WERE WE SUCKERED IN BY FALSE ADVERTISING?
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published May 2, 2022
I remember
as a kid growing up in Brooklyn, Red Buttons would do a
commercial that aired in New York, promoting Century Village.
You were promised beautiful spacious apartments, amazing views,
golf courses, endless entertainment and simply the perfect dream
place to retire to. So forty years later, we learn what Red’s
commercial left out:
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While
living in your new retirement kingdom, we won’t even make
you put money away for when your building needs repairs.
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When
your building hits the 40 year mark, we will make you pass
an electrical and structural inspection, and if you don’t
----- you will need to chip in with your neighbors to fix
the place up, even though we didn’t make you put money away;
-
One day,
you will need to either have expensive sprinklers or an
expensive engineered life safety system in your community.
Can’t afford it? Tough.
-
The cost
for insuring your property will rise to levels nobody ever
thought possible and you will be forced to pay it;
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It may
be difficult to sell your home because Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac won’t guarantee mortgages unless your building
has funded reserves and is otherwise in good physical and
financial shape;
-
When the
state finally makes you fund reserve accounts, you may not
be able to afford the increase in your assessments;
-
If you
can’t afford your assessments, the association can foreclose
on your home;
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You will
unfortunately learn that buildings that don’t make timely
critical repairs can collapse, killing its occupants;
-
While
you’re dealing with items one through eight, gasoline will
be $5.00 a gallon, food prices will soar and inflation will
rise at the fastest rate in forty years;
-
Despite
all of these problems, your own state legislature won’t even
address any of these issues, except for insurance;
-
If your
sole income is social security you will have a big problem
being able to afford all the sunshine, views, and activities
we have to offer.
-
If you
would rather rent instead, you can forget it, because rents
are unaffordable too;
With all due
respect for Red Buttons, not even he would be able to convince
you to move to Florida in the 80s if he told you what the
Florida condominium crisis would look like in the year 2022.
I had the
honor of being interviewed by Jim Defede from CBS News this week
about lots of these issues and more. Next Sunday, May 7th
at 11:30 that interview will air on his Facing South Florida TV
Show. Here’s the problem……it airs at 11:30, so if your
listening to the Condo Craze and HOAs radio show that starts at
11, you won’t be able to also listen to my interview by Jim. So
do what Red Buttons would tell you to do……use your VCR to record
the TV show and listen to the radio show on your transistor
pocket radio. And can you please stop the annoying clock on the
VCR from blinking?
And, if you
haven’t listened to my interview by The Miami Herald yet,
click here to listen.
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric Glazer graduated
from the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after
receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community
association law for three decades and is the owner of
Glazer and Sachs, P.A. a five attorney law firm with
offices in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.
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Eric is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in
Condominium and Planned Development Law.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host of Condo Craze
and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs at 11:00 a.m.
each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
Eric is the first attorney in the State of
Florida that designed a course that certifies condominium and
HOA residents as eligible to serve on a Board of Directors and
has now certified more than 20,000 Floridians all across the
state. He is certified as a Circuit Court Mediator by The
Florida Supreme Court and has mediated dozens of disputes
between associations and unit owners. Eric also devotes
significant time to advancing legislation in the best interest
of Florida community association members.
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