HOAs in AMERICA....
Open Letter - Foreclosures in Penbroke Pines

 
Hilda Covarrubias 
        Penbroke Pines, Florida 33024
        e-mail: [email protected]

ATTENTION:  HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS 
         TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN ACROSS THE STATE OF FLORIDA

INTRODUCTION:

I live in small community of 171 or so town homes in Broward County, Florida.
Under no circumstance do I intend to have my comments and suggestions be misconstrued or taken out of context.  I have read, researched, and made contacts all over the state of Florida and the issues should not be so difficult to solve if worked out in an accurate approach. Not only will I set forth my thoughts all based in truthfulness and backed by correspondence and witnesses but I shall also offer possible alternatives for resolution.

FORECLOSURE WITHOUT FAIR WARNING AND NO CHANCE TO REACH AGREEMENTS IN ORDER TO RETAIN THE RIGHT TO HOME OWNERSHIP

It is with immense sorrow that I have seen homeowner after homeowner in our community, loosing their homes, for failing to make maintenance payments on time.

THE ROOTS OF THE PROBLEM:

The By-Laws given to buyers are given in its legal binder, with no explanation whatsoever; unfortunately, very few read, study, analyze or understand its contents. This sole act by the seller or builder is contrary to rules of law.

The buyer, remains oblivious and ignorant to what these imposed covenants imply. For some it is their first home and they proceed, to put the “big bad book” aside, together with all other documents and begin to savor what they think is, FINALLY! the acquisition of the so called, “American Dream”.

Many people loose their homes because of lack of knowledge and also because both American and those of foreign origin, the latter even though “Americans” in paper and rights, cannot read, much less understand the legal lingo or “gobbledygook” therein enclosed, therefore, with no further explanation about the “big by-law book”, unwillingly and against better judgment, they remain in limbo. This also is against rules of law and moreover, it is a biased, ethnic profiling.

Who's to blame?  There are several culprits: THE SELLER, THE BUILDER and unfortunately, I agree, also the buyer that receives the payment booklet and sets it aside oblivious to its contents and once in his new house creates a total nonchalant attitude and an apathy that is not easy to deal with, some other times, is non of the above but inner financial problems, sickness, death, other bills, etc., could be part of it too. Living in debt has become, unwillingly a part of America's livelihood.

THE PROCEDURE:

The maintenance company sends the homeowner in arrears a pre written, formatted letter, often a bad photocopy with no signature, advising the homeowner that if payment is not made within 10 days, IMMEDIATE LEGAL ACTION WILL BE TAKEN! 

With all due respect, 10 days is not even enough to “digest” what they refer to in the letter!  IGNORANCE OF THE LAW IS NO DEFENSE, however, IGNORANCE OF THE LAW BY DEFAULT OF THE SELLER, BUILDER, and/or CONTRACTOR IS, AND IF IT'S NOT, SHOULD BE, ILLEGAL!

What is worse, it is our “own” HOA, -in each development- who depend and empowers the maintenance company who in turn empowers the lawyers to do as they please with no way for the homeowner to “make deals” (which OTHERWISE are made in courts all over the country in a daily basis, including the most heinous crimes). 

Debtors therefore, are DENIED the basic right to “FAIRNESS” by making viable payment arrangements; nor are they given the opportunity to state their case or discuss it with neither the HOA board members, maintenance company representative nor the lawyer. WHY? BECAUSE THE FASTEST, EASIEST AND MOST CONVENIENT WAY TO RECOVER MONEYS, is using the LAW! 

Civility and simple humanitarian principles should prevail, unfortunately, that is not the case because greed is more powerful than humanism. It is a lot easier to after 10 days have the attorney send Summons for a lien on the property and from then on if there's no answer, foreclosure procedures begin and usually end in 90 days. 

These large legal firms that work with HOA’S, truly believe that their empowerment to enforce the laws is their right and once they get hold of the homeowner, not even the board members want to intervene, not because they can't, -as they claim-, but because it's the easy way out. 

I have correspondence enough to prove that most of the time, attorneys for  HOA’S, are arrogant, intransigent and take advantage of their positions to get away with whatever they wish, especially when the homeowners are Hispanics or foreigners and cannot communicate at the attorneys level of jargon and the attorneys don't even have a soul in their offices that can serve as translator.
This should be another item of legal and civil rights and racial profiling because of ethnicity.

