CONDO CRAZE & HOA'S

HOSTED BY - ERIC M. GLAZER, ESQUIRE

SUNDAYS AT NOON:

ON NEWS RADIO 610 WIOD in SOUTH FLORIDA

ON NEWS RADIO 1250 WHNZ in the TAMPA AREA

ON THE INTERNET: http://www.wiod.com at 12:05 

STUDIO CALL-IN NUMBER: 1-866-610-NEWS

CONDO CRAZE & HOA'S will present a forum for Board members and owners to tell their side of the story. The show randomly has guest speakers who are experts on the daily problems associations encounter. All issues that our associations encounter each day are proper topics for discussion. Expect to hear from politicians, Board members, owners, tenants, community association managers, developers, community association accountants, construction industry personnel and other government officials. Listeners call in and ask questions of attorney Eric Glazer and his legal team as well as any guest present. Eric has been practicing association law since 1992, and his firm Glazer and Associates has represented associations and unit owners throughout the state. There is lots of great discussion and we have certainly had some screaming and yelling, not unlike your typical Board meeting. However, at the end of each show, our listeners come away with a greater understanding of the law and hopefully an appreciation of the various sides of this ongoing debate.

  


LISTEN TO THE RADIO SHOW WITH GUEST JULIO ROBAINA

  

This Sunday's guest on the show is State Representative Julio Robaina.  During his years of service to Floridians, Julio Robaina has participated in many Town Hall Meetings and many Select Committee Meetings.  There is no other legislator in Tallahassee who has listened to more complaints from owners than Julio Robaina.  He listened to his constituents and he heard them loud and clear.       

Even many of Robaina’s colleagues refer their constituents to him when they are approached with questions.  Over the years Julio Robaina has filed many owner-friendly bills, as he tries to create a better environment for owners living in community associations.  Some bills made it into law -- others failed.  The ones that failed didn't fail because they were bad bills.  They failed because they were killed by special-interest legislators who were more interested in campaign funds than in helping their constituents.

This year State Representative Ellyn Bogdanoff, eager to cash in campaign funds from special interest, killed all owner-friendly association bills and pushed her own special-interest bill -- H 561 -- which merged with Senate Bill 1196. The result:  A special-interest bill that will do absolutely nothing to help associations and owners deal with the serious budget deficits caused by unpaid dues and/or foreclosures.

  

You will hear how Ellyn Bogdanoff killed all attempts to go after the lenders for more maintenance fees.  She also killed attempts to increase the liability of the lenders from 1% to 2% of the original mortgage debt.  This would have really doubled the lender's liability.  With the amount limited to 1%, the increase from 6 months to 12 months is actually just a smoke-screen to make board members feel good.  

 

As enrolled, the bill won’t solve the serious financial problems.  The condo owners will have to continue to finance the losses caused by the bankers' irresponsible lending practices -- a situation that will bankrupt even more families.

Another important issue that should have been addressed in the bill was the need to go after bad Community Association Managers.  Bad CAMs create havoc in our communities.  While the DBPR fails to weed out the bad CAMs, the reputations of the good CAMs suffer.  During the show you will hear why nothing was done in regard to CAM Regulation -- another failure to address important reform issues.

Just listen to the show and you will hear what is really going on in Tallahassee during the legislative session -- mostly behind closed doors.  And why we again see nothing owner-friendly in the bill that passed.  It seems like many legislators just don't care if their constituents are being ruined by dysfunctional community associations. 



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