Ray Nagin Must Pay Homeowners Fees On Texas Hurricane Home… Or Else
You remember Clarence Ray Nagin, Jr., yes? The Mayor of New Orleans? Well, Ray and his wife have a townhome in Frisco built by D.R. Horton, off the Dallas North Tollway and Stone Brook Parkway, which he has referred to as a modest “second hurricane home” since his wife has family here. But seems he hasn’t paid his home association fees of $1507.14. And in Texas, we know what that means: though we are a strong homestead state, not paying HOA dues can result in foreclosure. And in fact, the Casa Bella Owners Association has filed suit against Nagin for the past due moola. If he fails to pony up, the property will be auctioned off April 7 in Collin County. Over the weekend, CBS11 reported that the Nagins plan to “sell off” the property to pay off the debt; Collin County has the property, which he and his wife bought May 31, 2007, valued at $181,968.
I’m re-thinking my stance on hating homeowners associations.
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It’s surprising Nagin can’t pony up the $1500. Relatively speaking, it’s a rather small amount of money.
Apparently Nagin was once a former Cox Cable executive making $400,000 a year in the early ’90s. Nagin must not manage his money very well. He should have a few bucks in the bank.
Can’t another politician, somewhere, help Nagin out. You would think so. Don’t most politicians earn favors and rewards? “I’ll scratch your back and then you can scratch my back.”
I think George W. needs to step up to the plate and help this former Cox executive out. It just might earn George W. some favorable brownie points.
Who knows, maybe George W. could get free Cox Cable, and service, for a few years. Nagin might be able to help him out there.
I received an email from MY HOA to block House Bills 899, 1976 and 1977 legislation.
As a current homeowner in an HOA, past property owner in an HOA and licensed real estate agent (inactive) I feel VERY strongly that the homeowner and their declared HOMESTEAD should be protected against HOA liens for non payment- especially during the current economic crisis. HOAs were meant to enhance property values but NOT meant to have ultimate control over the individual homeowners or their property!!!!
Representative Harold Dutton (Houston) has filed a bill, House Bill (HB) 899, that prohibits foreclosure on a home that is designated as an owner’s homestead. Representative Burt Solomons (Carrollton) has filed two bills, HB 1976 and 1977
HOAs should NOT have the right to take your home!!!!
@Lisa
As a current homeowner in an HOA I have to say I strongly disagree with you on this issue. I would like to see it made more difficult for an HOA to foreclose on homes and reform on how HOA business is conducted but the ability for HOA’s to foreclose on property is absolutely essential in many cases. My HOA employees 15 people full time and has a $1M+ budget, if someone is not paying their fair share of HOA fees it is a huge burden on the rest of us that are paying. What if one or more of the residents in the larger units were to decided to just stop paying, we are talking budget shortfalls of thousands of dollars a month, that money has to come from somewhere, payroll and bills still have to be paid.
This is a hot button HOA issue. Currently, another hot button issue is rental restrictions imposed by the HOA association.
Undoubtedly, this massive recession is causing a lot of financial hardship.
I think an equitable solution might be to mandate six-months payment of HOA fees at the time of the purchase. If the HOA fees are $400 dollars a month, that’s only $2400. If a buyer can’t pony up an additional $2400, they shouldn’t be buying real estate.
This would allow an owner a bit of a cushion should a financial crisis, or health crisis, knock on their door. For millions of people in this country, there’s quite a few knocks on the door.
During a normal business cycle, an HOA lien might be okay. When the economy is dysfunctional, and on the verge of almost total collapse, I think one should view hardship in a more compassionate way.
What if HOA’s are significantly higher? But I like this creative solution. My gut tells me all costs incurred with home ownership are going to go up significantly in the future, do you agree?
I’m unemployed right now and *I* could come up with $1500 to pay HOA dues. No excuse for this guy.
I rather like John’s idea of mandating six month’s of HOA assessments upfront when purchasing a property. He’s right. If you can’t afford it upfront, you can’t afford that property.
It would, however, require some form of legislation to protect those funds from unscrupulous HOAs or unscrupulous board members or management company representatives. The management company who handles my HOA’s affairs have, in the past, “borrowed” funds due to owner’s for tax refunds to pay utility bills, etc. That’s probably borderline theft as the funds weren’t the HOA’s to start with, thus my rationale for strict oversight.
I, for one, will never again buy in a neighborhood with mandatory HOA dues. Just hasn’t been a positive experience after living in several properties with mandatory dues and I’ve had more grief than benefits received.
I think the mandated rules should apply to all HOA fees.
It’s hard to speculate what future homeowner costs will be. Short-term, costs may be manageable but eventually inflation may be a huge problem due to the massive levels of debt. Borrowing trillions of dollars will create problems down the road.
Implementing a policy like this would require legislation and safeguards. We all know now that greed, graft, and corruption appears to be standard operating procedure in this country.
Trust is a word that is almost completely absent in my vocabulary now.
I’m glad I don’t have Warren Buffet’s wealth. Having that much money would worry me. His children are just going to get a few million–that’s it. I don’t think I could give billions of dollars to a charitable organization. what’s happened during the past six-months has opened my eyes quite a bit.
At least Warren Buffet doesn’t have to worry about HOA associations. He has other things to worry about but not HOA associations.
For John M: let’s see your HOA employs 15 people and has a budget of $1Mil. Don’t you think something might be wrong there? What a damn foolish thing it is to have an HOA with a such a budget. I own, well, you don’t want to know how many homes, but they are all but the one I live in worth close to a Mil or more. Unfortunately, I am a dumba$$ and the one I want to live in there is an HOA and they drive me nuts over the yard – what flowers I can have for example. Outlaw HOAs.