Paying home dues painful

The L.A. Daily News reports:

Home Sweet Home has never looked so bad - and it's getting even uglier.

Foreclosures have already pushed record numbers of homeowners into apartments, leaving a trail of brown lawns, overgrown hedges and cracked paint in suburbs from Palmdale to Pacoima.

Now, homeowners associations are feeling the pain of the bursting housing bubble, dealing with a huge spike in delinquent monthly fee payments that keep pools warm, gates painted and flowers potted.

In some cases, foreclosures at condominium and town-house complexes have left fewer association members to cover operating budgets. In others, homeowners struggling to avoid foreclosure have simply decided they can't afford the association fees.

And as operating budgets fall into deficit, associations across the nation are trimming fewer lawns and cutting more spending.

"It's the most serious challenge the boards have faced in a decade," said Glennon Gray, owner of Santa Clarita-based Euclid Management, which oversees 250 homeowners associations throughout Southern California.