Let's have a debate about Home Owners Associations.
What's your view of them?
Do they make the neighborhoods better or worse to live in?
Should they be outlawed?
If you know of any weird or ridiculous HOA rules feel free to post them.

I personally haven't lived in a HOA run neighborhood yet so I really don't know much about them other than some of them have some really stupid regulations. My cousin just bought a brand new built house in an HOA neighborhood and has already butted heads with his HOA neighborhood president over parking in his own driveway. One of the rules in his neighborhood is vehicles cannot be parked in the driveway if they can be seen from the street longer than a couple of hours. The penalty for this is they tow away your vehicle and store it at owners expense.
Have fun debating...

Violation of civil rights??? I Can't really say they should be outlawed, but on the same token, i don't think they should be allowed to run rampant.


Goodbye Callisto & Skaði, Hello Ishara:
2022 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
The only thing every single person from every single walk of life on earth can truly say
they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.

THEY ARE HORRIBLE! They can tell you what to do in your house and what you can't do
they need to be outlawed! At one time they may have been a good idea but now days they are going way too far. They tell you what colors you can paint things they tell you what kind of flowers you can have they tell you what kind of fence you can have. THEY'RE OUT OF CONTROL!

I'll NEVER own a house were they have a HOA. Its my property I make the payments I'll do whatever the hell I want to with it! If they want to make my payments then they can tell me what to do but till the then SHUT THE FU(K UP!




Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

My father lives in an area that is fairly "well off". (MD People may know Kingsville, in northeastern Baltimore County) His house is a 100+ year old farmhouse on 2 acres that they bought some 15 years ago for something like $125,000. It's always been a nice area, but now the average new home in the area goes for $500-600K or even more. His property value has gone up, although not to that level.

Anyway, across the road from his house is side street that, if you follow it back about 1/4 mile or so you'll find a fairly new development of EXTREMELY large, beautiful houses on gigantic tracts of land with the expected huge pricetags. Of course, no high dollar neighborhood is complete without a power-hungry neighborhood association. One day a number of years ago, "representatives" of this neighborhood association showed up at my Dad's door with a notice that his property is in violation of their covenants. They did the same thing to neighbors on either side of him.

Weird, don't ya think? Seeing as his house is older than any others in the area, and he bought his house when this new neighborhood was still overgrown woods. But here they were...with "citations" claiming:

• his deck was too big
• his stone driveway had to be excavated, leveled and paved
• his shed needed to be painted
• his pool filter had to be enclosed
• he had "too many vehicels"...this included his truck, my stepmother's minivan, my stepbrother's personal truck and his work truck, his wife's minivan and my project car that was parked there at the time. Note that all 6 vehicles had valid tags and insurance.
• the 20'x8' concrete patio pad had to be removed from the south end of his property
• his grill had to be stored in his shed, not on the deck under a cover, since it wasn't a "permanently installed brick or stone type grill"
• the old steel-tube style children's swingset had to be removed
• their trampoline had to be removed
• their grandkids would no longer be allowed to ride their go-kart or mini-bikes on the land
• and last but not least...his house WAS NOT PAINTED AN APPROVED COLOR. All houses were "required" to be either brickface, stoneface or one of a list of "approved colors". His house is light yellow, which is none of the above.

Again, keep in mind my Dad never joined this association and his house wasn't part of their community but they were still there serving notice on him that he was "in violation" and that he could be fined for non-compliance...failure to pay the fines could lead to LIENS being placed against his property!

Long story short, this whole scene ended with a few "association representatives" almost being physically removed from his property. Later on when they SUED HIM it was thrown out of court because the judge said a homeowner's association had no right to impose itself on properties not part of their subdivision and ESPECIALLY not on properties that were built, bought and occupied long before their association ever existed. They had to pay all his legal fees, etc too. My Dad, like me, is a seriously stubborn SOB, but what would have happened if it was someone who didn't know better, or was too timid to argue with these retards? They would have won and they would have effectively taken over someone else's property AND charged them annual fees to do it!

That is just one example of the out of control bull@!#$ that goes on with these jokers. Don't even get me started on the yahoos that are making people take down flags on their property that are there because a member of that home is in Iraq or elsewhere...






09:f9:11:02:9d:74:e3:5b:d8:41:56:c5:63

BEST RANT EVER!

In south Florida. This how the home owner associationmy cousin was in.
-Can't have your car parked on the street over night (if you have family over to bad)
-Put in a round about no one can use properly and causing more trouble.
-Don't pressure wash your driveway, or clean your roof or have a dirty house or have your grass to tall (some people have grass only 2.5" tall and got a fine) you get a fine or the clean it up and send you the bill.

