Stupid HOA or "I fought the law and the law won"

[RickCarpenter]

In the mean time, I am honing my hand tool skills and continue to vacuum the house and garage until the 10pm cutoff.

For safety's sake, I hope your garage doors are open when you vacuum at night. You know, uhhh, errr, oh yeah, ventilation, yeah, ventilation, that's the ticket.

[SteveJ]

This is an interesting thread. In the mid-eighties I had a run-in with an HOA. Technically, I won, but I ended up moving and swore I'd never live under one again. The thing is, I think HOA was started with good intentions, but little minds and power are a bad combination. These days, just about everyone you meet knows of an HOA horror story. The wierd thing here in Nevada is that the people who pay the most for their houses have the least say in what they can do them.

I've also seen some neighborhoods which are real wrecks (no pun) because a few homeowners treat their yards like they were junk yards, and I don't mean just old cars; I've seen rusting washing machines, bedframes, old couches, trash of all kinds. You name it, and people will leave it in their yards, and theres nothing the neighbors can do except watch their property values go down. It's sad that it's come to this.

I bought my last house in an older neighborhood with no HOA and for the last 15 years my neighbors have been just as respectful and take just as good care of their homes as in the HOA controlled neighborhoods.

Steve

[Tim Clark]

Sounds like a nice place to be from.

[Raymonator]

I can't believe how they can control your lifestyle like that. Here in my area, we tolerate each other's noise (within reason) and noise kerfews. To me there is nothing nicer than to hear a neighbour working in his garage on a certain project. It certainly is more tolerable than a tied dog left outside, barking all day at anything that moves while the owner is out shopping or something. Some people will complain about just anything sometimes, no matter how perfect a neighbour you are. Fortunately, my neighbours mind their own business, are quiet, and tolerate whatever noise I make during the day and I do the same. I belieive that a man is entitled to do what he see's fit on his property as long as he is following the "good neighbour" guidelines. It happens that one of my neighbours has a party once a year with loud music that goes on until midnight or 1:00 am on a certain Saturday in July. We all tolerate it, because it's a once a year thing, no big deal. If you sell your house and decide to purchase another, get to meet the adjacent neighbours before you put a bid on it. Sometimes knowing what kind of neighbours you have is more important than the house itself.

[Bruce Cohen]

HOA vs Condos

I just had to add my 2 cents to this.

Firstly, I live in NY state and every state has different laws concerning the amount of power and control you give to either association when you buy. In NY, one has to sign a "Power of Attorney", transfeering certain rights to the "Board of Managers". A body YOU elect every year to serve various lengths of time in office.

The board is well within their rights to inact "Rules and Regulations" governing the "way of life" of the unit owners. In NY State, in a condo, you own the inside "shell" of your unit, be it an apartment or a townhouse (akin to a conventional private house).

What you don't own, is anything outside your unit, including the actual structure (roof, siding, exterior staircases and decks, to name a few.

I've been the on my condos board since it's inception 25 years ago, as either the President or vice-president.

Whenever my board passes a "new rule" or regulation, we always take into account that we LIVE there too. This mindset usually adds a very large dose of reality partaining to just how stringent that "rule" is. After all, we live there too and have to abide by whatever we pass just like all the residents,

I've seen other condos and HOA's (which aren't too common in NY state) to inact laws that make concentration camps more desireable.

As every state and municipality has different interperations of the power granted to a board, you have to do some research prior to just getting pissed off and living with a rule you feel is "over the top. Keep in mind that the majority of board members become one to exert control over the rest of the individuals living, a real power trip for most.

If your board enacts a rule you feel unjust, just remember to read the bylaws you agreeded to when you purchased your unit or house, you do have rights to take your grivence to a higher authority.

In NY, all prospectives must first be approved by the State's Attorney General to see if they meet with state guidelines and to protect you from buying property in a development run like "Pelican Bay", a super maximum security prison.

One thing I found after 25 years on the "Board", if the lack of interest of most residents, our condo has 68 townhouses and is part of a 240 unit development with 4 seperate Boards of Managers. We all have slight differences of how to run the "place" but the apathy level is about the same for all 4, about 90%. If you don't speak up and get involved, a "bad" board, or one composed of absentee or part-time owners can cause havoc with the rest of you.

I live in a townhouse with a garage and am attached on both sides to other similar townhouses. I work with the garage door open and have never had a complaint from any of my neighbors.

Of cause, I limit running any machine from 10 AM to 5 PM on the weekends and extend this by an hour on either side by an additional hour during the rare wekdays I can get into the shop (garage).

My biggest problem is taking the time out to talk with my neighbors about just what it si I'm making and answering "How To'" questions .

I also find it helpful to do small jobs, fix its and such to appease my neighbors, as this makes it akward for them to "rat me out" to the board, even though I'm the VP.

I suggest that anyone having "trouble" with their boards or Home Owner Associations, read EVERYTHING you signed when you purchased your property and if the board is acting "out of hand" to appear, along with neighbors who agree with you at the next meeting and rationally qestion the whys and reasons for any rule you feel is unjust.

Good luck and dont let the b**tards wear you down.

Bruce

[430752]

Un-American!

HOA's are UN-AMERICAN!!! I don't know if that makes them commie pigs or liberal weenies or conservative dictators. Whatever, but they're not-american!

why? First, they destory individuality (making you house different, planting or not planting stuff, etc.). Second, they destory freedom of choice (leave my garage door open or not? pick up toys in the yard in the morning or afternoon). Third, they cuz they destory communication (now, instead of confronting your neighbor and discussing issues you may or may not like, and trying to work it out, you instead go crying to the HOA), which causes, fourth, the dropping of dimes on one another and being a rat-fink is the lowest of lowes, maybe worse than a murderer, and fifth, it casues us to be our brothers' keepers, so to speak, where we're now watching for code violations which could be enforced (since without an HOA, you can't do much of squat and thus wouldn't be an eagle eyed hawk), and sixth, it causes bigger government, since now you have a beaurcratic regime added into the beaurcratic regime of municipal, county, state and federal govt;s.

well, that's my opinion, and I'm against all that jazz above. You may be for it, but not me.


curt j.

[jAngiel]

Then don't move to a neighborhood that has one. It's still a free country.

Some are good, some are bad, they all basically want to keep the values up on the properties that are in the neighborhood.

[scorrpio]

Actually, some neighbors don't need a HOA to be hawk-eyed weasels. Some folks, the moment they spot you doing some house improvement, rat you out to the local authorities. Most major house improvement requires a permit, and getting a permit implies authorities may need to reassess your house value and adjust taxes accordingly.

It is a good thing my neighbors are also weekend warriors, and have pulled many a project without telling authorities.