Why do people put up with HOA's? (Fairfax: apartment, city hall)

[normie]

It's too bad they don't answer the $2400 question: What do they do about it?

Do any of your Ashburn people know? Do they issue fines? Leave reminders? Look the other way, but hope people go along with the rules?

[Older&Wiser]

Normie - we didn't think that question needed asking when we looked further and saw this page--

Architectural Guidelines (http://www.ashburnfarmassociation.org/ARB_Guidelines/Mailboxes.htm - broken link)

You MUST get a certain color of paint from Olympic or Behr (Home Depot).
Enough said, no further questions necessary, everyone get in line and march in step. Hut,two three four!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[newgatedenizen]

OK. The mailbox thing is an extreme example and while I personally think that is ridiculous if you know in advance that's in the HOA regs than too bad I guess. As someone else pointed out the degree to which minor issues are enforced widely varies by HOA. In our HOA there are numerous properties with all kinds of minor architectural violations but everyone lets it slide. Only the more egregious violations are pursued.

On another note, the title of this thread invites a defense of HOA’s but yet HOA defenders are being chastised as being “defensive”.

[HEATHER72]

I suspect many of you think Ashburn's HOA is to the extreme, but to me the website is informative. Say I'm a homeowner and my mailbox is looking a bit on the rough side and I want to repaint it. All I have to do is go to the website to get the paint info. I'm sure that website is a whole lot easier to comprehend than the covenant rule book itself. I stand by what I said earlier... if you do not like the convenants of a certain neighborhood and cannot conform, do not live there.

[normie]

Originally Posted by Older&Wiser

Normie - we didn't think that question needed asking when we looked further and saw this page--

Architectural Guidelines (http://www.ashburnfarmassociation.org/ARB_Guidelines/Mailboxes.htm - broken link)

You MUST get a certain color of paint from Olympic or Behr (Home Depot).
Enough said, no further questions necessary, everyone get in line and march in step. Hut,two three four!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks but... that didn't answer my question.

My question was, what do they do to enforce this rule. As has been pointed out numerous times, some HOAs take rules seriously, but many post rules, and then look the other way. If Ashburn is able to post photos of rules violators, I am guessing it's one of the places that looks the other way.

[Older&Wiser]

Euro, you stated that you live in Ashburn, do they enforce the rules or let things slide?

[EuroExpat]

Originally Posted by Older&Wiser

Euro, you stated that you live in Ashburn, do they enforce the rules or let things slide?

You know what, I have no idea. I know they send constant reminders if something isn't fixed but luckily we haven't had problems with them (except the lovely clothes line issue, we fixed it right away and never heard back from them). I have to ask from the neighors, maybe they know.

[5stones]

Count me in too! Nothing beats "Hidden Potential", "Flip That House" and "House Hunters" (esp the International version!!).

OMG!! I AM NOT ALONE?!?
can we have a suppoert group? Holmes on Holmes is a new favourite (add the u for the Canadian!!)

as for rules violations... OUr HOA in Leesburg had a huge book...not unlike ashburn. gave the paint colors "approved " by the HOA for trim shutter etc... only black mailboxes...etc..

But..you could get "approval" for things if you asked, most times they were approved.
I know they send out letter saying you have a violation...paint peeling, siding is moldy, fence is broken etc... and give you time to fix it...then a second letter is issued.

LOTS of times, unless someone complains...thye let it slide esp. if it's something minor. Aslo it depends on who the President of the HOA is at the time some are extreme "rule nazis" and spend all thier spare time trolling the neighobrhood for violations. Others..not so much. The current Presiden at our old HOA, was lazy and his house probably had more violations than anyone esle..so no he won't report a thing!!

It's such a "grey" area in enforcing the rules. I know some HOAs here in TX have under fire becuase they can actually put lien on property and force foreclousers for failure to pay dues etc....

[normie]

Originally Posted by HEATHER72

I suspect many of you think Ashburn's HOA is to the extreme, but to me the website is informative. Say I'm a homeowner and my mailbox is looking a bit on the rough side and I want to repaint it. All I have to do is go to the website to get the paint info. I'm sure that website is a whole lot easier to comprehend than the covenant rule book itself. I stand by what I said earlier... if you do not like the convenants of a certain neighborhood and cannot conform, do not live there.

Nicely stated! I think most people who choose to live in an HOA feel that way. They wouldn't choose to live in an HOA in the first place if they didn't like living in a community with guidelines.

[knopfler]

Originally Posted by 5stones

OMG!! I AM NOT ALONE?!?
can we have a suppoert group? Holmes on Holmes is a new favourite (add the u for the Canadian!!)

as for rules violations... OUr HOA in Leesburg had a huge book...not unlike ashburn. gave the paint colors "approved " by the HOA for trim shutter etc... only black mailboxes...etc..

But..you could get "approval" for things if you asked, most times they were approved.
I know they send out letter saying you have a violation...paint peeling, siding is moldy, fence is broken etc... and give you time to fix it...then a second letter is issued.

LOTS of times, unless someone complains...thye let it slide esp. if it's something minor. Aslo it depends on who the President of the HOA is at the time some are extreme "rule nazis" and spend all thier spare time trolling the neighobrhood for violations. Others..not so much. The current Presiden at our old HOA, was lazy and his house probably had more violations than anyone esle..so no he won't report a thing!!

It's such a "grey" area in enforcing the rules. I know some HOAs here in TX have under fire becuase they can actually put lien on property and force foreclousers for failure to pay dues etc....

I think the group of us have hit on the #1 potential problem that HOAs can have, which is the uneven enforcement of rules and in some cases claiming to have an ability to enforce things that they really don't have the stomach to follow through on.

In our condo unitowners association - which functions very similarly to an HOA because our units are townhouse-style - they go through periodic fits and pangs, which generally are minor stuff (there's a hose in the front yard, the fence needs to be power-washed, stuff like that) that gets a letter or two generated, but from what I can tell, no actual consequences for noncompliance.

I think one of the determinants of whether there's any actual consequences for ignoring HOA/COA requests is what the condo or HOA fee actually covers. I'd wager that condo fees that cover all/most utilities get action pretty darn well quickly compared to a HOA that just covers "common area" type stuff. Why? The condo association can cut off your power if you don't comply in the former, whereas in the latter, the HOA (at least in Virginia) can really do that has teeth is file a lien against the property if they *really* want to - but that's expensive to do, and if there's any instance where a similar violation didn't have that same action taken, the lien's probably going to get thrown out if/when it gets challenged. All their squawking aside, they're more or less paper tigers.

I think the best way to deal with most of these organizations is as background chatter.