# Fuck HOAs **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 30, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023 "2010-06-30T02:56:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/1 "2010-06-30T02:56:37Z")
This story sums up why I will never, ever move into an HOA community. In fact when I was looking for a house last year that was pretty much the one condition I was completely inflexible on. [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128078864](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128078864) > [@](#): > > Capt. Mike Clauer was serving in Iraq last year as company commander of an Army National Guard unit assigned to escort convoys. It was exceedingly dangerous work — explosive devices buried in the road were a constant threat to the lives of Clauer and his men. > He was halfway through his deployment when he got a bolt from the blue — a frantic phone call from his wife, May, back in Texas. > “She was bawling on the phone and was telling me that the HOA [homeowners association] had foreclosed on our house, and it was sold,” he says. “And I couldn’t believe that could even happen.” > Clauer had a hard time understanding what his wife was saying. His $300,000 house was already completely paid for. Could it be possible that their home was foreclosed on and sold because his wife had missed two payments of their HOA dues? > In many states it is not difficult for an HOA to foreclose on a member’s home for past dues even if the amount owed is just a few hundred dollars. > “I was really in a hurry trying to get home before my family was living on the streets,” Clauer says… > > But by the time he got back to Texas, it was too late. The Clauers’ four-bedroom, 3,500-square-foot home had been sold on the courthouse steps for just $3,500 — enough to cover outstanding HOA dues and legal costs. > The new owner quickly sold it for $135,000 and netted a tidy profit. Yep, this guy was over busting his ass in Afghanistan and these fascist dicks decide to take away his home just because he missed two HOA payments. So much for supporting our troops. ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/2 "2010-06-30T03:14:26Z")
I think there was already a thread about this on the dope. I’ll try to find it. ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/3 "2010-06-30T03:18:54Z")
Found it: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=565037&highlight=dues](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=565037&highlight=dues) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/4 "2010-06-30T03:19:31Z")
> [@toofs](#): > > I think there was already a thread about this on the dope. I’ll try to find it. [Here it is](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=565037). EDIT: I’m too slow. . ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/5 "2010-06-30T03:54:11Z")
Well sure, fuck HOAs, but… Is the wife a puppy or something? Is she incapable of hiring a lawyer, or calling some military assistance service? Or just writing a check? The story suggests to me that he felt he had to race home to deal with it, rather than say, giving advice to his wife on the phone, and perhaps that delay cost them their home. Maybe in a larger sense it’s a good thing it happended to these particular people. Maybe the bad press will push the legislature to reform some laws, as I’m sure this happens to ‘normal’ poor folk all the time and we never hear about it at all. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/6 "2010-06-30T04:17:38Z")
> [@toofs](#): > > Found it: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=565037&highlight=dues](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=565037&highlight=dues) Ah, yes I do remember seeing that thread. Didn’t know it was about this particular case, though. I just heard this story on the radio today. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/7 "2010-06-30T04:38:32Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Well sure, fuck HOAs, but… > > Is the wife a puppy or something? Is she incapable of hiring a lawyer, or calling some military assistance service? Or just writing a check? The story suggests to me that he felt he had to race home to deal with it, rather than say, giving advice to his wife on the phone, and perhaps that delay cost them their home. > > Maybe in a larger sense it’s a good thing it happended to these particular people. Maybe the bad press will push the legislature to reform some laws, as I’m sure this happens to ‘normal’ poor folk all the time and we never hear about it at all. The other thread seems to be saying that there was likely some fraud involved. And the way it is being explained, it seemed like the wife was just completely unable to handle it. You might call her a puppy for that, but it’s not impossible not to have any idea of what to do, and the story seems to imply that she did not get a hold of him until it was too late. I endorse this pitting by the way. While I hope that one law will help straighten it out, I also hope the property value of that neighborhood drops. And that people will see it and try to fix the law. But I worry that having that one law will make people not care. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/8 "2010-06-30T08:30:28Z")
