Nothing in Life is Free
My dad moved into a new townhouse in the summer of 2013. It was a foreclosure property, as the previous tenants were kicked out for not paying their mortgage and for not paying their HOA dues.
They gave everyone in the HOA new patios and decks the summer prior. It was required, and you had to get a new deck and patio.
But there was a catch—the tenants had to pay for them in monthly installments in the next three years along with their HOA dues. As I said, the previous tenants had foreclosed on their home.
However, there was one rule placed when they got the decks, which was that you couldn’t move out without paying off your deck first.
He was told by HOA that he would not have to pay off the deck because it was foreclosed and he was not responsible at all for paying it off.
Sweet, free deck! He signed off on that. He moved in, but then he started getting assessments from the HOA for the deck. But wait, he wasn’t supposed to be paying for the deck…He fought it with the board.
Even with the signed thing saying we didn’t have to pay for the deck, the board went against him. He ended up having to pay off the remaining balance. To this day, he refuses to speak about this topic. It’s a trigger for him.