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Friday, February 13, 2015

HOAs empowered by special interests, crooked state legislators

Talk about grand larceny. By what rhym or reason are these mafia-style gangs known as Homeowners Associations (HOAs) given the right to foreclose on homes? Does anyone else except tax authorities or mortgage holders have such a right? Can your doctor take your home because of money he claims you owe him? Your dentist? Your mechanic?

Does anyone in their right mind think HOAs should be allowed to literally strong-arm property owners out of hard earned dollars? Allowed to levy costs as the gangs see fit - often "punishing" homeowners who dare to speak out against the racket - backed by the tyrannical power of being able to foreclose on homes if people don't cooperate?

As the well-orchestrated racket provokes organized opposition all across the country, take at look at the filthy rich, special interest groups who bribe - er I mean lobby - bloodsucking state legislators to throw homeowners under the bus. Here are a few of the main cuprits:

National Home Builders Association
National Association of Realtors
Community Association Institute (CAI)
Property Management Association
Associa HRW, Inc. (America's largest property management firm, ramrodded by Texas legislator John Corona who started this whole thing about giving HOAs legal rights to foreclose on homes.)

I always get a thigh-slappin' HOOT out of folks who think this profoundly corrupt system of "government" can be remedied at the ballot box. I caught on to the "Your Vote Counts" scam years ago when I associated a common sense analysis of this two-headed, one party SHAM of an electoral system with a book I was assigned to read while earning my degree in Government and Public Administration. If you get a chance, read "An Economic Theory of Democracy," by Anthony Downs. Mr. Downs exposes a system fueled by corruption, pure and simple. A devil-take-the-hindmost affair, wherein "rational" political behavior is defined as whatever it takes to maximize votes. Period. Only recently did I realize the sarcasm so cleverly conveyed by the book's title.

Amidst compelling evidence that America is now an oligarchy, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Dr. Paul Craig Roberts has addressed the Washington gang's "selling" of political access, and the topic was given further exposure by this late-breaking article and video from CNN.

Insofar as Homeowners Associations are concerned, factor in a slew of local business interests that stand to take YOUR money via these neighborhood gangs. Everything from attorneys to ditch-diggers, and it's anyone's guess regarding how certain businesses get "chosen" to implement cooked-up projects, not to mention the fertile ground for kickbacks. Check out Associa HRW, Inc.'s 2/11/2015 seminar in Raleigh, North Carolina advising HOAs how to dog it over property owners when it comes to collecting the moolah.

Options to purchase properties free from HOA dictatorships are rapidly disappearing as crooked legislators allow almost all new developments to be subject to the scam. Meanwhile, my neighborhood - Quail Hollow, in West Columbia, South Carolina - is declaring dues mandatory, even though such dues have been voluntary for almost half a century. I wonder how many HOA gangs in similar neighborhoods are doing likewise.

I understood all too well when someone recently e-mailed me expressing their shock and dismay upon discovering that their HOA was part of a racket deeply entrenched in their state legislature. The name of the game, of course, is for corporate-controlled legislators to empower HOAs very quietly, making sure the public isn't aware of what's going on.

Know your enemies, folks. Chances are, the names of your elected representatives will be at the top of the list.

Update 2/13/2015 - Here's a late-breaking story (with video) about yet another homeowner - this one in South Carolina - unduly harassed and fined by an HOA. The very idea of state legislators empowering these gangs to bully homeowners by threatening to foreclose on homes. 

Update 3/13/2015 - Hot-off-the-press article re complaints about HOAs in South Carolina.