Need help with HOA

I don't know what indentures are, but it sounds like this community is still under developer control (the family) and if that's true, they can set whatever rules they want until the community is turned over to the homeowners - and you have to comply with them if you've signed papers to that effect (probably buried in the stuff you got at closing). You say you received some information before closing and read them, but really didn't understand them - that's when you really should have consulted an attorney. If the closing had to be delayed, so be it.

You own this house now and without showing us the paperwork we really can't answer your questions (unless someone from your area chimes in). We're not attorneys either, so if advice is what you want, you really need to gather your paperwork and review it with him or her to see what kind of community this is. You might also want to talk to your neighbors to see what they know. Good luck!

Property Indenture

Indenture n. a type of real property deed in which two parties agree to continuing mutual obligations. One party may agree to maintain the property, while the other agrees to make periodic payments.

tough love:

you read the contract

you did not understand the contract

you signed it anyway

? now you complain ?

? did you never hear the term: 'CAVEAT EMPTOR' ?

Amen! Sellers take advantage of that, which is why I'm so glad that I went through a first time homebuyer class before buying my townhouse - the most important lesson I took out of there was to have a private attorney review the papers with you before you sign.

Looking back these 13 years later, there were a few things I wished I'd taken a closer look at (like the HOA's finances), but if this is your first rodeo, you don't realize how important that is or will become. That said, I wonder if there's any rule in Missouri that dictates when this information needs to be disclosed - if so and this homeowner can prove she didn't get them at the proper time (e.g. 3 days), maybe she has an action against the previous owner.

Sue,

Missouri does not have a statute addressing HOAs (they only have a condominium act which are COAs). Therefore, the only documents that would be applicable would be your governing documents and, if incorporated the applicable corporation statutes.

If you don't understand your governing documents, you may want to take them to an attorney and have them explained to you. Perhaps you have a friend who is an attorney who will take the time to do this for you over a good meal.

I know it's not what you wanted to hear. Hope it helps,

Tim

Tough love? Seriously? What the hell is wrong with you?

Have you heard the term "ASS"????

I did nothing to you nor did I deserve that kind of crap answer. This is a forum to ask for help and information and if you are only here to call people stupid and judge then there is clearly something seriously off with you.

You do not even have enough information to make comments like that and YOU clearly do not understand anything. that is is not how it happened. In fact, there is much much more to this insane story, but I did not THINK that I needed to get into the entire story to try to get some help.

Not that I owe you an explanation, but since you are having trouble understanding things ..... I signed a contract which was an offer to buy the house. I asked for a copy of indentures. A series of things happened after that that involved us, the people who bought our house and the people who bought their house not closing at the 11th hour. My husband lives out of town where he works and was not able to help us move. I have two kids and two dogs and everything I owned in the world was sitting on a truck in a lot waiting to be delivered and I was not closing and nor were the other people who bought my house or the people who bought theirs. We were moved in to our respective new homes with the promise that we would close in a day or two ( I am sure there were a number of laws broken here and no I do not keep a lawyer in my pocket)

We did not close for almost a month and I never received indentures from the title company as I was supposed to. in the meantime I had asked the nut bag trustees for a copy and they refused this was the first red flag that something was wrong. I was able to get a copy from the prior homeowners that i was told were not the most current. I looked over them and on the surface all appeared to be pretty normal. After repeated requests from the trustees for a current copy were refused I went to the courthouse and paid for a copy. The trustees had told the title company on the paperwork page that was to include a copy that these could be gotten from previous homeowners and the title company did not do anything further than leave this note. During this time my main concern was getting the closing done. Our lives were in limbo. We lived in a house we did not own and had another family completely moved into our other house tho technically we still owned that other house and had to continue to make payments on it while the other family lived there and they had to do the same on their end. Not that any of this matters to you

but there is a lot more to this story than your reply implies and I am explaining for the other people who may read this and not for you. I am not stupid Mr. Oh So Very Smart. It may sound like a great idea to have a lawyer to check everything before you do anything, but that is not really how life works. Now I would of course, but no I did not, not anymore than I would have one in the car with me just in case I got in a car accident. Should I have? Sure. Does it make me stupid for not having done so? Only if I let it happen again. Thanks for being such a jerk.

You

I did get blindsided and these people are really just mentally ill I think. It is pretty unbelievable once I started diving into it how much trouble they went to to make sure they could control people and to what end? It makes no sense. They put their house up for sale shortly after I wrote this and allowed it to go into foreclosure. I found online it sold on courthouse steps and he refused to sell the adjoining lot to the guy who bought house because this allows him to continue under the guise of a "developer". He owned the land at one time and sold off the lots. He was not a developer, but that is how he presented himself. He put him and his wiife as "parties of the first part" and everywhere it looks like we have rights the parties of the first part have final say as majority. The party of the second part is the token trustee that they allow us to vote in subject to their ultimate approval, but this person has no power or rights either. They moved away and are still controlling everything. They use our money and keep raising the assessments. If we dont pay we get a lien at 12% interest and $25 per DAY that it is not paid on time. There is no voting and when we try to get any information or call them out they have what I believe to be a crooked lawyer protecting them under the guise of the subdivision lawyer and he has been receiving our assessment money for payment for years while he goes against the homeowners and protects these two. Its a mess. The only lawyer around here who is supposed to know the county law well was a complete jerk. He said to tell him in one sentence what the problem was and he would let me know if he was interested. I said "goodbye".

I have researched and researched and the problem is that there appears to be virtually no ruling law. It says we are to be treated as if HOA is a corporation, however, they are not incorporated nor do they have any insurance so they have left us all liable individually for any potential law suits. This is contradictory. If we are to be bound in a "contract" as if working for a corporation then they should have to be a corporation and should have to have liability insurance, etc. The law has been manipulated and it is lax at best to make it easy for the larger legit developers. I lived in a subdivision before with a big developer and I am not stupid as to what goes on. We had problems there, but they involved substandard roads being put in and things like that. I never imagined that someone could just make up anything they wanted and file it and we would be bound. I though in a small subdivision with one street I would only need to check on what types of restrictions there were and assessment amounts, etc. The indentures I received say $175 a year and two months after I moved in I got a bill for $350. That is verbally now the new dues amount because of the "legal" fees the trustees are pawning off on us while he frivolously uses a lawyer to do all his communications and then charges us. We have paid over $600 this year since October because he keeps giving us bills for roadwork and such. We are looking at another $1000 per house because he is not wanting to fix the lower road that is not part of our subdivision. It needs it, but we have no say so in any this. We have NO rights and nothing is voted on. We cannot even contact this man since he has left. He will not give anything, but a mailing address to a po box. He has refused to allow us to see the financial records also. We cant just go get a lawyer because we have to pay for that and while we are doing that he is charging us for his representation and he bleeds everyone dry knowing they will give up if he keeps at it. We would not be able to recoup the money in a suit because the jerk has nothing. He foreclosed on his house and I am sure if he had to use his money to represent himself he would stop. We have asked him to leave - the homeowners all had me ask at the last meeting for him and his wife to step down and for us to take over. It has been 20 years. There are no more homes to be built. Its all a farce.

I am writing to attorney general now and NAACP to see if there are civiil liberty violations. How can a husband and wife appoint themselves sole trustees with governing power anyway? It makes no sense that this would be legal in any shape or form. Where is the common sense and consideration for intent of law, not manipulation of it? Thank you for your reply.

You did not receive them.

You 'closed' the sale anyway.

NOW you are complaining !?

ps. your deed is the contract which you DID sign w/o reading/understanding

While I tend to be brutally frank, I try to ALWAYS be factual