Some home owner associations are full of it.
I personally saw a lady go to the City to say if there was anything she can do to make her neigbor cut his grass. I was not similar height to her grass. People with to much time on theri hands.


2004 Grand Prix GTP (Competition Group)
SOLD-->1999 Z24 5M-#30 to register on JBO
"You can please some of the people some of the time but you can't please all the people'
all the time

If you buy a house in an area that has a homeowners association, why do you think you shouldn't have to follow their rules? The rules are usually set up by the developer before the subdivision is developed. One purpose is to restrict the architectural styles that will be built in the area. There's an area close to where I lived in Texas that was developed to be an exclusive resort type subdivision with golf courses, horse riding trails, olympic pools etc, etc.. the developer never set an architectural style to be followed and it ended up looking terrible because you'd have a couple of traditional style homes then someone would build a huge victorian style or a mexican hacienda. The place looked jumbled, like it was just thrown together.

I'll agree that some rules I've been subjected to are a little ridiculous, but for the most part it's to keep some of the homeowners from crapping up the neighborhood. If I lived in a nice neighborhood I wouldn't want someone moving next door and putting a car on blocks and an old refrigerator in the front yard.


You don't have to live in an area with a homeowners association, but if you do you should follow the rules. If you don't like them then attend the meetings and try to get them changed.


Jimmy's example is pretty screwed up though.

To me, if you are paying for it, it's your to do with as you please. There was a case on the news a while ago where an elderly widow on social security owed a HOA around $500. In the contract it allowed them to sell your house for the money if you were like 6 months pass the due date, so thats what they did. They sold her $250K+ house for less than $50K (I think it was around 25k actually) and she was homeless. It's BS!

Thats easy Labotomi cause YOU OWN THE FREEKING HOUSE AND PAY FOR IT !!!
Its the exact same thing if someone came up to you and said your car is painted an unaprooved color and you have to pay this ticket and get it repainted or they'll take you to court seeking to make you re-paint it or they can take it from you! Oh and your wheels are not aprooved either so you'll have to remove them and put on 13 inch steelies that the association says your car should have. Do not try to fight them or they'll take you to court and you'll have 2 choices. # 1 do what they want. # 2 give up your car.

Its the same thing with these neighborhood bullies in these stupid associations. You do what they say or they will take you to court and force you to do what they want you to do to your house. And if you still refuse they can get you evicted from your own efing house! And you actualy think thats not over the top? ( deep breath ) Ok maybe you didn't actualy know the extent of how bad they can be but yes they will take you to court
and if you do not comply they can kick you out of your home and you can do nothing to stop them. And you guys bitch about the govt doing sh-t to you? These efing clowns can kick you out of YOUR HOUSE and you can't do squat!


THEY NEED TO BE OUTLAWED !!




Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

Jackalope wrote:Thats easy Labotomi cause YOU OWN THE FREEKING HOUSE AND PAY FOR IT !!!
Its the exact same thing if someone came up to you and said your car is painted an unaprooved color and you have to pay this ticket and get it repainted or they'll take you to court seeking to make you re-paint it or they can take it from you! Oh and your wheels are not aprooved either so you'll have to remove them and put on 13 inch steelies that the association says your car should have. Do not try to fight them or they'll take you to court and you'll have 2 choices. # 1 do what they want. # 2 give up your car.

Its the same thing with these neighborhood bullies in these stupid associations. You do what they say or they will take you to court and force you to do what they want you to do to your house. And if you still refuse they can get you evicted from your own efing house! And you actualy think thats not over the top? ( deep breath ) Ok maybe you didn't actualy know the extent of how bad they can be but yes they will take you to court
and if you do not comply they can kick you out of your home and you can do nothing to stop them. And you guys bitch about the govt doing sh-t to you? These efing clowns can kick you out of YOUR HOUSE and you can't do squat!


THEY NEED TO BE OUTLAWED !!

I think homeowner's associations are great if people used them correctly. They can keep neighborhoods looking and functioning nicely, which improves the value of everyone's property.

What most people have problems with is that they look to move into a neighborhood, love the area and the house, and sign all the papers to buy the house. What they don't realize they are agreeing to is to be a member of the homeowners assiciation, which has rules. However, there is a simple solution: If you don't like the rules, don't buy the house. It's really that simple. Here in America, citizens have the right to contract to almost anything, a HOA is no exception. However, once you agree to it, expect to follow the rules.

The other issue with HOA's not being used correctly is what JimmyZ described earlier. If a HOA tries to extend itself beyond what's been (or not been) agreed to, it can cause issues for non-members.

Personally, it is highly unlikely that my wife and I would move into an area with a HOA, however, I'm certainly not going to chastise those that agree to them, as it is their right...just don't try and back out of them once you've agreed to them.

