Tim Wescott wrote:
On 06/17/2010 10:57 AM, Stu Fields wrote:
id wrote in message
...
On 2010-06-17, Paul K. wrote:

id wrote in message
...
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/artic...0910681&page=1


Pretty juicy story. Homeowners association foreclosed and sold a
soldier's house to an "investor" Jad Aboul-Jidin for $3,200.

The real culprit seems to be the soldier's wife, who was "depressed",
did not pay dues and was ignoring mail. Supposedly the HOA checked
with DoD and received a negative reply about his deployment
status. That is, if we believe their version fo events.

Somehow by sheer accident, the house worth $300k was sold
onlyt for $3,200.

i

There is another investor in the mix.
Somebody else bought it for $3,200 at foreclosure.
They sold it to Aboul-Jidin for $135,000

Oh, I did not realize.

It is Texas law that gives HOAs the power to foreclose for back
dues. I wonder what other states allow this? Around here, the worst
they can do is slap a lein on the property.

I stay away from HOAs as far as I can. So I do not know. It is illegal
to foreclose on a house owned by a person who is deployed, however the
HOA seems to have received a wrong answer fron DoD that denied that
this person was deployed. What a mess.

i
What motivates people to be involved with an HOA? You can't be
assured that
something like this won't happen. This is giving tremendous control to a
faceless group of people!!!
When we looked for a place to settle after 8 years over seas, we found
some
of these HOAs. I wouldn't accept a Free house under most of the HOA
conditions. Which by the way can change to your disadvantage after you
accept the first go round. People that live in these do NOT own their
own
home. You would be better off renting.

The whole HOA thing starts with a developer that wants to sell homes,
but doesn't want someone to move a bunch of trash into their front yard
and diminish the value of the rest of the properties before he's taken
his bag of money and left. So he puts in restrictive covenants to the
deeds.

Because some folks who buy houses want these rules continued (mostly so
that _you_ can't paint your boat in your front yard), the HOA gets set
up to administer the rules after the developer leaves. Of course, the
only folks that want to be involved are the anal-retentive busy-bodies.
If you're lucky you end up in a development where nobody cares and the
HOA has gone dormant -- but my understanding is that the deed
restrictions are still there, waiting for someone to resurrect the HOA
and make your life miserable.

Fun stuff. You can find houses that don't have the deed restrictions
that put a HOA at your throat -- you just can't find them in most
developments.

Our neighborhood has deed restrictions, mostly ignored, and an HOA that
is voluntary and powerless. $25/year It's primary purpose is to fight
off incorporation by Fort Worth by speaking with one voice.
That's about all the HOA I want.