My wife and I made an offer on a property in a self-managed Virginia community of single-family homes. Our offer hinged, in part, on the sales agent’s assurance that maintenance of the community’s private roads was totally covered by current homeowner’s association annual dues of $1,000 per lot. However, we just received the HOA’s disclosure letter stating that the board is studying a road engineer’s report for possible dues increases and special assessments. Friends who live in the community tell us the licensed engineer’s 75-page report recommends major road repairs, which could immediately boost dues to $3,500 per lot per year for the next 10 years. If true, this would kill the deal for us. Our problem is that we can’t get more good information about the situation. Past board meeting minutes from the disclosure packet show that the board hired the engineer, but there’s no mention of the report. And this year’s approved budget (also in the disclosure packet) includes no planned expenditures for road maintenance. We hear that the board didn’t distribute the engineer’s report and has been holding it for almost two months. According to our friends, the board is looking for ways to quietly bury the engineer’s recommendations and arbitrarily defer all major repairs regardless of validity so as to avoid a dues increase. Such a ploy, if true, also would tend to make us walk. Read more: CAI finally admits to being a business trade tax-exempt organization. Community Associations Institute (CAI) is a national nonprofit 501(c)(6) organization founded in 1973 to foster competent, responsive community associations through research, training and education. […] We work to identify and meet the evolving needs of the professionals and volunteers who serve associations, by being a trusted forum for the collaborative exchange of knowledge and information, and by helping our members learn, achieve and excel.[1] In my 17 years as a HOA reform activist this is a landmark first! This is a personal achievement. There was very little support from other reform advocates and homeowners regarding misrepresentation by CAI.[2] As a result of my repeated criticisms and exposes, CAI had to apparently fess up. Over its 44 years in existence CAI has mislead its viewers, members, the public and legislators as to its legal tax-exempt status. It news releases, websites, Common Ground magazine, communications with state and federal elected officials, and court filings that refer to representing homeowners and HOAs.[3] CAI is not allowed to have HOAs as members![4] Example, CAI’s current web page reads, CAI provides information, education and resources to the homeowner volunteers who govern communities and the professionals who support them. CAI members include association board members and other homeowner leaders, community managers, association management firms and other professionals who provide products and services to associations. CAI serves community associations and homeowners . . Read more: In Georgia, a decorated Army veteran who lost a leg in Afghanistan is now ensnared in a battle on the home front — with his homeowners association. The HOA filed a lien on his house related to the placement of his trash cans. From Maryland to California, prosecutors have charged HOA officers and property management officials in fraud and embezzlement cases with losses that total in the millions. And in Missouri, lawmakers are working on a proposal to make homes associations more accountable, with one saying homeowners in his district have become so incensed with their HOAs that “we are one step away from pitchforks and torches.” In the few months since The Star’s report on HOAs from hell, horror stories continue to pile up and homeowners keep falling victim to thieves from within their ranks. Lawmakers in some states are saying enough is enough. It’s time, they insist, to take on a more aggressive role in regulating the $85 billion industry. “It’s the number one constituent issue in my district,” said Missouri state Rep. Bryan Spencer, a Republican from Wentzville, near St. Louis. “This is basic property owner rights. It’s a fundamental right that we should have as Americans.” Read more: When mortgage rates move a quarter percent in any direction, that’s big news. But lurking in the background are fees for homeowners associations. (HOA dues). Don’t overlook them. HOA dues are an expense that can sink many loan applications and derail personal finances. This is especially true for first-time buyers and those with marginal finances. The world of real estate ownership can be divided into two flavors: properties which are owned “fee simple” (you own your building and land) and those under a homeowner or condo association. With fee simple ownership, you can do what you want with the property. Just work within the limits of zoning and local laws. If you want to paint the place orange, that’s fine. If you want a big American flag out front, or a 120-pound dog inside, that’s not only okay, it’s nobody else’s business. Read more: For five summers, a tarp has covered the swimming pool at Grand Bel II, a condominium community in Silver Spring that has no money for lifeguards, chemicals or insurance. The Vistas at Washingtonian Woods in Gaithersburg faces $600,000 in repairs but has just $400,000 in cash reserves. At Saxony Square in Alexandria, an unemployed man nine months behind on his mortgage negotiates with lenders to keep his two-bedroom condo. His neighbors struggle to pay their monthly fees; since 2010, Saxony’s board of directors has filed more than 80 court actions to try to collect such assessments. Even as posh condos rise in trendy neighborhoods around the nation’s capital, many older complexes are mired in a recession that never ended. A cycle of aging infrastructure, limited resources and foreclosure is putting these communities in a deep financial hole, threatening what traditionally has been an affordable path to homeownership for the working class. Read more: VIRGINIA – HOA’s lack of transparency raises red flags for home buyer
NATIONAL – CAI finally admits to being a business 501(c)6 trade organization
NATIONAL – HOAs from hell: more horror stories, more fraud – and prospect of legislative action
NATIONAL – Are HOA Dues Making Real Estate Unaffordable?
HOA Dues Don’t Make The News — But Maybe They Should
Who Really Owns Your Home?
NATIONAL – Condominiums in Crisis: Financial troubles put many communities at risk
News from Virginia
The Washington Post: HOA’s lack of transparency raises red flags for home buyer
By Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin
September 11, 2017
HOA CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT: CAI finally admits to being a business 501(c)6 trade organization
By George K. Staropoli
January 15, 2017
McClatchyDC: HOAs from hell: more horror stories, more fraud – and prospect of legislative action
By Judy L. Thomas
December 23, 2016
THE MORTGAGE REPORTS: Are HOA Dues Making Real Estate Unaffordable?
By Peter Miller
December 15, 2016
The Washington Post: Condominiums in Crisis: Financial troubles put many communities at risk
By Bill Turque
September 18, 2016