International Policy Digest will be publishing an article about the Northwood II Irvine HOA (Northwood Estates Irvine HOA) soon.
Northwood Estates | Talk Irvine – click on the link for the original post pasted below. Videos and other attachments are included in the linked post.
Other Lawsuits:
Jinping Wan vs Dan Choe and Northwood HOA
Campellone vs Dan Choe and Northwood HOA
Cross vs Choe, in which the judge said:
- “Mr. Choe, I don’t find your testimony credible”
- “If this was a preponderance of the evidence standard, I probably would have issued a restraining order against you”
- “I would seriously consider changing your approach to dealing with your neighbors and your community.”
- “You’re not doing anybody any favors by making everybody miserable by being a hall monitor.”
- “So I don’t think you were being candid with the Court”
- “I’m just telling you I think you’re over the top. I really do, and I think you need to watch yourself, the way you deal with folks.”
How it feels to be followed, harassed, video recorded, and accused by agents of the Board of the HOA
Full text of the post linked above Northwood Estates | Talk Irvine. This is a post by a former resident. The opinions and facts are his and not verified by us.
Dear Readers,
The current HOA board in Northwood Estates/II is extremely controlling. The de facto leader has various nicknames in the community but we shall refer to him as Mr. HOA. After Mr. HOA moved in, the quality of life for most residents deteriorated (unless you are one of his annointed Karen groupies). Neighbors are encouraged to spy on each other and most people are terrified of Mr. HOA’s vengeance because he demands “compliance and accountability” – i.e., complete submission.
This used to be a peaceful neighborhood but under the current triumvirate led by Mr. HOA the culture has deteriorated significantly where neighbors are afraid to talk to each other for fear of being spied on or worried about being filmed or photographed or fined for ridiculous violations. Mr. HOA thinks he is the police, FBI and CIA and likes to interrogate strangers, hide near custom stop signs and scold drivers if they don’t stop for a full 3 seconds or “cite” them for speeding. Mr. HOA is well known in the community to stalk and film “problem residents” as depicted in this video
https://www.youtube.com/embed/BMP2ONsnmKk?wmode=opaque Quite a few residents have sold and left the community because of Mr. HOA’s harassment.
Mr. HOA has installed, at considerable cost to the owners, at least 80 (still counting) audio and video cameras for a community of only 400 homes – 1 camera for every 5 homes. This is far more cameras than what other communities have installed including his beloved Woodbury. The cameras are confirmed by PMP management company to directly feed into Mr. HOA’s personal devices/Google Nest accounts. Mr. HOA claims the cameras are for “safety” because crime is rampant in our small gated community in the safest city in America. He likes to scare new people with stories of fentanyl houses and home invasions even though the police have confirmed that crime stats are comparable to other surrounding communities which don’t have all the cameras or even gates. Despite this fact, Mr. HOA proudly claims that he alone has rid “Gotham City” of crime.
Mr. HOA and his 2 cronies are also convinced there are child gangsters roaming the community with plastic whiffle ball bats and use the 80 cameras to film and post pictures of minors doing unspeakable crimes. They post pictures of minors and show videos of children to other parents without permission because parenting issues are apparently HOA business and the “bad parents” of these child criminals must be held “accountable”. Mind you, most of these “crimes” are things that other HOAs wouldn’t even bother with like ding dong ditch, throwing a pinecone into the pool, digging for worms, staying past pool hours, or trying to get sap out of a tree. Parents are fined hundreds or thousands of dollars (even after they apologize) and your family is branded a problem family and your children as vandals. You are forced to admit to violations your family didn’t do and write an apology to Mr HOA or you are fined and defamed even more. He has even harassed city and federal workers and banned our postal worker from using the common area bathrooms because it’s against the “rules”.
Ironically Mr. HOA sees no problem with him and his cronies breaking the community rules, state laws and federal laws. Mr. HOA routinely ignores the warnings of the police and even a Superior Ct judge who told Mr. HOA he was an “over the top hall monitor (“are you the enforcer?”) who takes his job too seriously and is making all his neighbors miserable”. Most people would back down after being scolded by a judge…but not Mr. HOA, who explained to the judge that the HOA is a “quasi-government” entity [and not subject to other laws]. Mr. HOA then amped up his harassment of the poor tenant who filed the suit and forced the family out. See all the lawsuit court transcripts below for your reading pleasure (plaintiff gave permission).
Mr. HOA also regularly threatens to sue residents and even claimed to the police that he has unlimited funds (homeowner money) for lawsuits. Not surprisingly, Mr. HOA has earned quite a reputation among the police, judges and city hall but continues to ignore authorities.
