Tuesday, September 25, 2007

VETO ASSEMBLY BILL 980 BEFORE THERE'S NO MORE GOLD IN THE GOLDEN STATE

VETO ASSEMBLY BILL 980 BEFORE THERE'S NO MORE GOLD IN THE GOLDEN STATE

September 25, 2007


by: Donie Vanitzian, JD
(c) 2007 Vanitzian

How do you spell "hot-air?" Assembly Bill 980.

When I first inquired and voiced outrage about Assembly Bill 980 I was told by the men in suits, "it’s a done deal so forget about fighting it -- butt out," then the phone line went dead.

Assembly Bill 980 is fundamentally flawed and arguably one of the worst bills to hit California. It fails to ipso facto identify "responsible parties" while at the same time failing to provide a meaningful avenue for redress in the event of breach.

The bill purports to be about transfer fees "disclosure" yet exemptions written into the bill totally negate its so-called purpose. The bill is confused, illogical, and serves absolutely no per se purpose other than to raise the costs of doing business in California. The bill provides no penalties against anyone or anything in the process involving said disclosures. Why? Because the bill is not really about "disclosures" -- its really about diverting money from the persons who have it -- to those who don't have it -- to those who want it. It is about equity reclamation during an escrow process that results in a legislated back-door intravenous device sucking money from every individual's bankbook and sending it "elsewhere."

The bill ignores statutory notice requirements as they would pertain to existing transfer fee documents between third parties, and it allows, if not encourages, the creation of such fees. By default the bill defeats certain existing statutory requirements from being implemented to protect consumers from the effects of this legislation. No mechanism in this law details the notice requirements that should exist but are instead circumvented because of this bill.

The bill is about creating statutory "exemptions" for, and to, any disclosures whether existing or created at a later date. Don't believe it? Read what the bill "does not include." The unfortunate reality is that once this bill passes, the otherwise unrecordable document becomes legitimate by default and lasts in perpetuity. This legislature has not provided a mechanism to remove said recordations and it is because of that omission and the snowball effects of this bill, that it should be considered a dangerous piece of legislation.

The legislature should be concentrating their efforts on curtailing the massive influx of unrecordable documents presently being recorded at the County Recorder's office. I write about this problem in my book, "Common Interest Developments--Homeowners Guide" (Thomson-West). Rather than passing frivolous feel-good legislation fueled by special interests, the legislature owes a duty to taxpayers of this state to understand the legal implications of every law that they pass. Presently, that does not appear to be happening.

Assembly Bill 980 creates an area of law by default that causes a free-for-all for anyone to record at will, whatever the hell they want and without anything more, claim because they disclosed it, it stands. But perhaps the worse part of Assembly Bill 980 are its unmitigated exemptions leaving millions of unsuspecting buyers, sellers, and owners open to the whims of anyone who records a document against their titles.

On taking office, Governor Schwarzenegger promised to return California’s Legislature to the "people." All I can say to that is: Have you ever tried to speak directly with your legislator? Good Luck!

The 79,300 members of Home Owners Against Association Tyranny and Manipulation (HOAATM) have written hundreds of letters to various Assembly and Senate Committees, Assemblymember Calderon, and Governor Schwarzenegger, only to be ignored. Simply, we don’t want any more documents recorded on our titles and we don’t want and we don't need Assembly Bill 980.

How bad is Assembly Bill 980? You decide:

All but halt 1031 property exchanges;
By default, alter and/or prevent every existing and future homestead exemption;
Complicate home ownership and refinancing;
Complicate ownership of any residential and commercial real property;
Create a substantial change in the way business is conducted;
Cause restrictions, if not altogether eliminate the already fragile "rental" market
Cause an influx of liability and litigation;
Create a fiscal impact on the state;
Cost every taxpayer more money;
Conflicts with numerous existing statutes to cause havoc in implementation;
Determine what private property owners can and can’t do with their property;
Exempts the very individuals it needs to protect;
Finish off mobile homeownership and sales;
Have a chilling effect on commerce (who would want to buy California property?);
Increase necessary paperwork related to owning, buying, or selling any property;
Increase insurance costs for owners, buyers, and sellers;
Increase insurance costs for real estate professionals;
Increase costs of escrow and time spent in escrow;
Increase dues that are paid by mandate to trade organizations;
Place unnecessary compliance requirements on Real Estate professionals;
Raise the cost of doing business in California;
Revives, by default the Foreign Investment Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA);
Work with other laws to handcuff consumer freedoms.

