Finda Koroma has lived in her spacious brick four-bedroom home in Mesquite since 2005. She bought one of the first homes built in The Hills at Tealwood neighborhood.
The 68-year-old home health nurse from Sierra Leone has been renovating the house, bit by bit, every time she鈥檚 scraped together enough money to pay the contractor. Her plan was to sell the house to fund her retirement.
Instead, she鈥檚 facing eviction after her homeowner鈥檚 association board 鈥� some of her neighbors 鈥� voted to foreclose on her house and sold it to recoup a $3,542.64 debt.
鈥淚鈥檝e been here all these years, worked my butt off鈥nd then all of a sudden somebody can just come overnight and take everything away from you? Just like that?鈥� Koroma said.
Jason Reed, a lawyer for The Hills at Tealwood HOA, said that was the remedy the association had available to them.
鈥淯nfortunately, from time to time, they have to utilize that remedy in order to recover funds that are that are owed to the association that haven't been paid,鈥� Reed said.
When residents don鈥檛 pay the HOA fees that cover the costs of operating the association and maintaining shared amenities, Reed said, 鈥渢he other people in the community are effectively carrying the burden of that person not paying.鈥�
Now, Koroma said she barely sleeps because she鈥檚 so stressed out. She doesn鈥檛 know where she鈥檒l go if she鈥檚 forced to leave her home. She vacillates between outrage and despair at the thought of losing her home, which Zillow estimates is worth about $340,000.
鈥淭his is a daylight robbery,鈥� Koroma said.
Foreclosure rules
It鈥檚 not clear how often HOAs foreclose on their residents. Texas does not track these cases.
According to the , an industry organization, 1 in 3 owner-occupied homes in Texas are governed by the 21,000 associations operating in the state. These nonprofit associations have broad powers to set and enforce their own rules beyond local laws and ordinances. An HOA鈥檚 terms are typically set by a subdivision鈥檚 developer long before anyone even buys a home.
鈥淭hose rules run with the land. You buy the land, and you鈥檙e subject to those HOA rules,鈥� said Nick Veach, an attorney specializing in HOA lawsuits. 鈥淎nd all HOAs give a right to foreclose鈥�
Under , an HOA has to follow a handful of steps before it can get a court鈥檚 approval to foreclose on a homeowner. In many cases, HOA rules authorize an expedited approach that avoids a full lawsuit.
鈥淥nce they convince a judge that [the resident] is properly served with a citation, which means she鈥檚 been notified she鈥檚 been sued, and she doesn鈥檛 appear in court or file any type of answer, the lawyer just sends an order and the judge signs it,鈥� Veach said.
At that point, the HOA has the right to sell the home.
In Koroma鈥檚 case, that court order was signed in the summer of 2021, about a year and a half before the home was actually sold. In its application, the HOA submitted documents stating that she鈥檇 been properly notified, both by mail and by a private process server.
Koroma said the first she learned of the foreclosure came two years later, when she received the eviction notice. She said she never saw the HOA鈥檚 correspondence.
Koroma knew she鈥檇 missed payments to the HOA, especially during the pandemic. As a home health nurse who mostly cares for elderly people, she said she lost work when COVID-19 hit. Many of her patients died, she said.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have clients, so there was nothing coming in. I was even behind on my mortgage,鈥� she said.
She tried unsuccessfully to declare bankruptcy to get her finances in order. But by this year, she thought she鈥檇 largely righted the ship. She modified her loan in 2022 to get her mortgage under control. And she began investing in the house 鈥� upgrading the bathrooms, building a covered patio, painting every room and replacing flooring 鈥� when she had the cash to pay for the work.
鈥淭he little savings that I have, that鈥檚 what I used to renovate the house. If I knew that the house would be going, I wouldn鈥檛 have put that money into the house. Because that鈥檚 all I have,鈥� Koroma said.
She said she鈥檚 also been sending checks to the HOA in excess of the quarterly assessment fee, thinking she鈥檇 be able to get square with the association, even after the home was no longer hers.
四虎影院 contacted people identified as members of The Hills at Tealwood HOA board as well as its management company. Reed indicated he was speaking on behalf of the board and the management company.
