‘World’s largest yacht’ headed to Eastport and other Maine ports of call — Down East — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine

‘World’s largest yacht’ headed to Eastport and other Maine ports of call — Down East — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine

EASTPORT, Maine — Billed as “the world’s largest privately owned yacht,” The World will tie up at Eastport’s downtown breakwater pier Tuesday morning, allowing those who live aboard the 12-deck, 644-foot vessel to enjoy a day of exploring the historic Washington County seaport.

The unique ship is a floating city, owned by 130 families from 19 different countries who occupy with their guests 165 private condominium residences. Launched in 2002, The World continuously circumnavigates the globe, and it has now visited 800 ports in 140 countries. The ship’s 2012 itinerary is taking those aboard to 31 different countries. Beyond Eastport, the ship is scheduled to stop in Bar Harbor, Rockland and Portland before heading on to Boston. Its last port of call before heading to Eastport was in Canada at St. Andrews, N.B.

The World is the only private residential community at sea. 

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I've blogged about 'The World" before, but here she is, about to grace the state of my birth with her intensely private and opulent presence.  I seem to remember that there were some interesting taxation advantages to be had by making this ship one's principal residence. 

Chris Whited: Man builds real life hobbit house complete with working water wheel and one car garage | Mail Online

Chris Whited: Man builds real life hobbit house complete with working water wheel and one car garage | Mail Online

Condo owners sue management -- Walworth County Today

Condo owners sue management -- Walworth County Today:
ELKHORN — Forty-five Lake Lawn Lodge condominium owners have sued the resort and its condo association for more than $5 million over rent payments, a unit management agreement and other financial matters.

The suit, filed Sept. 26 in Walworth County, has been assigned to Judge James Carlson. The summons requires the defendants to respond with a written answer to the complaint within 45 days.

The 40-page complaint alleges that Lake Lawn and Lodges at Lake Lawn Resort Condominium Association manipulated agreements with the owners following the resort’s Aug. 5, 2009, foreclosure. The 45-condo owners allege that the defendants illegally obtained a majority of the governing board through four commercial units and assumed control of 70 percent of rental revenue when a customary percentage for management was 40 percent.
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Another dispute over alleged manipulation of voting rights to seize control of an association for financial gain.  I don't know who is right or wrong in this particular case.  However, it seems to me that the frequency of this sort of situation has increased since the housing market collapsed. Before the crash, disputes over architectural review decisions, foreclosures for unpaid assessments, and strange rules violations cases were the norm in the press. Now there seem to be more embezzlements, frauds, and association control controversies. Everybody involved in common interest housing is getting squeezed by the loss of value--banks and investors, developers, management companies, lawyers, and most of all the owners who are expected to support these associations through collective use of their scarce individual resources.

Homeowner who replaces thirsty grass with native plants is hit with neighborhood association lawsuit. - OrlandoSentinel.com

Homeowner who replaces thirsty grass with native plants is hit with neighborhood association lawsuit. - OrlandoSentinel.com: A homeowner near Windermere who happens to work for Orange County's environmental department has been sued by her neighborhood association for replacing her thirsty grass with a water-conserving landscape.

Renee Parker's plants attract butterflies, blossom regularly in multiple colors and have an assortment of shapes and heights. For a meandering border, she planted Argentine bahia, a grass that's hardier than the water-craving, fertilizer-loving St. Augustine variety commonly growing in Florida yards.
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More frivolous litigation and bad press for Privatopia and the community association bar.  Film at 10. 

Service dog prompts dispute with HOA - ABC-7.com WZVN News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida

Service dog prompts dispute with HOA - ABC-7.com WZVN News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida: McKay's boxer "Kane" has been with him since 2009. But his condo association says no pets allowed.

McKay claims neighbors and managers have been giving him a hard time, which now has him locked in a legal battle with the homeowners association to keep his condo.

"They're going wait a minute, no pets. I say, ‘He's not a pet, he's a service dog. I'm an American with disability, I'm covered under ADA,'" McKay said.
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So there!

Economists: Housing recovery finally here | Money - KCRA Home

Economists: Housing recovery finally here | Money - KCRA Home: "We're seeing the signs of a pulse in a sector that has been flat-lined for a number of years," said Sean Snaith, economics professor at the University of Central Florida.

