# Filthy Condo Nazis **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 29, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657 "2005-04-29T02:18:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/21 "2005-04-30T02:56:58Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > As the OP, I assure you that I live in no such location, and would live in a cardboard box before choosing one. Every experience I’ve had with condo or homeowner associations has reinforced my belief as expressed in the OP. Petty people with too much time on their hands, who spend that time snooping on neighbors, as opposed to really having a life and doing something productive with it-that’s the folks I’ve had the unfortunate experience of dealing with. > > A car on blocks, a door hanging by one hinge-those are issues which demand attention. When people whine about the wrong shade of paint on shutters, and that the cable TV line isn’t tucked behind a cornerboard, I long for a jar of chloroform and a rag. Amen to that. You could not pay me to live in a HOA, if i want a pool what buisness is it of theirs, after all I own the property. If I want a pink house with purple shutters , that’s my damn buisness.Don’t like it move. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/22 "2005-04-30T11:18:20Z")
I’d be interested to see a study of how effective H.O.A.s and condo associations are at improving property values as opposed to similar neighborhoods without them. But, I’m going to sleep now, I don’t know if such a study even exists, and I’m probably too lazy to do it anyway. Besides, this is The Pit, so fuck it. How’s that for a list of excuses? ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/23 "2005-04-30T18:50:17Z")
A developer that comes into my coffee shop was talking about problems with neighborhood associations. His solution was to buy enough property (him and his investors) to get get enough votes to sieze power. impeach the people in charge and re-write the rules. He said usually the other homeowners wind up thanking him when its all over. If I ever win the lottery (which since I don’t play the lottery, is unlikely) I think that would be an interesting hobby. ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/24 "2005-05-01T14:21:45Z")
> [@Metacom](#): > > Interesting. I wonder if it has anything to do with Houston’s famous lack of zoning has anything to do with it. I am not sure, but that was an annoying thing about Houston, too. Offices, houses and other businesses just stacked willy-nilly anywhere someone wanted to put them. I remembered another clause from our HOA’s policy: You aren’t allowed to run _any_ type of home based business out of your home without permission. I could understand if you didn’t want people constantly sclepping through the neighborhood if they were running some sort of store or whatnot, but otherwise IMO, fuck off. I’ll make money anyway I damn well please (within the guidelines of the law) and if I can do that from home, I’m sure as hell going to do it. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/25 "2005-05-01T20:53:17Z")
I made it a point, when getting my place, to make sure the real estate agent knew up front what I did NOT want - No CCR’s (no covenants, conditions or restrictions), and no HOA or block associations. I had heard horror stories and wanted no part of it. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/26 "2005-05-01T22:31:31Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > I had heard horror stories and wanted no part of it. I think I’m reading them now. . . I too will avoid HOAs and Condo agreements like the plague. It seems a bit to Commie-pinko to me. I once nearly bought a condo with a HOA agency agreement. Any association that potentially requires one to _file an application_ just to hang a U.S. Flag out front off the porch is just plain un-American. My realtor (at the time) looked at me and said, “But it’s such a nice condominium!” I physically dropped the paperwork on the sidewalk, and walked away from her. Tripler But I’m kicking myself in the ass for renting the past five years. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/27 "2005-05-02T00:55:58Z")
> [@](#): > > **Chessesteak** said: > On the plus side, they help prevent the horrible hillbilly neighbors that my parents have who hang dead deer outside the kitchen window, During deer season, there will be on the occasion that a deer is killed by one of the people in this house, a deer hanging from a tree outside for one to two days. That does not make me a ‘horrible hillbilly’, and people like you are why I would rather shove broken glass up my ass than live with a homeowner’s association. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/28 "2005-05-02T11:13:35Z")
Honestly, it wasn’t JUST the deer, if it had only been a deer once a year, it would have been a funny story and that’s about it. Of course, the guy probably had a dozen other trees to choose from if he didn’t want the carcass outside our kitchen window, but that’s another tale. My parents are thinking if they sold their home, they’d lose tens of thousands of dollars purely due to the shabbyness of the neighboring properties. They’re also tired of looking out of their window to see the same beatup camper on the same blocks since '85, now that it’s starting to fall over, he might actually move it. It is unpleasant when your window looks out on junk strewn property. People hear about these things, live with these things, and decide that it’s worth giving up control over their own setup just as long as their neighbors are under similar rules. That’s the theory, reality seems to be a bit different, with the HOA sometimes being a worse menace than any shabby neighbor. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/29 "2005-05-02T14:36:03Z")
