Homeowners Association

[Neutron]

I can't stand the HOA that I live in!! I live in a condo/duplex environment, and ever since these people took HOA office for the board, its like living in a dictatorship. I can't stand it! We are currently selling our house partially because of this. They try to tell you what to do for stuff clearly not in the bylaws. Like for instance, we built a fence the summer of 2002 after we bought our house, and we stained it last summer. Well, we stained it a cedar color because the wood was already turning grey. The HOA tried to tell us, in mid stain/seal, that they didn't like it and wanted us to stop. I told them to kiss off (more vulger than that though) that since I PAID for my fence, and I wanted it to last a long time, that I was doing this and they couldn't stop me. They even forced my wife to put a little bit on my next door neighbor's fence (which they were upset, but not at us, but at the HOA board) and wouldn't shut up until she did it. Our next door neighbor's fence is the same color. It still looks like wood. It looks a lot better than the original color in my opinion. Oh, and I'm not allowed to park in front of my house according to them. I hate HOA's and WILL NEVER live in one again.

Sorry for the rant, but I'm still ticked about getting confronted today by them for no apparant reason.

 

[cdru]

Remeber that not all HOA are evil. I live in a suburban neighborhood. We have a HOA that takes care of mowing our park, snow removal, street signs/lights, garage sales, etc. We do have covenants that spell out what we can and can't do, but it's no where near the level you describe.

In principal I don't think that the restrictions are evil if they are spelled out specifically and they are followed. It helps protect everyone's investment in their property. You wouldn't like it if your neighbor didn't mow his grass all summer, used his backyard as a part-time landfill and painted his house 4 different colors of shades of fire-engine red. Most neighborhoods around have policies that houses, decks, fences, etc should be an "earth-tone" color. Cedar would definitely fall into that category around here at least.

HOA only become a problem when they start getting a big head over it. Power corrupts. I think this happens more in condo/duplex type communities then in traditional housing communitites.

 

[Mr Tony]

Our HOA mows the lawn and has snow removal (which is nice after we get a buttload of snow)

Its also nice that the head of our HOA has a satellite dish, so he doesnt worry about the 4 I have up

 

[Neutron]

HOA only become a problem when they start getting a big head over it. Power corrupts. I think this happens more in condo/duplex type communities then in traditional housing communitites.

Well, this one certainly has the power trip in her head. I live in a condo/duplex unit.

What's sad is they wait until the grass is 5-6" high before having it mowed.

 

[bcshields]

I had to cancel an appointment for a customer cause the HOA allowed 18" dishes and Dish's was 20".

I know, i tried explaining SHVIA, but they wanted none of it...

 

[Neutron]

I would have put it up anyway, and if they sued, you could bring the congressional law out that protects it.

 

[RVD420]

<rant>

I dislike HOA's. I am totally against a HOA telling someone what they can or can't do to their home.

Conditions like un-mowed grass, large ammounts of trash in the yard, ect... should be taken care of at the local level (city ordnance) not by a HOA.

When a homeowner gets a letter from the city instruction the homeowner to fix a problem within 10 days, or the city will take care of the problem (and charge $50 per hour per person with a 2 person and 2 hour minimum. to be assessed on the property tax) people tend not to let their properity get into a "run-down" condition.

I like the fact that my house does not look like my neighbors.
I will not conform.

As far as I am conserned HOA's are almost as bad as living in a communist state.



</rant>

 

[djlong]

I will *never* buy anything covered by a HOA. I lived in a condo - was very nice with reasonable rules from the condo association. That was until a bunch of people who didn't have jobs (wives or other dependants of people who DID have jobs) had the time to pass all kinds of new rules and hassle people even for things NOT covered. Why? Because, many times, these HOA boards attract the kind of people who have nothing better to do than go on power trips to prove how much control they have over other people's lives. Their own lives are empty and devoid of reward so they have to make others miserable with phony claims of "protecting property values".

I don't have the right to tell someone what color to paint their house. If they have a junkyard in their yard, THAT affects me.. But cutting the lawn? Painting a fence? Maybe it's because I live in NH that I have a streak of self-reliance in me...

 

[Skip Laughlin]

The most ridiculous one I've ever heard is the rules of the HOA in a subdivision in Wylie, TX, where an acquaintance of ours lives. They can no only dictate what color your house and fence can be, they have to approve any landscaping or plantings that you want to do in advance.

And here's the kicker: They can diapprove the way you have decorated the interior of your front living room because WHEN THE DRAPES ARE OPEN, ANYONE PASSING BY CAN SEE IT AND THEY WANT TO INSURE THAT IT WILL NOT CLASH WITH THE REST OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD!

 

[wasch_24]

The most ridiculous one I've ever heard is the rules of the HOA in a subdivision in Wylie, TX, where an acquaintance of ours lives. They can no only dictate what color your house and fence can be, they have to approve any landscaping or plantings that you want to do in advance.

And here's the kicker: They can diapprove the way you have decorated the interior of your front living room because WHEN THE DRAPES ARE OPEN, ANYONE PASSING BY CAN SEE IT AND THEY WANT TO INSURE THAT IT WILL NOT CLASH WITH THE REST OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD!

WTF!!!!!!!

 

[Mr Tony]

Our HOA passed a rule that May 1 you're only allowed one satellite dish. It says "If you have more than one before May 1, you are grandfathered in", which basically means me (I have 5).

**rant on** What pisses me off is less than a week earlier I was talking with the head of our HOA (he's the next door neighbor..he was working on something on his house..I was putting up a 5th dish for must carry) and he mentioned the new rule (tongue in cheek) and said he "didn't give a f-- how many you put up". Then they pass this stupid rule.

I talked with him the other day and got it in writing how many I'm grandfathered at and what constitutes me losing that (knowing them, if a dish blows off the roof, they would say "nope...cant put it back up")**rant off**

 

[BarryO]

Our HOA passed a rule that May 1 you're only allowed one satellite dish. It says "If you have more than one before May 1, you are grandfathered in", which basically means me (I have 5).

Tell them their little "rule" is unenforcable under Federal Law. You can put up as many dishes as you need to receive whatever signals you want, as long as they are each less than one meter in diameter. The case law on the FCC web site is quite explicit on this; folks with major "antenna farms" on their back fences have won cases against their HOA's.

See
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

 

[Mr Tony]

I'll have to read it more carefully. I didn't see anything in there that says how many dishes you can put up, just that it can't be more than a meter

look in my sig. 2 20", 1 18", and 2 30"

The only thing is the roof is covered by the HOA and that is where they all are.

I could always put them on my deck rail. I own that and I'm grandfathered on my 5 on the roof