August 13th, 2008 by Michael Oliver

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Can this be right? Lewis Management manages many Home Owner’s Associations (HOA’s) in Tucson AZ. We have recently discovered that if you are a member of one of their HOA’s and have engaged in a contract with a buyer for your home, you will owe Lewis Management $225 even if the deal does not close.

At best, only 70% of deals that go into escrow actually close. Furthermore, all HOA’s already charge junk fees when ownership transfers in order to make additional money. These are called HOA “transfer fees.” These transfer fees can amount to a couple hundred to thousands of dollars, so it’s important that you check this out. So, why is Lewis Management adding this new fee? The obvious reason is that Lewis Management can make more money. As previously reported, all HOA’s in Tucson are suffering big-time because so many homeowners are delinquent on their dues. The only way to recoup this fee is to come up with fantastical ways to charge money for no reason.

Here’s what this new fee does for Lewis Management:

1) Provides a profit to Lewis Management.

2) Pays for the needs of the association before neighborhoods start to look horrible. A poorly maintained neighborhood puts Lewis Management at risk of losing an account that is their source of income for many years down the road.

This new “scam” is a joke, though, and I believe it is going to get shot down when challenged. It seems like it is not fair in any way, shape, or form for anyone except Lewis Management. If Lewis Management has issues collecting or providing services to the neighborhoods they service, then they should take it up with the communities that are under-funded, not come up with wild ideas to charge for a deal that falls apart. Deals fall apart for all sorts of reasons, many beyond the control of the seller. With this new fee, whether the deal closes or not, Lewis Management wins any time a property is under contract for sale. If you are a homeowner in a Lewis-managed community, I highly recommend that you contact them and complain. This is, to my mind, just outright theft of money from the homeowners and communities they’re supposed to be assisting and representing.