> [@](#): > > **Cheesesteak** said: > Honestly, it wasn’t JUST the deer, if it had only been a deer once a year, it would have been a funny story and that’s about it. Of course, the guy probably had a dozen other trees to choose from if he didn’t want the carcass outside our kitchen window, but that’s another tale. I’ve got lots of choices for trees from which to hang my deer, but I specifically chose the one I did because my neighbor is a nasty wench (who looks through people’s windows) and she wrote an anti-hunting screed to the newspaper that was all about the evils of hunting and hunters. So now my deer hang where they’re visible from her living room window. Course, so do my other neighbor’s deer. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/30 "2005-05-02T14:45:54Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > During deer season, there will be on the occasion that a deer is killed by one of the people in this house, a deer hanging from a tree outside for one to two days. That does not make me a ‘horrible hillbilly’, and people like you are why I would rather shove broken glass up my ass than live with a homeowner’s association. If I see that, I’m gonna come over and beg for some venison. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/31 "2005-05-02T14:58:45Z")
catsix, I didn’t know you were my mom’s neighbor! Nice to see people from the 'hood. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/32 "2005-05-02T14:59:05Z")
I don’t have a homeowners association, but my neighbor has actually called the city on me because I parked my motorcycle on the grass in my own freaking back yard. Mind you, this is was a running harley, not a rusted out piece of junk. So I’m planting bamboo all along the fence line as a privacy hedge…she hates bamboo, and I have a lot of it in my yard. Oughta keep her busy killing that stuff as it slides under the fence. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/33 "2005-05-02T15:17:13Z")
> [@](#): > > **Cheesesteak** said: > catsix, I didn’t know you were my mom’s neighbor! Nice to see people from the 'hood. Your mom walks up to people’s windows and looks through them to see what’s going on inside their house? Your mom writes angry letters about the evil hunters who dare kill deer and scare her pwecious into believing that Santa’s not coming because the deer are dead? She allows her two small children to play outside unattended (they’re 6 and 4) and doesn’t notice when they get into and play in the car which she leaves the keys in the ignition of? She doesn’t care that they damage the property of the neighbors by riding their battery powered motor vehicles over their lawns, through their landscaping, and chips the edges off their concrete driveways? She lets her humongous dogs run loose to crap on the neighbors’ lawns? She complains that the other people who live on the street are a hazard to her children when they drive down the street (most of us at less than 15 mph because you never know when her kids will be playing in the street), yet she herself looks like she’s trying to win the quarter mile drag race as she bolts in and out of her driveway? Cause if not, I don’t live near your mom. If she were anything other than a nasty, vile, pain in the ass, I’d hang my deer behind my house where they’re not visible from her window. At least this way, she’s glaring at me for a reason. > [@](#): > > **asterion** said: > If I see that, I’m gonna come over and beg for some venison. I’d be happy to invite you for some dinner. How do you like your butterfly chops? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/34 "2005-05-03T10:54:57Z")
Ewwww, that’s a nasty neighbor, my condolences. ---
**Author:** ![Cherry2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cherry2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cherry2000)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657/35 "2005-05-05T04:07:20Z")
I too would perfer to live in an area with no HOA. Unfortunately, it’s getting harder and harder to find places without one. Personally, I can do without the Condo Commandos and the Clean Sidewalk Club breathing down my neck…or my neighbor’s for that matter. I think that some of these people get elected to the board and something snaps in their brains…they go all school crossing guard/hall monitor nutso (Respect ma Auth-or-i-ty!). I have better things to do than care if my neighbor’s garbage can isn’t behind the fence two seconds after the trash is picked up. I don’t give a rat’s ass what type of bushes someone plants. It saddens me when I think that there are some people out there who just can’t behave with a modicum of respect for those around them, and use common sense about what might be bothersome to their neighbors…so some people feel the need to create organizations to run our lives for us and dictate even the smallest details of our existence (and charge us for the priviledge, no less). _sigh_ Now if y’all will excuse me, I need to go outside and make sure the lawn is of regulation height… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/filthy-condo-nazis/301657.md?page=1)