No peace symbols. That’s the message one man in Eagle Crest got from his homeowner’s association in what he calls a newly enforced ban on most flags.  Ken Bauman was notified this week his tie-dyed peace symbol flag did not meet the requirements, in a letter sent from The Ridge at Eagle Crest Owners Association. He said the rules permanently prohibit all flags throughout the neighborhood with the exception of the U.S. flag.   Read the article…………………………….

A group of Beaverton homeowners, facing thousands of dollars in fines from their neighborhood’s HOA board, tried to remove their board president from his position — only for the board to change the neighborhood’s bylaws the very next day, making it ‘essentially impossible’ to be removed from power.     Read the article…………………………….

The River’s Edge Community Master Association announced its purchase of Bend’s River’s Edge Golf Course.  The members of the association closed the sale and received the recorded title to the property on Friday morning.  “This is a wonderful day for the community,” said Jeff Kramer, president of the association. “We saved the golf course, and by doing so preserved a beautiful and precious amenity for our homeowners, and an iconic public golf course for the Bend community.”   Read the article…………………………….

For Tom Garcia, life at the posh Cosmopolitan condo tower became untenable during a heat wave last August.  The Pearl District building’s troubled HVAC system failed, again, meaning no air conditioning. The glass walls of his southwest-facing unit magnified the afternoon sun.    Read the article…………………………….

Lake Oswego homeowners Gerrit Koepping and Elisabeth Zeller were the first Oregonians to remove long illegal discriminatory language from their property deed and have the historic document archived under a new law that took effect Jan. 1.   Read the article…………………………….

A Lake Oswego condominium association recently asked the Clackamas County Circuit Court to reopen a civil case against the owners of a luxury complex along State Street.  The Oswego Talisman Condominium Association had initially filed a lawsuit against the owners of the future Frances condominiums, Hugh Development (and its affiliated LLC North D State), over a sewer line that the association alleges was ruptured during construction of the luxury condos next door.   Read the article…………………………….

Nancy Matela co-owns a vacation home in a wildfire zone northwest of Bend that has a new, annual property insurance premium of $9,000. It’s more than nine times what the company Safeco charged her a year ago.   That policy remains her only option as well: Her broker couldn’t find her another one.    Read the article…………………………….

Earlier this year, I wrote about what can go wrong in HOAs. Our HOA is a case in point. It has moved from a focus of benevolent, fraternal, and charitable activity for all members to a focus on serving only a portion of its members.   Read the article………………………..

Homeowners in Sunriver are voting this month on electing directors to the Sunriver Owners Association board.  In early July, the SROA members received an email from what appeared to some to be the official association, including the SROA logo, endorsing just one candidate, Bob Tiernan, when there are several on the ballot.    Read the article………………………..

People who live in neighborhoods with homeowners associations would have the right to engage in gardening, hen-keeping and beekeeping under a bill moving through the Oregon legislature.   Read the article………………………..

The Mill Creek Community Association is knocking down all trees within a fifty-foot radius of any tree infected with laminated root rot.  Many are sky-high Douglas Firs that have been there for decades. It’s estimated 50 trees in total will need to come down.    Read the article………………………..

The angry homeowners had a clear mission: ditch the entire board. They needed a simple majority of owners by square footage to do so—there are 111 units total at the complex.  At issue was a $5 million siding project the HOA board had recently approved and that was already underway.  Read the article………………………..

The River’s Edge Community Master Association has purchased Bend’s River’s Edge Golf Course. Jeff Kramer, president of the association said the sale means preserving a precious amenity for homeowners, and an iconic public golf course for the Bend community.   Read the article………………………..

Residents driving onto Crooked River Ranch often encounter a series of placards inviting them to join a rebellion, honk for freedom and sign a petition.  The self-proclaimed rebels say the elected board running the Homeowners Association violates free speech with resolutions that limit input from residents.  Read the article………………………..

Watching the HGTV show “Good Bones” with the keen interest in seeing abodes from his old stomping grounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, Harold Pakula felt not nostalgia but a tinge of rage as he was reminded of another real estate development going up a stone’s throw below his condo in Lake Oswego.  Read the article………………………..

A 33-year-old Tigard man was one of the victims of the condominium collapse in Surfside, Fla., last year. Or so he says.  His is one of 458 dubious claims that have been filed to receive a portion of a $1.1 billion settlement in the wake of the tragedy   Read the article………………………..

Oswego Lake is like a page out of a Sierra Club calendar.  Towering Douglas firs cling to hillsides that slope down to sparkling waters. A lone kayaker pauses to watch a soaring osprey, his silhouette framed by a lakeshore lined with some of the state’s most expensive residential real estate.   Read the article………………………..

