Building a deck - Permit needed?

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by hinke

Thanks for the tip, sure enough we need approval from our HOA as well (and pay more fees!) They have 30 days stated, but they will do their best to be done sooner! I'm also becoming very sarcastic about HOA's.....it's not enough to get approval from the city, the HOA wants their own permit and money of course! We're talking about a wooden deck on my property!

Yeah, that's a bummer. I'm not anti-HOA, but that is one if the PITA things you put up with when living there.

The good news is, your neighbor can't built a grotesque cabana that you're stuck looking at from your back porch either. So it cuts both ways, good and bad.

I actually moved from my non-HOA neighborhood a year and a half ago after getting fed up with the declining aesthetics. The neighborhood was turning into a joke, and a prime example of what can happen when no enforcement is in place. I actually got boos and cat calls at the neighborhood meeting to discuss such matters when I suggested that the neighborhood was starting to "look pretty scruffy" with broken mailboxes, rotted decrepit fences, uncompleted remodeling projects, and deed restriction violations at just about every property.

One neighbor said sarcastically, "this isn't Circle C", to which I replied, "yes, that's quite obvious to anyone who drives through". Another suggested if I didn't like it, I could move, which is what I did, and thankfully so, as I sold my house at the top of the market, probably for $100K more than it's worth now.

Anyway, didn't mean to get sidetracked, other than to point out that even though it's a pain, there are upsides to having an HOA and the enforcement it provides.

Steve

[woodinvilleguy]

Wow, your HOA wants money? mine didn't, that is crazy.