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Old 03-05-2008, 10:39 PM
 
Location: Jax
8,200 posts, read 35,340,143 times
Reputation: 3441

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ocklawaha View Post
Beer or Moonshine: It's okay to brew your own beer with the proper kits available from retail outlets, wine is also okay, but you must keep it in the confines of a spare room or garage. Moonshine stills are frowned upon, even though they can be much prettier with all the copper coils and such. The "thump" kegs keep the neighbors awake. Besides the Mayor is an oil guy and anyone making alternative fuels is subject to arrest.
No backyard stills? well now that's just un-Floridian!

I personally found Ocklawaha's HOA rules hysterical. Based on where he said he lived, he may be in an HOA neighborhood himself, so I think the post was all just for fun.

I've done both now - HOA and NO HOA. I found HOA in theory and HOA in practice to be 2 very different things.

I am definitely not sold on the idea that they "keep property values up" - I think that's the biggest lie of all. When you go to sell your home, the market will bear what homes are selling for in your area, which will usually be well beyond the boundaries of your neighborhood, it may expand to your entire zip code, and your HOA has no control over what goes on outside your development.

So I think you should choose an HOA neighborhood because you like it. I got along fine with my HOA and I was able to comply with the rules, but I personally will never choose an HOA neighborhood again, it's just not for me.
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Old 03-06-2008, 12:57 AM
 
Location: Klatu Nebula
133 posts, read 524,936 times
Reputation: 106
Talking Gottcha

Oh, the humanity! My poor, poor neighbors... Where do I live? Well you should NEVER say this online, it's bad for future HOA members. Let's say I can walk from the house to the Publix at Hodges and JTB in 5 minutes... Y'all are WAY TOO SERIOUS, life is too short to have such long faces.

I get a real kick out of some of the HOA groups. They do a real service in keeping the place looking nice and values high. They also often become little kingdoms rules by folks like Mrs Cravitz on the old TV show Bewitched. In my California neighborhood, they came and had to approve the flower beds, the plan for the beds and layout, color etc... of the flowers! NO KIDDING! So of course I sent in a sheet complete with opium poppys, mescal cacti etc... What a laugh.

Growing up in old Ortega, as I did, we had a giant oak tree in the back yard. NOTHING would ever grow under or near that darn tree. My daddy asked the Ortega Company all about it and got the funniest answer ever. "Why Mr. Mann, that's the richest soil in North Florida... Don't you know that before we cleared this lot, the feds busted up the largest moonshine still in Florida history under that old tree. They poured 50,000 gallons of the finest spirits out in that sand.

y'all need to lighten it up a bit. Jacksonville is just plain fun, everyone works so hard and partys hard too. Do something everyday to make someone smile. Just yesterday, I went into the bank and wrote a check for cash... On the memo I wrote, "For Rat Poison to kill neighbors kid," It took 15 minutes to cash that darn check as it went all over the office collecting laughs.

It's those little things that the HOA never thought of that I love so much. As a "Trolley Guy" there just are not any rules about having a real Trolley Car in the side or backyard... and frankly, they might want to consider covering that one. As for the railroad itself, 7 1/2" gauge track looks great around the garden, across the backyard, up the side and yes, across the front... After all they never said, "Thou shalt not build a railroad around thy house!" Ever hear the sound a steam locomotive whistle makes at 2 AM on a cold winter morning? NO? Funny, neither have my neighbors...



Welcome to my hood...HOA and all, but PLEASE don't get up tight about a few simple rules. Through omission they even allow for coal burners, they could have insisted on oil. hee hee.

Ocklawaha

Last edited by Ocklawaha; 03-06-2008 at 01:11 AM..
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Old 03-06-2008, 07:24 AM
 
Location: NE Florida
1,658 posts, read 4,715,960 times
Reputation: 896
Quote:
Originally Posted by riveree View Post
I personally found Ocklawaha's HOA rules hysterical. Based on where he said he lived, he may be in an HOA neighborhood himself, so I think the post was all just for fun.

I've done both now - HOA and NO HOA. I found HOA in theory and HOA in practice to be 2 very different things.

So I think you should choose an HOA neighborhood because you like it. I got along fine with my HOA and I was able to comply with the rules, but I personally will never choose an HOA neighborhood again, it's just not for me.
Yeah, I also found Ocklawaha's HOA rules hysterical, believe me, his skits always crack me up. But after rolling on the floor with laughter (not literally), I picked myself up and offered the OP my own thoughts on the theory behind HOAs. Sure, there are some HOA rules that can be a pain in the butt but like apvbguy says, you should do your research and know what you're getting into before you plop down in any community.

Quote:
I am definitely not sold on the idea that they "keep property values up" - I think that's the biggest lie of all. When you go to sell your home, the market will bear what homes are selling for in your area, which will usually be well beyond the boundaries of your neighborhood, it may expand to your entire zip code, and your HOA has no control over what goes on outside your development.
I don't agree that HOAs in general don't help to "keep property values up", I think they do. And when I go to sell my home I would hope it would be appraised alongside homes in my development and not homes miles away in another development.

Personally, I would not move blindly into a community here that did not have an association that looked after the standards of the community as long as those standards were fairly reasonable. Riv, it may be that you have neighbors that don't have conflicting living standards in which case you are fine without an HOA. We're both lucky.

