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That's because the IRS has no claim on your house, nor a lein on it for payment of income taxes. Try not paying your PROPERTY taxes for a couple of years. That can lead to a forclosure sale of the real estate. Same with HOAs. If you sign an agreement allowing the HOA to place a lein on your property if you fail to pay your HOA dues, they have every right to do so.
I said they have every right to do so, if that is the only avenue available to them. I also said that that is the last ditch effort they should take. And that garnishing wages is a legal and frankly more compassionate option than leaving people homeless and selling a house on Auction for less than it is worth.
The only reason the IRS doesn't have claim on your house is because of the Homestead Act. The can, and do, garnish wages everyday.
I feel like that is the happy medium between making people honor their financial agreements, and dealing with people who don't.
I said they have every right to do so, if that is the only avenue available to them. I also said that that is the last ditch effort they should take. And that garnishing wages is a legal and frankly more compassionate option than leaving people homeless and selling a house on Auction for less than it is worth.
The only reason the IRS doesn't have claim on your house is because of the Homestead Act. The can, and do, garnish wages everyday.
I feel like that is the happy medium between making people honor their financial agreements, and dealing with people who don't.
I may be incorrect, but I don't think an HOA has any ability to garnish wages. Attaching a lein, and being able to force the sale to collect on the debt, is likely the ONLY recourse held by most HOAs. And the longer an HOA goes without collecting dies from one property, the more hurt are the property owners who are paying.
I may be incorrect, but I don't think an HOA has any ability to garnish wages. Attaching a lein, and being able to force the sale to collect on the debt, is likely the ONLY recourse held by most HOAs. And the longer an HOA goes without collecting dies from one property, the more hurt are the property owners who are paying.
I dont want to speak for the entire country, but it is not unheard of in Texas for a person to be taken to court for an outstanding bill or debt, and for a judge to order a salary garnishment for the purpose of paying back that debt, with the option of the defendant to pay off the debt early if s/he so chooses.
Either way, it seems you and I are in agreement that People should pay their HOA, and that an HOA is within it's right to legally remedy a debt. I just don't think foreclosure should be the first thing they do.
If I lived in an HOA development those dues would be considered part of my mortgage. Unless I was knowingly not paying my mortgage and allowing myself to go into foreclosure those HOA dues would be paid before I bought food for myself. Count on it. Money owed to others always takes priority over anything I want or need. Always. I can't ask anyone else to suffer because of my misfortunes and don't understand how other can.
Thanks for the comments so far and, yes, PLEASE leave politics (other than those of HOA organizations) out of this thread.
I have a friend in the very same situation as the woman profiled in the story, and she is terrified that the public shaming and denial of services aspects of her being behind in her HOA dues due to a job loss will negatively impact her chances of getting re-employed if prospective employers do background checks where this kind of information has gotten into a database.
She should accept denial of services by her HOA, IMHO, but I have real problems with the public shaming.
If she is behind on HOA dues, a lien may have already been filed in the local court. Many courts have online databases and they are free to use by anyone. If the HOA has filed a claim of lien, it is searchable by you, me, anyone, including prospective employers.
How's that for public shame. Whether the HOA makes it public within a small local community or not, that information is accessible on a global scale.
We looked at condos in a complex where short sales and foreclosures were a clear problem. The HOA fees increased in one step from $250 to $400 monthly--primarily because of deadbeats. The more delinquencies, the higher the rate must go; the higher the rate, the more delinquencies.
This is a vicious circle, and once it starts it is difficult to stop. I don't think you can fault responsible people for trying to protect their homes against "sick condo" syndrome.
We looked at condos in a complex where short sales and foreclosures were a clear problem. The HOA fees increased in one step from $250 to $400 monthly--primarily because of deadbeats. The more delinquencies, the higher the rate must go; the higher the rate, the more delinquencies.
This is a vicious circle, and once it starts it is difficult to stop. I don't think you can fault responsible people for trying to protect their homes against "sick condo" syndrome.
If the government did the same thing, people would do less squawking about wanting more and more services to be provided.
HoA's started out as a great idea: Just make sure everybody keeps their law mowed, doesn't have a bunch of cars on cinder blocks in the front yard, and chip in to pay for the maintenance of the public areas.
But, as with most things, Hitler-esque little home-nazis inevitably ascended to power and decided to use the Associations and deed restrictions to create their own private idea of utopia, with an ever-expanding list of rules and regulations and fees and rights that have to be sacrificed in order to be a "homeowner".
When I lived in Austin, the house I purchased had deed restrictions. The HoA in that complex actually had rules that stated you HAD to have a 3 foot tall white picket fence, that you had to have 2 trees between your house and the sidewalk, had to have 1 tree between the sidewalk and the street, could only paint your house one of 7 colors, could only place political signs in your yard 45 days before an election, and had to remove them within 10 days after an election, and a million other stupid rules. It was absolutely ridiculous and, had I known about it at the time, I would have never purchased the house. The monthly fees were also more than it cost to insure the damn house.
I'll never own a house with deed restrictions again. Sorry, but the concept of home ownership is that I OWN the home and the land - not that I have a right to live in it so long as I pay some association "protection money", and if I don't, they can come take it.
We had someone publicly shame someone in our neighborhood who wasn't cleaning up after their dog. It was hilarious, had flier with a picture of her standing there talking on a cell phone while her dog was squatting, with her address etc. it was put on the community mailboxes and attached to wooden sticks driven into the ground in the common grass areas where she was the prime offender.
HoA's started out as a great idea: Just make sure everybody keeps their law mowed, doesn't have a bunch of cars on cinder blocks in the front yard, and chip in to pay for the maintenance of the public areas.
But, as with most things, Hitler-esque little home-nazis inevitably ascended to power and decided to use the Associations and deed restrictions to create their own private idea of utopia, with an ever-expanding list of rules and regulations and fees and rights that have to be sacrificed in order to be a "homeowner".
When I lived in Austin, the house I purchased had deed restrictions. The HoA in that complex actually had rules that stated you HAD to have a 3 foot tall white picket fence, that you had to have 2 trees between your house and the sidewalk, had to have 1 tree between the sidewalk and the street, could only paint your house one of 7 colors, could only place political signs in your yard 45 days before an election, and had to remove them within 10 days after an election, and a million other stupid rules. It was absolutely ridiculous and, had I known about it at the time, I would have never purchased the house.
I'll never own a house with deed restrictions again. Sorry, but the concept of home ownership is that I OWN the home and the land - not that I have a right to live in it so long as I pay some association "protection money", and if I don't, they can come take it.
Xan, I'm still trying to get over the shock of realizing that I actually AGREE with anything you say, much less the entire thing! And there wasn't a single arrogant or supercilious note in your whole post.
You feeling okay?
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