What do homeowners do in a situation like this?

[artemis]

@monstro

It’s not a gentrified neighborhood, by the way.

Which doesn’t mean that the Crazy Christian still wasn’t there first. Maybe they were there first and the surrounding neighbors didn’t have a problem moving in, and I’m just assuming its an eyesore when it’s not.

In a certain light, I could see the signs serving as some form of “outsider” art. Perhaps this is how the neighbors have come to seem them too.

Could be that, definitely, especially if the signs have been there a very long time. And if the house and yard are otherwise well-maintained and Crazy Christian has a local reputation of being an OK neighbor apart from the signage, I’m sure there would be plenty of people who’d overlook the placards if it meant the chance to move into an otherwise desirable neighborhood.

It’s also possible that the neighbors don’t find the signs offensive because they share Crazy Christian’s beliefs (just in a toned-down fashion). Let’s face it, we all find The Other Party’s political ads more bothersome than Our Own Party’s ads, and the same is true of religion.

One neighborhood I drive through every day on my way to work has its own Nutty Christian House featuring an impossible-to-miss yard sign. The thing is literally a billboard, about 6’ x 3’ and anchored into the ground by heavy support posts. Each side has the outline of an open Bible painted on it, with a Biblical quotation written across the pages. One side of the sign features some sort of “Jesus is Lord” biblical quote; the other says “In grace are ye saved of faith, NOT OF WORKS”. (Written like that, too, with the last three words twice as high as the others, all-caps and bolded.) It’s been there longer than I’ve lived in this city, but I’ve never gotten used to seeing that sign. It took me a while to figure out exactly what it was about the sign that set my teeth on edge, but I finally realized that what has me gritting my teeth whenever I look at it is not its Christian message, but it’s aggressive Protestantism. While agnostic now, I was raised Roman Catholic, and in some sense I still perceive that side of the yard billboard as an attack on me. Which is why the "Jesus is Lord’ side doesn’t bother me so much: whatever Biblical quote he’s using is a generic Christian one which causes no strife between Catholics and Protestants. I suspect someone raised Evangelical Protestant wouldn’t have as strong a reaction to the faith over works side of the sign, while someone raised in a non-Christian household might find both sides of the sign equally offensive.

Thinking about the house, though, has made me think about how risky homeowning is. Now I understand why homeowners get so worked up over stuff that seem so trivial to other people.

Absolutely! And I think people have such over-the-top reactions to the local nutcase or jerk’s behavior in part because it’s one of the few risks of homeownership they can at least partially influence. You can’t prevent natural disasters, and there’s not much you can do personally to keep your local community from becoming an economically depressed area no one wants to move to, but by God you can make your idiot neighbor pick the trash up out of his yard and keep his hedges trimmed!

I don’t think I’d like living under an HOA, and yet it seems like the best way to protect your investment. Of course, a person could stop seeing a house as an investment and stop sweating what the neighbors do.

I’d like to see that, too, but realistically it’s not going to happen as long as so many Americans put so much of their personal wealth into their homes. Of course, our society has just had an unpleasant reminder that home ownership is not a risk-free endeavour, so maybe we’ll begin to see a shift.

And as plenty of people have pointed out, HOAs come with their own set of problems. If run by the local Yard Nazis, they can be just as damaging to your property values as Crazy Sign Person is.

We can’t have nice things when people stop caring.

The existential dilemma of society, in a nutshell. How do we keep the jerks from spoiling it for everybody, without trampling over the non-jerks’ rights? It’s not easy!

[Labrador_Deceiver]

@Guinastasia

We have the Crazy Tea Party Neighbor. After the last two presidential elections, she flew the flag upside for a month. She has a big “NObama” sign on her porch, the Marine flag, the Gadsen flag, a “Michael Savage for President” bumper sticker on her big-ass SUV, etc. Her latest flag is the Confederate flag, only with the Gadsen emblem on it. WTF, woman, this is Pittsburgh, not Atlanta.

