Soldier in Iraq Loses Home Over $800 Debt

[texas1willy2]

In Pflugerville, Andrew Clements has become the target of persecution from the board of the Falcon Pointe subdivision because of his politically incorrect career choice. No, he's not skinning animals in the front yard or building his own nuclear reactor. He's running an Internet business where no customers come to his house and nothing he does is visible to his neighbors. Yet he has been threatened by his Homeowners Association and prohibited from earning a living as he chooses, despite the fact that there were no rules prohibiting home businesses in the neighborhood at the time he bought his home.

Clements' great transgression is that his business of choice — his method of earning a living in these lean times — is to sell firearms to hunters and law enforcement. It's a perfectly legal business. He has the right permits from the federal government. He has broken no state or federal laws and his business is protected by both the Second and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution. But none of that seems to protect him from the Falcon Point HOA which has passed a rule specifically prohibiting residents from buying and selling firearms in the neighborhood, a rule written specifically to target just one homehowner, Andrew Clements.

Clements' case is a classic example of a tyrannical majority persecuting a minority for actions which they find unacceptable, but which are by no definition criminal. Sadly it's not the only example of a HOA abusing its power and violating a resident's rights

Texas is known for having one of the strongest Homestead laws in the country, as well as new laws making eminent domain seizures by government more difficult. But none of this blocks property foreclosure by a Homeowners Association under a 1987 court ruling which declared that no matter how small the amount owed and despite all protections under state and federal law, including the Constitution, HOA's may foreclose on property for outstanding fee

s.

 

[willygene]

some have said turn off the water but you can not just turn off the water, if they are paying their utility bills and some one turns off the water they can be filed on criminally for interfering with a utility look up the law before you say what to do just as the home owners asso probably did they cant shut off the utilities either. it sucks what happened, but the best way is not live were there is a home owners asso.

 

[Texas42]

There are good reasons for the existence of unions as well. Doesn't mean they should exist in all scenarios and have the power that they do have...

Foreclosing on someone's home should only be something the mortgage holder can do. HOA's should have to go through normal means of collecting debts. File liens, suing and having wages garnished, etc... I had no idea that this was allowed under TX law until I read this thread. Removing this power from HOA's is something we need to work on.

I'm in total agreement with you. I've just seen a lot more people screw HOA than the other way around.

 

[willygene]

wages garnished, not no but hell no only the attorney generals office or the irs can do that even if were in the hoa contract they would still have to go to court.

 

[TheDan]

wages garnished, not no but hell no only the attorney generals office or the irs can do that even if were in the hoa contract they would still have to go to court.

Right, that's what I'm saying... Wages would have to be garnished through a court order. The fact that they can take any kind of action outside of court boggles my mind.

 

[Wolfwood]

My opinion is there are more logical means to settle a $800 debt than foreclosure on someone's home. How can you take $300,000 in assets to pay a $800 debt? That's theft in my book.

Yes, they are negligent, and they should pay their debts, but the punishment doesn't quite fit the bill here.

yeah lots of better options.
most of them dont generate as much profit though.
HOA's are a scam, though it is your own fault if you get screwed over by them.
if i was going to spend over a quarter of a million dollars im going to spend it on land that I control.
otherwise it seems like you might as well be renting.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

For all of you gritching about HOAs and their powers, it is a signed contractual agreement. You don't have to buy the house. If it is given to you, you don't have to keep it. If you buy a house in an area with a HOA by deed or other such document you are obligated to be a member of the HOA and abide by the HOA's rules so long as they are within the bounds of the law. Everything described here appears to be within the bounds of the law.

Some of you are upset that the HOA could do what they did because of such a little debt. I am surprised that folks would live in an HOA and then risk losing their homes over so little debt. The error of judgment here isn't on the HOA, but the homeowners who stupidly (my opinion, yes I know some HOAs are wonderful things but I haven't personally experienced any) took ownership of HOA regulated homes.

There may be better means to resolve an $800 debt, but that does not mean the HOA has to exercise them. The HOA just has to do it within the confines of the law. The easiest way to resolve the debt is for the homeowner to PAY THE DEBT!!! Pay the debt, don't lose the home. How cool is that?

If you don't think you can handle severely punitive debt punishment for your property, or can't abide by the rules, don't live in a HOA. It really is that simple.

And no, the soldier and his wife did not have to live in a $300,000, HOA regulated community. These are not poor people trying to eek out a living and having their roach-infested, rotted, clapboard home taken by some crackhouse slumlord lawyer through some underhanded misdealings. If they had a $300,000 home, then they had plenty of options, though maybe not nearly as prestigous as their HOA regulated neighborhood.

