(Actually, from what I hear about HOAs, they’d have conniptions at most of the TV gardening programmes in the UK, which these days are big on leaving wild bits for the bugs and creepy-crawlies, and creating meadow planting areas)
Yet another reason I’d never live anywhere with an HOA.
You hear horror stories, but I don’t think most HOAs are that bad. Not all of them are empowered to ruin your life because the trim on your house doesn’t match specifications set by the association. That said, while an HOA isn’t an automatic no from me it’s a negative factor I’d have to consider.
I’m on the board of my HOA. I’m in a townhouse complex, so of course we have to have an HOA to take care of the common property. We try to be reasonable.
I live right in the heart of my city, this summer I’m going to let part of our back yard go to meadow. I’ve been sowing wildflowers around the parameters last year. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it comes in and how it looks. I love the idea.
Had to shoot my horse - stepped in a bandicoot hole and broke his damn fool leg!
(Joke)
“Wild” and water-conserving gardens are typically anathema to HOAs.
The digging part makes sense, but not much camouflage in that “lawn”.
Is there anything stopping new board members from becoming less reasonable?
That’s what my mom does, who also lives in the heart of the metropolis. She also has about a half-dozen trees, and chickens, and berry brambles in her yard. It’s not completely no-maintenance, but it’s a lot lower maintenance than the typical American expanse of grass.
No, but that’s true of any democratically elected governing board. As I said, for a townhouse complex an HOA is a necessity. And I definitely wanted to live in a townhouse.
It’s partly a matter of what you’re used to. My parents lived in townhouses or condos all their lives, so I like that lifestyle.
That’s true. But the possibility is always there.
My friend’s family lived in a Beverly Hill adjacent condo. One of the tenants got mugged on the property. The board voted for around the clock armed security, plus other measures, quadrupling the dues. Now you are in a pickle- cant afford that much, and cant sell as no one wants to buy with that kinda dues. (And tenants on SocSec got as special discount)
They sold, at a loss. Two years later, the HOA dumped the security guard service, kept the rest- (cameras, etc).
Nope, and that’s the problem.
But yeah, most are reasonable.
Very, very few of them are crazy or have any real chance of becoming crazy although theoretically all of them could be. It just rarely happens.
The one where my ex wife lives and the one where my step mom lives are completely benign. They do the routine maintenance like painting and roof repair and service the pool and do the landscaping.
When I was house hunting I found that many of the places I looked at were part of HOAs. So when I found a place I liked I asked to see a copy of the HOA rules, and then I walked around the neighborhood and spoke to several of the residents to see what they thought of the HOA, and whether there were any people on the board with delusions of godhood. Based on what I read and was told, I decided I wouldn’t have any problems.
In addition to the HOA being responsible for exterior maintenance (so no worries about lawn nitpicking), during the rime I’ve lived here the HOA has completely re-sided my house (part of a development-wide project, as the original siding was deteriorating) and replaced my deck (ditto). I’ve had rotting porch railings replaced, a leaking roof repaired, and periodic power washing and gutter cleaning.
So I’m pretty happy with my HOA.