Determining when the housing market has turned the corner is important for more than home builders and real estate agents. Even before soaring foreclosures sparked a meltdown in financial markets in 2008, the housing market had become a significant drag on the economy. Housing continued to subtract from the nation's gross domestic product right up through early 2011.
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Probably just in time for many HOAs which the perfessor warned stand at the brink of insolvency due to accumulated assessment delinquencies spawned by years of recession and residential real estate deflation.

Ruling casts doubt on Hilton Head Plantation gate toll - Beaufort News - IslandPacket.com

Ruling casts doubt on Hilton Head Plantation gate toll - Beaufort News - IslandPacket.com: Hilton Head Plantation property owners behind on their association dues can't be charged a toll to enter the gated community, a Beaufort County judge has ruled.

Judge Marvin Dukes determined the association's policies and bylaws do not give it the authority to charge the toll, which took effect Monday, as a way of collecting long overdue assessments.

"After a review of the aforementioned covenants and restrictions, I find that there is no provision allowing the association to charge a toll on owners ...," Dukes wrote in the Sept. 26 temporary injunction. The ruling bars the association from charging Patrick or Janelle Dodd, who are named in the order, the $10 daily toll or the $50 fee for a guest pass until a final hearing on the matter.
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This is first: a selective tollgate in Privatopia.

Will New HOA Members Change Pink Playhouse Lawsuit? | NBC Augusta 26

Will New HOA Members Change Pink Playhouse Lawsuit? | NBC Augusta 26
She's hoping the new board members elected Tuesday night will be on her side as she fights to keep the color of her granddaughter's playhouse pink.
"It is frivolous, that there is nothing in those covenants that specifically addresses play equipment, and it needs to be thrown out before it ever gets to court and it just might,” she said.
Peck has until the end of this week to answer the complaint and she says she's hired an attorney and is prepared to go to court.
The attorney for the HOA who filed the complaint, August Murdock, says all the board wants is for the playhouse to be repainted.
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The saga of the HOA offending pink playhouse continues.  Film at 10.

"Most Dangerous City in America" Is Disbanding Its Current Police Force

"Most Dangerous City in America" Is Disbanding Its Current Police Force:
That would be Camden, New Jersey:
"The reason, officials say, is that generous union contracts have made it financially impossible to keep enough officers on the street. So in November, Camden, which has already had substantial police layoffs, will begin terminating the remaining 273 officers and give control to a new county force. The move, officials say, will free up millions to hire a larger, nonunionized force of 400 officers to safeguard the city, which is also the nation’s poorest....Though the city is solidly Democratic, the plan to put the Police Department out of business has not prompted the wide public outcry seen in the union battles in Chicago, Ohio or Wisconsin, in part because many residents have come to resent a police force they see as incompetent, corrupt and doing little to make their streets safe."
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How's that for dysfunction? And it may be part of a trend. Step one would be to dismantle the municipal-level service and turn the function over to the county:  "Faced with tight budgets, many communities across the country are considering regionalizing their police departments, along with other services like firefighting, libraries and schools."  Step two for Camden is to create a new non-union police force. For other cities, that step is a bigger one: move to contracting out the service to private corporations.

Mortgages — The Rental Alternative to Foreclosure - NYTimes.com

Mortgages — The Rental Alternative to Foreclosure - NYTimes.com:
Deed for lease programs:
The main problem, as with all foreclosure alternatives, is whether an applicant qualifies. As acknowledged by Andrew Wilson, a spokesman for Fannie Mae, the agency’s “Deed-for-Lease,” or D4L, option has not been widely utilized.

Applicants may not be more than 11 payments past due on their mortgage, and must be able to pay fair-market rent without spending more than 31 percent of their gross income. Properties with second mortgages are ineligible, as are properties in areas where zoning or homeowners’ associations prohibit rentals. The condition of the property is also a factor.

“I’m surprised they didn’t include a requirement that you give your firstborn,” said John Taylor, the president and chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. “They should come back with something that’s not as restrictive.”
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It is interesting that the federal government was so quick and generous with relief for the banks when their own crazy investment practices crashed the financial sector, the housing sector, and the economy, but when it is the banks' turn to extend some relief to homeowners. In this case, it is just a matter of the owner handing over the keys and becoming a renter for a few years. But even here the banks have to make people jump through all sorts of hoops:  "Bank of America is offering its “Mortgage to Lease” option to only about 2,500 preselected borrowers in New York, Nevada, Arizona and California. A company spokesman would not comment on how many customers had taken part in the program. Citi’s “Home Rental Program,” announced just last month, applies to only 500 homeowners in Arizona, California, Texas, Florida, Nevada and Georgia."