Gee, I wish I had a $300,000 home.

 

[RetArmySgt]

Most neighborhoods in the Houston area are HOA run. I personally will never buy a home in a HOA community. My mom lives in one and after Ike came through one of her neighbors had some family members move in with the for a little while so the roof could be rebuilt on thier home. The HOA found out and took the house from them had everyone evicted and sold the house to a family member of a board member for $1 ( the lowest amount to make a sale legal in TX ). HOA are a joke and are just a loophole for crooks to steal someones home and to keep certain people out of a neighborhood without worring about the equal oppurtunity housing laws (just sell them the house so you dont violate the law then find some BS charge to take the house back).
Ive even seen houses taken for the grass being too long or someone not picking up a newspaper from the driveway while they were on vacation out of town.

 

[Wolfwood]

Most neighborhoods in the Houston area are HOA run. I personally will never buy a home in a HOA community. My mom lives in one and after Ike came through one of her neighbors had some family members move in with the for a little while so the roof could be rebuilt on thier home. The HOA found out and took the house from them had everyone evicted and sold the house to a family member of a board member for $1 ( the lowest amount to make a sale legal in TX ). HOA are a joke and are just a loophole for crooks to steal someones home and to keep certain people out of a neighborhood without worring about the equal oppurtunity housing laws (just sell them the house so you dont violate the law then find some BS charge to take the house back).
Ive even seen houses taken for the grass being too long or someone not picking up a newspaper from the driveway while they were on vacation out of town.

nucking futs!

well, let me throw a random question out there, how many stories have you heard of HOA's doing the 'right' thing. warm fuzzy type stores that is.
now how many stories have you heard that went int he complete opposite direction like RAS above?

 

[typhoeus]

Who wudda thunk we'd adopt "voluntary" communism by contract. “we will crush you without firing a single shot.”

 

[zembonez]

This is an interesting discussion (and one full of some misinformed posts).

An HOA is a contractual agreement that you enter willingly. They are very specific as to the rules and regulations you are supposed to abide by and the penalties that may be assessed if you do not. I have no sympathy for this poor idiot who did not pay his bills. HOAs are legally bound to contact you through a lengthy contact process prior to any legal actions being taken, but apparently these people just thought they were so damn special that they didn't have to listen. This was festering LONG before he was deployed. The deployment is just being used as an excuse... and a bad one at that.

I live in a nice neighborhood with a pretty strict HOA and I think it is great. It does a great job of keeping out the trash and the neighborhood stays very nice looking. I chose this. It's perfectly acceptable for others to chose otherwise, but don't sign up for the HOA and then play victim when you don't own up to your obligations if you want any sympathy from me.

 

[TrailDust]

I live in a nice neighborhood with a pretty strict HOA and I think it is great. It does a great job of keeping out the trash and the neighborhood stays very nice looking. I chose this. It's perfectly acceptable for others to chose otherwise, but don't sign up for the HOA and then play victim when you don't own up to your obligations if you want any sympathy from me.

Well said!

 

[kingofwylietx]

I wish our HOA was a lot MORE strict. I pay all my bills, but we have a high percentage of people in our neighborhood that have not paid their dues. The result is a nice neighborhood that can't maintain it's parks and public areas as well as it should. We have a fountain at the entrance that hasn't been used in a couple of years because the HOA can't afford the bills. I'd love to see them foreclose on few of the deadbeats to send a message and keep this a nice neighborhood. My last HOA bill was increased 30% because they needed the money. They are not wasting it, I've been to the meetings, seen the books. Those of us that care about our community volunteer to do work that we could otherwise pay someone else to do......just to keep things decent.

Foreclosing or placing a lein on a home is not that expensive, but unless the owner has equity......it's a waste of money. That is why they took that home. It was worth more than they owed or could get by selling it. Had there been no equity, they HOA probably wouldn't have done anything. That's our situation. Our deadbeats are living in homes where there isn't any equity, so foreclosure is pointless. The HOA can't afford the leins, it's pretty much broke. With a lein, you don't get your money until the home sells......

If the home is worth less than what it owed, the bank gets paid before the HOA.

 

[TheDan]

Foreclosing or placing a lein on a home is not that expensive, but unless the owner has equity......it's a waste of money. That is why they took that home. It was worth more than they owed or could get by selling it. Had there been no equity, they HOA probably wouldn't have done anything. That's our situation. Our deadbeats are living in homes where there isn't any equity, so foreclosure is pointless. The HOA can't afford the leins, it's pretty much broke. With a lein, you don't get your money until the home sells......