If you’ve ever tried to find a parking spot for a concert at Foothills Park, you’ve most likely seen several people guarding the first driveway to the Oswego Pointe Apartments.  Positioned in the middle of the entrance, with their large, handmade, “NO PARKING” sign and usually decked out in reflective vests or hats, these residents aren’t there just to prevent concert goers from taking parking spots away from the Oswego Pointe residents. They actually are there to serve a greater ...

Creekside neighborhood residents have overwhelmingly voted against financially supporting the adjacent Creekside Golf Club.  Club owner Larry Tokarski, who had threatened to close the 18-hole course and develop the property without that support, now says the club can stay open in the short-term.    Read the article………………………

Tensions are rising in a south Salem neighborhood as a vote approaches on whether residents should pay to help operate a nearby private golf course.  More than 200 residents of Creekside Estates attended a chaotic town hall meeting on the proposal Wednesday night. More than a dozen stormed out before the meeting ended.   Read the entire article……………………………….

The Creekside Homeowners Association Board is distancing itself from a proposal to assess each homeowner $90 per month to support a neighboring private golf club.   Read the entire article……………………………….

Creekside Golf Club is again asking an adjoining neighborhood to prop up its bottom line.  In return for an estimated $4.2 million, the club’s owners will pause plans to develop the property into housing for five years, according to a proposal sent to homeowners last week.    Read the entire article……………………………….

A fire traced to a failure in a heating-cooling unit caused $120,000 damage to a condominium unit in northwest Bend Saturday afternoon, prompting nearby residents to evacuate the three-story building, officials said.   Read the entire article……………………………….

Fishhawk Lake Reserve and Community, which was fined by the state over the deaths of thousands of fish after its reservoir was drained, is looking to turn the page as it nears construction of a new spillway and fish ladder at its dam.   Read the entire article……………………………….

Charbonneau resident Peter Shikli, who recently started the Aurora Airport Noise Abatement Organization designed to find solutions to noise issues related to planes flying over the planned community in Wilsonville, announced that he is disbanding the organization due to a lack of support from the Charbonneau Country Club homeowners association.  Read the entire article……………………………….

The River’s Edge Community Master Association announced Monday that it closed its purchase of the River’s Edge Golf Course and recorded the title to the property on Friday morning, averting a planned sale to Pahlisch Homes that would have turned half the 18-hole course into hundreds of additional homesites.    Read the entire article……………………………….

Due to recent criminal activity in Wilsonville, neighborhoods are taking steps to improve coordination as a way to prevent and respond to illegal behavior.  Charbonneau Country Club is starting a Neighborhood Watch program, while local homeowners associations in Villebois and Morey’s Landing recently met with Mayor Julie Fitzgerald and Police Chief Rob Wurpes to discuss ways they can better protect themselves.   Read the entire article……………………………….

At news of a new rodeo arena project on the Crooked River Ranch, a group of 34 property owners launched a letter to the CRR Board calling for the “immediate termination or resignation of Judy Lapora as Homeowners Association Manager/Executive Director and the suspension of Board President Bill Burt pending an “outside investigation by either an outside impartial investigator or a law enforcement agency.”   Read the entire article……………………………….

Nearly a dozen residents of the Lincoln Palisades spoke against the formation of a new homeowners association at the 150-lot subdivision during Monday’s meeting of the Lincoln City City Council.   Read the entire article……………………………….

A Jefferson County woman who complained to her homeowners association about her neighbor’s dog running loose is suing the association for $1 million for allegedly disclosing her identity to the neighbor.   Read the entire article……………………………….

To the chagrin of a group of neighbors, Charbonneau Country Club is considering building up to four pickleball courts at Edith Green Sports Park — the lone park in the neighborhood.   Read the entire article……………………………….

A misplaced phone call could have the Crooked River Ranch Homeowners Association in potential trouble to the tune of $965,000.  When resident Lisa Andrews complained about her neighbor’s dogs, she says the association assured her complaint would be anonymous.   Read the entire article……………………………….

“Now they want to change the rules. They want to pave over the golf course and pack it with streets and homes,” Jeff Kramer, a former lawyer and one of the homeowners suing Pahlisch Homes, told KTVZ in August. “And that’s not what we were promised, and that’s not what we relied on when we bought our homes.”   Read the entire article……………………………….

For nearly 5 years Alex Dvir has lived in a condo complex in a quaint area in southwest Beaverton, near a middle school and a few parks. But over the past 2 years he and his fellow condo owners have had to call authorities on squatters 175 times.     Read the entire article……………………………….

For individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers, each day presents challenges that require compassion to overcome. In honor and support of their experiences, The Alzheimer’s Association promotes an annual fundraising season that culminates with two events, The Longest Day on the summer solstice and the annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s toward the end of the summer.   Read the entire article……………………………….

“Save the golf course!” Save River’s Edge!” read lawn signs that have proliferated across west Bend.  The signs are a component of community organizing being done by residents of the River’s Edge in an effort to halt the conversion of the public 18-hole River’s Edge Golf Course into housing.    Read the entire article……………………………….

Denise Lewis doesn’t want to break the rules, but she feels like she has no choice. Her Northeast Portland condominium complex bans window AC units. So, amid this week’s extreme heat, she tried going without air conditioning altogether.   Read the entire article……………………………….

What salts the wounds is the idea that she may not be able to settle back into the town and community she had come to love because the rising cost of lumber may block the Homeowners Association from rebuilding.  She sits on the HOA board along with four other women she says are “incredible.”    Read the entire article……………………………….

The Fishhawk Lake Reserve and Community is fighting a $439,200 penalty from the state for allegedly killing more than 30,000 fish after draining the reservoir in 2019.  The lake, considered state waters, is held back by an earthen dam built along Fishhawk Creek in the 1960s for a private community on the border of Clatsop and Columbia counties    Read the article…………………………………

Four neighborhoods in the Bend area and one in Canyon City in Grant County joined the national Firewise program last year and were among 182 communities across the state that conducted a variety of projects from cutting brush to thinning overcrowded stands of trees, to clearing brush away from evacuation routes and promoting education and outreach.     Read the article………………………

The state has fined Fishhawk Lake Reserve and Community $439,200 for draining a reservoir and allegedly killing more than 30,000 fish. The homeowners association plans to appeal the fine.  Fishhawk Lake is a private community around a reservoir formed in the 1960s by an earthen dam. The homeowners association maintains the lake, processes water and treats sewage.     Read the article……………………………….

To the handful of loyal followers of their Facebook page, John Stevens and David Stangland are citizen journalists holding accountable the authorities in Crooked River Ranch.  But to members of the ranch’s nine-person board of directors, they’re a pair of deeply conflicted and dishonest wannabes who traffic in negativity.   Read the article………………………………

Some residents in southwest Bend’s River Rim neighborhood are reacting with concern to a board letter telling them that what are defined as ‘solidarity signs” must come down until election time.   Read the article……………………………..

A small group of residents in Bend’s Tillicum Village walked through their neighborhood Friday to assess the progress they made to protect the area from wildfire.  Bert Neumaier, a Tillicum Village resident who organizes the volunteer effort through the national program, Firewise USA, was pleased with what he saw.  Read the article……………………………

The residents of Breakers Point have submitted an application for a foredune grading conditional-use permit to the Cannon Beach Planning Commission that’s scheduled to be heard Jan. 23, according to city officials.  Breakers Point Condominiums are oceanfront properties located at the north end of Cannon Beach.   Read the article…………………………..

It’s a pivotal time for the Charbonneau community.  Not only is the nonprofit Charbonneau Country Club — a homeowners association — discussing a merger with the for-profit Charbonneau Golf Club, community leaders are planning a new activity center at a nearby annex building the club purchased last year.    Read the article……………………….

Investigators still don’t know who started the fire in the Villebois neighborhood in Wilsonville nearly seven months ago.  It burned down an unfinished condo complex, about 20 homes and several cars.  Most people have started fresh, but as construction begins, neighbors are leery something will go wrong again.    Read the article……………………….

The Oregon State Police and other agencies are investigating after the 100-acre, man-made Fishhawk Lake in northeastern Clatsop County was drained to fix an underground pipe, possibly killing thousands of fish.  The lake was created along Fishhawk Creek north of Birkenfeld in the 1960s as part of a private community overseen by the Fishhawk Lake Reserve and Community. Several creeks feed into the lake, which then drains down to Fishhawk Creek and into the Nehalem River.    Read the article…………………..

Neighbors in a private Bend subdivision say they pay too much in stormwater utility fees, and they want the city to do something about it.  Larry Waters, a former public works director in Washington state and the president of the River Rim Homeowners Association, is making his case that his private neighborhood in southwest Bend should not pay the same for stormwater services as the average resident.    Read the article………………………

I’m looking at investment property in a subdivision with a homeowners association (HOA). A friend recently bought a home in the same subdivision and (the) lender required a review of HOA documents. These documents turned out to be in a significant state of disarray, which delayed the closing process.  Should this concern me? How big of a red flag is it when the HOA won’t provide financials? Could poor HOA management impact the value of the property? If I buy ...