Jackalope wrote:Thats easy Labotomi cause YOU OWN THE FREEKING HOUSE AND PAY FOR IT !!!
Its the exact same thing if someone came up to you and said your car is painted an unaprooved color and you have to pay this ticket and get it repainted or they'll take you to court seeking to make you re-paint it or they can take it from you! Oh and your wheels are not aprooved either so you'll have to remove them and put on 13 inch steelies that the association says your car should have. Do not try to fight them or they'll take you to court and you'll have 2 choices. # 1 do what they want. # 2 give up your car.

Its the same thing with these neighborhood bullies in these stupid associations. You do what they say or they will take you to court and force you to do what they want you to do to your house. And if you still refuse they can get you evicted from your own efing house! And you actualy think thats not over the top? ( deep breath ) Ok maybe you didn't actualy know the extent of how bad they can be but yes they will take you to court
and if you do not comply they can kick you out of your home and you can do nothing to stop them. And you guys bitch about the govt doing sh-t to you? These efing clowns can kick you out of YOUR HOUSE and you can't do squat!


THEY NEED TO BE OUTLAWED !!

thanks fror that rediculous example, but no it's not the same as painting your car because you didn't agree to restrictions on you cars color.

LISTEN CAREFULLY.....when you buy the property, you agree to follow the rules as stipulated in the covenants and restrictions of the HOA.

IF YOU DON"T LIKE THE RULES, DON'T BUY THE PROPERTY.

Yes you can do something about kicking you out of your house...follow the rules that you agreed to.

and yes I do know about how rediculous they can be. I had them tell me that I couldn't put a directv dish on the roof of my house. We argued for awhile until I called the FCC and had them send a letter explaining that they could not restrict the placement of any antenna.

I'm sure some can be overbearing and overstep their bounds, but dont tar all HOAs with the same brush, condemming them because a small percentage are screwed up. HOAs exist for reasons and in most cases those reasons are good ones.

Incorrect jack.

it is not the same

when you buy a house in HOA u sign papers that state u agree to follow all HOA rules and regs for as long as the HOA exists.

if you sign it, than u did exactly that agreed to follow.

if u dont liek the rules u should not have signed. if u get into the house thought u would be ok with the HOA rules but end up no tbeing ok with them, u must move. it was your fault for buying a house in HOA if u were not sure if u would agree with the HOA regs that came along with the house.



i HATE HOA however, if u bought ur house in a HOA than u HAD to have signed the HOA agreement. dont like it? move the hell out, it was YOUR responsibility to follow the rules in which u signed and stated u would.


the story that jimmy posted is assanine! i cant believe they actually thought they could hold someone to a contract of regulations that the person had never seen OR signed and agreed to lol

idiots



The biggest hole, is the illusion of invulnerability.

:::Creative Draft Image Manipulation Forum:::

another fine example of people not reading what they are signing. if you buy a house and into a hoa without reading any rules or regulations you deserve what you get.

i like hoa's, it keeps people from treating their neighborhood like crap. you can keep your house and lawn looking great and perfect, but if your neighborhood is filled with people who dont give a damn you will end up losing out. look at certain neighborhoods. you can have two houses, same house same size same lot same evertyhign, if its in a good community it may cost 10-20 thousand more then if it was in a bad neighborhood, your neighbors do affect how much your house is worth.

now i do agree some hoa's can go to far. but then i read the rules before i bought my house so i new what to expect before hand, i didn't just blindly sign papers and then complain later when i broke the rules i agreed to.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/sndsgood/ https://www.facebook.com/#!/Square1Photography

I agree. /\

I will never belong to a home owners association. If I own the property I should be allowed to do whatever the HELL I want with it.

Paint it pink with fluffy bunnies, whatever I want.

Home owners associations are nice, but I shouldn't have to pay $50.00 a month to pay someone to tell them what I can and can't do with my property.

Now I could deal having an association to keep the roads paved, a public pool, fitness center etc... maintained, and clean up the streets. But they shouldn't have any rights to my property.


-Chris

/\

thast your right to do. but i hope your $150,000 dollar investment doesnt drop to a $70,000 loss because you and your neighbors to decide to do those types of things.



me i prefer to deal with a few minor inconveniences to see my $150,000 investment increase to $200,000


http://www.flickr.com/photos/sndsgood/ https://www.facebook.com/#!/Square1Photography

I prefer older homes anyway, so i'll never be part of one of these BS associations. There's a half-assed one for the plat of land my property is on, but I don't pay the optional dues and I don't attend gatherings. If these so-called "leaders of the neighborhood" cared so much, someone would have introduced themselves to us in the last 2 years we've lived here. They don't really have rules, so I don't really pay attention to them. If they threaten me, I might do what they are asking but otherwise, screw them.

i agree there are rules to keep up the place some are just ridiculous. i have seen good and bad. The thing is you sign and they change rules that not everyone agrees to.
I do agreeit can keep up you home value


2004 Grand Prix GTP (Competition Group)
SOLD-->1999 Z24 5M-#30 to register on JBO
"You can please some of the people some of the time but you can't please all the people'
all the time

The original intent was sound, but busy-bodies have no right to say what can and can't be done on my property. Until they start paying me back for membership in the little club, they can pretty much screw the hell off. Architectural styles be damned... Here, a builder buys the polt of land, subdivides between 2-3 companies, and you can choose what you want to build from a group of plans. If you don't want any of those styles, tough @!#$... you usually have 7-10 different types of houses to choose from.

If your lawn is unkempt (2.5" is a little short for most grass anyhow) but as long as it's kept up, and trimmed, what's the point of getting in someone's face about it. As far as painting, You can't really judge for style.

I'm in a condo, so they take care of the outside of the buildings... I don't care about that, but when they start telling me that I have to use a certain door and side-light (the previous owners changed it... I had nothing to do with that) and that they're going to bill me for changes to the property, I told them to talk to my lawyer first. The site manager had to do an exterior inspection of the Condo controlled areas and he signed off on it as meeting requirements... ergo, not my problem. They said they'd change the door and not bill me, I told them that they have no authority to maintain or alter any additions to the house made before I purchased it. There's a new board of directors, and they're at least calming down a bit. Most of the people on it are under 50, and have better things to do than get uppity about things that aren't any of their business.

Jimmy, that was F-ED up... I'd have filed for punitive damages just to keep the bastards in check with their pocket books. Your Dad sounds like a tough old codger, and I mean that in a good way. That kind of a situation is when people start getting out of control.




Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.

which is why i won't move into an area with a HOA. Simple.



Goodbye Callisto & Skaði, Hello Ishara:
2022 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD
The only thing every single person from every single walk of life on earth can truly say
they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.

Eastern Europe has few HOA's Keep... need you any more excuse?



Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.

sndsgood wrote:/\

thast your right to do. but i hope your $150,000 dollar investment doesnt drop to a $70,000 loss because you and your neighbors to decide to do those types of things.


me i prefer to deal with a few minor inconveniences to see my $150,000 investment increase to $200,000

Choosing a nice area is also part of home buying you don't have to be in a neighborhood that has an HOA to have a house that appreciates nicely and have quality neighbors

I'd prefer to have a few acres of land around my property. Many of the 500,000 dollar homes in my area are right on top of each other. It's truly sickening.


-Chris

after my parents got a bill for me washing the car in front of their house, i have little respect for their HOA.

some can be OK...but i wouldn't say any are spectacular.



Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week, March 13-17

You guys do relize that an HOA can be started after you purchase your house right?
Thats what happened to my mom and dad in a house they bought in Balto city back in the 80's. No HOA when we moved in. Fast forward a few years and they formed one. Sure we said we didn't want one so did many of the neighbors but majority rules right?
Well in our yard I had an old Monte Carlo I was building and that is a HUGE no no in the HOA's eyes. Long story short they came with a tow truck and the cops but luckily my dad was also a cop so we won the arguement that day. They tried to sue us, we went to the next HOA meeting my dad was in uniform and had his commander with him. When we had a chance to talk he informed the HOA how the poilce would be takeing more of an interest in the safty of the neiborhood. Everyone loved the idea till the commander took the floor and said the 25mph speed limits would now be stricyly inforced as would stop signs. Suddenly they didn't like the idea. He even said they would have added traffic patrols and radar set up all over the place. Well 2 weeks of that and the HOA caved and
they dropped the suit agaist us if the increased police presets would go away ( 18 years on the force tends to have its advantages ) The police went back to normal and we didn't hear a peep from them again.

You all can say how great they are but I know better haveing gone head to head with one.
All an HOA is is big brother watching over you makeing sure your all good little boys and girls and if your fine with someone telling you how to live in your house then who am I to say otherwise. Thing I don't get is that some of you who say they're fine strongly object to the govt. telling you what to do. Tell me how is this any different? So by all means you be good little boys and girls but me I'll do what I want in my house! I just can't understand why you would agree to give up your rights with no problem. Makes no sence to me.




Semper Fi SAINT. May you rest in peace.

Jackalope wrote:You guys do relize that an HOA can be started after you purchase your house right?

did you bother to read Joe's post, or did you just skim over it because it was long?



Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week, March 13-17