Last edited by cricketfan; 03-06-2008 at 08:02 AM..
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Old 03-06-2008, 09:58 AM
 
8 posts, read 20,419 times
Reputation: 11
I don't get this about how you have to mow your lawn every week if you live in a townhouse. What is the point in living in a townhouse if you have to keep up your own lawn. I live in Minnesota and our association dues covers landscaping and lawn care, snow removal, trash hauling, and maintenance on the outside of the building. What are the dues there and what do they include?
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Old 03-06-2008, 01:09 PM
 
Location: St. Augustine FL
1,641 posts, read 5,009,069 times
Reputation: 2391
Quote:
Originally Posted by SRLADY View Post
I don't get this about how you have to mow your lawn every week if you live in a townhouse. What is the point in living in a townhouse if you have to keep up your own lawn. I live in Minnesota and our association dues covers landscaping and lawn care, snow removal, trash hauling, and maintenance on the outside of the building. What are the dues there and what do they include?
It all depends on the community. Townhomes may or may notcover everything that you mentioned (well, NOT snow removal), but not ALL. There are townhome communities that don't cover lawn maintenance, nor exterior building maintenance. Condominiums typically do cover exterior building maintenance. Anyway, each community has it's own fees, and it's own set of covered items.
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Old 03-06-2008, 03:39 PM
 
Location: Atlantic Highlands NJ/Ponte Vedra FL/NYC
2,689 posts, read 3,936,208 times
Reputation: 328
Quote:
Originally Posted by SRLADY View Post
I don't get this about how you have to mow your lawn every week if you live in a townhouse. What is the point in living in a townhouse if you have to keep up your own lawn. I live in Minnesota and our association dues covers landscaping and lawn care, snow removal, trash hauling, and maintenance on the outside of the building. What are the dues there and what do they include?
the townhouse I was renting included all the outside maintenance, I think it's fairly unusual for a townhouse community not to include lawn and grounds care, but if it isn't included your HOA fees are probably low, hire a crew and call it even
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Old 03-06-2008, 07:54 PM
 
Location: SE Florida
9,367 posts, read 25,131,120 times
Reputation: 9449
Oklawaha- a neighbor down the street has a train like that on is property. It is so cool- he even has a koi pond, with the trains running over a bridge above them!

To the OP and others thinking of purchasing in a deed-restricted community-

If someone is going to buy in a community with deed restrictions, it is a good idea to speak with someone who can explain the covenants and restrictions and the by-laws.

For instance, when I purchased a townhome in the community where my mom lives, it never occured to me to check to see if there was a common roof, shared with the next unit. We both lucked out, as ours are both separate. Some of the units here have a shared roof, making it very hard to reroof if you don't have cooperative neighbors.

Another thing that I didn't catch in our docs- there is a cap on increases in assessments of 5% per year. Anything above that must be approved by a majority of the owners. Sounds reasonable.....BUT our docs EXCLUDE landscaping in the definition of this assessment. And landscaping represents over 80% of our budget! There is a separate landscape assessment that has no cap. It states that the association shall provide landscaping services, etc. So when total quarterly assessment increased by 9% after several years of no increases, neighbors were up in arms. They saw the 5% cap in our docs, did the math on the new assessment amount and raised cane. It was only after we explained the budget and showed them the docs that they settled down. But several were still unhappy. Now what if a new board decided to replace landscaping, resod and really pimp out the landscaping? The increase could be much greater.

Not trying scare folks off from HOAs. But know what you are agreeing to BEFORE you buy and make sure to stay involved, even marginally, in the governance of your community.

Face it, the developers created these docs to sell homes. I personally like deed restrictions, but I also believe that it is important for all perspective buyers (and renters) to know what will be expected of them. Too many people see a beautiful townhouse with no lawn care responsibilities and fail to read the fine print.

If you are new to this type of neighborhood, it's always better to know the drill before you close, as you will sign docs that say you will abide by the C & Rs.
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Old 03-06-2008, 08:19 PM
 
Location: Atlantic Highlands NJ/Ponte Vedra FL/NYC
2,689 posts, read 3,936,208 times
Reputation: 328
Quote:
Originally Posted by HIF View Post
If you are new to this type of neighborhood, it's always better to know the drill before you close, as you will sign docs that say you will abide by the C & Rs.
caveat emptor
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Old 03-06-2008, 10:07 PM
 
Location: Jax
8,200 posts, read 35,340,143 times
Reputation: 3441
Quote:
Originally Posted by cricketfan View Post

I don't agree that HOAs in general don't help to "keep property values up", I think they do. And when I go to sell my home I would hope it would be appraised alongside homes in my development and not homes miles away in another development.
Really it doesn't though. When you go to sell, your realtor will do comps and other comparable homes outside of your neighborhood will factor in. The potential buyers looking at your home will compare yours to the other surrounding neighborhoods. These things your HOA has no control over.

You can only sell for what the market will bear and the market extends outside your neighborhood entrance. These HOAs like to portray the neighborhoods as if they live in a bubble and they have control over home values, but it's really not true.
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Old 03-06-2008, 10:18 PM
 
Location: Atlantic Highlands NJ/Ponte Vedra FL/NYC
2,689 posts, read 3,936,208 times
Reputation: 328
Quote:
Originally Posted by riveree View Post
Really it doesn't though. When you go to sell, your realtor will do comps and other comparable homes outside of your neighborhood will factor in. The potential buyers looking at your home will compare yours to the other surrounding neighborhoods. These things your HOA has no control over.

You can only sell for what the market will bear and the market extends outside your neighborhood entrance. These HOAs like to portray the neighborhoods as if they live in a bubble and they have control over home values, but it's really not true.
I'll say this, sure homes outside of my area have to factored into any valuation but the only true comps are within my development. This may not hold true everywhere but here it does
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