I, in Margate, that she bought in 1988 after moving from Long Island. With no children and living only on Social Security -- she gets no pension from her jobs assembling aircraft between 1941 and 1982 -- she can't afford caretakers. Her closest friend, retired New York City firefighter Louis D'Agostino, 69, of Coconut Creek, is paying two people to watch over her around the clock. He is half owner of the apartment. But the board considers the caretakers to be "unauthorized and-or transient occupants" and on Feb. 8 filed a lawsuit alleging their presence in the apartment violates association rules.
Here is another one of those isolated anecdotal-type things that are so unrepresentative of the blissful life millions of people are enjoying in condomiminums:
Rose Normoyle worked as a real-life Rosie the Riveter in an aircraft factory during World War II, building the planes that helped America preserve freedom. Now, she's fighting her condo board so she can maintain her own freedom.At 85, her memory is failing, she is confined to a wheelchair and she must have 24-hour care. But Normoyle, a widow, doesn't want to move into a nursing home. Instead, she wants to remain in the apartment at Lakewood on the Green I, in Margate, that she bought in 1988 after moving from Long Island. With no children and living only on Social Security -- she gets no pension from her jobs assembling aircraft between 1941 and 1982 -- she can't afford caretakers. Her closest friend, retired New York City firefighter Louis D'Agostino, 69, of Coconut Creek, is paying two people to watch over her around the clock. He is half owner of the apartment. But the board considers the caretakers to be "unauthorized and-or transient occupants" and on Feb. 8 filed a lawsuit alleging their presence in the apartment violates association rules.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
AlterNet: Will Vermont Secede from the Union?
I have written from time to time about the idea of suburban secession, which is usually associated with middle class or wealthy suburbanites seeking isolation from the starving urban masses (many of whom are struggling with obesity as we speak, but that's another subject). Now we discover that the folks who want to secede are the hippies who fled to Vermont after Nixon beat McGovern in 1972. Who knew?
he winds of secession are blowing in the Green Mountain State.
Vermont was once an independent republic, and it can be one again. We think the time to make that happen is now. Over the past 50 years, the U.S. government has grown too big, too corrupt and too aggressive toward the world, toward its own citizens and toward local democratic institutions. It has abandoned the democratic vision of its founders and eroded Americans' fundamental freedoms. Vermont did not join the Union to become part of an empire. Some of us therefore seek permission to leave.
I have written from time to time about the idea of suburban secession, which is usually associated with middle class or wealthy suburbanites seeking isolation from the starving urban masses (many of whom are struggling with obesity as we speak, but that's another subject). Now we discover that the folks who want to secede are the hippies who fled to Vermont after Nixon beat McGovern in 1972. Who knew?
he winds of secession are blowing in the Green Mountain State.
Vermont was once an independent republic, and it can be one again. We think the time to make that happen is now. Over the past 50 years, the U.S. government has grown too big, too corrupt and too aggressive toward the world, toward its own citizens and toward local democratic institutions. It has abandoned the democratic vision of its founders and eroded Americans' fundamental freedoms. Vermont did not join the Union to become part of an empire. Some of us therefore seek permission to leave.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Foolish Forum: Homebuilder Havoc [Fool.com] April 03, 2007
Don't know if you can access this without a subscription, but it is worth a read, from The Motley Fool. Here's a snippet:
The housing situation in the U.S. seems to be unraveling. Homebuilders have reported nothing but cancellations and asset writedowns, and even the staunch bulls aren't seeing a bottom. Here to discuss the housing situation is homebuilder analyst David Lee Smith...[Smith]...many of the mortgage industry's lending practices clearly had become absurd. Imagine furnishing the funds for someone to buy something as expensive as a house and not even requiring proof of employment or income! In a very real sense, the builders' cavalier approach to land and inventories, coupled with that sort of mortgage-lending foolishness, has resulted in a perfect storm that's now battering the housing industry.
Don't know if you can access this without a subscription, but it is worth a read, from The Motley Fool. Here's a snippet:
The housing situation in the U.S. seems to be unraveling. Homebuilders have reported nothing but cancellations and asset writedowns, and even the staunch bulls aren't seeing a bottom. Here to discuss the housing situation is homebuilder analyst David Lee Smith...[Smith]...many of the mortgage industry's lending practices clearly had become absurd. Imagine furnishing the funds for someone to buy something as expensive as a house and not even requiring proof of employment or income! In a very real sense, the builders' cavalier approach to land and inventories, coupled with that sort of mortgage-lending foolishness, has resulted in a perfect storm that's now battering the housing industry.
Man, 102, takes out 25-year mortgage
This is the triumph of optimism over reality if I've ever seen it.
A pensioner aged 102 has been granted a 25-year mortgage despite the fact he would have to live until 127 to pay the loan back. The property investor from East Sussex has taken out an interest-only £200,000 mortgage and hopes to meet the £958 monthly repayments with income from rent as he joins a growing army of retired people hoping to cash in on buy-to-let schemes. Most lenders set a limit at 75 years for mortgage applicants but a handful, including Woolwich, and Bristol & West, have no such restrictions. This has led to a rush of applications from older investors.
This is the triumph of optimism over reality if I've ever seen it.
A pensioner aged 102 has been granted a 25-year mortgage despite the fact he would have to live until 127 to pay the loan back. The property investor from East Sussex has taken out an interest-only £200,000 mortgage and hopes to meet the £958 monthly repayments with income from rent as he joins a growing army of retired people hoping to cash in on buy-to-let schemes. Most lenders set a limit at 75 years for mortgage applicants but a handful, including Woolwich, and Bristol & West, have no such restrictions. This has led to a rush of applications from older investors.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | 'Zombies' bear down on Brisbane
Here is a new social movement that bears watching. Draft some anti-zombie covenants and ordinances before they parade through the streets of your neighborhood.
Horror film fans dressed up to look like an army of the undead have been stomping the streets of Brisbane, Australia, in an annual Zombie Walk. Spattered with fake blood and their faces painted a deathly white, the "Zombies" staggered across the city to the botanical gardens. The event originated in North America and is in its second year in Brisbane. Its website explains that it is not an April Fool's joke "but serious, in a flippant sort of manner". Zombie Walks in Canada and the US have attracted hundreds of revellers. An event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, drew nearly 900 "Zombies" in October 2006.
Here is a new social movement that bears watching. Draft some anti-zombie covenants and ordinances before they parade through the streets of your neighborhood.
Horror film fans dressed up to look like an army of the undead have been stomping the streets of Brisbane, Australia, in an annual Zombie Walk. Spattered with fake blood and their faces painted a deathly white, the "Zombies" staggered across the city to the botanical gardens. The event originated in North America and is in its second year in Brisbane. Its website explains that it is not an April Fool's joke "but serious, in a flippant sort of manner". Zombie Walks in Canada and the US have attracted hundreds of revellers. An event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, drew nearly 900 "Zombies" in October 2006.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Veterans condemn El-Alamein golf resort plan | International News | News | Telegraph
Sometimes I feel like there are real estate developers who plan their projects while reading The Onion and smoking funny cigarettes. I think a naming contest for this development is in order. And I do agree that 20 million mines and a zillion massive bomb craters will make for challenging fairways.
The desert battlefield of El-Alamein, where Field Marshal Montgomery's Desert Rats famously defeated Rommel's Afrika Korps in the Second World War, is being developed into a golf resort by Egyptian businessmen. British war veterans reacted angrily yesterday after hearing of the plans to turn the historic site into a complex including luxury villas...Not only will massive bomb and mine craters provide extremely challenging fairways but, say developers, the project will be the perfect excuse to get rid of millions of mines which have blighted the region since 1942.
Sometimes I feel like there are real estate developers who plan their projects while reading The Onion and smoking funny cigarettes. I think a naming contest for this development is in order. And I do agree that 20 million mines and a zillion massive bomb craters will make for challenging fairways.
The desert battlefield of El-Alamein, where Field Marshal Montgomery's Desert Rats famously defeated Rommel's Afrika Korps in the Second World War, is being developed into a golf resort by Egyptian businessmen. British war veterans reacted angrily yesterday after hearing of the plans to turn the historic site into a complex including luxury villas...Not only will massive bomb and mine craters provide extremely challenging fairways but, say developers, the project will be the perfect excuse to get rid of millions of mines which have blighted the region since 1942.
Criticism of boring suburban lifestyle is nearly timeless | Chicago Tribune
Interesting historical essay...
Interesting historical essay...
FCC proposes rule limiting HOA power
Nancy Levy sent this link. I'm going to follow up to see which "associations" have been "questioning the Commission's ability to do so."
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, proposed to regulate the ability of homeowners associations to make exclusive video programming contracts to serve multiple dwelling units (MDUs). Some associations have begun questioning the Commissions authority to do so. The FCC also seeks comment on the current competitive landscape among video providers within MDUs and asks whether further FCC rules would improve or impede competition. In rural areas, regulations on exclusive contracts could affect service providers’ plans for building out Internet protocol television (IPTV), especially those that may seek exclusive video service contracts with new housing developments.
Nancy Levy sent this link. I'm going to follow up to see which "associations" have been "questioning the Commission's ability to do so."
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, proposed to regulate the ability of homeowners associations to make exclusive video programming contracts to serve multiple dwelling units (MDUs). Some associations have begun questioning the Commissions authority to do so. The FCC also seeks comment on the current competitive landscape among video providers within MDUs and asks whether further FCC rules would improve or impede competition. In rural areas, regulations on exclusive contracts could affect service providers’ plans for building out Internet protocol television (IPTV), especially those that may seek exclusive video service contracts with new housing developments.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Condo Redondo!
From Fred Pilot:
The Redondo Beach rezoning initiative is the product of citizens who want to protect our quality and life and attract business to Redondo rather than convert business property into condos. A recent city survey shows 60 percent of Redondo voters feel Redondo has too many condos. Only 6 percent feel we need more. Most Redondo residents are concerned with residential growth.
From Fred Pilot:
The Redondo Beach rezoning initiative is the product of citizens who want to protect our quality and life and attract business to Redondo rather than convert business property into condos. A recent city survey shows 60 percent of Redondo voters feel Redondo has too many condos. Only 6 percent feel we need more. Most Redondo residents are concerned with residential growth.
With five private jets, Travolta still lectures on global warming | Showbiz | This is London
But he has a great idea! Space travel and dome cities (no doubt run by hoas), and don't miss the photo of his house with two jets parked next to it:
But although he readily admitted: "I fly jets", he failed to mention he actually owns five, along with his own private runway. Clocking up at least 30,000 flying miles in the past 12 months means he has produced an estimated 800 tons of carbon emissions – nearly 100 times the average Briton's tally. Travolta made his comments this week at the British premiere of his movie, Wild Hogs. He spoke of the importance of helping the environment by using "alternative methods of fuel" – after driving down the red carpet on a Harley Davidson. Travolta, a Scientologist, claimed the solution to global warming could be found in outer space and blamed his hefty flying mileage on the nature of the movie business.
But he has a great idea! Space travel and dome cities (no doubt run by hoas), and don't miss the photo of his house with two jets parked next to it:
But although he readily admitted: "I fly jets", he failed to mention he actually owns five, along with his own private runway. Clocking up at least 30,000 flying miles in the past 12 months means he has produced an estimated 800 tons of carbon emissions – nearly 100 times the average Briton's tally. Travolta made his comments this week at the British premiere of his movie, Wild Hogs. He spoke of the importance of helping the environment by using "alternative methods of fuel" – after driving down the red carpet on a Harley Davidson. Travolta, a Scientologist, claimed the solution to global warming could be found in outer space and blamed his hefty flying mileage on the nature of the movie business.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
newsobserver.com | Autism can't bend subdivision rules: covenants anger parents who need fences to protect kids
Nancy Levy sent this along. I think people need legal protection against being treated like this. But the industry would say their only recourse should be to mobilize other like-minded residents and elect a new board of directors. Not so easy when only 1 out of 150 kids is autistic, according to the article.
CLAYTON - Hunter Guyader, 2, shows signs of autism, and he is a climber. He broke out of his crib when he was 11 months old. He almost fell from an upstairs window while scaling a couch. Michele and Rene Guyader hoped to build a 6-foot fence to keep their fast-growing boy from falling into a sewage drain hole at the back of their steeply sloping lot. The homeowners association of their Clayton subdivision turned them down.
Nancy Levy sent this along. I think people need legal protection against being treated like this. But the industry would say their only recourse should be to mobilize other like-minded residents and elect a new board of directors. Not so easy when only 1 out of 150 kids is autistic, according to the article.
CLAYTON - Hunter Guyader, 2, shows signs of autism, and he is a climber. He broke out of his crib when he was 11 months old. He almost fell from an upstairs window while scaling a couch. Michele and Rene Guyader hoped to build a 6-foot fence to keep their fast-growing boy from falling into a sewage drain hole at the back of their steeply sloping lot. The homeowners association of their Clayton subdivision turned them down.
China's real estate market up 69 percent in 2006: report
Now, that's what I call a real estate boom. And this report just covers commercial real estate. The same sort of thing is happening in residential, where you find enormous numbers of the Chinese equivalent of common interest housing, including private management companies.
Transactions in China's real estate market surged 69 percent in 2006, funded to a great extent by foreign investment, a leading research firm said Wednesday.
"There is increasingly more investment going into industrial property," Kenny Ho, a Shanghai-based head of research with Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate money management and services firm, told AFP. Despite government measures to cool the real estate market, China's heady growth in the past and strong potential for the future have made it "a magnet for cross-border investors," said a report by the firm.
Now, that's what I call a real estate boom. And this report just covers commercial real estate. The same sort of thing is happening in residential, where you find enormous numbers of the Chinese equivalent of common interest housing, including private management companies.
Transactions in China's real estate market surged 69 percent in 2006, funded to a great extent by foreign investment, a leading research firm said Wednesday.