If the home is worth less than what it owed, the bank gets paid before the HOA.

So what happens if the home is paid for in full? If a house if forclosed on for $xx debt would the owner of the house get the difference between the value of the home and the debt owed?

 

[Wolfwood]

This is an interesting discussion (and one full of some misinformed posts).

An HOA is a contractual agreement that you enter willingly. They are very specific as to the rules and regulations you are supposed to abide by and the penalties that may be assessed if you do not. I have no sympathy for this poor idiot who did not pay his bills. HOAs are legally bound to contact you through a lengthy contact process prior to any legal actions being taken, but apparently these people just thought they were so damn special that they didn't have to listen. This was festering LONG before he was deployed. The deployment is just being used as an excuse... and a bad one at that.

I live in a nice neighborhood with a pretty strict HOA and I think it is great. It does a great job of keeping out the trash and the neighborhood stays very nice looking. I chose this. It's perfectly acceptable for others to chose otherwise, but don't sign up for the HOA and then play victim when you don't own up to your obligations if you want any sympathy from me.

dont take this the wrong way, but you know hwo you get images of people in your mind's eye like radio hosts for instance? i always saw ya as more of a RV park permanent resident. my point is you never really know!
(i think the clown avatar is really what made me lean in that direction, makes me think ICP)

 

[kingofwylietx]

So what happens if the home is paid for in full? If a house if forclosed on for $xx debt would the owner of the house get the difference between the value of the home and the debt owed?

No, not normally (and I only said 'normally' because somebody would come back with some example of it happening). They only come back to you if there is a deficit between what you owed and what they get for it at auction.

So, the lesson here is to pay your bills. And, if you have equity in your home.......the banks are more likely to foreclose on you because they can come out ahead (or at least be guaranteed to get all their money back). Think about it.......if the house is worth $100k and $200k is owed, then they don't want it. If the house is worth $200k and only $100k is owed, they will really want it because they can get all their money back.

 

[TheDan]

This is scary as shit... So my mom owns her house. No bank involved. If the HOA wanted to they could impose a fine for $75 because the grass was too high or something, foreclose on the house, sell it to one of the other board members for $1 and then still send a bill to my mom for $74?

 

[majormadmax]

I wish our HOA was a lot MORE strict. I pay all my bills, but we have a high percentage of people in our neighborhood that have not paid their dues. The result is a nice neighborhood that can't maintain it's parks and public areas as well as it should. We have a fountain at the entrance that hasn't been used in a couple of years because the HOA can't afford the bills. I'd love to see them foreclose on few of the deadbeats to send a message and keep this a nice neighborhood. My last HOA bill was increased 30% because they needed the money. They are not wasting it, I've been to the meetings, seen the books. Those of us that care about our community volunteer to do work that we could otherwise pay someone else to do......just to keep things decent.

Ditto, our HOA has been slacking off in its responsibility to uphold the bylaws of our community; mainly because most of the people who live here are under water when it comes to their mortgages and foreclosing on them would be a waste of time and result in no monies gained.

My neighbor still parks his work truck in his driveway without covering the advertising, others leave their trash cans in front of their garages, and many of the common areas are not receiving the attention they should get because so many are not paying their HOA fees.

Honestly, zembonez is right on target by pointing out the contractual obligation homeowners sign up for when they move into a HOA-run neighborhood. They feel they can just blow it off and in this case it is readily apparent that the Army Reservist is trying to use his deployment as an excuse although given the timeframe it is obvious it was a problem long before he left. And hundreds upon thousands of military spouses are dealing with deployments, many able to cope but those who need help can and do get it. In my nearly 25-year career in the military, we constantly checked on the families of deployed servicemembers. They are just trying to garner sympathy for their predicament, which was of their doing. I don’t believe they should get any.

Trust me, no one appreciates and respects military service than someone who did it for nearly a quarter of a century. I come from a long line of military servicemembers and know the problems that come of it, especially for families. For someone to try and exploit that because there are too stupid or ignorant to pay their bills, it just pisses me off to no end! They are distracting from those who truly could use help…

Cheers! M2

 

[Wolfwood]

This is scary as shit... So my mom owns her house. No bank involved. If the HOA wanted to they could impose a fine for $75 because the grass was too high or something, foreclose on the house, sell it to one of the other board members for $1 and then still send a bill to my mom for $74?

basically.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

No, not basically. Your mom would have to fail to pay the fine that she has agreed to pay by bing in the HOA (if HOA regs are structured as such and are legal). It isn't that your mom had a violation, it is that she is failing to pay.