Ah, yes. Sounds like the nice lady who called the police on my mother.
Who dared the greivous sin of having a moving van in the street.
While she moved in.
And because the street itself is a fire lane (don’t get me started on the idiocy of this) the cops have to come out, every time.
So the nice officer came out, observed that the van was long gone, apologized for disturbing my mother, and went back to her actual job.
I’m sure that the Chairman of the HOA will tell you that while chairs in basements are technically against the rules (winks, then nudges you like you are best buds) he might look the other way on that one…
HOAs are evil. Or at least every one potentially is. Once they get to any size they are just as inefficient, bickering, and ineffective as local government can be. The board members at my old HOA (got out of there last year) were rich retired busybodies that had nothing better to do than bicker and try to spend money.
Ya’ll are scaring me.
We start our house hunt today in Boston–ok apartment hunt–and they ALL have HOAs.
Hmm. These HOAs sound like nothing so much as the busybody/snitch ‘neighbourhood watch’ committees that Communist China used to have.
One of my lottery fantasies is to buy into someplace with a very restrictive HOA and violate every rule and litigate every violation I received until I bankrupt them. In the meantime, I’d hire folks to keep everyone’s yard mowed or whatever and throw fabulous, loud parties and invite everyone but the HOA. Kind of like Rodney Dangerfield’s character in Caddyshack.
Sort of. A bunch of arbitrary rules that may or may not be enforced, depending on the community. The HOA where I lived had rules against leaving your trash cans next to the curb, having any signs in your yard, or having more than one outbuilding on your property, stuff like that.
Plus when you have to pay dues and they’re spending your money, it comes down to another level of government you have to listen to. Federal->State->County->HOA. I moved out and reduced my government involvement 25%!
I think it depends on the nature of the HOA and how strong they are. The neighborhood I grew up in was built in the 1970s and for the most part the home owners association was pretty toothless, they may enforce a rule on keeping your lawn at a reasonable height or not having cars parked in your yard but thats about it.
I don’t have one but then I can call the city to complain if my neighbors lawn gets too overgrown. Also if you live in a historical district then the city gets to be just as demanding as any homeowners association.
An ex-fiance of mine lived in a small townhouse complex that had Very Strict Rules. At one point he had to get a new front door. Said door had to be painted an exact color, from an exact manufacturer, that was available at only one store in town.
Personally I wanted to paint it hot pink or something just to piss them off.
Buy the approved door and have it repainted with a color that is just slightly different than the approved color.
That last part makes it sound like someone somewhere was getting a little kickback. Hmmm. The mind boggles, eh?
Yeah, piddly little stuff like that would drive me mad. Why on God’s green earth is it any of my neighbor’s business if I have both a tool shed and a garden shed on my property?
You want chairs on your porch so you can sit out there and spy on your neighbors, and then report the ones who have pink mums instead of the regulation yellow.
Well, I guess my HOA is nothing out of the ordinary.
Meeting is set for Thursday. I will keep you posted. If I don’t post after Thu night, check the local newspapers. My picture might be in one.
Are you any relation to Arthur “Two Sheds” Jackson?
So what’s the game plan?
Are asses going to be kicked, and names taken?
UPDATE: I am in jail. Please send money for bail.
Actually, the meeting went up without violent incidents. We went through the last report, and I told everyone that the time for questions was right there, that if anyone had any doubts I would hope they would ask it to me, and if no questions were asked it would be assumed everything was in order.
I also told them I had kept copies of all the documents during my tenure, just in case they ever wanted to pay for an audit. Yenta kept her yap shut because one of the first items on the agenda was about owners who paid late, of which there was only one.
I have no doubt that she will go back to the same bullshit again, but it is clear from everybody else’s attitude that they don’t pay attention to her. All the other owners have been maligned by her, so they have no sympathy for her and she has no credibility.
I am glad I will be out of here by Tuesday.
Re: The colour of paint on doors, the doors themselves and such.
Its NOt a kick back scheme. Its to maintain the value of the entire complex. The reason that paint colours and door styles are regulated to defined providers are to maintain the overall look/curb appeal of the complex. They have the specs on record. If you want to try and do better on your own go ahead… just match the specs you signed up for- the reason that the manufacturers are mentioned is that they often give special pricing or contractually agree to compliance.
If you want to have a hot pink door, then buy your own detached house. Your decisions affect the value of the property you are a part of, grow up, admit to the truth and either work with the HOA of go buy a house…
sorry if I sound a bit nasty about this But I hace been on the board of a HOA for 5 yrs, and it seems the people that bitch the most contribute the least… On my own, I probably contributre about 25 hr/month, and we have 4 other board members that meet or beat that. When was the last time you put that kind of commitment into your HOA?
FML
I had a detached house with a yard and a two car garage. My HOA yelled at me for having chairs on my porch! And they took so long getting around to approving my request to get a storm door (one of those ones with the sliding panel so it can either be all glass or half glass/half screen) that I finally just went and got one and said to hell with them. I’d say about 1/3 of the houses in the development (couple hundred houses) had storm doors, all of which were either black or brown, in varying styles. My door was black so I got a black storm door. They never said anything about that, thank god.
My point is just that buying a real house doesn’t get you out of the what-color-is-your-door thing. It’s not just for attached houses/condos. Your post implies that buying a house gets you out of those restrictions.
Personally, I don’t mind the idea of having to get the color you want approved by a committee or anything. That would assure that the color schemes of the houses stayed tasteful and so on and keep you from being the guy stuck next to the hot pink and green house. But I’d like the ability to pick out that tasteful color scheme, you know? Not have to pick from “these specific four colors” or whatever.
And this is why I will endeavor to never again live in a development with an HOA.
Land, land is the solution. Buffer zones. If people can’t fucking see your house, they’ll have nothing to complain about.