{"id":341588,"date":"2026-07-16T01:53:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T01:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/341588\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T01:53:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T01:53:28","slug":"aint-going-nowhere-hoa-votes-to-remove-jacksonville-influencer-fighting-to-remain-in-inherited-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/341588\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Ain\u2019t going nowhere\u2019: HOA votes to remove Jacksonville influencer fighting to remain in inherited home"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville influencer is fighting to stay in her inherited home<\/a> after her HOA voted to assess a $155,000 fee \u2014 split among residents \u2014 to cover legal costs aimed at removing her.<\/p>\n

Bethany Michel, 28, inherited the home from her father, who lived in the Arbor Mill 55-and-up community. Michel had been his caretaker before he passed away. Now, the HOA says she can\u2019t stay because she\u2019s under 55.<\/p>\n

Following Tuesday night\u2019s vote, Michel said the process wasn\u2019t truly in the community\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey allowed 155 people to think that they had a decision in the vote,\u201d Michel said. \u201cBut it was the five board members who spoke for the whole community.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED | Can you inherit a home in a 55-plus community? Attorney explains what the law says after Jacksonville HOA dispute<\/a><\/p>\n

$155,000 assessment splits the neighborhood<\/p>\n

The Arbor Mill HOA approved the $155,000 assessment to pay for legal fees in the ongoing lawsuit. Each resident will pay $1,000 as a result of the vote.<\/p>\n

Residents expressed mixed thoughts on the situation. Some people were in favor of keeping Bethany in her home, but others were in favor of keeping this a 55-and-up community.<\/p>\n

Michel acknowledged the divide.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery passionate, no matter what side they\u2019re on, they are very, very passionate,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re allowed to be, because so am I.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neighbor speaks out against the removal effort<\/p>\n

Not everyone at Arbor Mill supports the legal push. Neighbor William Baltazar said he believes the majority of residents disagree with the effort to remove Michel.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a person who has kids, I don\u2019t believe that this is the right thing to do, to just kick her out and take her out,\u201d Baltazar said. \u201cThe majority of the people here disagree with this. There are very few people that are really pushing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018He worked to set me up\u2019<\/p>\n

Michel said her father\u2019s home represents more than sentimental value \u2014 it\u2019s a rare opportunity at homeownership.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many people between the age of 20 and 30 can actually become a homeowner these days?\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s nearly impossible to become a homeowner, and the fact that he worked to set me up with a situation where I own a home \u2014 and I was told I would be allowed to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the vote, Michel said she has no plans to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove y\u2019all, even the ones who don\u2019t like me,\u201d she said. \u201cYou will live the rest of your life watching me thrive, whether you\u2019re happy with it or not. I ain\u2019t going nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Arbor Mill HOA declined to comment on the lawsuit or whether it considered making an exception in Michel\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A Jacksonville influencer is fighting to stay in her inherited home after her HOA voted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1042,116,118,117,69960],"class_list":["post-341588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-hoa","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-oakleaf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}