"There is increasingly more investment going into industrial property," Kenny Ho, a Shanghai-based head of research with Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate money management and services firm, told AFP. Despite government measures to cool the real estate market, China's heady growth in the past and strong potential for the future have made it "a magnet for cross-border investors," said a report by the firm.
China's real estate market up 69 percent in 2006: report
Now, that's what I call a real estate boom. And this report just covers commercial real estate. The same sort of thing is happening in residential.
Transactions in China's real estate market surged 69 percent in 2006, funded to a great extent by foreign investment, a leading research firm said Wednesday.
"There is increasingly more investment going into industrial property," Kenny Ho, a Shanghai-based head of research with Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate money management and services firm, told AFP. Despite government measures to cool the real estate market, China's heady growth in the past and strong potential for the future have made it "a magnet for cross-border investors," said a report by the firm.
Now, that's what I call a real estate boom. And this report just covers commercial real estate. The same sort of thing is happening in residential.
Transactions in China's real estate market surged 69 percent in 2006, funded to a great extent by foreign investment, a leading research firm said Wednesday.
"There is increasingly more investment going into industrial property," Kenny Ho, a Shanghai-based head of research with Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate money management and services firm, told AFP. Despite government measures to cool the real estate market, China's heady growth in the past and strong potential for the future have made it "a magnet for cross-border investors," said a report by the firm.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
No end in sight for quiet community riven by feud - New Zealand news on Stuff.co.nz
You think HOA feuds are bad? Try this. And check out the T-shirt...
In a quiet street in Grenada North a war between neighbours is entering its third year, with little sign of resolution. In the past two years police have dealt with more than 70 incidents in Tobago Crescent in the north Wellington suburb. There have been allegations of animals disappearing, bottles being hurled at houses, intimidation, assault and death threats. Hostile T-shirts have been distributed, one man has been evicted from his Housing NZ home and "urgent" neighbourhood meetings have been called. The dispute will feature on a television show, Neighbours at War.
You think HOA feuds are bad? Try this. And check out the T-shirt...
In a quiet street in Grenada North a war between neighbours is entering its third year, with little sign of resolution. In the past two years police have dealt with more than 70 incidents in Tobago Crescent in the north Wellington suburb. There have been allegations of animals disappearing, bottles being hurled at houses, intimidation, assault and death threats. Hostile T-shirts have been distributed, one man has been evicted from his Housing NZ home and "urgent" neighbourhood meetings have been called. The dispute will feature on a television show, Neighbours at War.
KOTV.com -Living Next Door To 'Mister Ed'
A horse is a horse, of course, of course, and no one can build a subdivision about a horse, of course...That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) -- A man who owns the property where famed television horse Mister Ed supposedly is buried wants to take advantage of its notoriety and develop it. Tahlequah homebuilder Todd Carroll has a monument to the horse on his 16-acre property in Tahlequah, where the horse may, or may not be, buried. His plan is to build 12 to 15 log homes and create a subdivision, with the entrance going past the Mister Ed monument.
A horse is a horse, of course, of course, and no one can build a subdivision about a horse, of course...That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) -- A man who owns the property where famed television horse Mister Ed supposedly is buried wants to take advantage of its notoriety and develop it. Tahlequah homebuilder Todd Carroll has a monument to the horse on his 16-acre property in Tahlequah, where the horse may, or may not be, buried. His plan is to build 12 to 15 log homes and create a subdivision, with the entrance going past the Mister Ed monument.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Coulee News -A messy situation: Flooding along private road raises questions
Fred Pilot sent this article about the joys of private streets:
When you live on a private road, getting emergency help is a little more difficult than a homeowner would think. Folks who live in the Scenic Valley Addition near Maple Grove Country Club found that out last week when snowmelt overwhelmed their storm sewer system and flooded streets and basements along Ceresa Drive. “Trying to get help out here was a nightmare,” said resident Curt Edwardson. He spent hours wading through water in hip waders to find the manhole covers and clear them. His wife Janelle said she was on the phone three hours trying to get help. “I don’t know whether to siphon the two-feet of water in the basement through the bathroom or the utility room or where,” said Margette Longworth.
Fred Pilot sent this article about the joys of private streets:
When you live on a private road, getting emergency help is a little more difficult than a homeowner would think. Folks who live in the Scenic Valley Addition near Maple Grove Country Club found that out last week when snowmelt overwhelmed their storm sewer system and flooded streets and basements along Ceresa Drive. “Trying to get help out here was a nightmare,” said resident Curt Edwardson. He spent hours wading through water in hip waders to find the manhole covers and clear them. His wife Janelle said she was on the phone three hours trying to get help. “I don’t know whether to siphon the two-feet of water in the basement through the bathroom or the utility room or where,” said Margette Longworth.
Boing Boing: Cavalcade of homeowner holdouts
Here is a Mystery Reader post on "nail houses," which means houses that remain behind when all else is gone or redeveloped--they stick out like nails.
A couple of weeks ago I posted a couple of entries about people who refused to give up their homes to new development and ended up being surround by a parking lot, freeway, or airport. Many readers offered stories of other holdouts. Here they are.
Here's a long interview with 40-year-old Mrs Wuping, the owner of the "nail house" (called that because it sticks out of the pit around it like a nail).
Here is a Mystery Reader post on "nail houses," which means houses that remain behind when all else is gone or redeveloped--they stick out like nails.
A couple of weeks ago I posted a couple of entries about people who refused to give up their homes to new development and ended up being surround by a parking lot, freeway, or airport. Many readers offered stories of other holdouts. Here they are.
Here's a long interview with 40-year-old Mrs Wuping, the owner of the "nail house" (called that because it sticks out of the pit around it like a nail).
Boing Boing: Slideshow for hellish "Haven of Contentment"
Mystery Reader swoops in with this blast from the past that she labels, "Privatopia: The Framers." Touche.
The fine folks at Swapatorium recently picked up a bunch of 1960s Moose Lodge slide shows. The slide show for "The Haven of Contentment" depicts a place that brings to mind a Stepfordian community populated with lobotomized families who are unwittingly taking part in an intensive secret government neurochemical mind-control experiment. The Dharma Initiative in Lost isn't nearly as creepy as the Haven of Contentment.
Mystery Reader swoops in with this blast from the past that she labels, "Privatopia: The Framers." Touche.
The fine folks at Swapatorium recently picked up a bunch of 1960s Moose Lodge slide shows. The slide show for "The Haven of Contentment" depicts a place that brings to mind a Stepfordian community populated with lobotomized families who are unwittingly taking part in an intensive secret government neurochemical mind-control experiment. The Dharma Initiative in Lost isn't nearly as creepy as the Haven of Contentment.
Governance of Property Owners Associations: Statement of Rights
Here'a a corrected link to Don Nordeen's Statement of Rights.
Here'a a corrected link to Don Nordeen's Statement of Rights.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Fed Faulted For Inaction On Mortgages - washingtonpost.com
On the foreclosure and subprime lender front, Nancy Levy sent this report on Democratic Senators grandstanding on the issue. I realize there is a problem here, but blaming the federal reserve for the actions of subprime lenders strikes me as a major stretch. To me, this is just Sen. Christoper Dodd (D-Mass), et al., woofing and barking at Alan Greenspan to get their names in the paper. But maybe I'll be proven wrong by the Democrats miraculously solving the problem of people borrowing too much money on risky terms to buy more house than they can afford.
Senators yesterday accused the Federal Reserve and its former chairman, Alan Greenspan, of a "pattern of neglect" that fostered a crisis in the mortgage industry that is putting more than 2 million families at risk of losing their homes. Members of the Senate Banking Committee said the Fed had power to regulate risky lending practices but did not choose to use it even as exotic mortgages given to buyers with checkered credit helped drive up housing prices across the country. The mortgage mess has rattled markets in recent weeks and spurred a broad reassessment of lending practices.
On the foreclosure and subprime lender front, Nancy Levy sent this report on Democratic Senators grandstanding on the issue. I realize there is a problem here, but blaming the federal reserve for the actions of subprime lenders strikes me as a major stretch. To me, this is just Sen. Christoper Dodd (D-Mass), et al., woofing and barking at Alan Greenspan to get their names in the paper. But maybe I'll be proven wrong by the Democrats miraculously solving the problem of people borrowing too much money on risky terms to buy more house than they can afford.
Senators yesterday accused the Federal Reserve and its former chairman, Alan Greenspan, of a "pattern of neglect" that fostered a crisis in the mortgage industry that is putting more than 2 million families at risk of losing their homes. Members of the Senate Banking Committee said the Fed had power to regulate risky lending practices but did not choose to use it even as exotic mortgages given to buyers with checkered credit helped drive up housing prices across the country. The mortgage mess has rattled markets in recent weeks and spurred a broad reassessment of lending practices.
Governance of Property Owners Associations: October 2006
Don Nordeen has a Statement of Rights for CID owners that is worth taking a look at. One of these days I'm going to put all these various Bills of Rights side by side and write something about them. Right now I'm getting ready to go hog hunting in Michigan with my son, so the writing will have to wait until Tuesday.
Don Nordeen has a Statement of Rights for CID owners that is worth taking a look at. One of these days I'm going to put all these various Bills of Rights side by side and write something about them. Right now I'm getting ready to go hog hunting in Michigan with my son, so the writing will have to wait until Tuesday.
Foreclosures Force Suburbs to Fight Blight - New York Times
Nancy Levy sends this story with a dateline in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a very nice suburb of Cleveland that has long been known for its racial integration maintenance efforts. Now the story is the municipal response to mortgage foreclosures and resulting vacant properties.
SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — In a sign of the spreading economic fallout of mortgage foreclosures, several suburbs of Cleveland, one of the nation’s hardest-hit cities, are spending millions of dollars to maintain vacant houses as they try to contain blight and real-estate panic.
Nancy Levy sends this story with a dateline in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a very nice suburb of Cleveland that has long been known for its racial integration maintenance efforts. Now the story is the municipal response to mortgage foreclosures and resulting vacant properties.
SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — In a sign of the spreading economic fallout of mortgage foreclosures, several suburbs of Cleveland, one of the nation’s hardest-hit cities, are spending millions of dollars to maintain vacant houses as they try to contain blight and real-estate panic.
Firm Under Scrutiny to Be Sold - washingtonpost.com
Nancy Levy sends this example of an HOA management company in trouble. But, hey, it's just another one of those isolated anecdotes. No need for regulation or anything. Just move along, nothing to see here.
The Fairfax City company under state and local investigation for possible embezzlement of more than $800,000 from Northern Virginia homeowner associations will be sold to a Herndon real estate management partnership, presidents of both firms said yesterday. Robert A. Koger said Koger Management Group, which oversees the finances of more than 300 homeowner and condominium associations, has reached an agreement with National Realty Partners. National Realty will take over day-to-day management of Koger Management, and the purchase is to be completed about July 1.
Nancy Levy sends this example of an HOA management company in trouble. But, hey, it's just another one of those isolated anecdotes. No need for regulation or anything. Just move along, nothing to see here.
The Fairfax City company under state and local investigation for possible embezzlement of more than $800,000 from Northern Virginia homeowner associations will be sold to a Herndon real estate management partnership, presidents of both firms said yesterday. Robert A. Koger said Koger Management Group, which oversees the finances of more than 300 homeowner and condominium associations, has reached an agreement with National Realty Partners. National Realty will take over day-to-day management of Koger Management, and the purchase is to be completed about July 1.
Quad City Foreclosures
Here is a slice of life from Rock Island, IL, where you can see what is going on with foreclosures in middle America. The creative mortgages are coming home to roost:
Mortgage foreclosures spiked in Rock Island County and inched upward in Scott County in 2006, and are on track for another barn burner if all else stays equal, court records indicate. Of the 1,955 mortgage foreclosures in Rock Island County over the past five years, there were an average 430 cases a year from 2003 through 2005. But the number spiked to 537 cases in 2006, court records indicated. The number of Scott County foreclosures have inched upward steadily since 2004, and court record keepers say the number of filings have been brisk since the first of the year. The loss of jobs, unexpected medical expenses and divorces are the three most common reasons people get into financial difficulties that often lead to losing their homes, said Moline attorney Thomas Blade, who represents banks and other lenders in mortgage foreclosure cases. Most of the homeowners in financial trouble own homes valued at no more than $150,000, he said. "They are like 60 percent of the American population living paycheck-to-paycheck," he said...Rock Island attorney Bruce Buckrop said he has definitely seen a rise in the number of his clients facing financial difficulty because of adjustable rate mortgages (ARM). The trend toward ARMs and aggressive mortgage lending practices has increased over the past five years, he said. Some borrowers are wooed into an adjustable interest rate by an attractive low starting rate of 5 percent interest that increases six months later to 8 percent and then 11 percent, he said. An 11 percent mortgage rate is "a killer rate" that can take a $400 a month house payment to $950, Mr. Buckrop said. Sometimes the only thing he can do to help clients is to put them through bankruptcy if they want to save their house. Bankruptcy laws protect the homeowner from losing their homes, if it is a first mortgage, but rids a creditor from credit card and other debt.
