And you thought your neighbors were bad!

Why is this HOA thing so popular down there?? I had to google it just to find out what it meant. Gees what happened to land of the free?
We have condo and apartment complexes up here with a lot of rules and regs I guess thats like an HOA. Maybe it just different terminology.

 

HOA's are like a callous on the hand--while often not pleasant to look at or feel, they serve a purpose. The need for civility is not going away and will increase as population rises and we start living in closer proximity to one another.

If one can't live by the regulations, they shouldn't buy a home in a neighborhood with a HOA--pure and simple. Do your homework first.

If they're busted for breaking a rule--clarify the cause and try and find a workable solution. Some type of "revenge" is a junior high school response and has absolutely no chance for a positive outcome.

 

THAT is something I could rant about quite a bit, but the abbreviated version... I was scammed into accepting the terms of the covenants. I was given a mega stack of documents at closing, and to the observable annoyance of everyone present I made sure I understood each one before signing. Then came the HOA BS. They were "unable to get a copy in time" but they did have a "generic form" I could sign, simply saying that I agree to the terms of the covenants. "And these terms are exactly what?" I say. "Oh, you know, just don't paint your house chartreuse or anything, haha, every neighborhood has one, it no big deal..."

First mistake. I trusted a lawyer.

I should have walked out of the damn room. IF I'd seen a copy of what I was agreeing to, I would never have signed. And they knew this. I am convinced this is why I didn't have a copy of the covenants at closing, and I have asked other neighbors who have moved in since. They have similar stories. It was only after I started getting letters and I wrote back, "Look, I'll be glad to follow the rules if you just give me a copy of exactly what these rules are. I was supposed to get a copy at closing, then it was supposed to be mailed, then I called and it was supposed to be on the way... Then I emailed you and the best you could give me was a single illegible image of the first page. Send me the document please." Finally I got it. It's enormous, and it's a load of crap. It's more like a fiefdom than a neighborhood, and I never would have bought a house here if I'd known.

It's a touchy subject, I'm still furious about it, but what am I gonna do, sell my house? I'll lose my ass in the current market, assuming I can even find a buyer. I'm stuck living with my mistake for now, but at the first inkling that I might no longer be stuck, I am out, and I am moving to a place where I can still live as I please.

I stopped renting precisely to get away from $#!+ like this. What is the point of owning a home if you're still going to be treated like you're on someone else's property?

 

:bananaman Have not,will not ever live under a HOA. However, my brother does and to solve some of the problems he faced, he got on the board . He was able to find out who was do all the complaining and had a better chance to solve problems before they became bad situations :Handshake.

 

I don't think I could ever live in an area that had an HOA. I have my Maverick behind the house and it is not running and not tagged. I also have a 90 Jeep Cherokee that is not tagged but runs.
I DO try and keep the property clean and keep the cars out of site. About 5 years after I moved in I planted some Leyland Cypress trees to block the site lines up the driveway into the back yard.
Most of my neighbors I have know all of my life so we get along for the most part.
One neighbor has a bad habit of feeding all the stray cats in the area and I hate that but don't complain. Guy up the road 3 houses has rented out his house and they don't keep it up at all. If it gets too ugly I talk to the owner and ask him to make then clean it up and they do.
I figure it is a give and give world or a dog eat dog world. Whatever you make it out to be.
If I complained to the law about everything that bothered me then they would complain on me. Live and let live.
Now if people start complaining about me I will go door to door asking about it and talk to them in person.
clint

 

I moved to the country a couple years ago after being inside the city limits all my life. I was always getting the cops called on me for numerous reasons...paint fumes coming from my shop...too much noise...too many cars. I even had a neighbor climb on his roof to count the cars in my back yard which was enclosed with a 6 ft privacy fence. The cops never did anything to me because I knew all of them. Really pissed the neighbors off too. But they still had to come out and talk to me. They really got a laugh when the guy told them about counting the cars in my back yard and how he knew!!!
Anyway, after living in our new house in the country for only a couple of weeks I heard this tremendous noise! I jumped up and ran outside to hear it again, then heard a couple of guys laughing. I walked up to the privacy fence seperating our property and leerily peered over the top. Damn!!! These young boys were shooting a friggin shotgun in their back yard!!! At first I was kinda mad. I watched them shoot the gun a few more times and they were just having a good ole time. I got to thinking about it and it suddenly occurred to me that this was really a good thing! These guys are making more noise than I likely will one day. Yes!!! They are the closest neighbors I have and I don't think I'll have to worry about them complaining about me cranking the Mav every now and then. I went back in the house and told the wife...I like our neighbors!

 

I have to say that we have pretty good neighbors in our town. They all know that we paint cars and nobody complains. The guy just down the street from us also does bodywork and paints cars out of his shop and his next door neighbor details cars out of his garage. Just to make it even more interesting, the guy who details cars is also one of the town councilmen. He could care less what we all do. All the town cops know we paint cars and as long as nobody complains they don't care what we do either. We've fixed just about everybody's car at one time or another so nobody has much of anything to complain about. All of our garages are in the alley behind our houses and on the opposite side of the alley is a small ballfield and woods, so there is no one back there for any of us to bother. As long as we all keep our properties cleaned up and don't have junk cars or just plain junk piling up out back there are no problems. Not too many places will let you get away with the stuff everyone in my neighborhood does. You can drive down just about every alley in our town and find someone working on a racecar ( dirt tracks are big around here ) or pulling an engine or doing just about anything you can possibly do with a car. It may sound like we all live in some sort of redneck town, but if you were to drive down the main street or the back streets you'll soon discover just how clean and well kept it is. Most people here respect each other and as long as neighbors make an effort to keep thier properties tidy and don't make a lot of loud noise at inappropriate hours almost everyone trys to get along. BTW, I'd rather live in a cave than have to put up with all the crap a HOA lays on people. Some of the HOA's in our area are so strict it's like living under a dictatorship. The day someone comes up to me and tells me I can't hang my clothes out on a washline to dry is the day they will need surgery to remove my washline pole from thier rearends.

 

When I bought my Pinto wagon to restore, it started out in the driveway, since I did not have room in the garage. Not an unsightly car in any way (all intact, no gaping holes, complete, running), I slowly worked on it as I could and when time allowed, ALWAYS being sure to have it "intact" before I quit for the day. Even bought a cover.

Blugene and I took off the front end suspension, and hid the effort well. The mistake I made, however, was taking off the rear BUMPER just before I parked the car to do the suspension, since there was some rust removal I needed back there. With it went the license plate....

Get a letter from the city (great, here we go). They ask me to call them. "Is the car running?" "Yes". "Can the car move under it's own power?" "Yes". "When can we come by to see it run/move?" "How about two weeks?" I ask why they have a concern. "Any car visible to the public must move under it's own power, and have a license plate". "Did anyone call on me?" "Oh, no, we check the neighborhoods regularly for things like this". Grrrr....

God Bless Blugene, he comes over to bust butt and help me get it back together. On a rainy Saturday morning, code enforcement drives up, I start the car, move it, they drive off. End of story.

You can BET one of the neighborhood turkeys called on me, since we have an HOA. God forbid anyone should have an unsightly PINTO in their driveway. The horror. The car is sitting in a garage/shop out in the country now, at a friends house, where nobody will bother it.

Chris

 

If it continues, I swear I'm going to buy, tag, and legally park a couple of horrific-looking $100 craigslist cars in front of my house. I may even customize them.

 

I swear thats him! It looks just like the old stiff! He actually edges his lawn with hand scissors. No joke.