ARE HOA FORECLOSURES FOR NONPAYMENT OF ASSESSMENTS REALLY THAT PREVALENT?

I might have to write another newsletter about homeowners’ association foreclosures.  A story that was posted yesterday on AZCentral.com indicates that homeowners losing their homes due to foreclosures by associations is a big problem, but I’m skeptical.  I haven’t been aware of a large number of foreclosures for failure to pay association assessments, but there are a lot more planned communities in the Phoenix area than there are in the Tucson area, so maybe it’s more of a problem there.  And while I do think that the late charges tacked on by associations when assessment payments are in arrears are often excessive, I don’t think that the lawyers who are handling the foreclosures are routinely charging exorbitant fees, contrary to what the linked article suggests.  
The article doesn’t mention that the law on what associations can charge, and under what circumstances they can foreclose for nonpayment of assessments, has been changed substantially to the benefit of homeowners in the last several years.  In other words, associations can’t just charge whatever they feel like, and foreclose the moment a homeowner falls behind in paying assessments.  Associations generally don’t want to take someone’s house, just like banks generally would rather have you make your mortgage payments than they would take your house.