Condomania and HOA's - Collections

The last five plus years have been horrible in the condo and HOA market. Prices have plummeted, mortgage foreclosures have soared, and many communities have been punished by delinquent owners who fail to pay assessments.

Many directors, who are unpaid volunteers and see these people as neighbors, feel compassion towards those less fortunate. The reality is that every owner agreed to pay their share of assessments when they bought and failure to pay can result in loss of a home.

It continues to amaze me that people do not understand that there are only about three types of debt that can result in loss of homestead; failure to pay property tax, which is paid by a mortgagee if there is a mortgage, even if in foreclosure, because a tax deed wipes out a mortgage; failure to pay a mortgage, and finally failure to pay HOA or condo assessments. When directors fail to do their duty and collect past due assessments, it is a sort of "forced socialism" as then others have to pay for what that owner receives for free.

To add insult to injury, these days most delinquent owners are not paying their mortgages, but have cable TV, Internet, Netflix, HBO and cell phones. None of which even existed 10 plus years ago, but are now "necessities"(!) Meanwhile those who pay wonder:

"Why the heck am I paying... If nothing happens to them then I'll just quit paying as well." And so on until the community is in collections Purgatory, if not Hell.

Unlike the New York Times story, it's probably a bad idea to publish names of debtors, to shame them into paying.

I suggest that after you ask once or twice in a nice way you hit them over the head with a gavel, so to speak; make demand, lien, and then foreclose; take the rent from a tenant as allowed by law. Do what you were elected to do! If so you will find that word will get around that the Board doesn't care what bills owners don't pay, but they better pay their assessments.