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MY HOME IS MY CASTLE? NOT IN A HOA!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
December 8, 2017
When you buy a home
in a homeowners’ association you can’t claim any longer:
MY HOME IS MY CASTLE!
You more or less
give up any right regarding your home. As Shu Bartholomew, host
of “On The Commons” always put it: “When entering a HOA, you’re
leaving the American Zone? Remember CHECKPOINT CHARLIE
in Berlin?
Yes, you are still
“allowed” to pay all the expenses like mortgage, property tax,
insurance and especially HOA maintenance fees, but you have
given up any right to decide how your home is looking from the
outside and what kind of improvements you are allowed to make.
And just in case you
forgot to pay the HOA dues, you can either pay an arm and a leg
for all the expenses coming with the reminder that you forgot to
pay, or they make sure you and your family are sleeping under
the bridge in the future after the HOA foreclosed on your home.
And don’t you even
dare to start arguing with the board on issues you might
disagree. They’ll find a way to make you pay outrageous fines
and legal fees to teach you a lesson. They can even lien and
foreclose on your home if you don’t pay the fine they levied –
right or wrong.
I know, there are
quite a few good HOAs here in Florida – and there are board
members who really serve their community and do an excellent
job.
But: There are as
well lots of bad HOAs, with boards that are mean-spirited, have
private agendas and hire attorneys who consider you – the
homeowner – their private cash cow.
And just in case you
live in one of the “functioning” HOAs, make sure it stays that
way. Remember: Even the best HOA is only one election away
from dictatorship.
Let’s face it: The
times when you were the KING of YOUR CASTLE are
long past – and I seriously doubt that they will ever return!
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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