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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published September 14, 2018
That statement was
good in the 16th century – and it’s still good today.
Especially in community associations it becomes relevant,
because most of the often very costly fights start with a
dispute over legal and rule issues.
Let’s be very clear:
You can’t win a fight if you don’t really know what you are
talking.
Yes, board members should definitely have to attend a board
member certification class as offered by Eric, but so should the
owners.
Many people forget
that buying a home is the biggest investment of their life.
Shouldn’t they spend a few hours trying to learn how to protect
their investment?
Many families have
lost their home because they didn’t know the laws and rules
governing community associations.
You wouldn’t believe
how many times I got calls from owners who were served with
foreclosure notices saying that they don’t understand how the
association can foreclose on a home that is “homesteaded?” When
I asked what they have done so far to stop the foreclosure I
often get the answer: “Nothing, because they can’t foreclose on
my home anyway!”
Guess these folks
will wake up latest when the Sheriff is serving them with the
eviction notice.
Remember: A
community association is a system created by attorneys, for
attorneys and for the benefit of attorneys! And they knew what
they were doing when they created a system that creates lots of
legal fees – to the detriment of owners who were lured into this
system under false pretenses: “EASY LIVING!”
Community
associations are anything but “EASY LIVING” – and
that’s exactly the reason why every board member and owner
should attend these important classes in order to learn how to
deal with the “BEAST” called community
association.
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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