[Durham INC] [NPNA] Neighborhood associations and Homeowners Associations (fwd)

[Barry Ragin]

Mike - nobody made the claim that all, or even any, HOAs were bad.

I was pointing out the distinction between HOAs, which are generally 
covenanted, require membership among the homeowners who live in the 
community, own property in common, and have certain legal rights and 
obligations, and neighborhood associations, which are voluntary, do not 
have, nor can they enforce any covenants, generally speaking do not own 
community property (i can think of one exception in Durham), and do not 
under any circumstances have legal claim to anyone's property.

Many people do not understand those distinctions, and are afraid to join 
a neighborhood association out of fear that they are giving up certain 
rights as homeowners.

It should go without saying that there are good and bad examples of 
either, but that's not the point. A "bad" neighborhood association board 
of directors is not going to have the right to foreclose on your house 
because your annual dues are unpaid, nor levy a fine because your 
shutters are the wrong color. Hopefully, the neighbors we both have who 
are reluctant to get involved in our neighborhood associations because 
they have that fear will understand that there is no basis for it.

Barry Ragin

btw - i put "bad" in quotations above not because i believe those 
behaviors are always bad, or even morally incorrect, but because those 
are generally the kinds of things that people cite as factors for not 
wanting to live in covenanted communities. For many people, i'm sure 
those are among the advantages of living there.

M. W. Shiflett - Hotmail wrote:
> Just like neighborhood assocations,  not all HOA's are bad HOA's.
>
> Designating either a NA or HOA bad or unsympathetic is a misnomer, in 
> my opinion, in the same way people who know little about a particular 
> situation or classification judge others as a whole when it's just one 
> person or very few that cause that judgement to be made in the first 
> place.
>
> Neighborhoods,  just like HOA's and NA's don't make bad decisions or 
> act to hurt anyone,  it's the people who sit on those boards or get 
> into a position of power that deserve the 'judgements'.
>
> As someone who's lived and sat on boards of both, many other examples 
> of 'poor decison making' by a board to be questioned by others after 
> the consequences of that decision becomes public.
>
> This is true of both NA's and HOA's.
>
> To learn more (and not judge prematurely) about how HOA's are  and 
> should be governed I encourage folks to visit www.caionline.org for 
> more information that might give you some insight that will enlighten 
> you and hopefully lead you to understand that not all HOA's are bad 
> (or poorly managed).
>
> Mike Shiflett
> (always available 'offline' to discuss further)
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dan Singer" <des at cs.duke.edu>
> To: "NPNA" <NPNA at yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 5:27 PM
> Subject: [NPNA] Neighborhood associations and Homeowners Associations 
> (fwd)
>
>
>> Well stated by bragin on the DPNA listserv.  NPNA functions similarly.
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: bragin at nc.rr.com
>> To: dukepark at yahoogroups.com
>> Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2010 9:36:22 -0400
>> Subject: [dukepark] Neighborhood associations and Homeowners 
>> Associations
>>
>> Hi all - this probably doesn't need saying, but for the benefit of
>> some of our newer neighbors, i wanted to clarify a couple of points
>> about the neighborhood association. You may have read or heard on the
>> radio some news stories recently about homeowners associations (HOAs)
>> foreclosing and taking possession of houses in their jurisdiction over
>> non-payment of HOA fees, fees which are often trivial in comparison to
>> the value of the house. In one particularly egregious case, the HOA
>> took possession of a $300K plus house over a non-payment of under
>> $1000, while the homeowner was deployed overseas in Iraq on active
>> duty.
>>
>> Neighborhood associations do not operate as HOAs. DPNA is a voluntary
>> association, with no covenants, no property in common, and no claim to
>> anyone's private property. The primary functions of the neighborhood
>> association are to provide a means of communications among the
>> residents of Duke Park, to organize social events and activities that
>> encourage our neighbors to meet one another, to work together to
>> improve the quality of life in the neighborhood, and to occasionally
>> lobby our local governments to provide services in our neighborhood
>> that might otherwise be lacking (sidewalks, street improvements, park
>> maintenance, etc.).
>>
>> There is no requirement to join DPNA if you live in Duke Park,
>> however, we'd love to have you as a member. Your $10 per household
>> dues help us publish a quarterly newsletter, maintain the listserv and
>> website (dukepark.org) and host various potlucks and social events
>> during the year.  [ ... ]
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------
>>
>> Check out the NPNA website:
>>        http://www.ngpark.org/
>>
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>
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