Why HOA? (Reston: low income, house, neighborhoods)

[normie]

Originally Posted by bornindc

You don't need an HOA to handle that. I know that Fairfax County is pretty vigilant about this stuff, you can't leave rusted cars in your front yard or pave your lawn. Fairfax Zoning will be on you ASAP if they get a report. As an example, recently in my neighborhood (which has no HOA) someone was having a "yard sale" (selling cheap cr*p they probably got at the thrift store or something) every weekend for a couple of months. A neighbor reported it, zoning was out there early that Saturday and shut it down. I don't know if Loudoun is this diligent but Fairfax County definitely handles any major issues like those you mention.

Good point, and I'm happy it worked out so expediently in your situation. It's great to hear that people happily live in both HOA and non HOA situations. We have something for everyone. Zoning laws are good here, but at the same time counties have lots of things to deal with. I wonder if a county can regularly respond to a situation as fast as an HOA can.

It's true that most of my personal preference for HOA came from situations in California. Haven't seen too many problems out here. The one time I can recall was last year, when a homeowner in Fairfax left two cars with for sale signs out along Algonkian Parkway (the section near Rt 7, before it becomes part of Loudoun). This is a fairly scenic drive, and the cars were left on a little hill--a particularly visible (and pretty) spot. Even though they appeared to be right along the Parkway, the hill was part of someone's non-HOA property. I don't know why he thought parking those cars there was a smart idea--they never sold. They just sat there, rusting. And as time passed, the signs got cruddy, too.

I had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I support property rights and I like the idea of having plenty of non-HOA communities where people can park their cars wherever they want and put big signs all over them if they want. On the other hand these rusting cars really were eyesores for everyone using the parkway. There were a few articles about it in the paper, but the cars remained there for months. Months. Finally the county took some action, but not until those cars had been there more than half a year.

Cascades HOA starts just a mile or so north of where those cars sat. If they had been within the HOA boundaries they would have been out of there post haste.

[Guamanians]

HOA's are bad! Why should we pay extra $$$ to a group of people so that can infinge on our rights as a homeowner. Plus the fact that we are all paying taxes to the city, county, state, etc. to enforce laws. If the HOA gets involved then the local gov't agencies will just keep out of neighborhood issues, but they still patrol the streets handing out speeding tickets, etc. Then they have the guts to call and ask for donations to support their efforts...all the while they are keeping our tax $$$. HOA's are as bad as speed bumps, photo-tickets, HOV lanes... Wake up people!!!

[normie]

Originally Posted by Guamanians

Then they have the guts to call and ask for donations to support their efforts...all the while they are keeping our tax $$$.

I'm not sure if you're saying this phone caller is claiming to be HOA or a county official, but if they're asking for donations it sounds like someone's pulling a phone scam to me.

Originally Posted by Guamanians

HOA's are as bad as speed bumps, photo-tickets, HOV lanes... Wake up people!!!

LOL gotta say I agree with this statement... of course IMO those are good things, too.

[Guamanians]

Normie,
here is what I am saying... I am against any gov't or non gov't group that takes away freedoms and/or charges money to provide services that should already be provided for (funded by taxpayer $$$) We need common sense laws that serve all citizens, and laws that are primarily for safety. Too many of our laws are restrictive in nature, but yet they claim to be good for us. (see previous post) The Government is in place to serve the people, not the other way around. Why should we pay taxes for police, and then get issued a photo-ticket and pay more $$$. Meanwhile down the street there is a teenage girl getting raped while the neighborhood cop is at Krispy Kreme eating donuts. The US taxpayer is not getting our moneys worth! If neighborhoods are not safe then we should demand police do their jobs and enforce the laws. HOA's are bad because they take away the resposibility for enforcing common-sense laws from official agencies to HOA's... America is supposed to be a free country!

[South Jersey Styx]

I lived in Sterling in a new house with an HOA for 20 years. I couldn't stand them and looked forward to the day when I would be free from them. I ended up moving further west to Winchester and, when house-hunting, made sure that I bought a house with NO HOA.

Cities, counties, and townships have rules against excess garbage, rusty cars, loose dogs, etc. I don't believe in making someone else rich (an HOA org) who monitor things we should be monitoring ourselves.

[Guamanians]

South Jersey: Its good to know that I'm not the only one who feels that way.

[Denton56]

I've never lived under an HOA and never wanted to. When we were house hunting many real estate agents would put in their write up ''no hoa'', so it must be important to people. I live in a 5 year old neighborhood and we have no hoa. Such houses can be found.

[normie]

Originally Posted by Guamanians

Why should we pay taxes for police, and then get issued a photo-ticket and pay more $$$.

LOL, so you think paying taxes gives you some sort of exemption from having to follow traffic laws? Sorry, that's not how it works.

[normie]

Originally Posted by Denton56

I've never lived under an HOA and never wanted to. When we were house hunting many real estate agents would put in their write up ''no hoa'', so it must be important to people. I live in a 5 year old neighborhood and we have no hoa. Such houses can be found.

Exactly--it's very easy to find non HOA homes if you want one. So there's no need to eliminate HOAs. I'm not even sure how we'd go about eliminating HOAs anyway. You'd have to create more laws... which would be hypocritical since the whole point of banning HOAs is to protest having extra rules.

[normie]

Originally Posted by Guamanians

Normie,
here is what I am saying... I am against any gov't or non gov't group that takes away freedoms and/or charges money to provide services that should already be provided for (funded by taxpayer $$$) We need common sense laws that serve all citizens, and laws that are primarily for safety. Too many of our laws are restrictive in nature, but yet they claim to be good for us.

LOL, then think of it this way. HOAs actually protect you from higher taxes and from restrictive rules.

Why? Because if we didn't have HOAs, people would still want swimming pools and tennis courts and artificial lakes and marinas built in their neighborhoods. HOA fees pay for those things now. If you ban HOAs, then your taxes will go up to pay for building, maintaining, and staffing a bunch of recreational facilities you'd never use because they'll be in some corner of your county that's 40 miles from where you live.

Think about it--right now you can choose to live in a non-HOA neighborhood and not have to pay for a swimming pool in some rich guy's neighborhood. That seems like a good deal to me.

Same thing goes for restrictive rules. People who like restrictve rules (for example, a rule against trucks parking on a street) can choose to live in a rule-happy HOA. And you can choose to live in a non-HOA area and park your truck where you damn well please.

Eliminate the HOAs and the rules won't go away--they'll just become restrictive laws that affect everyone.