Seriously. I thought everybody from that shithole moved to Atlanta years ago.

[suranyi]

@bump

That’s the thing; in theory, HOAs are a good idea, but in practice, the rulership of the HOAs tend to fall to the idle nosey-nellies and do-gooders in the HOA jurisdiction.

And once that happens, you get ridiculous rules implemented after people moved in that restrict things like:

[ul]
[li]What sort of vehicles they can park in their driveways.[/li][li]Not only rules against goofy housepaint colors, but a specific approved list from approved vendors.[/li][li]Prohibitions on fences[/li][li]Prohibitions on edging, mowing, etc… that go beyond “Don’t let your yard turn into a jungle.” into “We’re going to cite you if you don’t mow it at least twice a week”[/li][li]Citations for not having your grass be kind of weedy and thin / dead spots.[/li][li]Prohibitions on certain types of lawn furniture in backyards[/li][li]Prohibitions on flagpoles in frontyards.[/li][li]Sign prohibitions[/li][li]Nosey intrusion into things like home improvements and additions beyond ensuring they’re up to code. Stuff like regulating that your shingles have to match your neighbors’ shingles.[/li][li] No sheds in your backyard.[/li][/ul]

I think few homeowners would argue with HOA restrictions that prevent hillbilly jerks from parking in their yards, but who wants to voluntarily submit to some other a-hole’s idea of what looks good for their house?

I disagree. I’ve lived in communities with HOAs for the past 40 years, mostly in condos and townhouses, and have not experienced problems of the sort you describe. Of course, in those communities my shingles naturally match my neighbors’, because it’s all one building and the HOA replaced the entire roof at one time.

[BlackKnight]

@Oliveritaly

Does the right to free speach also allow you to damage someone’s investment?

Of course it does. Why on earth wouldn’t it?

Let’s say Bob buys shares of North American Widget Corp worth $50,000. Shortly thereafter, NAWC introduces their new line of sleek 2014 widgets. Alice posts on her blog a scathing review of the new widgets, which goes viral and causes the stock of NAWC to drop. Bob’s shares are now worth only $35,000.

Assuming she hasn’t committed libel by making things up, Alice has simply exercised her right to free speech. This right has cost Bob (and every other investor in NAWC) significant amounts of money. Her free speech has damaged his investment - and I don’t think she has done anything wrong. Do you disagree?

If not, then why does the fact that the investment in question is a house make a difference?

[UncleRojelio]

I’m a homeowner. I don’t live in a HOA neighborhood and would not want to. I personally don’t give a crap what the neighbors are up to and I expect them to mind their own damn business about what I’m up to.

[bump]

@suranyi

I disagree. I’ve lived in communities with HOAs for the past 40 years, mostly in condos and townhouses, and have not experienced problems of the sort you describe. Of course, in those communities my shingles naturally match my neighbors’, because it’s all one building and the HOA replaced the entire roof at one time.

I think it’s a little different for condo owners (which I’m guessing you are)- most of the exterior maintenance and upkeep is done by the condo association/HOA anyway.

Where it gets weird is when you’re responsible for all that stuff on your own property, and you have some busy-body telling you what color you can paint your house and how often you have to mow your grass, and how high, etc…

[suranyi]

@bump

I think it’s a little different for condo owners (which I’m guessing you are)- most of the exterior maintenance and upkeep is done by the condo association/HOA anyway.

Where it gets weird is when you’re responsible for all that stuff on your own property, and you have some busy-body telling you what color you can paint your house and how often you have to mow your grass, and how high, etc…

Yes, I know those are two different situations. I’m just tired of some people saying there’s no reason for HOAs at all, when they are clearly needed for condos, just for basic maintainance.

[UrsusSiara]

If you don’t like what someone does with Their Property… Don’t look at it.

Surely you are in control of your faculties enough to ignore that which you don’t like.