Here is a slice of life from Rock Island, IL, where you can see what is going on with foreclosures in middle America. The creative mortgages are coming home to roost:
Mortgage foreclosures spiked in Rock Island County and inched upward in Scott County in 2006, and are on track for another barn burner if all else stays equal, court records indicate. Of the 1,955 mortgage foreclosures in Rock Island County over the past five years, there were an average 430 cases a year from 2003 through 2005. But the number spiked to 537 cases in 2006, court records indicated. The number of Scott County foreclosures have inched upward steadily since 2004, and court record keepers say the number of filings have been brisk since the first of the year. The loss of jobs, unexpected medical expenses and divorces are the three most common reasons people get into financial difficulties that often lead to losing their homes, said Moline attorney Thomas Blade, who represents banks and other lenders in mortgage foreclosure cases. Most of the homeowners in financial trouble own homes valued at no more than $150,000, he said. "They are like 60 percent of the American population living paycheck-to-paycheck," he said...Rock Island attorney Bruce Buckrop said he has definitely seen a rise in the number of his clients facing financial difficulty because of adjustable rate mortgages (ARM). The trend toward ARMs and aggressive mortgage lending practices has increased over the past five years, he said. Some borrowers are wooed into an adjustable interest rate by an attractive low starting rate of 5 percent interest that increases six months later to 8 percent and then 11 percent, he said. An 11 percent mortgage rate is "a killer rate" that can take a $400 a month house payment to $950, Mr. Buckrop said. Sometimes the only thing he can do to help clients is to put them through bankruptcy if they want to save their house. Bankruptcy laws protect the homeowner from losing their homes, if it is a first mortgage, but rids a creditor from credit card and other debt.
A new approach to NIMBYism
Fred Pilot sent this along with the heading, "They shoot condos, don't they?"
TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese man angry that a new apartment building put his house in the shade was arrested after shooting about a dozen bullets at it with a competition rifle.
Fred Pilot sent this along with the heading, "They shoot condos, don't they?"
TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese man angry that a new apartment building put his house in the shade was arrested after shooting about a dozen bullets at it with a competition rifle.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
'Political correctness is killing our freedoms' | International News | News | Telegraph
This is a fascinating story. If the speaker were Rush Limbaugh, you'd yawn. But guess what? That is a quotation from the President of the European Commission, one part of the European Union government. And check out the comment on people who try to establish "private moral codes":
Europe's citizens must be on their guard against political correctness and moralising politicians, says the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. The former Portuguese premier and centre-Right politician is concerned that freedom can be the loser in European culture wars over climate change, cheap air travel, Islam and free speech. "We should be aware of people who, sometimes for good reasons, try to establish what I call private moral codes, for this or that, be it climate change, religious behaviour or any kind of social behaviour," he says.
This is a fascinating story. If the speaker were Rush Limbaugh, you'd yawn. But guess what? That is a quotation from the President of the European Commission, one part of the European Union government. And check out the comment on people who try to establish "private moral codes":
Europe's citizens must be on their guard against political correctness and moralising politicians, says the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in an interview with The Daily Telegraph. The former Portuguese premier and centre-Right politician is concerned that freedom can be the loser in European culture wars over climate change, cheap air travel, Islam and free speech. "We should be aware of people who, sometimes for good reasons, try to establish what I call private moral codes, for this or that, be it climate change, religious behaviour or any kind of social behaviour," he says.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Inman Real Estate News - Study predicts 1.1 million foreclosures among ARM loans
Thanks to Shu Bartholomew for this link. This reminds me of the tortoise and the hare. The tortoise bought a house he/she could actually afford, with a plain vanilla fixed rate 30 year loan. The hare bought a McMansion that was far above his/her means, using a clever interest only adjustable rate loan. Then the hare made a fortune. On paper, that is. Unfortunately, we live in reality and not on paper. In reality, the hare got stuck with a house he couldn't afford to live in or sell, as prices fell and interest rates went up. You do remember that story from Aesop's Real Estate Fables, don't you?
Thanks to Shu Bartholomew for this link. This reminds me of the tortoise and the hare. The tortoise bought a house he/she could actually afford, with a plain vanilla fixed rate 30 year loan. The hare bought a McMansion that was far above his/her means, using a clever interest only adjustable rate loan. Then the hare made a fortune. On paper, that is. Unfortunately, we live in reality and not on paper. In reality, the hare got stuck with a house he couldn't afford to live in or sell, as prices fell and interest rates went up. You do remember that story from Aesop's Real Estate Fables, don't you?
Sunday, March 18, 2007
National Ledger - Global Warming: Moving Towards Metrosexuals
At last some good global warming humor. This is worth reading from start to finish. But hurry because the earth is melting.
Many environmentalists believe that the earth is a living organism, personified by the Greek goddess Gaia. Conveniently, it turns out that Gaia is a shrew, who demands that her men be reduced to henpecked, metrosexual noodles. Manliness makes Gaia angry, and we wouldn't like her when she's angry, because she'll turn into a green monster and start smashing everything to bits. Hell hath no fury like an earth goddess exposed to excessive cattle-produced methane emissions.
At last some good global warming humor. This is worth reading from start to finish. But hurry because the earth is melting.
Many environmentalists believe that the earth is a living organism, personified by the Greek goddess Gaia. Conveniently, it turns out that Gaia is a shrew, who demands that her men be reduced to henpecked, metrosexual noodles. Manliness makes Gaia angry, and we wouldn't like her when she's angry, because she'll turn into a green monster and start smashing everything to bits. Hell hath no fury like an earth goddess exposed to excessive cattle-produced methane emissions.
Lindenhust Choice website
A while back I posted about the proposal by some Lindenhurst, IL, incumbents to have no yard signs in the runup to the April election. The challengers wisely turned down that proposal. Seems that the webmaster for the challengers ran across the post and liked it, so he linked to it from their website, which you can visit by following the link in the title. Thanks to Dave Holle, Lindenhurst Choice webmaster. And good luck on election day.
A while back I posted about the proposal by some Lindenhurst, IL, incumbents to have no yard signs in the runup to the April election. The challengers wisely turned down that proposal. Seems that the webmaster for the challengers ran across the post and liked it, so he linked to it from their website, which you can visit by following the link in the title. Thanks to Dave Holle, Lindenhurst Choice webmaster. And good luck on election day.
Cold snap to freeze England
Global warming alert:
SNOW and wintry showers replaced the mild, sunny early spring weather when bitter Arctic winds swept in from the north in England. The Met Office said the cold snap will grip Britain until at least Wednesday. After a mild spell of sunshine that brought early flowering daffodils and flocks of migratory birds, temperatures will plummet by 10C. Snow could reach depths of up to 30cm in parts of the Scottish Highlands and cause disruption on roads across much of the country.
Global warming alert:
SNOW and wintry showers replaced the mild, sunny early spring weather when bitter Arctic winds swept in from the north in England. The Met Office said the cold snap will grip Britain until at least Wednesday. After a mild spell of sunshine that brought early flowering daffodils and flocks of migratory birds, temperatures will plummet by 10C. Snow could reach depths of up to 30cm in parts of the Scottish Highlands and cause disruption on roads across much of the country.
Interfaith group braves storm in climate change trek - Boston.com
So the global warming march is cooled a bit by a snowstorm. But nobody's mind was changed, you can bet on that.
"It was windy and cold. I was walking on the front of the line and I felt like I was bow of a ship with the wind just coming into my face," said the Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas of the Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst, where the group warmed up on bowls of lentil and minestrone soup after walking eight miles in deep snow from Northampton to Amherst.
So the global warming march is cooled a bit by a snowstorm. But nobody's mind was changed, you can bet on that.
"It was windy and cold. I was walking on the front of the line and I felt like I was bow of a ship with the wind just coming into my face," said the Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas of the Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst, where the group warmed up on bowls of lentil and minestrone soup after walking eight miles in deep snow from Northampton to Amherst.
Daily Herald | News: If you can run an HOA, why not a city?
Here's an interesting self-recommendation: an HOA president and a "life coach." That must be almost like having a job. But what is an "End Times Revival Center"? Who or what is going to be revived? If I recall the Book of Revelations, when the end times come there is already Somebody responsible for doing the reviving. Maybe the idea is you buy some revival insurance or something, in case you don't make the cut.
Six candidates are competing for three open seats on the Hanover Park village board...Toni Carter: age not given; executive administrator for End Times Revival Center, Schaumburg; founder of Empowered, a life coaching company. President, Hartford Square Homeowners Association; domestic violence victim’s advocate...
Carter.: I will bring the experience of running a homeowner’s association with an annual budget of close to $100,000 a year. Since our administration has been organizing and leading the directives in Hartford Square, we have saved over $51,000 in two years. Before our administration, the previous administration had not put one dime into our reserve account for several years.
Here's an interesting self-recommendation: an HOA president and a "life coach." That must be almost like having a job. But what is an "End Times Revival Center"? Who or what is going to be revived? If I recall the Book of Revelations, when the end times come there is already Somebody responsible for doing the reviving. Maybe the idea is you buy some revival insurance or something, in case you don't make the cut.
Six candidates are competing for three open seats on the Hanover Park village board...Toni Carter: age not given; executive administrator for End Times Revival Center, Schaumburg; founder of Empowered, a life coaching company. President, Hartford Square Homeowners Association; domestic violence victim’s advocate...
Carter.: I will bring the experience of running a homeowner’s association with an annual budget of close to $100,000 a year. Since our administration has been organizing and leading the directives in Hartford Square, we have saved over $51,000 in two years. Before our administration, the previous administration had not put one dime into our reserve account for several years.
POST-TRIBUNE :: News :: Association, condominium community in war of words
POST-TRIBUNE :: News :: Association, condominium community in war of words
I think this is a northwest Indiana story. Is it a good idea to fire your management company without making provisions to keep the necessary activities going on?
MERRILLVILLE -- A dispute between the homeowners association and the management company of a condominium community has left residents with overflowing Dumpsters and without premises insurance, snow removal and other services for the last four weeks.
The board of directors of The Colonies homeowners association severed its ties with Schererville-based KMC Management, alleging that the company billed the association for services but didn't pay the vendors, leaving residents without day-to-day services such as trash pickup, shoveling, street light maintenance, roof repairs and insurance on the building exteriors. Residents in the 100-unit community, built in 1975, are not only worried about the full Dumpsters causing sanitation problems and attracting wild animals; they're also worried about property values. One woman had to take her condo off the market because the community no longer has premises insurance, and another can't refinance because of it.
POST-TRIBUNE :: News :: Association, condominium community in war of words
I think this is a northwest Indiana story. Is it a good idea to fire your management company without making provisions to keep the necessary activities going on?
MERRILLVILLE -- A dispute between the homeowners association and the management company of a condominium community has left residents with overflowing Dumpsters and without premises insurance, snow removal and other services for the last four weeks.
The board of directors of The Colonies homeowners association severed its ties with Schererville-based KMC Management, alleging that the company billed the association for services but didn't pay the vendors, leaving residents without day-to-day services such as trash pickup, shoveling, street light maintenance, roof repairs and insurance on the building exteriors. Residents in the 100-unit community, built in 1975, are not only worried about the full Dumpsters causing sanitation problems and attracting wild animals; they're also worried about property values. One woman had to take her condo off the market because the community no longer has premises insurance, and another can't refinance because of it.
A climate of fear - In Depth - theage.com.au
Isn't it obvious that these environmental doomsayers are deliberately trying to manipulate people? They are intentionally using scare tactics to panic people into going along with their bizarre public policy agenda. But this article deals with a good question: "how afraid should we be?" Maybe a little fear isn't such a bad thing where technology and climate are concerned.
It makes sense that the mushroom cloud, the great spectre of the 20th century, would return to spook the 21st. Bill McKibben, author of a foundation text of the climate change era, The End of Nature (1990), explicitly links the last great fright to the new one. Climate change is "the single biggest challenge facing the planet, the equal in every way to the nuclear threat that transfixed us during the past half-century", he wrote last year. Some don't buy any of this "climate porn", as a UK think tank recently described such talk. Al Gore's movie is "bullshit from beginning to end", according to Ray Evans, a former Western Mining executive and author of the Lavoisier Group's Nine Facts About Climate Change (2006). For Evans and many others, man-made climate change panic is a bugaboo, perhaps even a hoax. Either way, the debate over climate change is now about fear. How afraid should we be? It's a valid question, because a sensible reaction to any threat begins with fear. Fear can help propel us towards solutions, as it did in the case of ozone-depleting CFCs. But we don't want to respond to a threat with asymmetric alarm.
Isn't it obvious that these environmental doomsayers are deliberately trying to manipulate people? They are intentionally using scare tactics to panic people into going along with their bizarre public policy agenda. But this article deals with a good question: "how afraid should we be?" Maybe a little fear isn't such a bad thing where technology and climate are concerned.
It makes sense that the mushroom cloud, the great spectre of the 20th century, would return to spook the 21st. Bill McKibben, author of a foundation text of the climate change era, The End of Nature (1990), explicitly links the last great fright to the new one. Climate change is "the single biggest challenge facing the planet, the equal in every way to the nuclear threat that transfixed us during the past half-century", he wrote last year. Some don't buy any of this "climate porn", as a UK think tank recently described such talk. Al Gore's movie is "bullshit from beginning to end", according to Ray Evans, a former Western Mining executive and author of the Lavoisier Group's Nine Facts About Climate Change (2006). For Evans and many others, man-made climate change panic is a bugaboo, perhaps even a hoax. Either way, the debate over climate change is now about fear. How afraid should we be? It's a valid question, because a sensible reaction to any threat begins with fear. Fear can help propel us towards solutions, as it did in the case of ozone-depleting CFCs. But we don't want to respond to a threat with asymmetric alarm.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
High-Cost Home Loans More Common in Pr. George's - washingtonpost.com
This is a troubling report. The article discusses several different explanations.
Residents of majority-black Prince George's County are much more likely to be saddled with high-interest home loans than residents of predominantly white areas in the rest of the region, placing them at greater risk of financial distress and foreclosure. About 43 percent of Prince George's County residents who refinanced their homes in 2005 received high-cost loans, compared with 24 percent of homeowners regionwide, according to Federal Reserve data compiled for The Washington Post by the Consumer Federation of America. Similarly, 43 percent of people buying homes in the county in 2005 financed their purchases with high-cost loans, compared with 20 percent regionally...People can find themselves with high-cost loans for many reasons. Prince George's County is the nation's wealthiest majority-black jurisdiction, and housing costs there are high. If homeowners also have high car payments, student loans or credit card balances, that could raise their debt-to-income ratio, forcing them into costly loans. Overspending or paying bills late can also hurt people's credit.