Seems to me the wife is more to blame than anybody. There’s no excuse for being an incompetent idiot, and I feel really bad for this National Guardsman who married her. I’m sure she’s real cute. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@Captain\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/9 "2010-06-30T09:19:03Z")
I would not do that HOA shit either. Of course, I don’t join anything unless I just have to, and I don’t have to do that. That’s just evil and wrong. I’d be on death row in Texas because I would blow out the brains of the HOA leader for fucking me like that. Just reinforces my basic belief that humanity is out to screw each other, step on each other and steal from each other. Sometimes I am ashamed to be a human being. I’d rather be a dog. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/10 "2010-06-30T09:27:21Z")
Speaking as a military wife, yes there are wives out there that are this inept … they tend to be the little shrinking violet help me I am so dainty I cant deal with anything take care of me you big hunk of a man types. I met one who claimed that she didn’t _know_ how to put gas in a car, or use an ATM card in a machine with the directions printed and in pictograph form.:dubious::rolleyes: Seems she had no trouble emptying his bank account and finding strange squids in the bars in town though. I cant wait until the meme that helpless women are uber feminine dies a firey death. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/11 "2010-06-30T10:36:27Z")
Didn’t the other thread say that she was suffering from some kind of mental/emotional condition? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/12 "2010-06-30T10:37:01Z")
So can I just wait around the courthouse steps until someone needs to sell a home quick and then buy it up for $3500? Seems like a good deal… ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/13 "2010-06-30T13:41:00Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Didn’t the other thread say that she was suffering from some kind of mental/emotional condition? It’s easier to just judge her. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/14 "2010-06-30T14:04:30Z")
My first reaction to reading the OP was that this was some sort of bullshit story. Then I saw that it involved Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/15 "2010-06-30T14:09:41Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > It’s easier to just judge her. It might be even easier to judge a man who, knowing his wife had a condition rendering her incompetant to care for herself in his absence, chose a career that would keep him away from home for long periods of time. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/16 "2010-06-30T14:16:06Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > It might be even easier to judge a man who, knowing his wife had a condition rendering her incompetant to care for herself in his absence, chose a career that would keep him away from home for long periods of time. He was in the Army Reserve, which in normal times would only keep you away one weekend a month, two weeks a year. I think the story mentioned that his regular job was supervisor for a roofing company. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/17 "2010-06-30T15:15:46Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > It might be even easier to judge a man who, knowing his wife had a condition rendering her incompetant to care for herself in his absence, chose a career that would keep him away from home for long periods of time. And that would of course assume that she was ill, or that her illness was so severely manifested at all times, which is not in evidence. It seems more likely that she sunk into a significant depression during the time that her husband was off on an extremely dangerous deployment. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/18 "2010-06-30T15:40:27Z")
I’m no lover of HOAs, but this is just incredible - that they could take the whole house for a couple of hundred bucks, and they couldn’t stop the process by just paying them. I’m not willing to let the couple off the hook, either, though - if you know you have a monthly payment to make, you make sure it’s covered, either by your wife paying it, or you paying it, or setting up a monthly automatic payment through the bank (they do have those new-fangled things in Texas, don’t they? I mean automatic payments, not banks.) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/19 "2010-06-30T16:17:35Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I’m no lover of HOAs, but this is just incredible - that they could take the whole house for a couple of hundred bucks, and they couldn’t stop the process by just paying them. I’m not willing to let the couple off the hook, either, though - if you know you have a monthly payment to make, you make sure it’s covered, either by your wife paying it, or you paying it, or setting up a monthly automatic payment through the bank (they do have those new-fangled things in Texas, don’t they? I mean automatic payments, not banks.) I agree that they should not be let off the hook, but what is effectively a ~ $300,000 fine for late (non) payment of a $800 bill seems a bit excessive. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023/20 "2010-06-30T16:28:55Z")
To paraphrase Patty Reed, “Pay your bills, don’t take no shortcuts, hurry along as best you can and never join no HOA”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-hoas/545023.md?page=2)