A Letter To President Obama To Please Protect America's Homeowners
January 20, 2009
Please Honor Your Promises to Us
By American Homeowners Resource Center
Today, you took the oath of office as President of the United States, and swore to uphold its Constitution.
We, the Homeowners of America, endorsed and voted for you in overwhelming numbers because you promised to take care of the people, you promised to end the war, you promised to make the U.S. a country of principle in foreign affairs, and you promised that it would not be politics as usual in Washington.
We recognize that being a candidate for the presidency and being President are not the same thing. We saw that change in you on election night on November 4, 2008. You were no longer asking us to give you the power. You now had the power. It was a sobering moment for you and us.
Over the past 10 weeks since your election, we have seen you change from being the fiery speaker, to the circumspect politician who appointed his cabinet. Most of the appointees were from the politics-as-usual school. We have seen you back down from your campaign pledge to end the tax-breaks for the rich because you did not want to ruffle the feathers of the Republicans. Apparently, that means more to you than the plight of millions of Americans who are without jobs and homes.
We have heard you say that George Bush is a good man. Yet he has caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq, lost over 4000 U.S. troops,and produced tens of thousands of cripples among U.S. service personnel. How can that be a good man? You are now committing the nation to a deeper war in Afghanistan. Will that be another Vietnam? How many more billions will we pay on wars that - in your words - are "dumb"?
Hundreds of millions are being spent on your inauguration. If you were hungry and homeless and without health insurance, what would you think about that?
The hopes which you raised in your campaign can evaporate as quickly. When your nominess for Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, stated that your administration would marry principle with pragmatism, it sent a warning shot across the bow of many homeowners. Is every principle subject to being bent to the whims of pragmatism? Does that mean that you would sometimes torture? There are some principles that are above pragmatism. We hope that you remember this.
We must all look to the future, but looking to the past can provide a lot of insight for the future. He who does not know history, is condemned to relive its mistakes. Corruption is rampant among lawyers and judges in this country. Will you have the Justice Department crack down on that? Corruption is rampant in every nook and cranny of Wall Street and corporate America. Will you have the Justice Department crack down on that? If we only look to the future, we are prisoners of the past.
We also hope that you will help the millions of homeowners who are struggling with falling home prices and trying to pay their mortgages in the midst of unemployment and recession. Giving money to banks has clearly not worked. Why not try helping homeowners? They are the ones who are drowning.
The homeowners of America, especially the 55 milliion who live in homeowner associations, have suffered many abuses in preceding years.They have been targets of foresclosure scams by lawyers, aided by judges who do not practice justice and politicians who live off the lawyers' largesse.
We recognize that you face daunting challenges ahead, and we wish you well. We hope that you will honor your pledges in your campaign, so that more pain is not inflicted on the people of America.
Homeowner Associations start foreclosures to collect dues
IRVING, Texas — Thousands of Americans who have generally kept up with their mortgages are still in danger of losing their homes because they made a fateful trade-off in this shaky economy: They let their homeowner association dues slide.
Many homeowners are learning to their surprise that condo and neighborhood associations that oversee security patrols, mow lawns, plant flowers and clean the community swimming pool might have the right to foreclose when dues aren't paid. That right is often written into the purchase agreement signed by the homeowner.
"We have compassion for those folks," says Andrew Schlegel, executive vice president for Merit Property Management, which manages more than 140,000 California homes in community associations. "At the same time, we feel for the rest of the homeowners who are paying their dues."
Most people end up saving their homes. HOA boards often work with down-on-their-luck neighbors to come up with some sort of compromise. That's what happened with Lacey Pilat, who lost her job catering lavish corporate parties and nearly lost her two-story house in this Dallas suburb.
The management company for the Beacon Hill homeowner association sent Pilat a foreclosure notice in April after several attempts to collect her $450 annual dues, which paid for the mowing of front lawns. The amount she owed snowballed to $1,800 after penalties and fees. The company eventually agreed to let Pilat and her husband, Steve, pay the debt over time.
Gauging the number of foreclosures nationwide by HOAs is difficult. But in Texas, foreclosure attempts initiated by HOAs in 19 counties are up 30% from two years ago, according to Dallas-based Foreclosure Listing Services. In the San Antonio area alone, foreclosure actions by HOAs jumped to 170 in April from 21 in April 2008, RexReport.com says.
In Florida, attorney Bob Tankel, who represents hundreds of homeowner and condo associations, says he has increased his staff from three to 16 in the past 18 months to handle a mounting caseload of 3,500 open collections. About one-fifth of those cases have reached foreclosure, he says.
In California, Schlegel says more than 6% of the homes that his company manages are in some stage of delinquency on membership dues, up from around 1% in previous years.
More than 59 million people live in more than 300,000 association-governed communities nationwide, according to the Community Associations Institute, the nation's largest group for homeowners and condo boards.
If the house is foreclosed on, it is sold, and the HOA takes what it is owed from the proceeds. Proceeds also go to the bank to pay off the mortgage.
Homeowner Associations forcing homeowners into Foreclosures
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Homeowners associations' reserve the right by law to forcible foreclose on property if residents fall behind on their dues.
Associations in Texas, Florida and California are beginning to exercise the foreclosures. Not one case of a homeowners' association forced foreclosure is on-record in Nashville.
No homeowner NewsChannel5 spoke with was aware of the loophole.
"First of all, that's news to me," said Bellevue homeowner Rob Crosby. "It's very unfair - if it's true that homeowners' associations can foreclose on someone being late, or getting behind on monthly, regime fees. That's crazy."
Forcible foreclosure is a last resort, and Nashville attorney Lee Corbett called the act an extreme solution.
"It's extremely unusual," said Corbett. "No matter how far behind they are, the amount is relatively small compared to the value of the property the homeowner owns."
Corbett said there are other ways an association can recover its dues by filing a lawsuit.
Three things are necessary for a property management company to force foreclosure: a written policy, approval from the association's board of directors and the pursuit must be fiscally worthy of the association's efforts.
The sale of the property, in other words, should allow the property management to recoup its past-due fees plus the money spent on such a large endeavor.
59 million Americans are said to be living in neighborhoods governed by some type of association.
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Sources: Stop HOA Foreclosures, American Homeowners Resource Centers, Whitehouse.gov, USA Today, Newschannel.15, Flickr , Google Maps
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