HOA's are out of control!!

[scotchsride09]

Just read this blurb:

Nothing upsets me more than an HOA NOT doing their job; because they're too busy being nosy and ridiculous...

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/08/18/d...826x1200426065

[Beelzebubba]

Why anybody would ever sign up with a homeowner's association is beyond me.

They can go straight to hell. It's my house. I pay the mortgage. I absolutely will not pay someone else to tell me what my house should look like or that I cannot display The American Flag on Independence Day/Memorial Day/etc...

"Hi, welcome to the neighborhood. We have a Homeowner's Association. You have to sign up here and our dues are...."
"No thank you."
"Well it's mandatory."
"No it's not."
"It is absolutely mandatory that you sign up."
"You had better call the Police then because I'm not signing that nonsense."

[scotchsride09]

Completely agree... the HOA at my mom's condo have some RIDICULOUS rules... it doesn't make any sense to me.

[diddiyo]

jup HOA's suck. They cut every satellite dish cable in the whole neighborhood because they say cables are not allowed on the outside walls. We called Dish Network to have it fixed, they said there's no other way to do it. We have this statement in writing and I sent it to the HOA a couple of times. They didn't care (or answer for that matter), they simple cut down the cables...

(sorry for the size of the picture)

[scotchsride09]

I just can't believe how ridiculous they get... I mean; you can't park your OWN truck in your OWN driveway?

I completely agree that if it's YOUR house, you should have control over it. Not some committee who has nothing but time to think up ways to control people.

[shank0668]

Originally Posted by diddiyo

jup HOA's suck. They cut every satellite dish cable in the whole neighborhood because they say cables are not allowed on the outside walls. We called Dish Network to have it fixed, they said there's no other way to do it. We have this statement in writing and I sent it to the HOA a couple of times. They didn't care (or answer for that matter), they simple cut down the cables...

(sorry for the size of the picture)

you wanna know what id do whatever building they are in say we require a garage door and do this with a pos car and a brick

btw thats such bs

[radz28]

I'm not one completely for HOAs, however, I can see a little value from them. Like has been posted already, it's my place, so I don't appreciate being told what to do with it. It's a different matter if I'm bringing down the neighborhood though, so I do like that idea. JM .02.

[Chevyrocker]

HOA sucks IMO. No trucks, no sattelites..more like no lives. They get off on the misery of others.

[The_Stache]

I live in an HOA, no problems. Thats becuase you get what you put into an hoa, and any hoa is run by home owners. Ours runs fine (and no im not active in it) and i have no complaints. Infact im glad when my neighbors get notices about thier weeds and leaving the trash cans on the street for weeks at a time. Their weeds create more weeds in my yard and thus more work for me, and the trash cans get blown all over.

Reality of the story is if your HOA is bad then round up a majority of your home owners and kick the idiots currently running it to the curb.

PS. if you buy a house in an hoa, YES you are legally required to sign and obey the bylaws. BUT the sellers have to disclose that information at the sale, and by doing so you buy "with the intention" of signing them.

[TFord]

Im a home owner and I hate HOA's, but then again I came up different than most. I dont think any association should be able to restrict what I can or cant do on the property that Im spending my hard earned money on. F@^& that! If I wanna put a couple of rust buckets in MY BACKYARD to pull parts and have towed its my business! unless the association wants to help pay my mortgage they can blow it up their....well you know. I really HATE HOA's....thats it I need a beer!

[TAG UR IT]

This is a two way street here....they can be good AND they can be a pain in the ass.

Let's say you want to sell your house to move on. You take incredibly good care of your lawn and exterior of your home. The neighbors on either side could care less about their lawns and the grass is overgrown, weeds are everywhere, etc. Guess what? No HOA means the value of your home just went DOWN! With a HOA in place, both of those neighbors just got letters sent to their house advising them they would be fined if they didn't get their lawn in order. The guy to your right did and he's cool. But, the guy on the left could give two shits about his lawn and got fined....and he's telling them to kiss his rear.

You see where I"m going w/ this? The VALUE of your home COULD depend on your HOA and how they act/react. I, personally, don't want a yellow, pink, and blue polka dotted house next to mine. I agree that it IS our home and we should be able to do what we want w/ them. BUT, what I want isn't what everyone else always wants. HOA is there to look out for our best interests.

Now, for the member who had their dish cables cut, file charges against the person who did that. Technically, the damaging and destruction of property NOT belonging to them w/ the intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property is criminal mischief. Cutting cables that don't belong to you is (well, it is here) a violation of LAW and is punishable. The HOA can tell you to take them down...even fine you for doing it, but touching them and cutting them???? HELL NO.

[TFord]

Originally Posted by TAG UR IT

This is a two way street here....they can be good AND they can be a pain in the ass.

Let's say you want to sell your house to move on. You take incredibly good care of your lawn and exterior of your home. The neighbors on either side could care less about their lawns and the grass is overgrown, weeds are everywhere, etc. Guess what? No HOA means the value of your home just went DOWN! With a HOA in place, both of those neighbors just got letters sent to their house advising them they would be fined if they didn't get their lawn in order. The guy to your right did and he's cool. But, the guy on the left could give two shits about his lawn and got fined....and he's telling them to kiss his rear.

