HOA Nut House

Pardon me but there is simply no way of saying this but you are not telling the truth on some level. WHY DID THIS HAPPEN? What did your kids do to be excluded from the pool? Something happened.

Brad, I think you need to seriously reconsider your goals here. Your primary duty is to your family. You need to set an example.

Saving your home is a fools errand. Prices are going much lower, and as the other owners lose their jobs, have their hours cut, they too will become delinquent, and the HOA, in a fight for survival, will continue to shift the burden to the remaining homeowners until there is no one left. A self re-enforcing loop.

Moreover, as a family man, do you really want to raise your children in a HOA environment? A real estate partnership with a bunch of strangers? Groveling before a board or management?

It's time to put on your Big boy pants.

Get a forensic audit of your loan documents, 80% have errors that will buy you time to regroup, organize your finances, downsize your car(s), for a more free, independent lifestyle.

In the meantime, just squirt a little super glue in the lock and take the wife and kids somewhere educational where they don't need to be entertained with the same mindless pop culture that sucked you in.

Best of luck.

Brad, thank you for the feedback and now I understand your concerns. However, I still see you at fault. Mind you, I dislike HOA communities. You did not, could not pay the fees. The HOA shut your family out of using the pool which require fees to be paid, hence you want free what everyone else must pay for. This is not punishing your kids. You are using them I suspect to make your point. You did not pay to use the pool. Thus your family cannot use the pool. WHat is cruel is to place your children in a position to be expose to the rejection. Since you are on the verge of losing your home, and I pray you do not, you are spending too much time on a petty issue, the pool, compared to the bigger picture, the roof over your family's head.

Wow seems like people like to kick the wounded when they're down. Brad I think the way the HOA handled the situation was inappropriate and done in a way so as to inflict maximum humilation. Find out who enforces laws in your state dealing with violations by HOAs, attorney generals office would be a good place to start. Clearly everyone here seemed to over look the fact that the HOA did not send you a letter in the legally prescribed way. I doubt these idiots would show compassion to anyone so why should you? Hire a lawyer, call consumer investigative news anchors, let the whole town know your hoa doesn't follow rules set forth to regulate them but likes to enforce rules on homeowners facing hard times. Humilation can be a two way street. Teach the HOA the same way the taught you, in the most public humilating way possible. Then claim hardship, short sale the home and get the heck out! Do it quick before your children turn into hive minded drones" is this the sort of place to raise a family? Doesn't sound like a family friendly neighborhood. Either way call the news shows and newspaper, give them a taste of their own medicine!

Brad, you may be interested to know that in some OS jurisdictions HOA can never suspend people's use of facilities for unpaid dues, nor can they ever foreclose on people's homes. They can recover unpaid dues as debts and people can consequently be declared bankrupt and be forced to sell, but the HOA will not be doing it. And our HOAs survive.

The more important point is missed---Brad may lose his home. He cannot pay the fees, and given home values, condos more so in general, he may well be underwater too. Plus he needs a job and the odds are he will not find a job that paid him what he once earned. His world has changed. The pool in comparison is a moot point.

Brad if you were in my community I would make good use of the guest passes I have to take your kids there. Thats exactly what I do for those kids in my community.

I see neighbor after neighbor in my community loosing jobs and some have lost homes. I hear the stories how the HOA wont work with them. It is really a sad sign in the way this country is going. I pray you find something soon and can get out from under an HOA.

Going to the documents at the FalconPointe website, it appears that your HOA (under the advice of counsel and the HOA management company of course) has implemented the "priority of payment" scam. This is a scam whereby the management company and attorney advise the HOA to allow them to re-characterize your assessment payments against your will to be first applied to management company and attorney fees before being applied to assessments. By this mechanism, they use the threat of foreclosure to extort monies from homeowners. Note that "no partial payments are accepted" means that the attorney and management company are free to heap fees onto your account that are payable to them and then to threaten you with foreclosure lest you pay them. Refusing to pay will result in the HOA attorney and management company demanding even more money in the form of "late fees", "collection fees", and "attorney fees". Places that implement these practices are little more than mills for the management company and HOA attorney to extract money from the homeowners. The property burdened by the HOA does not go up in value as claimed but rather down. Most of the time, homeowners can't talk about it without jeopardizing the possibility of a sale. I also notice that your management company is insisting upon an undisclosed "transfer fee". This management company is part of an organization that lobbied for legislation to permit the imposition of transfer fees on your property that are payable to them. They don't own the property and they've been paid for their services, yet they want a cut of the sale of every unit sold. All of your bad experiences are quite typical in any "planned community" being "professionally managed" by Community Associations Institute affiliated organizations.

http://www.falconpointe1.com/documents.asp?id=461538&page=1

YOU NEED TO PAY YOUR DUES OR MOVE!! If everyone used this argument no body would pay on their HOA obligations, you should sell and move to a community that does not have HOA and apartment complex or have your wife get a job.

Please go to www.stoptexashoaforeclosers.com
This non profit group is symapthetic with your concerns and is willing to help in any way.
They are lobbying hard for HOA reform.
In the mean time, what if your wife went with a neighbor to use the pool as a guest of the neighbor? Then at least your children could use the pool. I agree that the children should not have been affected by this. Many Americans are in the same boat you are now. Only the cruelest of people would argue a childs right to use the swimming pool over HOA dues. The effects of the National economy are not your fault.
Keep the Faith

Why do you find it unfair that when you neglect to pay for something that your right to use it is revoked? Are you serious? Pay your dues or suffer the consequences. If anything, you’ve helped the HOA by stating that they actually enforce regulations as they should be enforced.

Im sorry to hear about your siutation but its no more the HOA's fault than it is your kids. Try applying some simple logic and maybe youll see youre in the wrong in this situation and maybe you wont be the first on the chopping block next time lay offs come around either.

In Brad's article he stated he lost his 6 figure income. Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I suspect Brad has a sense of entitlement, that he should get what he demands---paid for or not. The irony is that is the same mindset of SOME people on welfare.

This is why opted not to purchase a home with a Home Owners Association. I am glad we are free. I love hearing the troubles people have with HOA. I was told HOA protect property values. Maybe that is true...but at what cost? HOA gives properties status...but what is the true cost of HOA when the economy is bad? Will Brad's post embarrass the HOA...probably not because they won't know about the posts. Is it fair that other families sacrifice to pay HOA fees while Brad's kids get a free ride? Best not to go there.