A HOMEOWNER has been forced out of his highly invested into home after dealing with a nightmare HOA situation.
John, from Fort Collins, Colorado, had no choice but to sell his property for a fraction of what it was worth to an investor.
John had to sell his home at a low price to avoid it being sold at an HOA-induced foreclosure auction from unpaid payments to the association, Colorado Sun reported in 2023.
He inherited the property which is worth $350,000 from his grandmother who put $250,000 of equity into it.
But the HOA said he owed them around $12,000 which he was unable to pay.
John tried to fight the unpaid bills and foreclosure in court but ended up racking up $17,500 in attorney fees and lost the case.
He was offered $110,000 for the home by an investor after walking out of court and had no choice but to sell to cover all his debt.
John said he would only profit about $20,000 to $30,000 from selling the parking lot of the home.
His Colorado home was located in the area where he grew up which added to his cherishment of the place.
“It’s definitely unfair,” John said.
“Absolutely it’s unfair.
“This is pretty much where I grew up.
“To have to watch it go for not even anything close to what it’s worth — and to have to watch it go period.
“Just sucks.”
LOST EVERYTHING
The HOA foreclosure issue is not uncommon, especially in Colorado where it has reportedly had more than 250 homes sold off at an auction for a fraction of the price due to unpaid fees.
Darin Bigus, 37, owned a home in the heart of Aurora and the value of it skyrocketed while he was living in it plus he remodeled – but after missing HOA payments, the association was able to foreclose.
Bigus is familiar with construction and redid the house’s interior, and added a garden along with a concrete patio with embedded fiber optic lights.
The house was bought for $267,500 in 2015 and was worth around $520,000 in 2022.
He was banking on being able to make a profit on the home as an investment.
However, the HOA sold Bigus’s home for just $76,000 when they foreclosed it.
“I honestly thought someone was messing with me.”
Darin Bigus
The foreclosure occurred because Bigus’s payments got canceled after he got his debit card was stolen and had to get a new card in 2020.
The bill for his HOA payments grew to $8,619 after the HOA payments were stopped and he was not able to pay it.
WHAT IS A FORECLOSURE?
Homeowners or borrowers will receive a Notice of Default by their lender triggering the foreclosure process.
Those in HOA communities can also see their homes foreclosed by their HOA for falling behind on fees meaning that even if you keep up on mortgage payments, you can still lose your home.
Before foreclosure, a HOA will put a lien on your property which then allows them to auction it to reclaim unpaid funds.
The sale price of the property can often be much less than they are worth as it only needs to be enough to cover the debts to the HOA or lender and is sold via auction to the highest bidder.
“I honestly thought someone was messing with me,” Bigus told the Colorado Sun.
“It completely destroyed me financially.
“It destroyed my life.”
An investor bought Bigus’s home at a low price from the foreclosure auction and then resold it for half a million.
Bigus has been left devastated after losing the home that he put so much into.