Mr. HOA has also created ridiculous fees like extra vehicle fees, monthly tenant fees, and even a move in/out fee. Despite the $100s of thousands in fines and fees being collected, no one seems to know why the HOA is losing money or how much is being spent on customized stop signs, lawyer fees, cameras, and who knows what else because financials and annual reports are completely missing from several years. The few financial statements which have been released are not done by a CPA, and contain enormous ($60K+) mysterious “misc. and contingency” expenses. Legal expenses appear to have exploded to over $150K (best guess). Perhaps, Mr. HOA is paying a lawyer to defend the $170K violations he brags about collecting every year. (see below). As of this writing, the community has likely been charged close to $400K plus in fines – similar sized communities have $0 to $10K in fines. But who really knows how much in fines have been charged because Mr. HOA won’t disclose this.
If you dare to question Mr. HOA about anything, you will be obsessively targeted, slandered, and defamed by Mr HOA and his little band of Karen groupies on the “community forums” (his personal rant and fandom website), “private, invitation only” Nextdoor groupie group, and community group texts.
And God forbid if you decide to run for the HOA board against his “chosen crony candidates” then Mr. HOA will go completely nuclear and posts hundreds of insults and false allegations. He will falsely call the police on you to stage “criminal activity at your home” photo ops and conveniently happen to be walking by with his camera when the police show up. But if you are truly special, Mr. HOA will even create a cartoon character of you and falsely claim that you tried to ruin Halloween for all the neighborhood kids. (The reality is many parents are afraid to let their kids go trick of treating in the community because Mr. HOA roams the streets looking for criminal children.)
Mr. HOA isn’t even running in this election so one can only imagine the lengths he would go to if he was up for election. Shivers! Mr. HOA loves to lie but then accuses everyone else of “fake news” – he recently sent out an email titled “Fake News vs Facts” to blast an opposition candidate called Mr. P.
1) Mr. P is concerned about the abundance of audio/video cameras.
Mr. HOA’s response? The cameras are a “measured response” to rampant vandalism. REALITY…are 80 cameras and a Fort Knox like entrance gate system that scans license plates a “measured response”? Mr. HOA then not too subtly implies that Mr. P and his supporters are responsible for the vandalism.
2) Mr. P is concerned about the huge increase in violations being fined ($400K best guess).
Mr. HOA’s response? Fines are used to “enforce community rules”. Mr. HOA created a colorful infographic showing that most fines are “nuisance” fines. Mr. HOA then not too subtly implies that Mr. P and his supporters are responsible for the majority of violations. REALITY…Mr. HOA fails to recognize that his constant harassement, stalking of residents with his camera and pit bull/yorkie/chihuahua is the very definition of “nuisance”.
3) Mr. P is concerned about the lack of financial transparency as little to no financial records have been released which is required by law.
Mr. HOA’s response? It “takes 1-2 years to perform an audit.” REALITY…perhaps it takes 1-2 years to perform an audit for Enron or FTX Bitcoin, but for a little HOA?
4) Mr. P is concerned that the boards actions have created a hostile living environment.
Mr. HOA’s response? No response. REALITY…residents are terrified of Mr. HOA (unless you are a Karen groupie).
5) Mr. P is concerned that residents are relunctant to speak out for fear of retaliation.
Mr. HOA’s response? “The board welcomes all constructive feedback.” REALITY…Mr. HOA only welcomes feedback if it praises him. Even though HOA laws protect free speech on social media, Mr. HOA and his Karen groupies obsessively monitor Nextdoor.com and all social media for any post they do not like and claim they are “fake accounts and fake news” and pester the administrator to deactivate the “fake account”. The writer is then immediately hit with more fines and defamations. (This fake writer is just waiting for this to happen).
6) Mr. P is concerned that the “board” makes unilateral decisions without community input.
Mr. HOA’s response? The “board values the democratic process” and has “monthly [Zoom] meetings for residents”. REALITY…the board meetings are more akin to Mr. HOA rallies and residents who dare to ask a question he doesn’t like are instantly muted.
Mr. HOA then implies that Mr. P is sowing fear and disinformation which prevents the HOA from doing their other duties. REALITY…if Mr. HOA spent less time discussing fentanyl houses/home invasions, defaming residents, posting libel, watching surveillance videos, writing violations/fining, and stalking then perhaps he would have more time.
Mr. HOA has no bounds in what he will do and even harassed Mr. P’s canvasser (single working mom) and proudly posted the video on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/9JXWqsB-mKI?wmode=opaque (Note: Mr. P is a single parent who works 70 hour weeks so he did hire help but that’s his choice.)
Life is also tougher for renters as Mr HOA seeks to reduce the number of renters because they “bring down property values”. Many renters have been forced out. Here’s a video of a landlord being harassed for helping his renter get a gate access sticker.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/30oTyKzlILA?wmode=opaqueSo Dear Readers if you love tons of cameras, tons of fees, tons of fines, and being monitored 24/7 then this is your neighborhood. Just know what you are getting yourselves into.
P.S. Administrator – Mr. HOA will try to remove this post and retaliate because that is the kind of person he is.