February 20, 2014

By Charlene Sakoda

By LIZ FARMER LIZ FARMER The Dallas Morning News

Published: 21 February 2014 07:37 AMWhen Larry Duncan moved to McKinney’s Heatherwood subdivision about seven years ago, he looked forward to enjoying the home he built overlooking a quiet greenbelt. But after the retaining wall that supports his backyard buckled in December, Duncan, 57, said his home has been more of a headache than a peaceful refuge. The wall behind his house also runs behind about 30 other houses and supports each of their backyards. Similar stone retaining walls are built throughout the neighborhood, many of which show signs of cracking.

February 19, 2014

By Tim Reid

(Reuters) – A plunge in U.S. homebuilder confidence reported on Tuesday reflects a range of problems facing the construction industry seven years after the housing crash, challenges that go deeper than the severe winter weather blamed for much of the gloom. The National Association of Home Builders said on Tuesday that builder confidence dropped 10 points between January and February, from 56 to 46, the largest drop since the survey began in 1985. Readings below 50 mean more builders view market conditions as poor than favorable. Read more:

Reuters January 15, 2014

By Michelle Conlin

For six years, Ingrid Boak, who travels a lot for work as a racehorse trainer, ignored mail from her homeowners association. Boak, of Lexington, Ky., says the letters were requests for $48 in annual fees for upkeep of the tidy neighborhood of one-story brick homes. Because she didn’t use the clubhouse or pool, or participate in social activities sponsored by the association, she didn’t think she needed to pay. Last September, while she was away, a neighbor called to tell her about a handwritten sign tacked to her front door. It said her house had been sold.
Masterson Station Neighborhood Association had foreclosed on her $120,000 home because she had $288 in unpaid dues, according to the association’s lawyer, Nathan Billings. Boak was sent nearly 30 notices before her property was foreclosed on, he said; the dues were mandatory homeowners association fees. Boak says she does not remember seeing a foreclosure notice, and no one served her papers in person. She likens the experience to her father’s in East Germany, where the communist state took away property rights.  Read more:

Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) — Harassment, honest mistakes or an attempt to take someone’s house? No matter what you call it, it’s a fight between a local senior and his homeowners association. Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears examines how an HOA’s math could cost a valley man his home, and we look to see whether the state is doing enough to stop it.
“No matter what happens you don’t give up.” John Radocha learned a lot as a wrestler in high school and college, “Brings back memories.” But he said he’s in the fight of his life now, at age 80. His opponent? The Astoria Trails North Homeowners Association. “I want it stopped. Leave me alone. Let me live. How much more time do I have on this earth?” said John.  Read more:

Home 2014 Real Estate – It is one of those horrible scenarios, but you may be on the hook for a potentially large assessment from your homeowners association, and not even know it. In fact, your homeowners association may be close to being broke…

When you buy a home that is governed by a homeowners association you sign a long document that gives the association certain powers over your property. Typically you get the bylaws right around closing time as you have 100 plates spinning in the air, and you give it a quick glance at the homeowner bylaws and then sign that you agree to be bound by them.

This could be costly. These agreements govern how the homeowners association can collect their dues, including potentially foreclosing on your house to do so, how you must maintain your home, and assess special fees if the association needs to make upgrades or create new amenities.

So you may wake up one day to hear about a $10,000 assessment because the association feels the need to fix a problem or add an amenity and it will be coming out of your bank account.  Read more:

By Mike Mibach

 January 23, 2014

SAN LORENZO, Calif. — Despite the state being a drought-zone, some San Lorenzo residents are receiving citations for having a dead lawn. John Glisar, 55, watered his brown-hued lawn Thursday; he said it’s a move he didn’t necessarily want to make but said he has little choice in the matter. “The San Lorenzo Village Homes Association wants to fine me from $100 to $1000,” said Glisar.

Glisar has lived in his home since 1985 and two months ago he received his first violation – asking him to maintain his yard or face a fine.  This month he received another violation from the association titled “YARD MAINTENCE: lawn dry and dying.” Glisar said he took it to the Village Association to talk about the problem and was handed back the violation – with a written note in red ink that read, “30 days to get green from 1/21/14.”  Read more:

February 6, 2014

By McClatchy Newspapers

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager could have thought of a few other things he’d rather be doing Tuesday, but there he was in a Sacramento courtroom, defending himself in a lawsuit that’s gone to trial.  “It’s different,” Yeager said outside Judge Judy Hersher’s downtown courtroom, where the famed test pilot from West Virginia and his wife are the subjects of a lawsuit by a Sacramento homeowners association that claims the couple owes it about $28,000.  Read more:

February 4, 2014

By Ward Lucas

I’m late getting this one up on the blog, since most of those-in-the-know already read this in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. But for the record, another of the Las Vegas HOA crooks has pleaded guilty. That makes thirty down with at least eight more to go. Ah, and four suspicious ‘suicides.’ And there’s absolutely no word about the judge or the other police officials who were supposedly implicated.

The latest HOA crook to bite the dust is Las Vegas lawyer Barry Levinson. The Feds got him for stealing a million bucks from his clients, failing to report 28,000 in income taxes, wire fraud, mail fraud, and….oh yes, conspiring to fraudulently pack the boards of Las Vegas homeowners associations with phony members so his organized crime ring could completely take over those associations. Thousands of homeowners got hurt. Many lost their homes. The Las Vegas housing industry went right into the sewer.

Look for Levinson to get an extremely light sentence, though. That’s because he agreed to testify against his racketeering buddies. Read more: