Homeowner Associations/Condo Associations

[Brat]

Also if you were a widow, and your husband died after buying the house and you were not 55 yo you had to move. I couldn't believe folks could be such jerks.

Kitty

Did they ever attempt to enforce that, or did they just write nasty letters?

 

[Cut-Throat]

Oh, another one is I couldn't hang laundry on my
I was delighted to sell that home even though I loved it. The rules kept getting more and more oppressive.

Kitty

Yup Kitty, HOA's are definitely not for everyone. I understand you now live on a farm and are a 'free spirit' - That is great and I understand why you don't want to live in a HOA.

Myself it works for because I am a 'neatnick' - I love going to the outdoors and roughing it for a week or so, but when I come home, I like everything in it's place.

Aren't we glad we are all not alike! 8)

In my Assoc. - We do not Mow our own lawns, paint our own houses, trim shrubbry or trees, shovel snow etc. etc. - It is made up of people that we rather Fly Fish or Golf than tend to our property. 8)

 

[grumpy]

Kitty,

Were you given a copy of the HOA bylaws and Rules & Regulations before you bought your place? In most, if not all states, that is a legal requirement. Did you read them? If you did not want to be bound by them, why did you buy there? It isn't just communities with HOA's that present these issues. Our last house was not in an HOA but the town in which it was located had what it called "protective covenents" which were quite similar. The town had 4 "code enforcement officers" who drove around and wrote tickets if your grass was too tall or your paint was peeling. Seems like you have to live way out in the sticks to avoid this kind of thing.

Grumpy

 

[youbet]

I don't have any desire to live in or near Arkansas, period.

I guess that is the Clintons' fault!

 

[haha]

Seems like you have to live way out in the sticks to avoid this kind of thing.

   Grumpy

I guess it depends on what you call "way out in the sticks". Much of the City of Seattle doesn't have these sorts of covenants.

Ha

 

[Cut-Throat]

I guess it depends on what you call "way out in the sticks". Much of the City of Seattle doesn't have these sorts of covenants.

Ha

Nope most of our major cities have no problem with 'doing your own thing'

 

[Kitty]

Did they ever attempt to enforce that, or did they just write nasty letters?

Yes, and they weren't very nice about it either. The HOA board members were actually spending money on lawyers for this, several of us who didn't care for this rule or spending of monies to enforce it, made a motion not to fund the proceedings. Wow, this stirred up a hornets nest. About half of the membership was for getting her out and half for keeping her in. Seems some of the old bitties were worried she would try and get another husband from the those already taken ? Stupid, stupid people. The lady in question put her house up for sale and it took months for it to sell. She made a nice profit and moved away only to marry another older gent... on and on goes the story I guess.

Kitty

 

[REWahoo]

Isn't Seattle where the "grunge look" originated? Not that there is anything wrong with that...

 

[Alex]

I guess that is the Clintons' fault!

nope, it's the weather. I really love southern cal's weather.....

 

[haha]

Isn't Seattle where the "grunge look" originated?   Not that there is anything wrong with that...

True enough, but as I am a quasi-anarchist it suits me. My only obejection to city life is crime; the day to day randomness of the rest of it is pleasing to me.

Ha

 

[sgeeeee]

I guess that is the Clintons' fault!

Before long everyone on the board will have it right.

 

[AltaRed]

FWIW, I am with CutThroat in his view of HOA's. I've been in 3 of them in one form or another including condo boards, and I want the development to look as tidy and neat 10 years from the day I moved in. For all the problems HOA's can have, I don't need rednecks next door. Would y'all want JG to live next to you and do his own thing?

 

[ladelfina]

I think it's funny the kinds of people that cotton to the HOA lifestyle.. I find it in that sweet spot where fascism morphs into communism.

I didn't even realize that these kinds of places existed until I was in my early 30's and visited a friend's sister in the DC area (forget if it was VA or MD.. anyway the bedroom communites all around there..). It was really shocking to see all these folks working for "freedom" who were content to have someone tell them what they could and couldn't do in their own backyard (where no one could even see, as Kitty and others have mentioned). Chilling. Zero personal identity. It felt like a luxurious version of a jail.

All my life I've lived in places where people just naturally seem to keep up a relatively similar standard of living/maintenance with respect to their neighbors.. no lawyers involved.

Doing your own thing is what America is all about!  O0

A patriotic Marine who has been at war with his homeowners association and local government for flying an American flag on his property may finally be able to wave his troubles good-bye and recoup thousands of dollars, thanks to a new law taking effect Monday.

The Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 – signed by President Bush last week – prevents a condominium association, cooperative association, or residential real-estate management association from denying an owner or resident from displaying the U.S. flag on their residential property within the association.

The measure is a huge relief to George Andres, a 69-year-old veteran who has spent some $70,000 in legal fees and fines since the homeowners association in his Indian Creek subdivision objected to the flagpole on his front lawn at the start of the millennium.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51357

$70,000 in legal fees/fines and a congressional intervention later, freedom is won!   

 

[farmerEd]

I can't beleive anyone would willing live in a place with a HOA...why would I want another group of people telling me what I can and cannot do to my own property...no way? But as Cut-throat says, good thing we aren't all alike.

On the other hand, there nearest house to mine is a good 1/2 mile away and I own the land in all directions around me....good fences don't make good neighbors, lots of distance between houses do.

 

[REWahoo]

After reading these “HOA from Hell” horror stories, I’d like to point out that many HOA’s have very limited restrictions and do not attempt to regulate the type of toilet paper residents are permitted to use.

When we were deciding to purchase our lot, we looked carefully at the restrictions to be sure we were comfortable with them. Ours is a rural subdivision consisting of 110 lots varying in size from about 2½ to 11 acres. The developer sold individual lots and each buyer contracts with whomever to have a home built. (Many lot owners choose to act as their own general contractor using a service such as “U-Build It”.) Our HOA restrictions are, to my way of thinking, reasonable and limited in scope:

1. Single family residential construction only with side or rear entry garage (no commercial use allowed)
2. Minimum square footage and percent masonry exterior requirements
3. No mobile homes
4. Minimum setback from roads and adjoining property for homes, garages, barns, and storage buildings
5. All recreational vehicles must be parked out of view of the street road.
6. No storage of unused/junk vehicles, materials or personal belongings unless in a garage, home or storage building.
7. Limitations on the type of fencing constructed in front of any house
8. No farm animals except horses (this is TX!)
9. No hunting
10. Wells and septic systems must be separated by a minimum of 150’

There are no rules about flying flags, the height of your grass, the color you can paint your house, keeping your garage door closed or the use of Charmin Ultra.

 

[riskadverse]

I read an article once about HOA's.  It seems that there is a known phenomena in the building industry about HOA's.  The builder subsidises the fees all during the selling phase and into a year or so after that.  By that time the home owners are so p*ssed off at him they vote to take over the association.   After a year or more of running the association, and after raising the fees to compensate for the amounts the builder was kicking in, the turmoil concerning the association becomes unbearable.  At that point, the owners contact the builder about returning to run the association - which he would like about as much as a sitck in the eye.   The builder then referes the HOA to a professional operation (with a referal kickback fee) that runs HOA's.    This phenomena was enough to convince me to stay away from condos and the like. 

 

[Cut-Throat]

I think it's funny the kinds of people that cotton to the HOA lifestyle.. I find it in that sweet spot where fascism morphs into communism.

It was really shocking to see all these folks working for "freedom" who were content to have someone tell them what they could and couldn't do in their own backyard (where no one could even see, as Kitty and others have mentioned). Chilling. Zero personal identity. It felt like a luxurious version of a jail.

All my life I've lived in places where people just naturally seem to keep up a relatively similar standard of living/maintenance with respect to their neighbors.. no lawyers involved.

Doing your own thing is what America is all about!

Well, no one is trying to convince you to live in an HOA. There are all sorts of places to live in America that I would not be caught dead in. But that is America. We all get to choose. So the folks that are happy in an HOA are doing their own thing - It just so happens to line up with the rules of the HOA they chose to live in.

Us, folks who like living in an HOA, are trying to protect ourselves from the 'neighbor from hell'. We like the rules! We don't want to take the chance of strange odors coming from next door or Ernest T. Bass siting out front in a lawn chair drinking beer. No different than a resturant that states 'No shoes, No Shirt, No service'. Some folks would choose not to eat there also.

- I totally understand why you and others want nothing to do with an HOA. I also understand why some folks want to live in a high rise in Manhattan.

Again, No one is trying to convince you to live in an HOA - Get over it!

Happy in an HOA 8)

 

[astromeria]

I have lived with HOAs and learned to bend the rules. At our first house in suburban San Francisco, we put in a near-xeriscape front yard, which was against the rules. Nobody complained--not to us or the association anyway. And a few people even followed suit. Without young children to romp on the grass, I felt no need to have any.

Where we live now, you're supposed to have 65% of your front yard in grass. I asked around to find out the reason for such a bizarre rule. Best anyone could come up with was to prevent people from paving over their front yards and using it as a parking lot. So knowing I was obeying the spirit, if not the letter, I desgined a front yard that is maybe 20% lawn, the driveway that came with the house when we first saw it (and so confrms to the rule), and the rest is planting beds (trees, shrubs, perennials, bulbs, a few annuals) of my design--curves, berms, unpollarded crepe myrtles. My yard is a little blowsy-looking compared to the neat, cookie-cutter, chemically treated to a fare-thee-well lawn plus heavily pruned builder shrubs & trees of the other yards in the neighborhood, but we've gotten a lot of compliments and no complaints (to our faces, anyway ).

The only other rule we violated (I think) was accidently allowing visitors to park on the street overnight. We got a note immeidately, asking us to move the vehicle. Since then, we always remember to have friends park in the driveway.

The other rule I may break eventually is no clotheslines. I'm allergic to many pollens so I don't hang out the wash these days, but if the electric bill gets high enough, I probably will. I'd hang out the wash on a temporary line on the east side of my backyard early in the morning and fold and put away before anyone can be bothered. I wouldn't leave up an ugly line--only stretch it out as needed. Personally, I find clotheslines rather heartwarming--maybe coz we used them when I was growing up, and again when my children were little. Seeing laundry billowing in the breeze makes me smile.

=astro, interpreting the rules since 1949

 

[Andre1969]

Again, No one is trying to convince you to live in an HOA - Get over it!

Actually, at the rate things are going, we might not have a choice in the matter! Most new neighborhoods around here are part of an HOA. They do it that way to make the actual community responsible for their own roads, trash removal, snow removal, etc, so the county doesn't have to deal with it.

And around here, the single family starter home has pretty much been replaced by the condo or the townhouse, which are usually going to be part of an HOA or worse, a condo association. So most people just don't have a choice!

Now sure, you can pack up and move out to the boonies a million miles from your job, and trade the HOA from hell for the commute from hell. Or try to find an older home that's not part of an HOA...if that's your thing. But it's easier said than done.

 

[youbet]

many HOA’s have very limited restrictions and do not attempt to regulate the type of toilet paper residents are permitted to use. 

I don't get it.  If the HOA doesn't regulate the type of toilet paper residents are permited to use, how does it satisify the needs of the anal retentives that seek the leadership positions on the board?

 

[Cut-Throat]

Actually, at the rate things are going, we might not have a choice in the matter! Most new neighborhoods around here are part of an HOA. They do it that way to make the actual community responsible for their own roads, trash removal, snow removal, etc, so the county doesn't have to deal with it.

And around here, the single family starter home has pretty much been replaced by the condo or the townhouse, which are usually going to be part of an HOA or worse, a condo association. So most people just don't have a choice!

Now sure, you can pack up and move out to the boonies a million miles from your job, and trade the HOA from hell for the commute from hell. Or try to find an older home that's not part of an HOA...if that's your thing. But it's easier said than done.

Well some might consider paying property taxes or income taxes too restricting. That is the price for living in the U.S.A or any society. There are rules everywhere. If you want to live in my Town you cannot keep a chicken coop filled with live chickens in your yard either!

There are always rules - you can never do as you please. You just have to decide what rules you can live with. That is the price of society.

 

[youbet]

Sure, there are rules everywhere. But, it's a shame that so many HOA's and condo associations are substantially influenced by the anal retentive personalities of their leaders who go overboard in interpretation and enforcement.

I'm sure many HOA's have done a fine job of preventing thoughtless folks from trashing the neighborhood. It's too bad that many others go overboard due to the "little Hitler" personalities of their leadership. It's those HOA's that draw the discussions that are making some uncomfortable.

 

[grumpy]

Hey, HOA's are participatory democracies not totalitarian regimes. HOA boards are elected by the homeowners and can be removed by a vote of the homeowners. The HOA bylaws can be changed by vote of the homeowners. If you don't like the "anal retentives" who run the HOA, run for the board yourself (or is it easier and more fun to just sit back and whine? :).

Grumpy

 

[Andre1969]

I'm not saying all HOAs are bad, but enough of them are. Often their rules overstep their bounds. For instance, when I lived in my condo, they tried to impose a rule limiting you to something like two pets. They're talking dogs/cats here, not stuff like fish, hamsters, etc. Anyway, what's worse, three cats that never make a peep or one loud dog that barks all the time and craps in the owner's courtyard and they never clean up after it.

I can understand a rule on noise and a rule on cleaning up after your pet, as those are things that legitimately effect the neighborhood. But how many animals you have is irrelevant. Sure, if you have too many your house is going to stink and you'll most likely be able to smell it from the outside, but then that's a smell issue, not specifically a # of animals issue.

Our condo association also liked to pick and choose what rules it was going to enforce, and definitely had its favorite people. If you weren't one of their favorites, then you were often just considered a whiner. They were also incredibly wishy-washy about what was their responsibility and what wasn't. For the longest time, they said that windows were the unit owner's reponsibility, but then finally they admitted it was the responsibility of the association. Good luck getting them replaced though...they didn't have the reserves so you had to be put on a waiting list.

We also had a high percentage of rental units in our community, which only added to the fun and games.

 

[Cut-Throat]

I'm not saying all HOAs are bad, but enough of them are. Often their rules overstep their bounds. For instance, when I lived in my condo, they tried to impose a rule limiting you to something like two pets. They're talking dogs/cats here, not stuff like fish, hamsters, etc. Anyway, what's worse, three cats that never make a peep or one loud dog that barks all the time and craps in the owner's courtyard and they never clean up after it.

I can understand a rule on noise and a rule on cleaning up after your pet, as those are things that legitimately effect the neighborhood. But how many animals you have is irrelevant. Sure, if you have too many your house is going to stink and you'll most likely be able to smell it from the outside, but then that's a smell issue, not specifically a # of animals issue.

Well, we have stories every year on the news here that People have a house full of cats. They start breeding inside the house and then it's out of control. I would not believe that this would be possible, that someone could actually tolerate living with 136 cats inside their house - but it is! They call in the authorities and end up killing all the animals as they are wild, sick and aggressive-

So Assoc. set a number 2 - seems fine to me. I'd even like to see our Assoc. say NO pets at all!

Again - Don't live in an HOA - You can't take your Cats into a restuarant either! - Thank God and the Health Board!