Condo Questions and Answers
Apparently, the legislature is finally grasping the scandalous situation of property managers who Higgenbottom represents - and Boards of Directors ripping off homeowners.
Any effort to license and regulate these crooks should be applauded.
(Of course, their insurance companies and lawyers are already licensed and we can't do much about them.)
Real.Estate@latimes.com wrote:
Thank you for your interesting e-mail on the small short we ran in editorial on the Community Assns. Institute seminar. We have routinely run announcements of their free events in the past and do so for other groups,such as the affordable housing fair announcement on K6 of the same issue.
We run these items on a space available basis as a reader service but based on your letter and one other we received it would appear we are providing a reader disservice. I will look into the suitability of continuing to run such announcements.
Thank you for your interest in the Times Real Estate Section.
Sincerely,
Lauren Beale
Deputy Real Estate Editor
Today's Times includes with Higgenbottom's "Condo Q&A" column, an ad for "Internet Service Links Homeowner Communities". If you reach the website listed "http://www.communitypath.com" you find you are in Community Assn. Institute's (CAI) territory again. They advertise that this column will provide homeowners with "...contractor referrals and other service recommendations..."
This is the fourth website I've found to originate with CAI, I'm sure there are more. Apparently, CAI plans to maintain a list of ALL homeowners in Associations. (They already have a "Lockbox" with Union Bank in Sacramento which processes homeowner association dues, in my opinion, the primary purpose of this lockbox is to create a data base of owners which they may then sell to vendors, lawyers, etc. This could become a "defacto" credit reference", as well.)
Higgenbottom's column is frequently WRONG, for example, she recommends absentee ballots instead of Proxies -- this has net effect of assuring reelection of the Board which hired the management company. She also touts many acts which overrule the governing documents, including the current legislative proposal which would allow a Board, WITHOUT A VOTE, to levy "Special Assessments" on owners by merely declaring any repair or maintenance an "emergency".
Real.Estate@latimes.com wrote:
Thank you for your interesting e-mail on the small short we ran in editorial on the Community Assns. Institute seminar. We have routinely run announcements of their free events in the past and do so for other groups, such as the affordable housing fair announcement on K6 of the same issue.
We run these items on a space available basis as a reader service but based on your letter and one other we received it would appear we are providing a reader disservice. I will look into the suitability of continuing to run such announcements.
Thank you for your interest in the Times Real Estate Section.
Sincerely,
Deputy Real Estate Editor
To: real.estate@latimes.com
Subject: Community Associations Institute
Letter to the Editor:
"Free Legal Advice for Associations"? Is it really the association that needs the free legal advice or the homeowners across the nation who are entrenched in legal wranglings with their homeowner associations and these Community Asssociations Institute industry vendors.
The Community Associations Institutes purports to include and represent homeowners in their very large trade membership of association attorneys, management companies and insurers (like CHUBB).
But this advertisement for the "Free Legal Advice" seminar shows their true colors. As stated in the ad, "The seminar will cover enforcing government regulations, legal libility issues, adopting new laws, imposing monetary fines and protecting board members."
The LA Times Real Estate section should have unbiased reader representatives and homeowner advisors who are not a part of the special interest CAI trade group.
Homeowners across America are desperately defending their property rights against these industry vendors who have turned Homeowners Associations CCR's into litigation tools for their benefit. CCR's are so convoluted and so easily misinterpreted that it is questionable whether a valid contract can even exist between association and home buyer. A valid contract requires an understanding between the two parties.
This newer housing model called 'homeowners associations' have been referred to as a legalized housing scam that violates the Non Profit Mutual Benefit Charters.
It is inherently flawed and goes against everything we as Americans hold dear - our homes, our privacy our freedom of expression. It is no wonder that supposedly some 80% of homeowners associations have been or are involved in litigation.
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