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Shedding some light on As Dues Dry Up, Neighbors Pay

March 25th, 2009

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I would like to bring some light to the entities you interviewed for As Dues Dry Up, Neighbors Pay. Did you realize that the management companies you talked to were actually all aliases of John Carona? This almost looked like preparatory work solicited by Carona to bilk even more money out of homeowners. How about an investigative story into Caronas actions in the legislature to benefit his management companies to the great detriment of the constituent homeowners? Sen. Carona has been authoring legislation that has been very detrimental to homeowners for the benefit of his management companies for many years. Often times these alleged debts or failure to pay assessments are because he institutes a priority of payment scam in the subdivisions managed by his management companies. Homeowners will be accused of violating some restrictive covenant. They will then be fined. As a result of the re-characterization scheme, he generates even more collection fees because since the assessment money was recharacterized the homeowner will be deemed to be late on assessments. Austins Fox 7 News did a story on Caronas unscrupulous practices in November 2006. The violations that his organization cites are often not violations at all or they are trying to enforce unenforceable restrictions. With private fining, no due process, no equal protection, and no courtroom, the private police do quite well engaging in what most laypersons would refer to as extortion. Pay Carona or lose your home. Pay up and shut up or it will be worse for you next time. Take a look at the management companies you mentioned and decide whether you actually obtained independent opinions or whether you were just promulgating Caronas viewpoint: Associa is Carona Colorado Association Services is Carona Massingham & Associates is Carona M&C Associations Management is Carona Kramer-Triad is Carona If you doubt me, you can verify yourself at the following link: http://www.associaonline.com/siteapps/AllOfficesList.aspx

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http://www.ledgesofhiddenhills.com/blog/?paged=2[5/31/2011 11:22:07 AM]

Ledges Blog The board members interviewed are from HOAs managed by Caronas management companies. There is often an unholy alliance between the board members and the vendors such as Caronas management companies. The Board members ensure that Carona keeps the business and Carona ensures that the board members stay in power either by managing the voting process, instituting policies to protect the incumbents like voter disenfranchisement, nominating committees, and proxy voting. Carona is also interested in trying to protect those lucrative vendor contracts that his management companies recommend to the HOA after careful analysis of the market. Insurance is one of the big ones. The payments will be made to Associa Policyholders - another Carona alias. Want a resale certificate? You will have to purchase it from Community Archives - another Carona alias. That community website? Association Community Websites is yet another Carona alias. Of course the management company carefully shops around to ensure that the HOA gets a good deal on these services, wink, wink, nod, nod. By the way, if a claim is made against the insurance policy Carona expects 10% of any payout - not as a deductible but rather as compensation. Perhaps much could be done about the financial affairs of associations by investigating the vendors that have been bilking the members of the HOAs for so long. I respect the Wall Street Journal and have previously worked with Wall Street Journal reporters. Im disappointed that this story gave the false impression of an independent geographic sampling of HOAs, management companies, and vendors when in fact this is the same organization. Can we count on the Wall Street Journal to dig a little deeper into the independence of its sources in the future? In addition, with respect to the advice regarding reading the bylaws, such advice is useless. The Board can and and often does change the bylaws as it suits the Board to the detriment of the homeowners. The homeowner has little recourse when the Board tramples the bylaws and the homeowner has no protection against bylaws changing. Any reliance on bylaws is thus a misplaced sense of security. The Bylaws are primarily used for the Boards benefit to the members detriment, not as a restraint against the Board. Thanks, however, for at least getting part of the problem some public exposure. Bill Davis, P.E. Davis & Associates Dripping Springs, TX 78620

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February 26th, 2009

Straw men - a lazy rhetorical device used to characterize those who disagree with you in a fundamentally dishonest way. Can be a sign of a person who lacks confidence in the merits of his ideas. Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments

January 21st, 2009

http://www.ledgesofhiddenhills.com/blog/?paged=2[5/31/2011 11:22:07 AM]

Ledges Blog A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as youre looking down, you cant see something above you. C.S. Lewis

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Annual Ledges Christmas Party

December 3rd, 2008

It is our custom to provide a seasonal arrangement for the enjoyment of our neighbors in attendance at the annual Ledges Christmas party. This year, however, the need in our broader community is greater than usual. Therefore, an equivalent contribution will be made to the Hendersonville Rescue Mission given by Friends of Hidden Hills and Ledges. Best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Robert and Vivian Armstrong Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments

September 15th, 2008

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http://www.ledgesofhiddenhills.com/blog/?paged=2[5/31/2011 11:22:07 AM]