Home Owner Associations - the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!
Anyone looking in to buying a new home should pay careful attention to the home owner associations; if there is one, how much it costs to belong to it, and whether or not you have to belong to it. Most of all, carefully read the rules and restrictions and realize that they can change.
Home owner associations are there for the home owner. They help you with maintenance and landscapingand often organize community events like picnics and block parties. They take care of shared facilities like swimming pools. But the real reason for their existence is to make sure the properties keep up a good appearance and preserve property values.
But in all of this, there’s a price to pay. Aside from the home owner association dues, you often lose much of your freedom as a homeowner. In some (many) cases, homeowner association rules are more intrusive than a landlord would be. They can micro manage everything from colors schemes to the number of pets (or even whether or not you’re allowed to have pets).
Some home owner associations won’t allow children to play in front yards. They often have restrictions concerning the number of cars parked in the driveway or on the street. One woman was penalized just after 9/11 because her flag-pole (proudly displaying her country’s flag) was one foot too high.
The worst thing about such micro-management, is that it often becomes a political gamefull of favors and rewards, grudges and punishments. Anything that offers some kind of power over other people is bound to draw a certain crowd. So the home owner association board members are often not the kind of people you would want making decisions for you.
Complaints about neighbors who may break the rules arise out of personal feuds. If the complainer is ‘in the click’, the board listens. If you’re not ‘in the click’, you could get constant harassment.
Becoming a board member for the home owner association isn’t always easy. You would have to be able to play office politics and know how to flatter. In some home owner associations, the board members can be re-elected over and over again, without limits to the number of terms they serve.
This makes it easy for them to abuse the system. Most of the community members are generally happy with the home owner association board as long as they’re not being bothered. So they have little reason to vote for new members come election time. For some people, these issues are tolerable because the property values are guaranteed. But if you’re the kind of person who would rather have more freedom, you might be better off in a community without a home owner association.
Copyright 2006 YourLenderForLife.com
Keith Gill is a professional Real Estate Investor and Mortgage Loan executive and Consultuant for a major mortgage bank. http://www.bestarizonahomeloans.com
Tags: home loans, home owners association, landlords, loans, mortgage, mortgage fianancing, real estateIdaho Mortgage - What to Expect When Buying a Home in Idaho
Maybe you are buying your first home in Idaho, or perhaps you’re relocating to Idaho from another state. Either way, it’s important that you educate yourself on Idaho home loans before shopping for a home and mortgage. This article explains what you will need to know before buying a home in Idaho:
The median price of a home in Idaho is $106,300. Recently, homes in Idaho have been appreciating at rates slightly below the national average. Therefore, affordability is favorable in the state of Idaho. In fact, Idaho has the highest rate of home ownership in the nation.
The price of homes in Idaho varies widely between zip codes. For example, in Boise, Idaho, the median price of a home in the summer of 2005 was $195,000; however, in Meridian, Idaho, the median price of a home was $177,000, and in Eagle, Idaho, it was $210,000. Average interest rates in Idaho are equal to the national average.
Idaho is one of only 14 states that uses a “Deed of Trust” as a mortgage. This means that a trustee holds the title of a house for a lender rather than the mortgage company itself.
If you’re buying a home in the state of Idaho, you qualify for both federal and state housing assistance. Low income borrowers can qualify for down payment assistance, and borrowers with special needs can receive certain types of assistance with buying a home. These programs are available through Idaho’s HOME program.
Jessica Elliott recommends that you visit Mortgage Lenders Plus.com for more information about Idaho Mortgage Rates and Loans .
Tags: idaho mortgage, idaho mortgage ratesWhen A Debt Is Old, How To Stop Bill Collectors From Legitimately Coming After You
Each state has their own laws regarding when creditors may sue debtors for failing to pay or violating a written contract. This would include credit card accounts, accounts set up for buying a car, rental leases, and other contracts involving debt.
Some states have a limitation that can be six years, in some states it can be up to 15 years. Check your own state law. If a debt is older than the state’s law, the collector has no legal authority to really collect the debt.
Typically, the “clock” starts at the time of last activity, such as the last payment or inquiring on the bill. On a credit card, every payment you make renews this “clock.”
Even if you make a payment of $5 to a debt collector, that becomes an acknowledgement of the debt… and means that you’ll have to pay it all. A debt collector sees their job as persuading a person to make even the just the smallest payment toward a debt that is too old to be taken to court, then debt is renewed. But if you don’t say anything at all to the debt collector, most likely they can not collect on the debt… of course you’ll have to check the laws for your state.
To stop a collector from contacting them, consumers can write a letter telling the collector to stop contacting them. After that, according to the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the collector cannot contact a consumer unless it’s to say there will be no further contact or to notify of a specific action, such as taking the consumer to court.
If the consumer owes a debt and it’s within the time frame, the collection agency or the creditor can seek legal judgment.
Again, and I can’t stress this enough… a person needs to be very careful about what they say or write to a debt collector, because it might be a way of admitting the debt, therefore restarting the clock.
For example, if a person didn’t get enough information from a debt collector over the phone and wrote a letter stating something to the effect of, “Could you please send me an itemized bill,” that could be considered owning up to the debt.
To avoid confusion, anyone caught in this situation should write the collector a letter stating that they do not owe the debts and to stop contacting them.
There are also other rules in the federal law that collectors must follow. If the rules are broken, consumers can file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission.
We’ve experienced collectors calling on debts that are 12 years old. These collection companies are what’s referred to as a “debt buyer.” Debt buyers make a living acquiring old, charged-off accounts from creditors, then collecting on them.
Here’s the most important key to it all: often they’ll buy the accounts for pennies on the dollar because the accounts are too old to be taken to court.
To be safe, consumers should check their credit reports and dispute bad debt claims. And if a collector calls you… deny the debt and ask them to stop contacting you. Copyright 2005.
Jessica Deets researches the internet and finds information of value to help people. The website at http://www.bestcreditreportinfo.com has more news and information about credit reports. You can also comment on the credit blog at http://www.bestcreditreportinfo.com/blog/
Tags: bad credit, credit repair, credit report, finance, loan, mortgage loan