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July 13, 2007
Why bother with a news feed?
For the last three years, the Community Associations Network has been compiling and producing at least one industry-related daily news feed. With the introduction of the latest version of the web site, we now produce nineteen (19) feeds. The National News remains the cornerstone, but we also produce separate feeds for regions, certain states, and international news.
In the past, this hasn't gained the same number of visits as the web site and somebody asked why we bothered to comb through some thirty (30) news feeds every day in order to pull out the interesting or at least, somewhat interesting, news stories about condo's and HOA's. It's actually very simple. What happens in one area of the country quickly finds its way everywhere else. About a year ago, a story appeared in an eastern newspaper regarding an autistic boy, a variation request regarding fencing, and the Fair Housing laws. In the next eight months, similar stories appeared in two other states, both with the association boards making the same mistakes as the first board, and incurring the same expenses. If anyone, the boards, managers, or attorneys had of read the first story, they might have reacted differently and possibly saved their association a lot of money. The point is, you really shouldn't be making the same screw-ups as others have before you.
The news feeds are set up so you can see the latest headlines from all of the feeds, or you can use your own RSS reader to bring them to your computer, or you can even put them on your web site, so that others can find them also.
In addition to the news, we have an "Industry News" feed for press releases or product announcements.
Each feed links back to a newspaper or magazine article available at the time of linking on the internet. Some of the papers require you to register - that's your choice, but you'll have to if you want to see the story. I can't re-print it without all sorts of copyright headaches.
And, there may not be a story for every region or state every day. In spite of what you may have heard, condo's and HOA's have been known to be quiet and not very newsworthy.
We don't link to every story about zoning and planning commission issues regarding community associations. Those that have something unique, or have noteworthy legal issues, we will post. We are finding that association's are finding enough ways to make the news without adding items that come up before they even exist. And, we will always accept links to articles you find on the internet.
For those of you who are in the industry, putting the appropriate RSS feeder(s) on your staff's desktops (with Vista and Mac, you can also use the "gadgets" or "Widgets" or whatever they are called) will go a long way towards keeping them abreast of what is going on in the world of community associations, AND, they don't have to waste your time and money searching for it.
Posted by joewest at 6:38 PM
"It's Just Not Fair!"
An on-line dictionary defines "victim" as "an unfortunate person who suffers from some adverse circumstance" or "a person who is tricked or swindled". Two news items recently. One, an owner wanted to install a 6' backyard fence in an HOA that had a restriction of 4'. He was turned down, but built the 6' fence anyway. Now he's being sued by the HOA and what does he say - "People work in this country to be able to live and buy their own houses and not being able to enjoy it. It's just not fair!"
In a "Letter to the Editor" of a New Jersey newspaper, a homeowner in an HOA, closed his comment with: "When people purchase or rent within an HOA, it is their responsibility to familiarize themselves with the CC&Rs. Failure to do so does not entitle them to victim status."
Yet, that is what we are seeing more and more of - people claiming to to be a "victim" of their HOA. It makes it easier to get media attention when you appear to be the underdog.
What happens, more often than not, is that the board of the association disagrees with an owner, and the owner, forgetting or ignoring the fact that he or she is supposed to follow the documents and decisions of the people they elected, somehow believes that the board has singled him out for unfair treatment. They become, in their minds, a "victim", simply because they didn't win. Its part of the current mentality that seems to reflect our culture, it has to be someone else's fault. This isn't going to change soon.
Board's are going to have be very careful in their decision-making and in the manner they carry them out. I think that an explanation of "why" is going to have to become part of their decisions and conveyance of that decision. In other words, they're going to have to go to further lengths to explain why the decision is "fair" and to remove the "victim" defense.
Posted by joewest at 1:45 PM