You see where I"m going w/ this? The VALUE of your home COULD depend on your HOA and how they act/react. I, personally, don't want a yellow, pink, and blue polka dotted house next to mine. I agree that it IS our home and we should be able to do what we want w/ them. BUT, what I want isn't what everyone else always wants. HOA is there to look out for our best interests.

Now, for the member who had their dish cables cut, file charges against the person who did that. Technically, the damaging and destruction of property NOT belonging to them w/ the intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property is criminal mischief. Cutting cables that don't belong to you is (well, it is here) a violation of LAW and is punishable. The HOA can tell you to take them down...even fine you for doing it, but touching them and cutting them???? HELL NO.

I understand that, but I feel that if someone wants to paint their house plaid let him Its their money, and this is America....so God Bless him. I've had to sell a house before and Ive had realtors tell me that "the couple didnt like the color of the house next to you" It didnt bother me one bit, everyone is entitled to his/her own opinions. You may not think that HOA's are bad...and Ill never intentionally be apart of one. And thats great, because we're 2 people with 2 different life experiences, I respect your opinions, and in doing so broaden my understanding of things. I grew up in inner city Chicago and if there's a party next door at 4 am, you'd just better get over it. The last thing you'd wanna do is go over and say "could you turn it down", or call the cops. Life for me was seriously you can do what you want at your place, and dont even think about telling me what to do in my place, and Ive never had any issues. So I guess thats why I am 100% against HOA's. I cant have anyone adding extra regulations to my rights as a homeowner, and make me pay for it. Yes there are advantages to HOA's but IMHO the disadvantages outweigh them.

[CamaroSpike23]

Originally Posted by TAG UR IT

This is a two way street here....they can be good AND they can be a pain in the ass.

Let's say you want to sell your house to move on. You take incredibly good care of your lawn and exterior of your home. The neighbors on either side could care less about their lawns and the grass is overgrown, weeds are everywhere, etc. Guess what? No HOA means the value of your home just went DOWN! With a HOA in place, both of those neighbors just got letters sent to their house advising them they would be fined if they didn't get their lawn in order. The guy to your right did and he's cool. But, the guy on the left could give two shits about his lawn and got fined....and he's telling them to kiss his rear.

You see where I"m going w/ this? The VALUE of your home COULD depend on your HOA and how they act/react. I, personally, don't want a yellow, pink, and blue polka dotted house next to mine. I agree that it IS our home and we should be able to do what we want w/ them. BUT, what I want isn't what everyone else always wants. HOA is there to look out for our best interests.

Now, for the member who had their dish cables cut, file charges against the person who did that. Technically, the damaging and destruction of property NOT belonging to them w/ the intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property is criminal mischief. Cutting cables that don't belong to you is (well, it is here) a violation of LAW and is punishable. The HOA can tell you to take them down...even fine you for doing it, but touching them and cutting them???? HELL NO.

hey tag, one question on the wire cutting tho. if it is explicitly written that you cannot change the exterior appearance of the building (in a town house or condo style setup) and you mount something like that, are you not violating the contract? and im sure it is written in some subclause that they have the right to return the exterior to the intended look by any means necessary.

i ask because i lost that fight with my own HOA, i live on the end of a complex with my side windows of the house pointing towards trees. my fiance recently put up a brown blind in the kitchen (on that side of the house). we recieved notification that it was against HOA policy to deliberately change the exterior appearance of the unit. and when you looked thru the window, you would see brown instead of white (whoopity shit, the side of the house facing trees 5 feet away and someone walks around my house and sees a brown blind... dear god call the cops!). before i contested it, i re-read the 38 pages of my HOA agreement...yes, i said 38 pages.... and it did say that it was forbidden to change the exterior appearance of the unit... but then i got to thinkin, well, im technically changing the interior appearance, and the outside is still brick and window with white trim....


then i looked a lil deeper into article 243, subsection b, paragraph 2, line 5..... "The exterior appearance of all condominums and town house units in this complex shall be uniform. That is to say, that the exterior brick shall not be painted, door frames shall remain black, the window trims shall remain white, and any blind/shutter device placed inside the unit shall be of the same color as the exterior paint trim unless it is agreed upon by the members of this association in a unanimous vote that the exterior colors shall be changed."

i still thought it was BS so i still decided to fight it.... by removing the blind and walking around my kitchen nude......... we finally came to terms, another member of the HOA donated a roll up blind for me to use behind my brown one.


but still, its BS

[dayvedayve]

There was a article couple of years ago when a really old widow lived in a HOA neighborhood but got to a point were she wasn't paying her dues. The HOA kicked her out of her paid off home and sold it to recoup the few hundred (don't remember exactly but it was less than a thousand dollars). Her paid of home worth over $180 K was sold for around $50K. The nice members of the HOA were kind enough to give her the rest minus abunch of fees. If I was in that HOA I would get ready to meet Lucifer cause they are goin to hell for sho.