Reed said Koroma would be refunded for the payments sent after the foreclosure.
Where the money goes
Once a homeowner gets behind on payments to the HOA, many find their debt balloons, said Nancy Kozanecki, who heads the , an advocacy group made up of volunteers. Management companies typically tack on late fees and interest, Kozanecki said, and charge residents for the cost of having an attorney send them a letter demanding payment.
鈥淚t just continues to snowball. It is one of the saddest things I have ever seen. And how the state of Texas allows a nonprofit corporation to steal people's houses like this is ridiculous,鈥� Kozanecki said.
An account summary submitted by the HOA shows that much of the debt Koroma owed didn鈥檛 come from missed payments, but from penalties for missing and late payments. That includes interest on the debt, about $400 in late fees, and another $1,900 for legal and other costs, including the costs of filing the application to foreclose on her.
鈥淭he HOA itself is nonprofit. The attorneys and the management companies and everything else that supports that nonprofit are for-profit organizations. And they're trying to find ways to make money off the HOA,鈥� Kozanecki said.
When an HOA forecloses on a resident鈥檚 home, it doesn鈥檛 make a profit. The home is sold to the highest bidder at a county-run auction. The association takes the resident鈥檚 debt out of the proceeds, as well as attorney fees and other costs the association incurred in the process. Any money left over after the HOA recoups its debt and pays its legal fees goes to the resident who lost their home.
From the sale of Koroma鈥檚 home for $82,000, the HOA deducted $3,500 debt and took out nearly $4,500 for legal and other expenses. That leaves an overage of just under $74,000 that will go to Koroma. That鈥檚 about a quarter of the estimated value on real estate sites like Zillow and Redfin, and less than half of what she paid for the home in 2005.
鈥淭he law needs to change,鈥� Koroma said. 鈥淭hey cannot just deprive [people like me]. We are helpless, we don鈥檛 have a voice, we need somebody to help us to fight the HOA.鈥�
Kozanecki said the coalition wants Texas lawmakers to end an HOA鈥檚 right to foreclose entirely. They鈥檝e tried to find legislative support for increasing protections for homeowners. But the group of volunteer activists have been largely unsuccessful, she said.
Eviction fight
In August, Koroma said she received a notice that Summit Residential Services had begun the process of evicting her. It was almost eight months after the company bought the property at the foreclosure sale, well after a window where Koroma could have reversed the sale by paying the debt to the HOA.
Koroma said she went into overdrive trying to figure out how this was happening. She lost her case in a justice of the peace court, where evictions typically are heard, and was given just a handful of days to either appeal the ruling or move out.
With the help of Legal Aid of Northwest Texas, she appealed the ruling. That case will be heard at the end of the month.
Korsays she feels she was targeted 鈥� maybe because her home has a lot of equity, maybe because of who she is.
鈥淭hey just want to seize advantage because, looking at me, I鈥檓 Black and African, a foreigner in this country,鈥� she said.
Drew Siegel, a lawyer who represents Summit Residential Services, said his client bought the house at auction knowing nothing about her, and that his client has a right to force her to leave.
鈥淣ow, Summit owns the house. And I know she's upset about it, but my guy is just an innocent purchaser at the foreclosure sale and owns the house and needs to get her out so he can sell it or lease it,鈥� said Siegel.
After Koroma appealed the eviction, Summit Residential Services filed a second lawsuit. The company is suing Koroma for over $25,000 in rent for the months she鈥檚 been living in the house after it was sold. In an interview, Merrill said case law clearly entitles his client to the money.
Veach, the independent attorney, said he doesn鈥檛 think Summit has such a slam-dunk argument for back-rent. But, unless Koroma finds a legal basis to overturn the court order giving the HOA permission to foreclose on her house, he said she is likely to lose the home.
In legal filings for Koroma, Legal Aid attorney Natalie Ramm rebutted the rent claim as well. She also argued that the title for the property was clouded. Ramm said they鈥檙e still considering options.
鈥淚鈥檓 not going to give up with a fight,鈥� Koroma said.
Got a tip? Christopher Connelly is 四虎影院's One Crisis Away Reporter, exploring life on the financial edge. Email Christopher atcconnelly@kera.org.You can follow Christopher on Twitter .
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