HOA President goes ape#$%$ on reporter -- audio posted of rant

Don't know if this is journalism topics or news, but it's entertaining all the same. The Evansville Courier & Press in Indiana did a story on homeowners associations, focusing particularly on the kind of despotic rule in one subdivision that makes you hate HOAs. The president calls, very, very angry. The call is recorded. Hilarity ensues.

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/jan/12/whos-king-of-your-castle-homeowners-associations/

 

You are given the covenants of the subdivision after you place an offer on a house. You have three days to walk away from the purchase, for any reason, after you are given the HOA rules. If you don't know the rules, it's your own fault.

People bitching about HOAs don't understand the process.

 

Only in Evansville.

 

This is a great graf.

Homeowners also have to read the contract.

Of course, you can't expect homeowners to read. They're too emotional.

 

One of the issues that kicked this off was a woman who said this tinpot dictator said she was required to get a microchip in her dog -- even though that wasn't mentioned in the HOA contract, which she read.

 

People who think fascism could still come to the shores of America would be well-justified using HOAs as evidence.

 

Gotta love that recording, though. Wish I were the publisher of that paper. I'd give a $500 bonus to whoever came up with the idea to record/publish that.

 

I'm sure the homeowners love it that this asshole has just single-handedly damaged their property values by being such an obtuse moron.

And it'll be a cold day in hell before I agree to buy a house in a HOA. Part of the reason I love owning my own home is the freedom and privacy to do whatever I want. If I'm going to have to sign off on a bunch of rules, I might as well rent, and let the owners take care of all of the bullshit of ownership too.

 

I have a good friend who bought two or three condo units in Florida as an investment many years ago. He still owns them and rents them out and manages to lose just a little bit of money year in and year out. He's a former upper-middle sales exec at a big, reputable consumer products conglomerate but he's retired now. Anyway, while my friend is a good guy, I could easily see him trying to discuss some legal issue or another and sounding like this guy. Dangerous business when you try to take what you learned in the the "Judge Wapner Play-At-Home Game" and make it work in the real world.

 

Comments disabled on that story. Now that's really too bad.

 

That's one of the great things about America; you can live wherever you choose. Just don't come bitchin' to me when you go to sell your house and the value isn't what it should be because the guy across the street cuts his grass twice a year and his shutters haven't been repainted since 1979. The presence of an HOA doesn't make an area a model neighborhood, but more often than not, I'd rather live in an area where people give a damn.

 

"... And that's legal..."