ALPHARETTA, Ga. (AP) — A metro Atlanta homeowners’ association’s decision to move a school bus stop has drawn parents’ ire.

News outlets report the Fulton County School District confirmed the bus stop for the Windward Pointe neighborhood had been moved outside the subdivision this school year, as the community’s HOA says it won’t allow buses.  Read more:

Prior to 2007, Florida did not allow a homeowners association to pursue a former owner for unpaid HOA assessments and fees.

This changed in 2007 when the Florida Legislature amended Chapter 720 of the Florida Statues by adding Section 720.3085, which provides that ”[a] parcel owner is jointly and severally liable with the previous

parcel owner for all unpaid assessments that came due up to the time of transfer of title.”

This means is that if the previous owner owed the HOA any money on the day of the sale, the new owner now becomes jointly liable for this amount, too.

The fact that a new owner can be held liable for money owed by the prior owner is a scary realization. Therefore, it is imperative that a buyer request an “estoppel letter” before purchasing a home located within an HOA. An estoppel letter is a legal document that can be relied upon to learn what money the previous owner might owe the HOA, and is customarily used in real estate transactions to ensure that the HOA fees incurred by an owner have been paid in full.  Read more:

Presidio Terrace is a block-long, oval street dotted with 35 megamillion-dollar mansions known for famous residents including Sen. Dianne Feinstein and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.

It’s a street known for its exclusivity — a guard is always on duty at the stone-gate entrance, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

But due to a low-profile auction, a South Bay couple now own the street after a payout of just $90,000.

There is a woman who rides around John Ackert’s Tallahassee subdivision in a golf cart, noting all the ways her neighbors’ homes don’t measure up to the standards set by the Southwood Residential Community Association.

Ackert is trying very hard to not detest her.

The 82-year-old retired Navy commander said he once received an official-sounding letter saying he had to take military and Special Olympics stickers off his front door, or face exile from the community’s tennis courts and swimming pool. He removed the stickers with minimum grumbling.

But a letter two weeks ago made Ackert and some of his neighbors see red. It was about the American flag.

Well, technically, it was about a vinyl mailbox covered with a picture of the American flag. Ackert put it on his mailbox a month after moving into the Southwood community in 2013 and replaced it whenever the Florida sun baked out the colors.

Recently, he said, the homeowners association wrote to him, saying the flag mailbox violated the community covenant and had to go. If he did nothing, the letter said, the HOA would fine him and could ultimately place a lien on his home. Read more:

Disputes between a resident of northwest Loveland and his neighborhood’s homeowner’s association drove the property owner to erect a large sign in his front yard Tuesday warning potential home buyers of difficulties he has faced with the homeowner’s association.

Rich Stephens, a resident at 1110 Crabapple Drive in the Alford Meadows neighborhood near the intersection of 50th Street and North Taft Avenue, built a 4-foot by 8-foot sign this week that paints the Alford Meadows Community Association in a negative light.

In white and red capital letters, the sign reads, “If you are considering purchasing a home in Alford Meadows, you may want to reconsider. You could be the next target of the HOA!” The sign sits in Stephens’ front yard and faces the intersection of 50th and Crabapple.

Stephens said he was pushed to publicly voice his displeasure with the Alford Meadows Community Association by his disagreements with requests from the association that he remove decorated metal flower pots from his yard as well as a wooden pallet painted to resemble a colonial American flag hanging on the side of his home.

Several board members of the Alford Meadows Community Association declined to speak about the board’s conflict with Stephens and the events that led to the sign’s appearance, referring questions about the situation to Mike Krueger, an attorney the board has hired to consult on the matter.  Read more:

Ever since she was a little girl, Courtney Hoogervorst, who grew up in Surprise and graduated Arizona State University, had a goal to pay cash for her first house.

“I started working when I was 15 and started saving every single week and little by little I was able to save,” said Hoogervorst.

In October 2016, Hoogervorst realized her dream. She found a great condo at Solstice Condominiums at 54^th Street and Thomas Avenue in Phoenix, and purchased a 2-bedroom condo for $93,000 outright.

Hoogervorst and her boyfriend estimate they spent $15,000 on remodeling in the first few months they lived there, getting new cabinets, new floors, upgraded arcadia door and more.

“So, this is my first home. It’s all paid off, no mortgage. So, I put a lot of love into it and a lot of time and love into it,” said Hoogervorst.

Imagine her surprise when she got a letter in the mail less than nine months after moving in, telling her the condo complex was being sold, and she had 60 days to get out and she would be compensated $95,000 and had no recourse.  Read more:

TAMPA – In Florida, homeowners’ associations can foreclose on homes when owners don’t pay their dues…sometimes for as little as a few thousand dollars.

Investors who buy the liens get temporary titles and can rent those houses until banks foreclose.

But as the I-Team discovered, leasing these properties can pose plenty of potential problems for renters.

“It was a little over 1300 square feet. There’s a half bath on the bottom floor and two full baths on the main,” said Chelcie Miller, describing her former Carrollwood Rental townhome.  Read more: