After selling Pokémon cards to buy his home in 2023, a North Carolina man says his personal collection is now on the line to save the same house. Carter Eck, going by Smugcorndog on Reddit, posted online and made news on Channel 9 to publicize what he feels is unfairness by his HOA. The board seeks to foreclose on his house because he failed to pay dues, which he admits he didn’t know about. But it’s the massive fees he feels are outrageous.
“Out of the $11k they’re claiming I owe, only about $840 is actual dues. The rest is fines,” Eck explains on Reddit. The main issue was how these fines were allegedly communicated: “No notice. No warning. No time to fix it. No hearing. Nothing,” he wrote.
While the hearing is near the end of November, the funds he’ll need to fight this legal battle could come from his Pokémon collection. “I’m in the position of having to sell my collection just to pay for a lawyer to keep that same house. Kind of a wild full-circle moment,” he sighed.
Reddit Cheers the North Carolina Homeowner On
Naturally, Reddit is on his side. “F em!” exclaimed a commenter. “Go back after them for your lawyer fees and anything else your lawyer can get from them.”
“Every additional fine without proper documentation and procedures is just one more nail in their coffin,” wrote another user encouragingly. “Keep up the good fight, sorry you have to sell your cards but you’re doing really well for your age,” admitted a third, referring to how Eck is 26 years old.
It should be noted that both the media outlet Eck spoke with and he himself have reached out to the HOA for comment. However, no one has yet to respond, making it all the easier for the internet to vilify yet another homeowner’s association board. As one commenter bluntly put it, “This is why HOAs have such a bad reputation. Most seem to not know or follow their own CRRS or state law.”