This is a troubling report. The article discusses several different explanations.
Residents of majority-black Prince George's County are much more likely to be saddled with high-interest home loans than residents of predominantly white areas in the rest of the region, placing them at greater risk of financial distress and foreclosure. About 43 percent of Prince George's County residents who refinanced their homes in 2005 received high-cost loans, compared with 24 percent of homeowners regionwide, according to Federal Reserve data compiled for The Washington Post by the Consumer Federation of America. Similarly, 43 percent of people buying homes in the county in 2005 financed their purchases with high-cost loans, compared with 20 percent regionally...People can find themselves with high-cost loans for many reasons. Prince George's County is the nation's wealthiest majority-black jurisdiction, and housing costs there are high. If homeowners also have high car payments, student loans or credit card balances, that could raise their debt-to-income ratio, forcing them into costly loans. Overspending or paying bills late can also hurt people's credit.
AHRC "Editorial": HOA HACK!!
Here is a vague "editorial," whatever that means, from the AHRC site claiming (without any evidence offered) that AHRC was down because it was "hacked" by person or persons unknown. But the author of the piece has a whole list of possible culprits to speculate about:
On January 18th, 2007, the homeowner advocate's American Homeowner Resource Center (AHRC) website was hacked into and shut down. The spell binding mystery and intrigue of this 'HOA Hack' adds a new twist and chapter to what have been referred to as the HOA life dramas: "The Stepford Lives" and "As the HOA Turns". The tales of "who dunnit" are many - pointing the finger to greedy HOA lawyer groups, angry political opposition, corrupt property managers, a rival homeowner advocate green with envy over AHRC's growth, HOA "bored of neighbors", and even bored cyber sleuths.
Here is a vague "editorial," whatever that means, from the AHRC site claiming (without any evidence offered) that AHRC was down because it was "hacked" by person or persons unknown. But the author of the piece has a whole list of possible culprits to speculate about:
On January 18th, 2007, the homeowner advocate's American Homeowner Resource Center (AHRC) website was hacked into and shut down. The spell binding mystery and intrigue of this 'HOA Hack' adds a new twist and chapter to what have been referred to as the HOA life dramas: "The Stepford Lives" and "As the HOA Turns". The tales of "who dunnit" are many - pointing the finger to greedy HOA lawyer groups, angry political opposition, corrupt property managers, a rival homeowner advocate green with envy over AHRC's growth, HOA "bored of neighbors", and even bored cyber sleuths.
The Star Beacon; Ashtabula, Ohio - Charges filed against condo management firm co-owner
More on the Ohio property management firm scandal:
SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP - - The co-owner of the firm that managed Mariners Point Condominium Association has been charged with one count of mail fraud. Kathleen DeSalvo, who co-owned MultiVest Management Inc. in Willoughby with her husband, James, is accused of transferring funds from MultiVest's clients' bank accounts and depositing the funds into MultiVest's accounts since 2000. She is also accused of creating false bank statements which reflected inflated balances in the clients' accounts. Kathleen DeSalvo allegedly provided the false statements to the accounting department which unknowingly created false financial statements that were mailed to MultiVest's clients each month, according to the information filed against her by the U.S. Department of Justice. No charges have been filed against James DeSalvo yet.
More on the Ohio property management firm scandal:
SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP - - The co-owner of the firm that managed Mariners Point Condominium Association has been charged with one count of mail fraud. Kathleen DeSalvo, who co-owned MultiVest Management Inc. in Willoughby with her husband, James, is accused of transferring funds from MultiVest's clients' bank accounts and depositing the funds into MultiVest's accounts since 2000. She is also accused of creating false bank statements which reflected inflated balances in the clients' accounts. Kathleen DeSalvo allegedly provided the false statements to the accounting department which unknowingly created false financial statements that were mailed to MultiVest's clients each month, according to the information filed against her by the U.S. Department of Justice. No charges have been filed against James DeSalvo yet.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Water-use restrictions start next week in South Florida: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
I think this will be the Summer of the Brown Grass in the sunshine state. All those common area open spaces will look like one of those orange pool tables they used to sell at Sears.
City inspectors, armed with citation books, will cruise the streets ready to pounce if they find a sprinkler operating illegally. Neighbors will be encouraged to rat each other out for watering on the wrong day. Helicopters will hover above farms and golf courses, taking satellite coordinates of pumps operating in violation of water-shortage orders. This is the new era of water restrictions. It begins next Thursday, when rules approved by the South Florida Water Management District take effect...Almost half of all drinking water in South Florida goes toward watering lawns, according to the district, which controls water supply and drainage for 16 counties in Central and South Florida. District officials said the restrictions may become permanent and that tougher rules may be necessary.
I think this will be the Summer of the Brown Grass in the sunshine state. All those common area open spaces will look like one of those orange pool tables they used to sell at Sears.
City inspectors, armed with citation books, will cruise the streets ready to pounce if they find a sprinkler operating illegally. Neighbors will be encouraged to rat each other out for watering on the wrong day. Helicopters will hover above farms and golf courses, taking satellite coordinates of pumps operating in violation of water-shortage orders. This is the new era of water restrictions. It begins next Thursday, when rules approved by the South Florida Water Management District take effect...Almost half of all drinking water in South Florida goes toward watering lawns, according to the district, which controls water supply and drainage for 16 counties in Central and South Florida. District officials said the restrictions may become permanent and that tougher rules may be necessary.
Top investor sees U.S. property crash: Reuters
I said long ago there was going to be a bubble-popping ceremony in the real estate market, and I said that a lot of people with bizarre high-risk mortgages were going to get hurt when it happened. But I think this fellow is carrying things a bit too far. It can't be that bad. At least, I don't think so. But then, I don't have enough money to afford a $15 million home, so who am I to talk?
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Commodities investment guru Jim Rogers stepped into the U.S. subprime fray on Wednesday, predicting a real estate crash that would trigger defaults and spread contagion to emerging markets. "You can't believe how bad it's going to get before it gets any better," the prominent U.S. fund manager told Reuters by telephone from New York. "It's going to be a disaster for many people who don't have a clue about what happens when a real estate bubble pops. "It is going to be a huge mess," said Rogers, who has put his $15 million belle epoque mansion on Manhattan's Upper West Side on the market and is planning to move to Asia.
I said long ago there was going to be a bubble-popping ceremony in the real estate market, and I said that a lot of people with bizarre high-risk mortgages were going to get hurt when it happened. But I think this fellow is carrying things a bit too far. It can't be that bad. At least, I don't think so. But then, I don't have enough money to afford a $15 million home, so who am I to talk?
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Commodities investment guru Jim Rogers stepped into the U.S. subprime fray on Wednesday, predicting a real estate crash that would trigger defaults and spread contagion to emerging markets. "You can't believe how bad it's going to get before it gets any better," the prominent U.S. fund manager told Reuters by telephone from New York. "It's going to be a disaster for many people who don't have a clue about what happens when a real estate bubble pops. "It is going to be a huge mess," said Rogers, who has put his $15 million belle epoque mansion on Manhattan's Upper West Side on the market and is planning to move to Asia.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
CAI's objections to AARP HO Bill of Rights
I have read the full 3 1/2 page letter from Tom Skiba to AARP objecting to the AARP Homeowners' Bill of Rights, drafted by attorney David Kahne. I see no reason to amend my earlier comments that were based on the summary I linked to from Ungated, the CAI blog that Tom writes.
To sum up, here are the main points of the AARP document:
Security against Foreclosure
Resolve Disputes without Litigation
Fairness in Litigation
Be Told of All Rules and Charges
Stability in Rules and Charges
Individual Autonomy
Oversight of Associations and Directors
Vote and Run for Office
Reasonable Associations and Directors
An Ombudsperson for Homeowners
CAI objects to this. Why?
They don't like the process of developing the document because it didn't include CAI or other industry representatives. I have already addressed that issue. And they don't like the substance because it involves increased state legislation, and more state oversight of HOA board activities. It imposes limits on what HOA BODs can do to people. I think it needs to be pointed out that this type of reform legislation really limits the powers of the attorneys and managers who constitute CAI. Because make no mistake about this: for all this talk of local democracy and consumer choice, the real power in the HOA universe is in the hands of attorneys. They are the ones who exercise the powers of the BOD, when owners don't go along with the program. And that is the power--lawyer power--that gets limited by state regulatory legislation that gives owners some rights. What David Kahne is trying to do (among other things, but centrally) is give the owners some way to stand up to the association's attorney. He does that by giving them some enforceable rights and relief from the boilerplate language that puts the owners in an essentially powerless position from the moment they take the deed to their property.
CAI also want to get AARP corralled into the cozy little UCIOA amendment process that the Uniform Law Commissioners are undertaking (with a CAI stalwart as the ABA advisor to the committee). The AARP project, because it is apart from that ULC process, could throw a monkey wrench into creating an industry-friendly "new" legal structure that would leave the current power dynamics intact.
Here's how I think CAI wants things to end up: The BODs would have nearly absolute power over homeowners, whose only options, if they feel they have been mistreated, would be to elect a new board or sell their home and move somewhere else. The association attorney and property manager would (and do) control the BODs. CAI trains and organizes the attorneys and property managers. The states would require certification of property managers. CAI would provide that certification. The out-of-control owner-run insurgent groups would be shut out of the policy process and branded as loons and nutcases, and their websites would be shut down. The press would get off the "HOA abuses abound" angle, and instead go to CAI for comment on community association issues, and print the PR line. Particular complaints about abuses would be conclusively presumed to be either a) lies and distortions spread by neighborhood malcontents who couldn't get along with Mother Theresa, or b) unrepresentative anecdotes that fail to capture the true level of mass satisfaction with HOA life. And the state legislatures would pass UCIOA and move on from HOA legislation to other matters, like selling the state tollway system to Spanish and Australian corporations to finance free health care and early childhood education for all. Happy ending. That's the desired endgame as I see it. Maybe Tom can correct me if I am wrong.
Here's the problem with that scenario: things were basically like that in the early 1990s, but things have changed. Too many people are now aware of what's going on in Privatopia for that status quo ante to be reinstituted. When a mega-interest group like AARP weighs in, and when half a dozen state legislatures have reform legislation on the books or in the hopper, and when I can name you probably two dozen law professors and at least that many reporters who understand this issue area very well...when all this happens, it is too late to silence or co-opt all the dissenting voices and have everybody speak with a single tongue.
Change is happening right now, and I don't think it can be stopped. I don't know if all the change will be for the good, and I have been critical of some of the reform legislation. But it is coming. And that AARP document is going to give owner rights a much bigger place at the table than they would have had if the industry had their way. That's a good thing, not only for owners but for the industry, if they would just take the long view. I wish I could get CAI to understand that some of their own policy positions are actually adverse to their own long-term interests. But I'll leave that for another post.
I have read the full 3 1/2 page letter from Tom Skiba to AARP objecting to the AARP Homeowners' Bill of Rights, drafted by attorney David Kahne. I see no reason to amend my earlier comments that were based on the summary I linked to from Ungated, the CAI blog that Tom writes.
To sum up, here are the main points of the AARP document:
Security against Foreclosure
Resolve Disputes without Litigation
Fairness in Litigation
Be Told of All Rules and Charges
Stability in Rules and Charges
Individual Autonomy
Oversight of Associations and Directors
Vote and Run for Office
Reasonable Associations and Directors
An Ombudsperson for Homeowners
CAI objects to this. Why?
They don't like the process of developing the document because it didn't include CAI or other industry representatives. I have already addressed that issue. And they don't like the substance because it involves increased state legislation, and more state oversight of HOA board activities. It imposes limits on what HOA BODs can do to people. I think it needs to be pointed out that this type of reform legislation really limits the powers of the attorneys and managers who constitute CAI. Because make no mistake about this: for all this talk of local democracy and consumer choice, the real power in the HOA universe is in the hands of attorneys. They are the ones who exercise the powers of the BOD, when owners don't go along with the program. And that is the power--lawyer power--that gets limited by state regulatory legislation that gives owners some rights. What David Kahne is trying to do (among other things, but centrally) is give the owners some way to stand up to the association's attorney. He does that by giving them some enforceable rights and relief from the boilerplate language that puts the owners in an essentially powerless position from the moment they take the deed to their property.
CAI also want to get AARP corralled into the cozy little UCIOA amendment process that the Uniform Law Commissioners are undertaking (with a CAI stalwart as the ABA advisor to the committee). The AARP project, because it is apart from that ULC process, could throw a monkey wrench into creating an industry-friendly "new" legal structure that would leave the current power dynamics intact.
Here's how I think CAI wants things to end up: The BODs would have nearly absolute power over homeowners, whose only options, if they feel they have been mistreated, would be to elect a new board or sell their home and move somewhere else. The association attorney and property manager would (and do) control the BODs. CAI trains and organizes the attorneys and property managers. The states would require certification of property managers. CAI would provide that certification. The out-of-control owner-run insurgent groups would be shut out of the policy process and branded as loons and nutcases, and their websites would be shut down. The press would get off the "HOA abuses abound" angle, and instead go to CAI for comment on community association issues, and print the PR line. Particular complaints about abuses would be conclusively presumed to be either a) lies and distortions spread by neighborhood malcontents who couldn't get along with Mother Theresa, or b) unrepresentative anecdotes that fail to capture the true level of mass satisfaction with HOA life. And the state legislatures would pass UCIOA and move on from HOA legislation to other matters, like selling the state tollway system to Spanish and Australian corporations to finance free health care and early childhood education for all. Happy ending. That's the desired endgame as I see it. Maybe Tom can correct me if I am wrong.
Here's the problem with that scenario: things were basically like that in the early 1990s, but things have changed. Too many people are now aware of what's going on in Privatopia for that status quo ante to be reinstituted. When a mega-interest group like AARP weighs in, and when half a dozen state legislatures have reform legislation on the books or in the hopper, and when I can name you probably two dozen law professors and at least that many reporters who understand this issue area very well...when all this happens, it is too late to silence or co-opt all the dissenting voices and have everybody speak with a single tongue.
Change is happening right now, and I don't think it can be stopped. I don't know if all the change will be for the good, and I have been critical of some of the reform legislation. But it is coming. And that AARP document is going to give owner rights a much bigger place at the table than they would have had if the industry had their way. That's a good thing, not only for owners but for the industry, if they would just take the long view. I wish I could get CAI to understand that some of their own policy positions are actually adverse to their own long-term interests. But I'll leave that for another post.
AARP: A Bill of Rights for Homeowners in Associations: Basic Principles of Consumer Protection and Sample Model Statute
I thought I'd link this to make sure that anybody who hasn't read it has a quick way to find it. This is the document that Tom Skiba and CAI are reacting to as linked in the post earlier.
I thought I'd link this to make sure that anybody who hasn't read it has a quick way to find it. This is the document that Tom Skiba and CAI are reacting to as linked in the post earlier.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Late Mortgage Payments Reach High, New Foreclosures Hit All-Time High
This probably means that HOA assessment delinquencies are up as well. People don't ordinarily stiff the bank and pay their HOA.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Late mortgage payments shot up to a 3 1/2-year high in the final quarter of last year and new foreclosures surged to record levels as borrowers with tarnished credit histories had trouble keeping up with monthly payments.
This probably means that HOA assessment delinquencies are up as well. People don't ordinarily stiff the bank and pay their HOA.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Late mortgage payments shot up to a 3 1/2-year high in the final quarter of last year and new foreclosures surged to record levels as borrowers with tarnished credit histories had trouble keeping up with monthly payments.
Ungated :: AARP, Community Associations, Rights, and Responsibilities
Here is Tom Skiba's take on AARP's Homeowners Bill of Rights. Follow link to his blog and there you will find a link to the full CAI position paper on AARP's B of R:
- The paper was prepared by a homeowner advocate attorney in Texas [note from Evan: that would be David Kahne], and not by AARP staff. As you might imagine, there was very limited input from industry representatives including CAI, NAHB, the National Council of Commissioners on Uniform State Law (who drafted UCIOA and similar legislation) and others.
- AARP has not adopted the proposed Bill of Rights as an official legislative position, although the report has been sent to their state offices.
- Sadly, the paper also seems to intimate that mature Americans are incapable of managing their own affairs and protecting their own interests. Personally, I think that seriously underestimates AARP's own members.
Yet the report raises some important issues and includes some potentially beneficial ideas on ensuring that communities serve all of their owners fairly, equitably, and harmoniously.
While we disagree on many of the details, we believe that this process can have positive outcomes.
------------------
I think it is great that Tom sees the AARP as raising important issues and containing some good ideas. I have to read the full CAI reaction, but these bullet points do stir some preliminary thoughts. First, what is a "homeowner advocate attorney"? David is an attorney, and he has represented homeowners. Is there something wrong with that? I don't see how that comment has any bearing at all on the AARP document, much less deserving to be given bullet point status as though it was some sort of "gotcha." The document went through outside review as well, so it isn't as though it went from David's computer to the publisher with nobody checking it out. Seems to me lots of "industry attorneys" have been doing all the drafting for about fifty years, so can somebody else take a crack at it for a change?
Second, why should there be input from industry representatives in the drafting of the AARP document? The premise of the document--the reason it needs to be written, in other words--is that the law as written in most states is heavily loaded for the industry (lawyers and other professionals) and for the BODs, and against the owners. The whole point here is to give the owners some protections. The AARP document is a starting point. The time for the industry to weigh in is now, I would say--not while the owner protections were being drafted.
And finally, the idea is not that owners are little children who need paternalistic policy. The need for a bill of rights comes from the untenable legal position HOA owners find themselves in, courtesy of the cozy relationship between real estate developers and local governments. I am talking about blanket imposition of reams of lawyer-drafted, non-negotiable, boilerplate, developer-friendly, board-friendly, and often repressive rules on owners who have to take the whole package or forget about the home they wanted to buy. And with so many of these projects having similar substantive and procedural content, and with so little choice left in the market due to municipal mandates and developer preferences, the case for a little legislative protection of owners is compelling.
That's why the trend in so many state legislatures is now pro-owner. And I don't think the genie can be put back in the bottle. I will read CAI's take on the AARP proposals carefully and hope for the best. But I think David Kahne and AARP are definitely deserving of high praise, and I hope good things come of their efforts.
Here is Tom Skiba's take on AARP's Homeowners Bill of Rights. Follow link to his blog and there you will find a link to the full CAI position paper on AARP's B of R:
- The paper was prepared by a homeowner advocate attorney in Texas [note from Evan: that would be David Kahne], and not by AARP staff. As you might imagine, there was very limited input from industry representatives including CAI, NAHB, the National Council of Commissioners on Uniform State Law (who drafted UCIOA and similar legislation) and others.
- AARP has not adopted the proposed Bill of Rights as an official legislative position, although the report has been sent to their state offices.
- Sadly, the paper also seems to intimate that mature Americans are incapable of managing their own affairs and protecting their own interests. Personally, I think that seriously underestimates AARP's own members.
Yet the report raises some important issues and includes some potentially beneficial ideas on ensuring that communities serve all of their owners fairly, equitably, and harmoniously.
While we disagree on many of the details, we believe that this process can have positive outcomes.
------------------
I think it is great that Tom sees the AARP as raising important issues and containing some good ideas. I have to read the full CAI reaction, but these bullet points do stir some preliminary thoughts. First, what is a "homeowner advocate attorney"? David is an attorney, and he has represented homeowners. Is there something wrong with that? I don't see how that comment has any bearing at all on the AARP document, much less deserving to be given bullet point status as though it was some sort of "gotcha." The document went through outside review as well, so it isn't as though it went from David's computer to the publisher with nobody checking it out. Seems to me lots of "industry attorneys" have been doing all the drafting for about fifty years, so can somebody else take a crack at it for a change?
Second, why should there be input from industry representatives in the drafting of the AARP document? The premise of the document--the reason it needs to be written, in other words--is that the law as written in most states is heavily loaded for the industry (lawyers and other professionals) and for the BODs, and against the owners. The whole point here is to give the owners some protections. The AARP document is a starting point. The time for the industry to weigh in is now, I would say--not while the owner protections were being drafted.
And finally, the idea is not that owners are little children who need paternalistic policy. The need for a bill of rights comes from the untenable legal position HOA owners find themselves in, courtesy of the cozy relationship between real estate developers and local governments. I am talking about blanket imposition of reams of lawyer-drafted, non-negotiable, boilerplate, developer-friendly, board-friendly, and often repressive rules on owners who have to take the whole package or forget about the home they wanted to buy. And with so many of these projects having similar substantive and procedural content, and with so little choice left in the market due to municipal mandates and developer preferences, the case for a little legislative protection of owners is compelling.
That's why the trend in so many state legislatures is now pro-owner. And I don't think the genie can be put back in the bottle. I will read CAI's take on the AARP proposals carefully and hope for the best. But I think David Kahne and AARP are definitely deserving of high praise, and I hope good things come of their efforts.
State budget crisis heats up
Actually, it's worse than that for the state of Michigan and its local governments. It's no wonder they are building condos in Kalamazoo (see below). When local governments are strapped for cash, condos and HOAs are the preferred form of real estate development because of the double taxation benefits--fewer services to provide, but a full share of property tax paid by all owners:
LANSING -- Wall Street is turning up the heat on Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the Legislature to find a quick solution to Michigan's deepening fiscal crisis or face a credit downgrade -- which would make it more expensive for the state and some local governments to borrow money. "From a credit perspective, this is probably the most important legislative session in more than a decade," James Wiemken, managing director of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, said in a report released Monday.
Actually, it's worse than that for the state of Michigan and its local governments. It's no wonder they are building condos in Kalamazoo (see below). When local governments are strapped for cash, condos and HOAs are the preferred form of real estate development because of the double taxation benefits--fewer services to provide, but a full share of property tax paid by all owners:
LANSING -- Wall Street is turning up the heat on Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the Legislature to find a quick solution to Michigan's deepening fiscal crisis or face a credit downgrade -- which would make it more expensive for the state and some local governments to borrow money. "From a credit perspective, this is probably the most important legislative session in more than a decade," James Wiemken, managing director of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, said in a report released Monday.
Nation's second largest sub-prime mortgage lender looking shaky...
March 12 (Bloomberg) -- New Century Financial Corp., the nation's second-biggest subprime mortgage lender, said it doesn't have the cash to pay creditors who are demanding their money, increasing speculation that the company will go bankrupt. The New York Stock Exchange, citing the credit crisis, halted trading of New Century this morning until it decides whether to keep listing the company's securities. Shares of the Irvine, California-based company, already down 90 percent in 2007, lost half their remaining value in pre-market trading, and rivals fell as much as 25 percent today. ``They're one step closer to bankruptcy,'' said Bose George, an analyst at Keefe Bruyette & Woods in New York who rates the shares ``market perform.'' ``The only possibility for survival now is for someone, potentially an investment bank, to step in.'' New Century may be insolvent because too many of its own customers -- most of whom have poor credit histories or heavy debt burdens -- aren't repaying their loans. Bad U.S. subprime mortgages are at a seven-year high, forcing more than two dozen lenders to close or sell operations. Their woes may contribute to more than 1.5 million Americans losing their homes and 100,000 people losing their jobs, according to real estate executives, economists, analysts and a Federal Reserve governor. New Century said in a federal filing it doesn't have funds to repay lenders including Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The creditors want New Century to repurchase all outstanding mortgage loans they financed.
March 12 (Bloomberg) -- New Century Financial Corp., the nation's second-biggest subprime mortgage lender, said it doesn't have the cash to pay creditors who are demanding their money, increasing speculation that the company will go bankrupt. The New York Stock Exchange, citing the credit crisis, halted trading of New Century this morning until it decides whether to keep listing the company's securities. Shares of the Irvine, California-based company, already down 90 percent in 2007, lost half their remaining value in pre-market trading, and rivals fell as much as 25 percent today. ``They're one step closer to bankruptcy,'' said Bose George, an analyst at Keefe Bruyette & Woods in New York who rates the shares ``market perform.'' ``The only possibility for survival now is for someone, potentially an investment bank, to step in.'' New Century may be insolvent because too many of its own customers -- most of whom have poor credit histories or heavy debt burdens -- aren't repaying their loans. Bad U.S. subprime mortgages are at a seven-year high, forcing more than two dozen lenders to close or sell operations. Their woes may contribute to more than 1.5 million Americans losing their homes and 100,000 people losing their jobs, according to real estate executives, economists, analysts and a Federal Reserve governor. New Century said in a federal filing it doesn't have funds to repay lenders including Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The creditors want New Century to repurchase all outstanding mortgage loans they financed.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Condo boom Builders back away from single-family homes for condominium construction: Kalamazoo Gazette
I remember when people used to tell me that condos only existed in Florida. They were wrong then, but now condos are the big thing even in Kalamazoo.
The latest residential-construction reports for Kalamazoo County show that local builders increased their condominium building last year considerably. Construction of the retiree-friendly units more than quadrupled in 2006; at the same time, the building of single-family homes declined by 27 percent.
I remember when people used to tell me that condos only existed in Florida. They were wrong then, but now condos are the big thing even in Kalamazoo.
The latest residential-construction reports for Kalamazoo County show that local builders increased their condominium building last year considerably. Construction of the retiree-friendly units more than quadrupled in 2006; at the same time, the building of single-family homes declined by 27 percent.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Sheriff's Deputy Suspected of Stealing from Homeowners Association: San Diego, California
If they allow a 10% posting, he could use that 20K to bail himself out.
(Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.)
A San Diego sheriff's deputy is behind bars this weekend on suspicion of stealing thousands of dollars from a homeowners association. Ronald Sakamoto, 44, was arrested by La Mesa police. Investigators said he embezzled as much as $20,000 from the Lake Murray Gardens Homeowners Association. Sakamoto served as the association's treasurer. He is being held on $200,000 bail.
If they allow a 10% posting, he could use that 20K to bail himself out.
(Thanks to Fred Pilot for the link.)
A San Diego sheriff's deputy is behind bars this weekend on suspicion of stealing thousands of dollars from a homeowners association. Ronald Sakamoto, 44, was arrested by La Mesa police. Investigators said he embezzled as much as $20,000 from the Lake Murray Gardens Homeowners Association. Sakamoto served as the association's treasurer. He is being held on $200,000 bail.
Crisis Looms in Mortgages - New York Times
This is a pretty weighty article.
On March 1, a Wall Street analyst at Bear Stearns wrote an upbeat report on a company that specializes in making mortgages to cash-poor homebuyers. The company, New Century Financial, had already disclosed that a growing number of borrowers were defaulting, and its stock, at around $15, had lost half its value in three weeks. What happened next seems all too familiar to investors who bought technology stocks in 2000 at the breathless urging of Wall Street analysts. Last week, New Century said it would stop making loans and needed emergency financing to survive. The stock collapsed to $3.21. The analyst’s untimely call, coupled with a failure among other Wall Street institutions to identify problems in the home mortgage market, isn’t the only familiar ring to investors who watched the technology stock bubble burst precisely seven years ago.
This is a pretty weighty article.
On March 1, a Wall Street analyst at Bear Stearns wrote an upbeat report on a company that specializes in making mortgages to cash-poor homebuyers. The company, New Century Financial, had already disclosed that a growing number of borrowers were defaulting, and its stock, at around $15, had lost half its value in three weeks. What happened next seems all too familiar to investors who bought technology stocks in 2000 at the breathless urging of Wall Street analysts. Last week, New Century said it would stop making loans and needed emergency financing to survive. The stock collapsed to $3.21. The analyst’s untimely call, coupled with a failure among other Wall Street institutions to identify problems in the home mortgage market, isn’t the only familiar ring to investors who watched the technology stock bubble burst precisely seven years ago.