Be it understood, that these people come to our country in search of betterment and are scared to death of the law and those that represent it. 

I have served as an advocate and believe me it is a time consuming, frustrating, testing and annoying process and I do it for free because it gives me personal satisfaction to serve and do good; I am aware that some of these homeowners in trouble have sacrificed and often work two jobs each to be able to better themselves and become proprietors in the LAND OF THE FREE. 

Personally, I blame first the HOA and its board members, since it should be THEIR responsibility to directly contact and avoid leaving a neighbor homeless even if they are in DEFAULT.

The board should contact the ones in default; they should be spoken to, instructed and try by all means, to reach a reasonable way to solve the problems the homeowners may have encountered, including partial monthly payments; maintain their account to date and if possible working with the “late fees” which account for the excessive amounts owed. 

Right after the maintenance company should use the same personalized approach. If everything fails, then these cases should definitely be sent to the attorneys, but still leave the door ajar for a viable resolution.

TOO MUCH TROUBLE? As I will state below, I am willing to do it in this community on behalf of the board for free, reporting of course all my findings to the President and board.  Not an easy task I can assure you!

With regards to the maintenance company, they should find the time and resources to help the community they serve in view of the fact that they get paid quite generously for their services, which are not always A-1.

Most of the time these homeowners in trouble are hard working, responsible, law abiding citizens, that are providing to sustain government and community and contribute to the system like everyone else and their only sin is their lack of understanding of the language in the by-laws. 

The attorneys besides being intransigent, can also be unscrupulous,
arrogant, and harass with impunity thus taking away what probably took years of planning and financial sacrifices to the homeowner. 

We all know of the “wheeling and dealings” of our legal system but these homeowners are treated like SECOND CLASS CITIZENS and are tossed out of their homes and into the street even if their mortgage payments are up to date. UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE!

While trying to help a neighbor I found no intelligent way to reason with “our” HOA’S attorney, in order to down size or omit some “late fees” or make arrangements to pay instead of the 30 days in demand, at least 90 days, thus making it more viable for the homeowner to come clean.  He denied my petition and not in the most chivalrous way.

Is this what we really want to do?  Is this what HOA’s, maintenance corporations and attorneys each in its category are there for? To deprive decent, hard working people of their moneys and their legal and civil right to homeowner ship? 

Of course banks are as impersonal as everyone else and could care less as long as they get paid. 

THINGS TO PONDER:

Please be informed of the following: Florida is one of very few States in the Nation, where lenders or mortgage holders (banks) are prohibited from helping the homeowner come clean with its past due maintenance bills. 

WHAT FORECLOSURE REPRESENTS:

One of the reasons why America is no longer what it used to be is because now a days the parasitically, scrounging and powerful, with dreams of grandeur and blind desire to amass even greater amounts of “green” (dollars) take advantage of those that have really worked hard to have what they have had and now are about to loose. The same old story: the predator or BIG GUY against the small little fellow, with no means for deliverance!

Foreclosures without due process have made us forget what America is all about!  This comment is directed to BUILDERS, CONTRACTORS, MAINTENANCE COMPANIES AND HOA’S THAT ACCEPT AS “GOOD” A BUNCH OF “GENERIC BY-LAWS” that vary very little from one housing project to the next, and are not revised, changed or amended to suit the needs of each community. 

The above paragraph also applies to the thoughtlessness and “dollar digging”
Realtors who will do anything to get some business, going to the extent of making the seller “qualify” (using his contacts for the purpose) and getting the home for the interested party, leaving insurance and taxes purposely OUT of the monthly mortgage payment and not disclosing these facts nor the “Homestead Exemption” to the buyers. Obviously, the homeowner is left with a
“damaged American dream” thus making the finances of the homeowner even tighter and harder to deal with. FOR GOODNESS SAKE: WHO IN OUR GOVERNMENT IS THERE TO OVERSEE THESE ATROCITIES? 

MY PROPOSAL:

I hereby ask of you the present and future board members of our HOA, to rethink and analyze what you are doing and to take the steps necessary to help this community become a better place. 