Presently, an otherwise uncomplicated sale of real property entails days of purchasing "required" reports, completing pages on pages of "required" forms -- many are unnecessary.

One out-of-touch-with-reality sponsor of Assembly Bill 980 is the California Association of Realtors. It states: "CAR is sponsoring Assembly Bill Number 980 to require a separate document be recorded that discloses the transfer fee payment obligation. Recordation of a separate document will insure that the transfer fee payment requirement is brought to the attention of prospective homebuyers." It is this author’s opinion that CAR has been substantially responsible for "porking up" and complicating real property sales resulting massive delays in escrow and increased costs of doing business.

The California Association of Realtors has been successful in making the sale and purchase of property so complicated that contracting parties are "forced" to engage the services of real estate personnel AND attorneys. The once single-page purchase agreement is now so long, dense, and complicated that no one understands it. If anything, the public is skeptical about what they are being asked to sign and angry at the beefed up costs associated with real property sales transactions. Sales agents that write to me admit they don’t understand the language in the forms, they don't read it, and they have just given up trying to comply with all these ridiculous rules and threats for so-called non-compliance. Many individuals are now placing their properties "For Sale By Owner" and refusing to cooperate with agents and brokers. These buyers and sellers are now bypassing any involvement with the California Association of Realtors by requiring the contracting parties to either waive or sign off on all such industry-injected language just to be able to conduct and close their sales.

Assembly Bill 980 was ill thought out and if passed, will force the public to become dependent on a bureaucracy the state cannot sustain. Sadly, the implications of this bad bill won't be felt until it is too late to stop it.

The members of HOAATM respectfully ask the Governor to Veto Assembly Bill 980.

RELATED STORIES

AB980 Is In Enrollment Now - MoveOn or Hsu
AB980 is now in Enrollment.AB980 is disguised as disclosure, in fact and deed, the bill is about taking our equity without consent - A back door to reinstituting FIRPTA and is discriminatory - double taxation without representation.

STOP ASSEMBLY BILL 980 RIGHT NOW BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!
Your property rights have just been hijacked by the California Legislature.Assembly Bill 980 is NOT about disclosures -- its about taking away chunks of your equity, downpayments, money in escrow, and much much more! By default this Bill CREATES...

Homeowner Protection Act clears LegislatureOriginally
? Common interest open meeting law to governor ? ?Mandates a fair and open democratic process? Homeowner associations, which already act like little governments, would have to hew to some of the standards of larger regulatory bodies under a proposed...

BUYERS CONTROL THE DEAL
By Stephen Glassman and Donie Vanitzian, Special to The TimesAugust 26, 2007 QUESTION:: The sales agent who stuck with me for over a year finally found me a condo that I could afford and liked. She had me use a form that she referred to as a California...

Pssst, Can I Interest You In a Lawyer?
When there are too many policemen, there can be no liberty.When there are too many soldiers, there can be no peace.When there are too many lawyers, there can be no justice.Lin Yutang (1895-1976), Chinese-American writer, translator, and editor.This...

Lawyer seeking condominiums' business goes over the line
Question: I manage a large condominium project in Los Angeles. Unsolicited, an attorney sent me an invitation to meet with him over lunch. He then phoned me several times, including the day before the lunch, explaining the purpose was to speak only with...

CONDOMINIUMS ARE A GREAT INVESTMENT- FOR LAWYERS
About every two months I get a call, or a client comes in to ask me about condominiums. It usually starts off with, ?I bought this adorable little condo? and then the upstairs neighbor had a flood?. And then the Homeowners Association refused??

HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATION TITLEHOLDERS ARE "HUMAN CAPITAL"
by D. Vanitzian(c) 2007 Donie VanitzianWhen criminal liability is not charged against the "criminals" in an association, then the titleholders become the Human Capital used to fund the criminal activities and wrongdoing.

HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATIONS: A CLUB YOU DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO
This ain't no party! This ain't no disco! This ain't no community!

Dare's role in Pastures cost association $100,000
By BRENDAN J. LYONS, Senior writer First published: Sunday, Times Union August 12, 2007. Republished with permissionAugust 12, 2007 ALBANY -- An advocate for the Historic Pastures Homeowners Association, which lost more than $100,000 in...

HIRING AN ATTORNEY CAN BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH LEGAL
BLACKMAIL--TAKING CLIENTS HOSTAGE- Q: How can you tell when an attorney is lying? A. His lips are moving.August 10, 2007 If California can place caps on spending and caps on fees of various types of businesses -- then it needs to put caps...

BRING BACK GOVERNOR PETE WILSON
by Donie Vanitzian, JD(c) 2007 D. VanitzianYou can?t have a good old boys and girls club without a little help from friends in high places, of course, a little help from California?s State Bar wouldn?t hurt either. [FN1]Forget for a moment that the term...

Should I stay or should I go - in/from my HOA? X
First was the Delegate?s Corner blasting CZ Master Association board of director?s critics for speaking out against a corrupt delegate system and electoral process in favor of direct elections, consistent with current legislation, and consistent with the...

Casta Courier Coverage of Unhappy Campers at Leisure World
I'd like to comment on the following paragraph that was in your publication "The Casta Courier" on July 19, 2007. The second paragraph reads as follows:

SPENDING OTHER PEOPLE?S MONEY by Donie Vanitzian, JDX(c) 2007 Vanitzian
I mean really! How difficult is it to spend other people?s money? Cheech!! It?s a no brainer, especially with no statutory accountability. "Hey man, it ain't difficult" one board member tells me, he says "no one gives s**t." He proceeds to point to his...

Critics do not attend board meetings - GRF that is!
Critics do not attend Home Owner Association Meetings to learn of actions deemed necessary by their Board!August 6, 2007 Critics are principally individuals who fail to attend Home Owner Association Meetings to learn of actions deemed necessary...

The New Seven, err... Eight Wonders of the World
CZ's definition for leadership is that whenever questions are raised, the canned response is ?Remember the Reserves?! Now CZ Spin Machine has to be the Eight Wonder of the World!- August 6, 2007 The results of the NOWC?s New Seven Wonders of...

"TWIN RIVERS" = "TRIPLE PROBLEMS"
Note to the do-gooders whose glasses are corrupted by the half-full half-empty circular-argument nonsense and who want only to hear the good-of-it-all and nothing too depressing, oh, and want only smiley ha-ha journalism: Go grab your teddy bears and...

Lawyer seeking condominiums' business goes over the line
Question: I manage a large condominium project in Los Angeles. Unsolicited, an attorney sent me an invitation to meet with him over lunch. He then phoned me several times, including the day before the lunch, explaining the purpose was to speak only with...



CONDOMINIUMS ARE A GREAT INVESTMENT- FOR LAWYERS
About every two months I get a call, or a client comes in to ask me about condominiums. It usually starts off with, ?I bought this adorable little condo? and then the upstairs neighbor had a flood?. And then the Homeowners Association refused??

Paraphrasing the LA Times on Defeat of SB670 & Wicked Twin Witches of the West - SB 127 & AB-980
Taking a page out of the OC Register?s ?paraphrased reporting?, an article written by LA Times staff writer Diane Weder titled ?Bill to limit transfer fee founders?, published appropriately on May 13, 2007, quotes the president of the statewide Realtors...



Private Transfer Tax - Good for the Common Interest Development (HOA/CID) Industry or Good for the Politicians?
When we received our copy of the report that the California Association of Realtors (CAR) used to Sponsor and help draft transfer fees, we were confused. Given that Vanitzian has become an icon in Sacrament (some say a thorn in the legislature's side),...