Troubles Hit Real Estate at High End - New York Times
I realize these folks won't generate much sympathy, but still...
Until now, deep-pocketed Wall Street tycoons and foreign investors benefiting from a weak dollar seemed to be holding up the luxury real estate market even as the low-end fractured. But there are signs that some high-end real estate developers are also being hit by the slowdown.
I realize these folks won't generate much sympathy, but still...
Until now, deep-pocketed Wall Street tycoons and foreign investors benefiting from a weak dollar seemed to be holding up the luxury real estate market even as the low-end fractured. But there are signs that some high-end real estate developers are also being hit by the slowdown.
Friday, March 09, 2007
HOA rules come under attack
Here is an HOA that has banned outdoor recreational activity in the common areas, including the sidewalks, streets, driveways, and landscaped areas. Result: children can't play outdoors. The property manager says they can always go play at the high school. And this isn't even a seniors community. The excuse is fear of liability, but there has never been a suit. The real reason seems to be cranky neighbors who hate the sound of children at play. This is a great example of why there have to be some limits on the kinds of behavioral rules HOAs can impose.
Although Oak Park is known as a family-oriented community filled with children, one neighborhood forbids kids from playing outside and some homeowners are angry. Country Vistas III, a quiet development of about 147 town houses and single-family homes off Oak Hills Drive, is ruled by a homeowner association whose bylaws prohibit recreational activities on common area sidewalks, streets, driveways and/or landscaped areas. There is also a "residents' right to quiet enjoyment" rule. Several residents who have children are frustrated by the regulations, which they see as restrictive and unfair.
Here is an HOA that has banned outdoor recreational activity in the common areas, including the sidewalks, streets, driveways, and landscaped areas. Result: children can't play outdoors. The property manager says they can always go play at the high school. And this isn't even a seniors community. The excuse is fear of liability, but there has never been a suit. The real reason seems to be cranky neighbors who hate the sound of children at play. This is a great example of why there have to be some limits on the kinds of behavioral rules HOAs can impose.
Although Oak Park is known as a family-oriented community filled with children, one neighborhood forbids kids from playing outside and some homeowners are angry. Country Vistas III, a quiet development of about 147 town houses and single-family homes off Oak Hills Drive, is ruled by a homeowner association whose bylaws prohibit recreational activities on common area sidewalks, streets, driveways and/or landscaped areas. There is also a "residents' right to quiet enjoyment" rule. Several residents who have children are frustrated by the regulations, which they see as restrictive and unfair.
Man chainsaws house in two in divorce split - Yahoo! News
This gives new meaning to the term "separate property."
BERLIN (Reuters) - A 43-year-old German decided to settle his imminent divorce by chainsawing a family home in two and making off with his half in a forklift truck.
This gives new meaning to the term "separate property."
BERLIN (Reuters) - A 43-year-old German decided to settle his imminent divorce by chainsawing a family home in two and making off with his half in a forklift truck.
Polar bears 'thriving as the Arctic warms up' | International News | News | Telegraph
Recall that we were being told the polar bears were dying off by drowning due to melting ice caused by global warming, and it's all our fault. Now an actual count of polar bears shows that they are thriving. In one 140,000 sq. kilometer region, there are 2100 polar bears versus 850 in the mid 1980s. As one polar bear biologist put it, "There aren't just a few more bears. There are a hell of a lot more bears."
But wait! That's our fault too. You see, "mankind's interference in the environment" is to blame.
Do you get the sense that for some people, no matter what happens in nature, it is a sign of impending doom and proof of human-caused global warming?
Recall that we were being told the polar bears were dying off by drowning due to melting ice caused by global warming, and it's all our fault. Now an actual count of polar bears shows that they are thriving. In one 140,000 sq. kilometer region, there are 2100 polar bears versus 850 in the mid 1980s. As one polar bear biologist put it, "There aren't just a few more bears. There are a hell of a lot more bears."
But wait! That's our fault too. You see, "mankind's interference in the environment" is to blame.
Do you get the sense that for some people, no matter what happens in nature, it is a sign of impending doom and proof of human-caused global warming?
Thursday, March 08, 2007
United Press International - NewsTrack - Latinos land 2 in 3 U.S. construction jobs
This is quite a concept. What would be the effect of immigration reform on housing prices?
Latinos make up 13.6 percent of the U.S. employment population, but accounted for 36.7 percent of the 2006 U.S. employment growth, a study showed Wednesday. Most of the jobs Hispanic workers landed were in the construction industry, the Pew Hispanic Center said. In fact, two out of every three new U.S. construction jobs went to Hispanic workers, the center said. Hispanic employment increased by almost 1 million from 2005 to 2006, with foreign-born Latinos who arrived since 2000 responsible for about 24 percent of the total U.S. employment increase. Undocumented immigrants accounted for about two-thirds of the increase in recently arrived Hispanic workers, the center estimated.
This is quite a concept. What would be the effect of immigration reform on housing prices?
Latinos make up 13.6 percent of the U.S. employment population, but accounted for 36.7 percent of the 2006 U.S. employment growth, a study showed Wednesday. Most of the jobs Hispanic workers landed were in the construction industry, the Pew Hispanic Center said. In fact, two out of every three new U.S. construction jobs went to Hispanic workers, the center said. Hispanic employment increased by almost 1 million from 2005 to 2006, with foreign-born Latinos who arrived since 2000 responsible for about 24 percent of the total U.S. employment increase. Undocumented immigrants accounted for about two-thirds of the increase in recently arrived Hispanic workers, the center estimated.
Wall Street sags on bleak housing view - Yahoo! News
Fred Pilot found this pithy comment from a builder:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks slipped on Wednesday following a negative assessment of the housing market from a large home builder and a Federal Reserve report indicated some U.S. regions were seeing slowing economic growth. Stocks gave up gains in the last hour of trading after the chief executive of D.R. Horton Inc. delivered an unusually blunt evaluation of the residential real estate market...The chief executive of home builder D.R. Horton said at an analysts' conference that the current year for his company was "going to suck," spurring worries about weakness in housing. "The housing market, which is the weak spot in the economy ... is the main fear of a recession, and the main fear on earnings" growth, said Milton Ezrati, senior economic strategist at Lord Abbett & Co. in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Fred Pilot found this pithy comment from a builder:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks slipped on Wednesday following a negative assessment of the housing market from a large home builder and a Federal Reserve report indicated some U.S. regions were seeing slowing economic growth. Stocks gave up gains in the last hour of trading after the chief executive of D.R. Horton Inc. delivered an unusually blunt evaluation of the residential real estate market...The chief executive of home builder D.R. Horton said at an analysts' conference that the current year for his company was "going to suck," spurring worries about weakness in housing. "The housing market, which is the weak spot in the economy ... is the main fear of a recession, and the main fear on earnings" growth, said Milton Ezrati, senior economic strategist at Lord Abbett & Co. in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Homeowners' Assocaitions -- HB 391 DBPR STUDY
Jan Bergemann tells me that Jeb Bush vetoed a Florida version of UCIOA (see below) for lack of consumer protection. Here's CCFJ's writeup on it. I must say, I went through the so-called Homeowner Bill of Rights document that is supposed to make UCIOA more owner-friendly, and I don't see a whole lot of owner rights. It's like searching for a real piece of chicken in a bowl of canned chicken soup. Compare it with the AARP document drafted by David Kahne, which is a whole lot more aggressive in protecting owners.
Jan Bergemann tells me that Jeb Bush vetoed a Florida version of UCIOA (see below) for lack of consumer protection. Here's CCFJ's writeup on it. I must say, I went through the so-called Homeowner Bill of Rights document that is supposed to make UCIOA more owner-friendly, and I don't see a whole lot of owner rights. It's like searching for a real piece of chicken in a bowl of canned chicken soup. Compare it with the AARP document drafted by David Kahne, which is a whole lot more aggressive in protecting owners.
Philadelphia Daily News | 02/21/2007 | Dan Gross | Chops sues LaBan
Talk about private restrictions on freedom of speech! Check out this lawsuit in Philadelphia:
A THREE-SENTENCE restaurant review has led to a high-steaks lawsuit from Chops Restaurant (401 City Ave.) against Inqwaster food critic Craig LaBan and Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns the Inqwaster and Daily News. In his "Or Try These" sidebar to his Feb. 4 review of Fleming's in Radnor, LaBan called Chops, a popular Bala Cynwyd steakhouse, the "Palm on City Line," where he had a "miserably tough and fatty strip steak." However, according to the suit filed by Chops owner Alex Plotkin, LaBan had a steak sandwich minus the bread, not a strip steak. "No legitimate food critic would ever mistake, or compare, a steak sandwich with a strip steak," the lawsuit states. Plotkin, who prides himself on Chops' chops, says in the suit that he had called LaBan about the review and that LaBan had "apologized for the 'confusion,' admitted he did not have a strip steak and 'saw [Plotkin's] point,' but would not publish a retraction in his column."
Talk about private restrictions on freedom of speech! Check out this lawsuit in Philadelphia:
A THREE-SENTENCE restaurant review has led to a high-steaks lawsuit from Chops Restaurant (401 City Ave.) against Inqwaster food critic Craig LaBan and Philadelphia Media Holdings, which owns the Inqwaster and Daily News. In his "Or Try These" sidebar to his Feb. 4 review of Fleming's in Radnor, LaBan called Chops, a popular Bala Cynwyd steakhouse, the "Palm on City Line," where he had a "miserably tough and fatty strip steak." However, according to the suit filed by Chops owner Alex Plotkin, LaBan had a steak sandwich minus the bread, not a strip steak. "No legitimate food critic would ever mistake, or compare, a steak sandwich with a strip steak," the lawsuit states. Plotkin, who prides himself on Chops' chops, says in the suit that he had called LaBan about the review and that LaBan had "apologized for the 'confusion,' admitted he did not have a strip steak and 'saw [Plotkin's] point,' but would not publish a retraction in his column."
SB 948 California Senate Bill - INTRODUCED
Here are three new bills introduced in the California legislature pertaining to CIDs. Fred Pilot sent the links and bill summaries. What you have here is mandatory training for BOD members; tightening of open meeting "sunshine" requirements; and a 2% limit on assessment increases for low and moderate income housing. I would expect pretty stiff opposition to these, except maybe the training of board members. How can anybody object to that? It is impossible to defend the current state of ignorance, especially considering the rate at which the California legislature is heaping new procedural rules on their heads.
Existing law requires the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Department
of Real Estate, to the extent existing funds are available, to
develop an online education course for the board of directors of an
association regarding the role, duties, laws, and responsibilities of
board members and prospective board members, and the nonjudicial
foreclosure process.
This bill would, in addition, as of January 1, 2009, require every
member of the board of directors of an association to complete at
least one 3-hour course during every term of office relating to
decisional and statutory law regarding common interest developments.
The bill would require such a course to be approved by the Department
of Real Estate.
Here are three new bills introduced in the California legislature pertaining to CIDs. Fred Pilot sent the links and bill summaries. What you have here is mandatory training for BOD members; tightening of open meeting "sunshine" requirements; and a 2% limit on assessment increases for low and moderate income housing. I would expect pretty stiff opposition to these, except maybe the training of board members. How can anybody object to that? It is impossible to defend the current state of ignorance, especially considering the rate at which the California legislature is heaping new procedural rules on their heads.
Existing law requires the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Department
of Real Estate, to the extent existing funds are available, to
develop an online education course for the board of directors of an
association regarding the role, duties, laws, and responsibilities of
board members and prospective board members, and the nonjudicial
foreclosure process.
This bill would, in addition, as of January 1, 2009, require every
member of the board of directors of an association to complete at
least one 3-hour course during every term of office relating to
decisional and statutory law regarding common interest developments.
The bill would require such a course to be approved by the Department
of Real Estate.
SB 528 California Senate Bill - INTRODUCED
The Common Interest Development Open
Meeting Act provides that any member of the governing association of
a common interest development may attend meetings of the board of
directors of the association, except as specified. The act also
requires that notice of the time and place of a meeting be given to
members at least 4 days prior to the meeting, except as specified.
This bill would prohibit the board of directors from considering
any subject matter at a meeting unless the subject matter was placed
on the agenda when the meeting was announced. The bill would also
make technical changes.
The Common Interest Development Open
Meeting Act provides that any member of the governing association of
a common interest development may attend meetings of the board of
directors of the association, except as specified. The act also
requires that notice of the time and place of a meeting be given to
members at least 4 days prior to the meeting, except as specified.
This bill would prohibit the board of directors from considering
any subject matter at a meeting unless the subject matter was placed
on the agenda when the meeting was announced. The bill would also
make technical changes.
AB 952 California Assembly Bill - INTRODUCED
Existing law places
specified limitations on the amount by which the board may increase
regular assessments, and levy special assessments, without a vote
complying with certain procedural requirements. Existing law exempts
assessments for emergency situations, as described, from these
limitations.
This bill would, in addition, prohibit the board of directors from
imposing a special assessment, including an emergency assessment, or
an increase in the regular assessment of more than 2% on units that
are required by law to be provided to low- or moderate-income
purchasers without a vote of the owners of those units in accordance
with specified procedural requirements.
Existing law places
specified limitations on the amount by which the board may increase
regular assessments, and levy special assessments, without a vote
complying with certain procedural requirements. Existing law exempts
assessments for emergency situations, as described, from these
limitations.
This bill would, in addition, prohibit the board of directors from
imposing a special assessment, including an emergency assessment, or
an increase in the regular assessment of more than 2% on units that
are required by law to be provided to low- or moderate-income
purchasers without a vote of the owners of those units in accordance
with specified procedural requirements.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Developer sues over subdivision delay
Nancy Levy wonders about this situation, and so do I. Tactics like this always make you think about SLAPP statutes. But it's hard to tell from one article.
