Question: I own a single-family house in a common interest development with a homeowners association. I was going to file a Declaration of Homestead on my title, but a friend told me California has an automatic homestead exemption so I don't have to file. Is that correct?
Also, the board keeps issuing special assessments for regular maintenance that should be paid from our reserve account because the board doesn't want to deplete the reserve account. I added loss assessment insurance to my regular homeowners' policy so I wouldn't have to pay these special assessments, but the insurer declined my claim.