Management company's tape-recording tactic puts homeowners at risk
Question: Because our management company has been sued before, it has a policy of recording all incoming and outgoing phone calls. Before a management employee answers the phone, there is an automatic announcement warning callers they are being recorded....

Of Trial Lawyers, the AAJ and the Democratic Party
The National College of Advocacy and AAJ Education maintain two distinct programs that recognize AAJ lawyer member efforts in pursuit of advanced legal learning and professional development?the Achievement Recognition Program and Advanced Studies in Trial...

Laguna Woods Village CC&Rs, What CC&Rs? I Got Your CC&Rs Right Here!
Coto de Caza is not the only place where the board of directors consistently either disregard the civil code, governing documents (Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions - CC&Rs) or even the moral code.



What is better in HOA Management? Transparency and Accountability or Feel Good?May 22, 2007
Mostly as a result of the Enron and Worldcom scandals, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 and commonly called SOX; was enacted to provide business executives with less wiggle...

HOW DO OWNERS SPELL L-A-W S-U-I-T? SENATE BILL NO. 127!X
This author asks WHERE ARE THE PENALTIES AGAINST MANAGEMENT COMPANIES AND BOARDS? WHAT?S THE PENALTY FOR BREAKING THE LAWS THAT THESE LEGISLATORS ARE PASSING?



Two of the Worst & Most Detrimental Laws to Hit California are Sponsored by None Other than: California Association of Realtors (R) The Gold is Gone --No more gold in the Golden State!
Dear Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,
SHATZI! PLEASE REMEMBER YOUR PROMISE TO US. Please listen to the people who support you and look to you to help us! When you first began buying property in California NO ONE told you what you could or could not do...

THE LAW OF INTENDED CONSEQUENCES - WHAT A DIFFERENCE A "WORD" MAKES: NO! ON ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 563
It apparently does not matter that titleholders with a vested interest in their property cannot get their legislators to carry legislation to help US, but, they can waste taxpayer funds by preventing the bills WE WANT and NEED by CHANGING *ONE* WORD in an...

EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! OOPS! WE JUST HAD THE MEETING! YOU MISSED IT!!
So THIS is what the Senate calls an "Open Meeting." How many Open Meetings have THEY been to? Obviously not many. ROTFLMAO!



CAN YOU OUTSWIM YOUR HOA SHARKS? or will you drown trying?
Owning, let alone living in an HOA is a tough JOB and requires you be physically fit, possess a certain sophistication of the processes, and have the character let alone stamina, that allows you to be persistent in a manner that indescribable to REAL...

HEY GRAY PANTHERS! YOU GOT IT WRONG!
(c) D. Vanitzian
May 16, 2007The Gray Panthers are on record as SUPPORTING A BAD BAD BAD BAD BILL: Senate Bill Number 948. SHAME ON YOU. Where the heck are you getting your information from?



The Law of Unintended Consequences: Legislation and HOA BOD Cause and Effect: Clueless in my CAR Coming off a most improbable but successful campaign to defeat SB 670 author and HOA advocate Vanitizian thanks supporters making a connection between the quality of legislation being passed in Sacramento, and the quality of life in most homeowners...






























Advertisement












Select Blogzz & click icon

BlogSpot FeedBurner CotoBlogzz BraveNet Y!360


Archived Issues

General Information

HOA Resources

Emergency numbers

Public Safety Resources

Crime Watch

Sex Offenders in the Area

Real Time Traffic Report

LA Times Orange County

Subscribe

- What is RSS?

Area Links

ORANGE COUNTY BLOGS:












To subscribe/unsubscribe to the CotoBuzz Journal or send Letters to the Editor : click here or send email to:



The CotoBuzz Journal P.O. Box 154 Trabuco Canyon, CA 92678 (509) 355-8895



Privacy Policy | Need Help? | Contact Us | Administrator: cotobuzz@yahoo.com

No comments: