Lawyers look for loopholes to take advantage of people

I was listening to a radio show last night and a guy from Texas came on to say his house had been foreclosed on and sold on the auction block. Sadly, that's totally normal right now, but what isn't is that he owned his outright! What happened was, he was away in the war and his wife forgot to pay the HOA fees for a couple of months. They ended up owing maybe like a thousand dollars and the HOA went in for the kill. Apparently Texas law allows the HOA to foreclose on and auction off a house without even a judge's hearing. So when people are late on their payments, the lawyers swoop in and start proceedings.

The laws are skewed so in favor of the HOAs that a lawyer from Houston who tries to help people get their homes back says their best legal recourse is to "call and cry". Apparently there is a reform bill trying to get through Texas government that wouldn't let the HOAs come in and auction houses without a judge's hearing, but it won't pass. One of its most ardent opposers is a Texas lawmaker that owns one of the area's largest homeowner's associations. What a surprise.

Stories like this just make me so mad, these HOA lawyers know what they're doing can't be ethical - how can you take a paid-off $300,000 house when you're only owed $1200? I know it can be frustrating getting money you know is owed to you from someone you know has it and just refuses to pay it, but taking their whole house seems a little draconian.

I hate people who default, who won't pay their credit card bills or for work that was done for them. In this case, they were enjoying the services of the homeowners association without paying for it, which yeah, isn't cool. But why not try to get what people actually owe instead of 10 or 20 times more? Why abuse something that doesn't need to be abused? Unethical business people start it, but lawyers finish the job.