Shu Bartholomew and her guest talk about the mantra used by defenders of HOAs: "But you agreed!"
   
We've all heard it. The association industry members use it when lobbying for greater powers for associations. Attorneys representing HOAs in court use it. Managers and other proponents of the system spout it out ad nauseum every time the discussion revolves around the sorry state of affairs in association-controlled residential America  today. Technically and legally it may be true that by buying into an association of some sort or other we "agreed" to it. But what exactly did we agree to? And what happened to the alleged benefits of HOAs? We have also all heard the other, equally tired mantra of HOAs "protecting property" value. In this topsy-turvy, economically upside down world today, where are the values? How "affordable" is all this luxurious living we have also been promised?

 
Recently town hall panel discussions on HOAs and a phone bank and a marathon Internet chat session in Orlando , where the existing streams were maxed out "by a few isolated incidents," showed that more and more owners are seriously concerned about the ever-growing problems in community associations.

How well are values really holding up in HOAs? Why are so many people made homeless? What is on the minds of the thousands of "isolated incidents: who called in for help"? These -- and many other questions are being discussed on this show. Don't miss listening!