And before you go traipsing off to City Hall to bitch about that which is not yours, remember this:

“REAL FREEDOM IS THE FREEDOM TO DO WITH YOURSELF AND YOUR PROPERTY WHAT OTHERS MAY DEEM AS FOOLISH”

or to put it another way:

“IF YOU AIN’T FREE TO BE STUPID, YOU AIN’T FREE!”

Ursus.

[artemis]

@UrsusSiara

If you don’t like what someone does with Their Property… Don’t look at it.

That’s rather hard to do when the property in question is right next door or directly across the street.

[Clothahump]

If I had the misfortune to live across the street, I’d damn sure have a sign up in my yard.

SATAN LIVES ACROSS THE STREET

[Doggo]

@BigT

I fail to see why I would care. It’s my home. I don’t give a crap about property values, but, even if I did, I don’t think I should have the right to tell someone what to do on their property. Valuing money so much that you think you ought to be able to stop someone’s free speech is rather assholish, in my opinion.

And that’s precisely why I and a lot of other people hate homeowners associations.

Seriously, I don’t get why it bothers you, let alone why you feel afraid. That, in my opinion, is your problem.

DITTO!
Good on you. I dislike people that want to tell everyone how to live.
Unless he’s disturbing people in their homes, leave him alone.

BTW, when did money become so almighty important that it over rules people’s rights?

[Steophan]

If your neighbour is making disturbing amounts of noise, you have a right to complain, as it’s not realistic to avoid that. Otherwise, mind your own damn business. Property values are a side effect of owning a house, not the reason to do so in the first place. The primary reason is to live in, or to rent to others to live in, and what someone else is doing in their garden or whatever has no effect on how you live in yours.

[artemis]

@Steophan

…what someone else is doing in their garden or whatever has no effect on how you live in yours.

It does if you have to constantly look at it.

[Cheryl44]

@montag01

I’ve got a neighbor up the street whose entire front yard is a homage to Disney. It’s the most garish, insane eyesore I’ve ever seen.

Just call the Disney police. Seriously, Disney has sued daycare centers over unapproved usage of trademarked characters on their walls and won.

[madmonk28]

@Doggo

DITTO!
Good on you. I dislike people that want to tell everyone how to live.
Unless he’s disturbing people in their homes, leave him alone.

BTW, when did money become so almighty important that it over rules people’s rights?

Reagan’s first term.

[Doggo]

@madmonk28

Reagan’s first term.

I guess he and Maggie Thatcher both ruined their respective countries then.

[FXMastermind]

@monstro

What do homeowners do in situations like this?

Depends. There is ignore it, laugh about it, or move. Then you got your complaints, lawsuits, and lawyers. Then you got your paint, poop and fire.

Fire never fails, but there is that whole going to prison thing.

[Stoid]

@monstro

What do homeowners do in situations like this?

As a homepwner, it wouldnt make any difference to me, I am Pretty thoroughly indifferent to what my neighbors do.

If I were home SELLER, however, I would be bummed out.

So I guess I would never actually “do” anything at all…

[Yllaria]

@monstro

. . . What do homeowners do in situations like this?

Be thankful it’s not garden gnomes.

[quote=“bump, post:71, topic:660763”]

. . .
[li]What sort of vehicles they can park in their driveways. . . [/li][/QUOTE]

One of our local HOAs won’t let owners park in the driveway or on the street, except as a very temporary thing. They have to go in the garage. It keeps up the park-like feel of the big front lawns with no sidewalks (curbs only).

I got a cheap used refrigerator because of that rule. A co-worker moved into the area, into a house with built in appliances. His old fridge, and a few other things, were taking up space in his three car garage and he had to clear it fast because he had already been given a notice.

@Cheryl44

Just call the Disney police. Seriously, Disney has sued daycare centers over unapproved usage of trademarked characters on their walls and won.

I think that the owner is probably safe if the items are properly purchased items.

[YogSothoth]

Unless you’re selling your house, and there are few situations severe enough to pack up your life and move, then who cares about property values? And even still, its their house, let them fuck it up