Posted on 06/05/2010 8:22:44 PM PDT by shezza
Michael Clauer is a captain in the Army Reserve who commanded over 100 soldiers in Iraq. But while he was fighting for his country, a different kind of battle was brewing on the home front. Last September, Michael returned to Frisco, Texas, to find that his homeowners' association had foreclosed on his $300,000 house—and sold it for $3,500. This story illustrates the type of legal quagmire that can get out of hand while soldiers are serving abroad and their families are dealing with the stress of their deployment. And fixing the mess isn't easy.
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"It's ridiculous how much this is costing us," he says. "I'll be taking out a mortgage on my house that was free and clear just to try to get my house back."
(Excerpt) Read more at motherjones.com ...
Apparently she became overwhelmed and depressed. There hould have been a Family Readiness Group to stay in touch with her, but maybe she isolated herself. Was he an individual call-up?
Period.
I disagree. This is a story of a wife who was overwhelmed with worry and distractions of a toddler and a sick one-year-old whose husband was away for more than a year. Perhaps he was the one who usually took care of such things. Perhaps the deployment was more than she could handle. Perhaps she honestly did overlook the HOA notices. I confess to having overlooked the registration renewal notice on my husband’s vehicle. That doesn’t make me a bad wife because I did not watch after my husband’s property while he is away. IMHO, the HOA took advantage of her situation by not notifying her in person, as they had others in the neighborhood.
I would bet dollars to donuts that the new owner has a friend on the board.
I would bet that the new owner has a friend on the board.
I will not live anywhere with an HOA, ever. Crappy story, but HOAs are the Fourth Reich.
The house was GIVEN to her by her parents, and she never opened mail while he was away!
His wife, Mae Clauer, was under stress, too. She was alone and taking care of her family in a $300,000 home her parents had given her as a gift.
The mail piled up unopened and Mrs. Clauer missed $800 in payments to her HOA. Then she missed the letters saying the association planned to foreclose.
“I ignored a lot of our bills,” she said.
Even after the HOA foreclosed and sold the home at auction, Mrs. Clauer didn’t open the letters that said she had six months to get the home back, and that time lapsed, too.
http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Frisco-soldier-comes-home-to-find-home-sold-by-HOA-93829194.html
How does not checking your mail for six months qualify as honest?
This is any example of the kind of legal power these God-awful HOA’s have in Texas. To lose your home over a few hundred dollars of HOA fees is preposterous. These self-serving hypocrites on HOA boards should be ashamed of themselves, but they are not. Time and again, people all across Texas have their homes auctioned off on the courthouse steps for a few hundred dollas of HOA fees and legal costs. The Texas Legislature needs to strip these vultures from their ability to ever do this again to another family.
HOA’s are the Devil’s own. Any FReeper in the market for a home needs to steer clear of ANY house with a HOA. It will save you headaches in the future.
She had a ten year old and a one year old!
There are a bevy of laws that are supposed to protect servicemembers from losing their homes or jobs while they’re on active duty, including the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). The homeowners’ association’s lawyer filed an affidavit wrongly claiming that neither of the Clauers was on active duty, says Barbara Hale, the couple’s lawyer. Hale is seeking to have the court reverse the foreclosure and declare it “null and void,” she says.
Now that this story has gone public, you can bet board members of that HOA will receive some well-deserved vigilane justice. There ain’t nothin’ like a good Texas @$$ whoopin’ to make a man on a power trip see the error of his ways.
I suspect that it’s a made up story. I did a google search for “Soldier in Iraq Loses Home Over $800 Debt” and got 12000 hits. Just a cursory glance, but they seemed to be the same story.
So the story IS out there...
Well, if this helps any one I learned last week, when doing a re-fi on our MORTGAGE (note that word) to lower our monthly payments, we signed stuff and I noticed the new wording DEED OF TRUST. I asked what is that and was told that “makes it easier for the bank to foreclose if you don’t pay your mortgage”.
Long story short, we cancelled the “Deed of Trust” and stuck with our old “mortgage” because I will not help any banker take my property and sell it off in 90 days.
Please, look at what you sign if you get into a re-fi or second mortgage or whatever situation.
The HOA foreclosed in vioolation of the Soldier and Sailors Federal Relief Act. He has standing to get the foreclosure nullified, the trustee’s deed rescinded and the property returned to him. Any decent lawyer should be able to hook him up and get things set right.
This was posted last week and talked to death about.
It’s not crazy and it’s not corrupt..it was the end of a bad situation where the wife became depressed and stopped paying her bills. The HOA did everything and more that they had to do and she was notified many times about the foreclosure. Is it right? It matters what side you’re on...but it isn’t a CORRUPT situation, it’s just an unfortunate and sad one and hopefully it will be made right. I have a feeling with all the publicity, they’ll get their house back. But it was her fault.
The Board members did NOTHING wrong.
It may have been flipped almost immediately, and now be in the hands of someone who paid quite a large sum for it. I wouldn't be surprised if some kickbacks were involved, from the first buyer to one or more scumbag officers of the HOA.
But I suspect the publicity, combined with legal protections for service members and for the mentally ill, will result in a reversal of these transactions (except maybe the kickback, which wouldn't be documented -- if so at least one "perp" would end up being out a good chunk of money).
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