New FHA rules loosen association requirements - chicagotribune.com

New FHA rules loosen association requirements - chicagotribune.com:
Perhaps the most significant change is a liberalized policy on delinquencies: No more than 15 percent of the total units can be more than 60 days past due on assessment payments, not including fees and fines. The previous threshold was 30 days past due."The delinquency rate was the biggest hurdle holding back many associations from qualifying for approval," said Anderson. "Thirty days is not a lot of time. When market conditions are good, people usually pay their assessments on time. But in this economy, it's a fact of life that people are paying later and later....Another major change permits greater investor ownership. In existing associations or nongut rehabilitation conversions, an investor may own up to 50 percent of the total units if at least 50 percent of the total units have been sold or are under contract. Unoccupied and unsold units owned by a developer are not counted as investor owned unless the units are currently rented or were previously occupied.Previously, no single entity could own more than 10 percent of the units or one unit, whichever was greater."
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Pamela McKuen writes about the increased leniency from FHA. They have swung from ridiculously lax pre-2008 to insanely restrictive, and now they are easing back again. And they are facing some unpleasant facts: high delinquency rates are the new normal, and investors are a huge percentage of the market for condos. Owner-occupants are not so easy to find in some situations.

Judge: Money lost to Vegas HOA fraud likely gone - San Jose Mercury News

Judge: Money lost to Vegas HOA fraud likely gone - San Jose Mercury News:
During the court proceeding, a retired Air Force colonel hailed by La Bella as one of two honest board members at the Vistana development in 2007 said none of the more than $8 million the board received in a construction defect lawsuit settlement went for needed repairs at the 732-home community southwest of Las Vegas.
"Within six months that money was gone," Bruce "Wiley" Wallace told the judge. "It was all a matter of $300,000 here and $300,000 there. The swimming pool was not fixed—one of 100 things not done. By the end of 2008, there was $450,000 left in the construction defect account."
Two other board members withdrew the remaining money in December 2008 and disappeared, Wallace said.
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Virtually nobody who buys into an HOA or condo association considers how vulnerable they are to economic mismanagement, garden variety embezzlement, or, as in the Las Vegas situation, outright fraud.  At the end of the Las Vegas saga, no matter who goes to jail or commits suicide, here is the bottom line: the money is gone. And yet it seems that local governments can't be bothered to do anything by way of protecting or even warning people.  Some state legislatures have tried to reform the internal procedures of these private governments, but what we never seem to see is a serious look at the structure of this whole institution. There is too much reliance placed on the resources of individual owners--their money, time, energy, knowledge, ability to make collective decisions, and loyalty--and too little institutional support.  And the practice of mandating this form of housing, which has been going on in the Las Vegas area for almost twenty years, guarantees that many people will be virtually conscripted into a complex form of common ownership that they do not actually want or understand. Taken together, these public policies must inevitably lead to problems.

Better times mean bigger homes for Sacramento-area buyers - Real Estate - The Sacramento Bee

Better times mean bigger homes for Sacramento-area buyers - Real Estate - The Sacramento Bee: For years now, urban planners have predicted that homebuyers would opt for smaller houses in more urban-style neighborhoods when the real estate market recovers.

That's true for some. But with housing the cheapest it has been in decades, some buyers are returning to the large suburban tract homes that were hallmarks of the housing boom.

Homebuilders and housing experts say sales of larger homes have picked up in recent months, driven by customer demand.
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Urban planning seems to assume the housing market aspires to urban living.  Not necessarily.

North Naples community on edge after a string of burglaries

North Naples community on edge after a string of burglaries: COLLIER COUNTY, Fla - A North Naples community is on edge after string of burglaries stole their sense of security.

The gated community of Cypress Trace is in Cypress Woods just off Immokalee Road. Now neighbors are demanding their home owners association do more to restore safety.

Cypress Trace is gated, but residents say it failed to keep trouble out Sunday night. They say there are several open areas where thieves can walk right in and with no security guard at night and high HOA fees, neighbors say more protection is a must.
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As the perfessor has noted, gates are no guarantee of security.