You and only you, upon taking these positions as board members, can make of this community one in which homeowners, when having to dig out of our pockets every month to pay our monthly maintenance dues, can make us feel that WE, WITH OUR HARD EARNED MONEYS, are getting something in return and that we have a HOA that looks after our community and the interests of homeowners. 

I am also helping a couple get their Homestead Exemption after 4 years, which they knew nothing about and while I pay my state taxes, she is paying double of what I am paying!   SO MUCH FOR “FULL DISCLOSURE”, FREEDOM AND FAIRNESS!

Many delinquencies if not all, would be resolved if the maintenance companies
are FORCED to set up “AUTOMATIC WITHDRAWALS”. This might mean introducing new software but the initial expense would pay for itself including less paper work, time and efforts for everyone.  Then again if I could I would find “working” HOA’S with minimum payments (there are still some of these!) and leave the grass cutting; tree trimming; painting etc. TO ME AS A HOMEOWNER… that was AMERICA FOR MANY YEARS. Let's have HOA’s with
minimal intervention and greater responsibilities to oversee for cleanliness and certain specific issues.

Sometime ago, I asked our HOA President, to confidentially make available to me the list of people in arrears in their maintenance.  I would write to each a personalized letter and the opportunity to meet with them, explain the procedures to follow, and bring to the board each and every case to be treated INDIVIDUALLY. 

When I made the original proposal, the President thought about it as a good idea. A few days after one of my “hot” e-mails, stating plain truths, (which no one likes, anyway), she recoiled from her original “yes maybe” to a rough: “THIS INFORMATION IS CONFIDENTIAL! 

SO WHAT?? I AM NOT GOING TO AND CANNOT TAKE ANY ADVANTAGE OF THIS INFORMATION!!! The lawyer, however, DOES TAKE ADVANTAGE and so does the HOA and probably the maintenance company with the excessive “late payment” penalties which do not necessarily go to our HOA, and since we homeowners receive no “budgetary or expenses” or any information regarding any kind of expenses we, the homeowners, remain in an indeterminate state of ignorance. Sure we can ASK for it, but WHY SHOULD WE HAVE TO ASK??

As mentioned before, helping these homeowners, is a consuming process that requires a lot of patience, nevertheless, I am offering my services for free, at no cost to either the homeowner or the HOA. What is the problem then?

Let me remind each and every board member, maintenance company representatives and attorneys: The last I knew, in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, people are protected by a series of legal and civil rights which are sometimes overlooked and IGNORED! Who can we trust? 

ATTENDANCE TO MEETINGS:

Why people don't go to meetings? Everyone wonders: the reason is that because as a dear friend and myself, we got tired of going to meetings and being totally ignored; expelled from the conference room when demanding time to speak and even told to wait until the end of the board meeting at which time the president checked his watch and said: “I am sorry but it's late and we cannot stay any longer to hear you out”.

The problem is that neither the HOA nor the maintenance company representative, want to listen to the people and this same story repeats itself, from election to election, from board to board and so forth and so on…   So much for “FREEDOM OF SPEECH”!

AMENDMENTS TO BY-LAWS:

Why, as members of this community, do we have to accept and abide by rules, imposed laws and covenants that might not even apply to our community?  NO!  The first thing a board of directors in a new housing development should do, is nominate a committee of three or four people, to study and review the by-laws.

This committee should then propose to the board items that should be deleted, scrubbed off, amended. Whatever is not “community favorable” or does not apply to our community should be ERADICATED from the BIG BAD BOOK! 

THAT IT CANNOT BE DONE?  Oh please!! Every single day in our great nation, laws are changed amended and even bent a little to suit a specific case and EVEN OUR CONSTITUTION HAS AMENDMENTS! I will be willing to hit this matter head on with two or three other neighbors and then present to the board our results.

TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY AND SHARING RESPONSIBILITIES:

Let's not sit in the board just to use the Robert's Rules of Parliamentary
Procedures, or to feel grandiose, powerful, and/or dictatorial. Let's sit in the board to WORK. That done, you will see how people, by word of mouth, will start coming to the meetings and getting involved!

