My friend Chris Ann Cleland, who is a Northern Virginia Real Estate Agent, talks about how a builder forgets to include owners in the HOA.
Please direct your comments to has as I have disabled commenting on this reblog. Thank you!
Last week I posted about an upcoming listing. The Seller claims he does not belong to the HOA. The HOA begs to differ. After calling the HOA and the attorney, I realized this man had unpaid HOA debt of over $4,000.
So I finally got to speak to the Developer, a representative from a national builder who apparently has been in such monumental rushes to set up their HOAs that this mistake of leaving certain lots out of the HOA declaration has been a frequent occurence. The Developer tells me, that in fact, my Seller does not belong to the HOA. However, he goes on to tell me that by cooperation or force, my Seller will sooner or latter belong to the HOA.
This Developer informs me that this mistake was just corrected in a community in Bealeton, VA. Evidently, this same developer left 133 home owners out of the HOA declaration and when given the opportunity to sign a document saying that they, as land owners, wanted in the HOA, they all declined. What happened next? The Developer sued the very people who had just purchased those homes. Their intent was to make them join the HOA. Guess what? The Developer won.
Now my home owner, who declined upon legal advice to join the HOA, has a legal precident working against him. And if he chooses not to accept and pay the back debt and move forward, the Developer will sue and attach a lien to the land.
Being the superb negotiator I am, I listened to the Developer as he offered to pick up half of the $4,000 in back dues and told him that he would have to eat it all if my Seller was going to agree to make their mistake right. He reluctantly agreed. He'd spend more than $4,000 in legal bills just suing my client, and we both know that.
So this property will be listed as being in an HOA because my Seller will be signing that paperwork as soon as the Developer has it drawn up. After all, we would have to disclose the possibility of the $4,000 and growing collection to any potential buyer. That's not a good way to find a buyer, and my Seller knows that.
There's no end to what you learn in this profession.
Chris Ann Cleland, Realtor- Licensed in Virginia, GRI, SFR, Northern Virginia Short Sale Specialist. Affiliated with Long & Foster, 7526 Limestone Drive, Gainesville, VA 20155. To contact Chris Ann, call 703-402-0037 or email chrisann@LNF.com.
Jackie Connelly-Fornuff
NYS Licensed Real Estate Agent
Century 21 AA Realty
When You Want Your Home SOLD....Call Jackie!
Lindenhurst, NY 11757
Cell: (631) 703-0201
Office: (631) 226-5995 Ext. 242
Email: JackieC@century21aa.com
Website: www.longislandrealestatelady.com
Blog: http://jackieconnellyfornuff.com
Skype ID: LIRealEstateLady
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