Category Archives: real estate development

Styron & Shilling’s HOA database project

Posted on February 18, 2009 by Harry Styron

Suppose you are buying a home in a subdivision. You don’t see many occupied houses in the subdivision, which is not in a city or town. But you see a water wellhouse and storage tank and maybe an odd looking structure that must be a sewer treatment plant or pumping station. You don’t see any signs indicating that these belong to a local government entity. You wonder who maintains the streets, the water system and the sewer system. The answer is that a homeowners’ association (HOA) is responsible for maintenance and operation of these essential facilities.

But where is the HOA?  You can’t find it in the phone book or on the internet. The public records are sketchy. Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted in Branson, condominiums, homeowner association, Missouri, Ozarks, Ozarks economy, real estate development, real estate law and tagged , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Sunday night blues

Posted on February 15, 2009 by Harry Styron

sunset-at-k-dock1

Sunday evenings have become much worse for me, as the economy has deteriorated, and I’m sure I’m not alone.

I used to spend a couple of hours making lists, getting ready for a week of new people and new projects.

Now I try to figure out how to get the things done that I should have finished last week, but couldn’t get to because of all the urgent requests and attempts to wrap up jobs that have been hanging for months, waiting on something, usually money-related.

On each Sunday night this winter, I’m facing a week of these kinds of calls:
• “I’m being evicted, and I have no place to go.”
• “I’ve worked as a sub for this general contractor for 10 years. The last draw on the last job wasn’t paid. How can I collect? The general is my friend and promises me more work.”
• “Can you make a power of attorney for my aunt to sign? She’s showing signs of Alzheimers, and she promised me that she would give me her home if I’d take care of her. If we wait any longer, it might be too late.”
• My house is being foreclosed on Thursday. How long can I stay there?”
• “The bank wants my truck and my tools. If they would take my truck, I could get by, if I can keep my tools.”
• “How soon can you get a deadbeat out my rent house? He hasn’t paid the rent for six months.”
• “Do you have any openings?”

Though I’m fortunate to be receiving these calls instead of making them, it’s hard to look forward to Monday.

My heart goes out to those who are going to make those calls. I wish I could help.

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Posted in Arkansas, Branson, condominiums, Ozarks economy, real estate development, real estate law. Bookmark the permalink.

HOA trustees can enforce covenants, even though they didn’t have annual meetings

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Harry Styron

If you want to stop a homeowners association from collecting assessments or enforcing restrictions, often the best tactic is to smear the HOA.

Here’s how the smear works. Read the rest of this entry →

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Calico Sunrise: watch what happens

Posted on February 4, 2009 by Harry Styron

Residents of the Calico Rock area, on the White River in north central Arkansas, are attempting to plan their future. They have created a blog called Calico Sunrise to serve as a newsletter and forum for their endeavor, which is intended to involve the input of all segments of the community.

The Calico Rock area is lovely, and it looks like a great place to live and to visit. It is similar to the Branson area in a purely physical sense–it is in the Ozarks on the White River with a railroad running alongside, there are lakes nearby, and there are wonderful bluffs and vistas and smaller streams in deep, quiet valleys. While there is some tourism there and a lot of retirees, the tourism lacks the industrial-strength tourism of Branson. In some ways, Calico Rock is what Branson might have been without Silver Dollar City and the music show industry.

I wish the people of Calico Rock well. I hope they will focus on health rather than growth, so that they can have the community they want and stay off the economic roller-coaster. To do this, they will need to look at giving their children great educations and building an economy with an export sector, rather than too heavily based on tourism.

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In praise of real estate developers

Posted on February 3, 2009 by Harry Styron

Much of my work in the past decade has involved representation of real estate developers, though they are fading fast. Though my firm has other sources of revenue–municipalities, lenders and homeowner associations–I really miss the developers, because I admire their courage and enjoy their personalities and optimistic approach to life. All of them are low, and some of them are sunk. Most of them will pop back up eventually: they’re buoyant.

It bothers me to hear people talk about how bad they are and how, in this downturn, they’re getting what they deserve.

Developers are easy targets. They send in bulldozers and push over trees. They cause erosion. They would rather apologize later than ask permission. In other words, they have the energy required to plan and execute capital intensive projects, requiring personal financial risks and coordination of dozens of others–lenders, contractors, subcontractors, architects, engineers, lawyers, escrow companies, mortgage underwriters, insurance agencies, etc.

The result is that we have houses, streets, places to shop, and places to work. Read the rest of this entry →

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Defunct HOAs: what to do?

Posted on January 26, 2009 by Harry Styron

Outside of incorporated cities in the Ozarks, the homeowner association (HOA) is often the government for homes in subdivisions and condominiums. The clean water rules enforced by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources include HOAs as eligible “continuing authorities” to own and operate drinking water or sewer facilities, or both, in subdivisions not served by public utility companies regulated by the Public Service Commission or by governmental providers. In addition, the HOAs often have the responsibility of maintaining subdivision streets unless and until the county commission adopts an ordinance to maintain the streets.

HOAs are ordinarily established by the subdivision developer, in order to obtain permits for sewer or water facilities and to create an entity for road maintenance. An HOA’s power to collect assessments from lot owners (or unit owners, in the case of condominiums) is established by the recording of subdivision covenants (usually called CCRs or a declaration). The HOA is almost always set up as a non-profit corporation, with the developer and the developer’s associates making up the initial board of directors.

Even under the best of circumstances, the developer fails to file annual reports for the HOA with the Missouri Secretary of State, and the HOA, as a corporation, is administratively dissolved. When few lots are sold, that also happens. And there are worse omissions and consequences: Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted in condominiums, homeowner association, Ozarks, real estate development, real estate law and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
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