A year ago, when the now President of the Board, was introduced I recall
how board members were appalled when I exposed the tactics used by the attorneys to collect amounts due for maintenance. Our HOA still uses the services of this specific attorney!

I also recall, how excited the new president appeared to be when planning to change the dictatorial, ghetto rulings of the previous President.  For once, I felt comforted, and though apprehensive, had some remote hope that maybe, just maybe, everything was going to change. 

Nothing has changed and no efforts have been made to bring forth much needed adjustments, from the by-laws all the way to how elections are conducted to doing everything possible to bring this community together.

I understand it must be incredibly difficult to hold a job, attend family needs and on top of this, standing as President or member of a HOA Board of Directors, with all its demands, stress and hassles, and doing this time consuming job for FREE and probably with fellow board members that do not do much but enjoy sitting in the big table, however, this nomination to the board, was not by mandate, it was by CHOICE! 

Therefore, be it understood that assuming these responsibilities by own free will, is not easy nor rewarding, consequently, I can understand many things but I cannot agree with what has happened with OUR HOA since it started 4 years ago, where no one gives importance to the rights of our fellow neighbors and the apathy and disregard of homeowners is only due to the fact that they know these meetings are an “act” and the HOA has no real interest in listening to them.

During the first turnover meeting, committees were assigned, and the discussion of an audit of the previous Board for excessive expenses that were clearly presented and proven by a friend with whom I have worked closely. The issue of an “audit” seemed of PRECEDENCE. It was later totally and absolutely IGNORED. 

It was so clear that something from the previous board was amiss: when I started writing my “hot letters” demanding answers, the president of the board resigned, followed by the then maintenance representative, and shortly thereafter, the maintenance company itself resigned.  This should have brought up RED FLAGS IMMEDIATELY!

CASE # 1:

When the turnover from the builder to the appointed first HOA president took place, there were $25,000 missing, something I represented in several of my correspondence, still no one has given me a reasonable explanation and honestly, not I but US, the homeowners of this community, have the RIGHT  TO KNOW!!

CASE # 2:

My friend provided proof of how our moneys were spent in “trimming of trees” with the former board of directors (amount paid $5000), however, in all reality, no tree trimming ever took place! She even brought photos to prove her case!! Everyone said the usual “OH WOW'S!” but it was too much hassle to follow up! So here we stand: where did the $25,000 go?  The last I was told was: ”Hilda that's difficult….” FOR GOODNESS SAKE! If the waters seem calm and need stirring, STIR!

My friend and I would have taken the challenge, even though we are not interested in serving as board members, we do feel our abilities would be put to better use confronting issues head on, help MAKING IPSO FACTO changes, and bringing these issues to the board for fast resolution

We are concerned, caring and hard working, we were assigned to committees in that unforgettable meeting of the “new board”. However, very surreptitiously just as we were named we later were totally ignored and set aside. We expected that to happen sooner or later!

The above description of events is one simple reason why our HOA has never worked and why we have thousands of HOA’S across the country that don't work either. To a certain degree, HOA’S ARE AN INFRINGEMENT AND AN IMPOSITION and I wonder… who's really getting away with the moneys? 

HOA’s and its board members, cannot stand to be criticized and looked over as per enclosure #1, entitled “WHY HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATIONS DON'T WANT YOU TO ATTEND MEETINGS"

BEWARE HOA’S ACROSS THE NATION:
With a bit of luck, this letter will reach statewide to people that have similar views and even a reporter and I will do the utmost for it to reach the legislature, the attorney general and even Jeb Bush (by the way Mr. Bush ALREADY got a copy!)

It's about time that our representatives, congressman and elected officials, take action on behalf of thousands of Floridians.

I have avoided mentioning names for obvious reasons. Anyone contesting my representations, I will gladly offer proof. 

Unfortunately, September 11th shocked America and the civilized world. We have finally realized that our Nation is vulnerable; that we can be attacked in the heartland, in our pride and in our minds. Let's begin to THINK of ways to better our great Nation; let's join hands and ask ourselves what can we do to carry on the challenge of commitment, devotion and love for AMERICA and our fellow AMERICANS!

Respectfully,

Hilda Covarrubias