A Royal Oak developer, already suing a citizens group for slander, has hit the city with a lawsuit over six months of delays in the controversial Maida Woods project...In September, a group of residents formed the Westland Homeowners Committee for Environmental Conservation and Smart Growth. The homeowners say the project will destroy the area that's home to many animals. The group claims the site contains more wetlands than thought, which has prompted officials to delay approval several times. An administrative law judge is set to settle the matter. Last week, developers sued the group for at least $25,000 -- or as much as $2 million -- claiming slander, trespass and conspiracy.
Nancy Levy wonders about this situation, and so do I. Tactics like this always make you think about SLAPP statutes. But it's hard to tell from one article.
A Royal Oak developer, already suing a citizens group for slander, has hit the city with a lawsuit over six months of delays in the controversial Maida Woods project...In September, a group of residents formed the Westland Homeowners Committee for Environmental Conservation and Smart Growth. The homeowners say the project will destroy the area that's home to many animals. The group claims the site contains more wetlands than thought, which has prompted officials to delay approval several times. An administrative law judge is set to settle the matter. Last week, developers sued the group for at least $25,000 -- or as much as $2 million -- claiming slander, trespass and conspiracy.
Business - Folsom home lender closes - sacbee.com
Here's a story by Jim Wasseman, who used to be an Associated Press writer. He is very knowledgable about the housing industry and has done some excellent pieces on HOAs. Now he's bylined as a staff writer for the Sacramento Bee. Thanks to Nancy Levy for pointing this out. The story is about rising mortgage defaults that are bad enough to cause a bank to fail. Is this only the start? And if they don't pay the mortgage, they aren't paying the HOA assessments. Note also that this isn't just any bank. Look who is the CEO:
Growing consumer defaults have claimed the first home loan lender in the Sacramento area with the closing of Folsom-based Central Pacific Mortgage. The firm shut its doors last week and dismissed an unknown number of employees, the state Department of Corporations confirmed. "We know that it's closed and the next step in the process may be that they voluntarily surrender their license," DOC spokesman Andrew Roth said. The firm's demise comes amid growing trouble for the nation's mortgage lenders as rising numbers of borrowers default on their home loans. It also involves an influential local personality on the nation's mortgage lending scene and a 2004 appointee of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. John Courson, Central Pacific's 17-year president and chief executive officer, chaired the national trade group for mortgage bankers, the Mortgage Bankers Association, in 2002 and 2003. Currently, he is chairman of the board of the California Housing Finance Agency, the state's affordable housing bank.
Here's a story by Jim Wasseman, who used to be an Associated Press writer. He is very knowledgable about the housing industry and has done some excellent pieces on HOAs. Now he's bylined as a staff writer for the Sacramento Bee. Thanks to Nancy Levy for pointing this out. The story is about rising mortgage defaults that are bad enough to cause a bank to fail. Is this only the start? And if they don't pay the mortgage, they aren't paying the HOA assessments. Note also that this isn't just any bank. Look who is the CEO:
Growing consumer defaults have claimed the first home loan lender in the Sacramento area with the closing of Folsom-based Central Pacific Mortgage. The firm shut its doors last week and dismissed an unknown number of employees, the state Department of Corporations confirmed. "We know that it's closed and the next step in the process may be that they voluntarily surrender their license," DOC spokesman Andrew Roth said. The firm's demise comes amid growing trouble for the nation's mortgage lenders as rising numbers of borrowers default on their home loans. It also involves an influential local personality on the nation's mortgage lending scene and a 2004 appointee of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. John Courson, Central Pacific's 17-year president and chief executive officer, chaired the national trade group for mortgage bankers, the Mortgage Bankers Association, in 2002 and 2003. Currently, he is chairman of the board of the California Housing Finance Agency, the state's affordable housing bank.
"YOU ARE LEAVING THE AMERICAN ZONE!”
Fred Pilot flagged this CCFJ story. It is just amazing, and you have to read it to see how public officials are abandoning HOA and condo residents to the tender mercies of their private governments. Embezzlement isn't a crime if it happens in an HOA...at least that seems to be the (amazing) message. So, asks Jan Bergemenn, does the same (il)logic hold true for murder?
"State laws that regulate homeowners associations lack criminal sanctions," Palm Beach County Assistant State Attorney Preston Mighdoll was quoted as saying in a recent article (Suit says Boca Rio funds misspent) about embezzlement in a homeowners' association.
Fred Pilot flagged this CCFJ story. It is just amazing, and you have to read it to see how public officials are abandoning HOA and condo residents to the tender mercies of their private governments. Embezzlement isn't a crime if it happens in an HOA...at least that seems to be the (amazing) message. So, asks Jan Bergemenn, does the same (il)logic hold true for murder?
"State laws that regulate homeowners associations lack criminal sanctions," Palm Beach County Assistant State Attorney Preston Mighdoll was quoted as saying in a recent article (Suit says Boca Rio funds misspent) about embezzlement in a homeowners' association.
California exodus has far-ranging implications | The San Diego Union-Tribune
Fred Pilot sent this link. San Diego and coastal California in general are rapidly turning into places where the middle class can't live, although San Diego is still relatively affordable when compared with parts north.
In the early 1990s, as Southern California suffered its worst recession in half a century, freeways were crowded with moving vans headed to Nevada, Arizona, Utah and points east, filled with people hoping to find a better life elsewhere. These days, there's no recession. California's economy is growing at roughly the same pace as the nation's. The statewide unemployment rate is at historic lows. There is no major wave of factories being shut down. But once again, more Californians are moving out than are coming in from other states. This time they're not looking for jobs. They just want a cheaper place to live.
Fred Pilot sent this link. San Diego and coastal California in general are rapidly turning into places where the middle class can't live, although San Diego is still relatively affordable when compared with parts north.
In the early 1990s, as Southern California suffered its worst recession in half a century, freeways were crowded with moving vans headed to Nevada, Arizona, Utah and points east, filled with people hoping to find a better life elsewhere. These days, there's no recession. California's economy is growing at roughly the same pace as the nation's. The statewide unemployment rate is at historic lows. There is no major wave of factories being shut down. But once again, more Californians are moving out than are coming in from other states. This time they're not looking for jobs. They just want a cheaper place to live.
Homeowners Wage Battles Against HOAs
Jan Bergemann of Florida's Cyber Citizens for Justice was on Fox News. Watch the video at this link. Thanks to Fred Pilot for the tip.
Jan Bergemann of Florida's Cyber Citizens for Justice was on Fox News. Watch the video at this link. Thanks to Fred Pilot for the tip.
Henry Daily Herald, McDonough, GA - ‘Private Cities’ measure back before lawmakers
Nancy Levy sends this extremely interesting story of a major privatization proposal in Georgia:
ATLANTA — Last year, they were “community development districts.” This year, they’re “infrastructure development districts.” But to critics, legislation that would let developers use quasi-governmental powers to finance and build new communities in undeveloped areas across Georgia still goes by the more pithy sobriquet “private cities.” For the second consecutive legislative session, Republicans are pushing a bill and accompanying constitutional amendment that would allow landowners to finance the roads and water and sewer lines needed to create large developments. Subject to the approval of affected cities or counties, property owners would form districts governed by boards with the power to float bonds that would be repaid through taxes, fees and assessments levied on the residents.
Nancy Levy sends this extremely interesting story of a major privatization proposal in Georgia:
ATLANTA — Last year, they were “community development districts.” This year, they’re “infrastructure development districts.” But to critics, legislation that would let developers use quasi-governmental powers to finance and build new communities in undeveloped areas across Georgia still goes by the more pithy sobriquet “private cities.” For the second consecutive legislative session, Republicans are pushing a bill and accompanying constitutional amendment that would allow landowners to finance the roads and water and sewer lines needed to create large developments. Subject to the approval of affected cities or counties, property owners would form districts governed by boards with the power to float bonds that would be repaid through taxes, fees and assessments levied on the residents.
Developer, buyers wage war over Panama island project - Sacramento Business Journal:
Fred Pilot sends this along, which is the story that you needed a subscription to read as linked below:
Granite Bay developer Shepard Johnson fell in love with Isla Solarte, a rustic paradise of sunshine and palms off the coast of eastern Panama, while touring the Caribbean years ago. He thought the small island had the same potential as Maui as a tourist destination, and in 1995 he launched a plan to develop and sell land there, largely to Americans looking to build inexpensive vacation or retirement homes. Now, he says he can't go back because he's facing criminal charges.
Fred Pilot sends this along, which is the story that you needed a subscription to read as linked below:
Granite Bay developer Shepard Johnson fell in love with Isla Solarte, a rustic paradise of sunshine and palms off the coast of eastern Panama, while touring the Caribbean years ago. He thought the small island had the same potential as Maui as a tourist destination, and in 1995 he launched a plan to develop and sell land there, largely to Americans looking to build inexpensive vacation or retirement homes. Now, he says he can't go back because he's facing criminal charges.
Look before you leap into a condo lifestyle
Fred Pilot located this. Here's a pithy little snippet:
Condo buildings "can be very political," said Jeff Turk, a private equity fund managing partner who recently served on a homeowners association board of a condo in Chicago for two years. "They are literally microclimates . . . in terms of issues that affect one side of the building that doesn't affect the other, like noise from a parking garage, or light creating different heating and ventilation on one side of the building than the other, or a leak in the floor of a rooftop level unit that doesn't affect units underneath it." The issues "can be very contentious or just plain very expensive," said Turk.
Fred Pilot located this. Here's a pithy little snippet:
Condo buildings "can be very political," said Jeff Turk, a private equity fund managing partner who recently served on a homeowners association board of a condo in Chicago for two years. "They are literally microclimates . . . in terms of issues that affect one side of the building that doesn't affect the other, like noise from a parking garage, or light creating different heating and ventilation on one side of the building than the other, or a leak in the floor of a rooftop level unit that doesn't affect units underneath it." The issues "can be very contentious or just plain very expensive," said Turk.
Former Massage Therapist and Home Stager Teaches Homeowners how Having High Energy and Rediscovering Your True Self Creates a 'You' Home
Nancy Levy says she couldn't resist sending this and I can see why. Here's the payoff line:
New business shows homeowners how to personalize homes in a sea of cookie cutter and generic design...Ayanna is a woman with a mission. She assists and teaches homeowners how to uncover who they truly are so that they will make better choices in all aspects in their lives and especially their homes.
Nancy Levy says she couldn't resist sending this and I can see why. Here's the payoff line:
New business shows homeowners how to personalize homes in a sea of cookie cutter and generic design...Ayanna is a woman with a mission. She assists and teaches homeowners how to uncover who they truly are so that they will make better choices in all aspects in their lives and especially their homes.
Developer, buyers wage war over Panama island project - Sacramento Business Journal:
From Fred Pilot comes this saga that you need a subscription to read.
From Fred Pilot comes this saga that you need a subscription to read.
CLRC doesn't want to hold HOA elctions to public standards
Thanks to Fred Pilot for this latest from the California Law Revision Commission.
Thanks to Fred Pilot for this latest from the California Law Revision Commission.
Residents losing their say about managing - National - smh.com.au
Thanks to Nancy Levy for this development from the land down under.
Thanks to Nancy Levy for this development from the land down under.
AMENDMENTS TO UNIFORM COMMON INTEREST OWNERSHIP ACT
This is the "Homeowners' Bill of Rights Act" in draft form, produced by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. There are several Bills of Rights for HOA and condo owners floating around these days. Sooner or later I'll have to sit down and compare them.
ps: I had an email from Jan Bergemann of Cyber Citizens for Justice calling to my attention the following text from the document:
AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION ADVISOR
GARY A. POLIAKOFF, 3111 Stirling Road, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33312-6525, ABA Advisor
Jan notes that CCFJ considers attorney Poliakoff--a prominent member of CAI and active on CAI's legislative agenda--one of CCFJ's most dedicated opponents and he notes that Poliakoff's law firm organized what Jan describes as an "anti-homeowner group." The UCIOA amendment project is viewed with skepticism by HOA activists in any event.
This is the "Homeowners' Bill of Rights Act" in draft form, produced by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. There are several Bills of Rights for HOA and condo owners floating around these days. Sooner or later I'll have to sit down and compare them.
ps: I had an email from Jan Bergemann of Cyber Citizens for Justice calling to my attention the following text from the document:
AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION ADVISOR
GARY A. POLIAKOFF, 3111 Stirling Road, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33312-6525, ABA Advisor
Jan notes that CCFJ considers attorney Poliakoff--a prominent member of CAI and active on CAI's legislative agenda--one of CCFJ's most dedicated opponents and he notes that Poliakoff's law firm organized what Jan describes as an "anti-homeowner group." The UCIOA amendment project is viewed with skepticism by HOA activists in any event.
yourrossmoor.com
Thanks to Gilbert Doubet, Rossmoor, Walnut Creek, CA, for sending me this link to the website of "Your Rossmoor." Doubet quotes me as saying, "“...small but vocal anti-HOA owners groups are organizing, using the internet as their medium and gaining attention from the press," and then says, "That's us in spades."
Thanks to Gilbert Doubet, Rossmoor, Walnut Creek, CA, for sending me this link to the website of "Your Rossmoor." Doubet quotes me as saying, "“...small but vocal anti-HOA owners groups are organizing, using the internet as their medium and gaining attention from the press," and then says, "That's us in spades."
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
L'Eggo My Lego
It seems that this really happened in the space-time continuum that we inhabit. The question is, how will kids who have been brainwashed in this fashion function in the HOAs that I assume they will buy into at some future date? Maybe this is good preparation...