There's Been a Dictatorial Coup -- Koch Bros. Have a Bunch of Czars Running Cities Across Michigan | Alternet

There's Been a Dictatorial Coup -- Koch Bros. Have a Bunch of Czars Running Cities Across Michigan | Alternet:
"It only took two weeks in March of 2011 for the ponderously titled� "Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act" �to be rushed through both houses of the legislature and signed by Snyder. Before the public knew it--BAM! --the governor was authorized to establish his own autocratic republic: Michiganistan. At bottom, the LGSDFA Act is a doozy of autocratic mischief-making. It lets the governor seize control of any local government he deems to be in fiscal trouble, suspend the people's democratic authority, impose a corporatized version of martial law, and install his own "emergency financial manager" to govern by diktat..."
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I don't think there is any way, only a year and a half in, to judge the success or failure of this radical approach to local government fiscal crisis.  I know there has been a great outcry from the local officials who are involved, and the left seems to view it as a corporate takeover.

Home prices back to '03 levels - Sep. 25, 2012

Home prices back to '03 levels - Sep. 25, 2012: NEW YORK (CNNMoney) --
In another sign of a turnaround in the long-battered real estate market, average home prices rebounded in July to the same level as they were nine years ago.
According to the closely watched S&P/Case-Shiller national home price index, which covers more than 80% of the housing market in the United States, the typical home price in July rose 1.6% compared to the previous month.
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About time.

Copper embezzler sentenced | Sonora / Tuolumne News, Sports, & Weather, Angels Camp, Twain Harte, Jamestown | Union Democrat

Copper embezzler sentenced | Sonora / Tuolumne News, Sports, & Weather, Angels Camp, Twain Harte, Jamestown | Union Democrat: The saga was another bruise for the association, which has been stung by a series of controversies over the past decade.

The association gained national notoriety in 2003 when Thomas and Anita Radcliff had their home seized and resold for failing to pay $120 in annual dues. The couple was able to settle out of court and repurchase their home, appraised at $289,000, from an Alameda man who bought it for only $70,000 at a foreclosure auction.

The scandal prompted a law to be passed in 2005 preventing homeowners associations from foreclosing on a member’s home when that member owes less than $1,800.

The Gray Tsunami | Aging | DISCOVER Magazine

The Gray Tsunami | Aging | DISCOVER Magazine:
"Sun City’s radical idea—to restrict home ownership to people 55 and older—effectively excluded families and children from the development. But recently the policy was updated. Now only one owner has to be over 55, this to accommodate residents with younger spouses. Getting back in the van and touring the quiet, curving streets, with their neat plantings and pink-tinted gravel, the ASU group sees no pregnant women or kids, no young people whatsoever. Sun City has a fertility rate of zero."
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And of course this exclusion of the young was accomplished by private restrictive covenant, made possible by laws that granted the elderly an exception from anti-discrimination statutes.  HOAs were set up in large part to enforce such restrictions.  Before that, covenants were used to exclude African-Americans,  Jews, Asians, and the Irish, and HOAs enforced those.  Now we have all these gated communities that keep everybody out except the burglars disguised as joggers.

Mitt Romney's Housing Market Plan Has Got to Be a Joke -- Business Insider

Mitt Romney's Housing Market Plan - Business Insider:
"Yesterday evening (a Friday evening!) the campaign revealed a white paper titled Securing the American Dream and The Future of Housing Policy that's so unsubstantial, we half-suspect the timing was done so that nobody would see it amid the release of the 2011 tax documents, which came out about 20 minutes earlier."
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So not only are seniors booing the Republican VP candidate--now the business press is panning Romney's non-plan to "fix" the housing sector.  I think the focus will be on accelerating the foreclosure process.  Next up: bum-proof park benches so the deadbeats who got foreclosed on can't sleep on them.

Tiny homes hit the big city - CNN.com

Tiny homes hit the big city - CNN.com

"The Berzins are part of a small contingent of homeowners who have found solace living in less than 500 square feet. Many of them live in homes built on trailers so they can move around; others, like the Berzins, live on property they own. Others live in Cob homes built of clay and mica. Some are motivated by a desire to lessen their carbon footprint while others want to own a home without worrying about property taxes.Small homes aren't for everybody, but those who embrace the lifestyle tend to become their most enthusiastic boosters. Most of the iReporters who shared their stories of living small with CNN.com also build tiny homes or run businesses dedicated to helping others build their own.The small home movement has been around for years in small cities and rural areas, but this summer, it made a big incursion into one of the country's largest and most densely populated urban centers."

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And no HOA dues.