Some Seattle school children are being told to be skeptical of private property rights. This lesson is being taught by banning Legos. A ban was initiated at the Hilltop Children's Center in Seattle. According to an article in the winter 2006-07 issue of "Rethinking Schools" magazine, the teachers at the private school wanted their students to learn that private property ownership is evil. According to the article, the students had been building an elaborate "Legotown," but it was accidentally demolished. The teachers decided its destruction was an opportunity to explore "the inequities of private ownership." According to the teachers, "Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation." The children were allegedly incorporating into Legotown "their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys." These assumptions "mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society -- a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive." They claimed as their role shaping the children's "social and political understandings of ownership and economic equity ... from a perspective of social justice."
The LA Suburb that the law forgot...
This story is about as shocking as anything you are likely to read today.
Cudahy resembles a Mexican border town more than it does a Los Angeles suburb. Entrenched gangs and Mexican drug trafficking have trapped working-class legal and illegal immigrants in a cycle of violence and fear, in a city where less than a quarter of the 28,000 residents are eligible to vote. An uneducated city council, a deeply troubled police force imported from Maywood two towns over, and the raw power of the 18th Street Gang — a complex criminal organization with a knack for setting up business fronts and obscuring underground drug activity — make Cudahy residents seem like hostages in their own city. By most accounts, Cudahy City Council members — two retired union managers, an insurance salesman, a waitress and a grocer — do not run the city as they were elected to do. Rather, they defer to City Manager Perez, a former janitor who is known to favor revenue traps such as DUI and driver’s license checkpoints over aggressive tactics that make gangs and drug dealers less comfortable.
This story is about as shocking as anything you are likely to read today.
Cudahy resembles a Mexican border town more than it does a Los Angeles suburb. Entrenched gangs and Mexican drug trafficking have trapped working-class legal and illegal immigrants in a cycle of violence and fear, in a city where less than a quarter of the 28,000 residents are eligible to vote. An uneducated city council, a deeply troubled police force imported from Maywood two towns over, and the raw power of the 18th Street Gang — a complex criminal organization with a knack for setting up business fronts and obscuring underground drug activity — make Cudahy residents seem like hostages in their own city. By most accounts, Cudahy City Council members — two retired union managers, an insurance salesman, a waitress and a grocer — do not run the city as they were elected to do. Rather, they defer to City Manager Perez, a former janitor who is known to favor revenue traps such as DUI and driver’s license checkpoints over aggressive tactics that make gangs and drug dealers less comfortable.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Homeowners group's ex-leader accused of theft
Thanks to Jean Winters for this very disturbing story about HOA misconduct:
Something had gone wrong in the quiet Boca Rio Townhomes neighborhood near the Broward County line, residents noticed last year. The sprinklers stopped working. Broken fences weren't mended. The grass turned brown in their orderly suburban community. No one answered the phone at the clubhouse anymore, and those who did get through to homeowners association President Betty Marshal met obstinate refusal to let them see the books. One resident, Randy Gavitt, started digging further. What he says he uncovered led to Marshal's resignation as board president and a lawsuit filed Friday in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. Marshal, a 68-year-old grandmother, gambled away nearly $500,000 of her association's money and fled to Pennsylvania, residents allege in the lawsuit. Over three years, she used the association's debit card and withdrew as much as $30,000 a month on what appear to be personal expenses at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, online gambling sites and the chocolate factory in her hometown of Hershey, Pa., and for airline tickets and other items, the lawsuit says. She left the neighborhood in disrepair and $662,070 poorer.
Thanks to Jean Winters for this very disturbing story about HOA misconduct:
Something had gone wrong in the quiet Boca Rio Townhomes neighborhood near the Broward County line, residents noticed last year. The sprinklers stopped working. Broken fences weren't mended. The grass turned brown in their orderly suburban community. No one answered the phone at the clubhouse anymore, and those who did get through to homeowners association President Betty Marshal met obstinate refusal to let them see the books. One resident, Randy Gavitt, started digging further. What he says he uncovered led to Marshal's resignation as board president and a lawsuit filed Friday in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. Marshal, a 68-year-old grandmother, gambled away nearly $500,000 of her association's money and fled to Pennsylvania, residents allege in the lawsuit. Over three years, she used the association's debit card and withdrew as much as $30,000 a month on what appear to be personal expenses at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, online gambling sites and the chocolate factory in her hometown of Hershey, Pa., and for airline tickets and other items, the lawsuit says. She left the neighborhood in disrepair and $662,070 poorer.
Community Associations Institute - New England Chapter -- Court Limits Liability for Third Party Web Postings
Here's a post advising CAI people about a California Supreme Court case (Barrett v. Rosenthal) that limits liability for re-posting on a web site the libelous posts of other people, based on a provision of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. CAI's advice is still on the side of caution, saying HOAs should still be careful about reposting potentially defamatory material. Seems like good advice to me. Thanks to Shu Bartholomew for pointing this out.
The ruling applies only in California, but many trends begin there, and legal analysts say it is possible that other courts will adopt this court’s “freedom of Internet speech” logic if confronted with suits raising similar questions. On the other hand, most associations would no doubt prefer not to end up in a protracted (and expensive) legal battle, even if it’s a battle they might ultimately win. So the best advice, still, is probably to assume the association would be sued for potentially libelous statements and avoid posting them, or having them posted, on the community’s Web site, in newsletters or any other communications venues the association controls.
Here's a post advising CAI people about a California Supreme Court case (Barrett v. Rosenthal) that limits liability for re-posting on a web site the libelous posts of other people, based on a provision of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. CAI's advice is still on the side of caution, saying HOAs should still be careful about reposting potentially defamatory material. Seems like good advice to me. Thanks to Shu Bartholomew for pointing this out.
The ruling applies only in California, but many trends begin there, and legal analysts say it is possible that other courts will adopt this court’s “freedom of Internet speech” logic if confronted with suits raising similar questions. On the other hand, most associations would no doubt prefer not to end up in a protracted (and expensive) legal battle, even if it’s a battle they might ultimately win. So the best advice, still, is probably to assume the association would be sued for potentially libelous statements and avoid posting them, or having them posted, on the community’s Web site, in newsletters or any other communications venues the association controls.
ABC News: New England Town Prints Up Its Own Currency
So give me one good reason why HOAs can't do the same.
So give me one good reason why HOAs can't do the same.
Monday, February 26, 2007
AB 1164 Assembly Bill - INTRODUCED
Fred Pilot sent this link to a piece of legislation introduced in California that would prohibit sole-provider agreements between apartment owners (and HOA developers and boards, as I read the summary) and video or broadband providers. Developers have been granting cable companies monopolies in exchange for a simple covenant banning antennas.
This bill would prohibit a provider of video service or broadband
service from entering into an agreement with any person owning,
leasing, controlling, or managing buildings or dwellings that would
diminish or interfere with the rights of any tenant or other occupant
of the building or dwelling to the use of any video service or
broadband service offered by another party.
Fred Pilot sent this link to a piece of legislation introduced in California that would prohibit sole-provider agreements between apartment owners (and HOA developers and boards, as I read the summary) and video or broadband providers. Developers have been granting cable companies monopolies in exchange for a simple covenant banning antennas.
This bill would prohibit a provider of video service or broadband
service from entering into an agreement with any person owning,
leasing, controlling, or managing buildings or dwellings that would
diminish or interfere with the rights of any tenant or other occupant
of the building or dwelling to the use of any video service or
broadband service offered by another party.
Tennessee Center for Policy Research: Al Gore’s Personal Energy Use Is His Own “Inconvenient Truth”
Gore’s home uses more than 20 times the national average
Now that Al Gore has his Oscar and his Nobel Peace Prize nomination, I suppose boring facts like this are irrelevant, but I ran across this on The Drudge Report, so here it is. I didn't watch the Oscars, but the news today is full of what went on. Environmental scientist Leonardo DiCaprio pronounced it the "green" Oscars. Does that mean that the stars flew in on private jets fueled by organic peanut butter?
Gore’s mansion, located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES). In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home. The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average. Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359. Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.
Gore’s home uses more than 20 times the national average
Now that Al Gore has his Oscar and his Nobel Peace Prize nomination, I suppose boring facts like this are irrelevant, but I ran across this on The Drudge Report, so here it is. I didn't watch the Oscars, but the news today is full of what went on. Environmental scientist Leonardo DiCaprio pronounced it the "green" Oscars. Does that mean that the stars flew in on private jets fueled by organic peanut butter?
Gore’s mansion, located in the posh Belle Meade area of Nashville, consumes more electricity every month than the average American household uses in an entire year, according to the Nashville Electric Service (NES). In his documentary, the former Vice President calls on Americans to conserve energy by reducing electricity consumption at home. The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh—more than 20 times the national average. Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh—guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359. Since the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s energy consumption has increased from an average of 16,200 kWh per month in 2005, to 18,400 kWh per month in 2006.
Do fence me in - Los Angeles Times
Nancy Levy flagged this story. I have my doubts about this claim that gated communities are all that popular.
If a man's home is his castle, gates are the modern equivalent of living behind the moat. Gated communities, in fact, are the fastest-growing form of housing in the U.S., according to census data. Why? Those who opt for gates point to reduced crime and traffic, a safer environment for children and the prestige of living somewhere that's exclusive. But not everyone likes being sealed off from the world. Some people view gates as elitist or don't want the bother of calling the guards each time a visitor is expected. Whether new or old, suburban or urban, surrounded by affluence or a gritty neighborhood, a secured perimeter with controlled access generally makes a home more expensive. "Gated communities command a higher price when they enter the market," said Setha Low, an anti-gates anthropologist who wrote "Behind the Gates: Life, Security and the Pursuit of Happiness in Fortress America." "Their advantage diminishes as the development ages and their maintenance costs increase." The view on the ground in Southern California comes from John Karevoll, chief analyst for DataQuick Information Systems, a La Jolla-based real estate research firm. "There is initially a bit more value to those properties. In general, 5% to 7%.
Nancy Levy flagged this story. I have my doubts about this claim that gated communities are all that popular.
If a man's home is his castle, gates are the modern equivalent of living behind the moat. Gated communities, in fact, are the fastest-growing form of housing in the U.S., according to census data. Why? Those who opt for gates point to reduced crime and traffic, a safer environment for children and the prestige of living somewhere that's exclusive. But not everyone likes being sealed off from the world. Some people view gates as elitist or don't want the bother of calling the guards each time a visitor is expected. Whether new or old, suburban or urban, surrounded by affluence or a gritty neighborhood, a secured perimeter with controlled access generally makes a home more expensive. "Gated communities command a higher price when they enter the market," said Setha Low, an anti-gates anthropologist who wrote "Behind the Gates: Life, Security and the Pursuit of Happiness in Fortress America." "Their advantage diminishes as the development ages and their maintenance costs increase." The view on the ground in Southern California comes from John Karevoll, chief analyst for DataQuick Information Systems, a La Jolla-based real estate research firm. "There is initially a bit more value to those properties. In general, 5% to 7%.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Retirement community rift pits Baby Boomers against the elderly
Marjorie Murray, President of the Center for California Homeowner Association Law, sent me the link to this story about a new issue that needs some serious consideration:
Sprawling retirement communities are attempting to spruce up facilities to appeal to the onslaught of Baby Boomers, while the longtime residents worry that they are subtly being nudged out the gate. Out in Walnut Creek, where the "active retirement" community of Rossmoor is experiencing growing pains, resident Dick Hayes, 71, a former president of the Residents Association, speaks for many retirees. "I think there is an attempt, and it may be subtle and unconscious, to get rid of the 80- and 90-year-olds,'' says Hayes.
Marjorie Murray, President of the Center for California Homeowner Association Law, sent me the link to this story about a new issue that needs some serious consideration:
Sprawling retirement communities are attempting to spruce up facilities to appeal to the onslaught of Baby Boomers, while the longtime residents worry that they are subtly being nudged out the gate. Out in Walnut Creek, where the "active retirement" community of Rossmoor is experiencing growing pains, resident Dick Hayes, 71, a former president of the Residents Association, speaks for many retirees. "I think there is an attempt, and it may be subtle and unconscious, to get rid of the 80- and 90-year-olds,'' says Hayes.
wcbstv.com - Officials To Review Rat-Infested KFC Inspection
See my post criticizing the cozy relationship between the so-called "Health Department" of NYC and the infamous rat-infested KFC. Now check this out. The dump was inspected the day before CBS filmed rats doing half-gainers into tubs of extra crispy wings and running laps around the feet of horrified diners. Result: congRATulations! You pass the Health Department inspection! Read the comments of the "health department spokesman" who doesn't want to prejudge anybody or anything like that. Heaven forfend.
(CBS) NEW YORK Health officials are going to review the inspection of a Greenwich Village KFC/Taco Bell, which was completed one day before CBS 2 cameras caught dozens of rats scurrying across the store, jumping on tables, and climbing into food trays. "It doesn't look like the inspection that was done Thursday met our standards," said Geoffrey Cowley, a health department spokesman. "I don't want to prejudge that. We're concerned and we're going to carefully revaluate that inspection."
See my post criticizing the cozy relationship between the so-called "Health Department" of NYC and the infamous rat-infested KFC. Now check this out. The dump was inspected the day before CBS filmed rats doing half-gainers into tubs of extra crispy wings and running laps around the feet of horrified diners. Result: congRATulations! You pass the Health Department inspection! Read the comments of the "health department spokesman" who doesn't want to prejudge anybody or anything like that. Heaven forfend.
(CBS) NEW YORK Health officials are going to review the inspection of a Greenwich Village KFC/Taco Bell, which was completed one day before CBS 2 cameras caught dozens of rats scurrying across the store, jumping on tables, and climbing into food trays. "It doesn't look like the inspection that was done Thursday met our standards," said Geoffrey Cowley, a health department spokesman. "I don't want to prejudge that. We're concerned and we're going to carefully revaluate that inspection."
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