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Originally Posted by Littlelu View Post
Not keeping up with your yard could be because of a lot of reasons, not just monetarily.
Personally I wouldn't and don't want to live in a neighborhood where every yard has to be perfect, bug free and mowed every 5 days. I like things to look nice but not everyone does and remember we live
in an imperfect world so tolerance is in order.........just my personal opinion, mind you! I have mine and you have yours.
Not keeping up your yard--your spouse just died. You have just been diagnosed with a serious disease. Obviously you've got better things to do. You were in an accident--you are temporarily unable to care for your yard. These things happen.
I agree 100% with this post. Most yards look great and most people take pride in their yards. The only time I have EVER seen a house with tall weeds growing up was a foreclosed house. It did look horrible and I think that town probably got after the bank or whoever was responsible and got it taken care of. But I don't need to see a lawn mown according to strict schedule, I don't mind at all if somebody's grass gets a little too tall. It's not my problem and they will get to it when they get the time. Maybe it rained on their day off and they couldn't mow it. I can understand that.
We don't need to spray pesticides around here and I'm glad of it because I don't want poisons sprayed on anything anywhere near where I live. There is organic lawn care or there are weeds and it's fine with me. I don't go over anybody's lawn with a magnifying glass looking for weeds. I also don't want to take my dog for a walk and have him lick or sniff somebody's poisoned lawn. We all pick up after our dogs and I've lived in rich towns and poor towns, mostly in the middle, and we have always had the philosophy of live and let live. Tolerance. Boy, I could never live in an HOA. We take care of our yard just fine without rules and so do most people I have ever seen everywhere I've lived. We are planting imported pendulous tuberous begonias in the window boxes--hahahahaha. So I could never live in an HOA where they dictate what you can plant! lol
So you are totally free to move somewhere where you can knee high weeds in your yard (which is not my HOA). Robyn
What kind of people would let the weeds grow knee high in the first place? I mean, this is not commonly, if ever, encountered. I almost feel like taking a video of all the neighborhoods around here just to show how nice the yards look with no HOA at all. There's no need for these rules.
When I lived in suburbia the d*** lawn mowers were going all weekend. Everybody put lime on their lawns in the fall and fertilized them in the spring. It's a non issue. You must have some weird people living there if they allow the weeds to grow knee high. I don't think the poster I quoted wants knee high weeds, nobody does, nobody I've ever known of anyway.
This thread has so much potential if it had gone a different direction and different scenario. A very legitimate discussion of the topic is retirement and having the sufficient resources long term to keep and maintain adequate and appropriate housing. We all know out living your money is a fear and certainly a well kept property is going to bite the dust prior to other things. Seniors face the challenge of roofing and HVAC repairs etc just like everyone else. We always read tales about seniors and rising property taxes forcing the issue for them. Lawn care probably goes early on in the game for many. The ramifications are considerable and futue blight a reality in some communities which isn't going to help senior sell to go into more appropriate housing. Hmmmmm reverse mortgage equity value?
Yes it has gotten off track. It is about how seniors can and do deal with housing issues. It is not about HOA's, lawn chemicals, etc. I hope it gets back on track.
Originally Posted by johngolf;34757325
One thing any homeowner should do is to find good and fair repair/maintenance people to do what is necessary especially when they cannot do such due to age or inability. I have such an HVAC company and an auto mechanic I trust. Also have a local tire and auto service place I trust. Most anything else can be done by a good handyman though finding such is a task in itself. The best sources I have found are personal recommendations from friends, family, etc. [B
and never, never, never hire a family member..........LOL
[/b]
Amen to that. I drove through your city on 4/4 on my way to Asheville. It looked like a nice spot.
You may not be aware that Teddy's reference to gays in church was in response to someone who had found and quoted a previous post of his in another thread (possibly in another forum also). That link to Teddy's previous post was taken down by a moderator, leaving his post "orphaned" and without apparent context. In other words, he was just defending himself.
The disgusting thing about someone posting a link to a different forum in order to discredit me was that it was done by a poster here who is also a moderator on City-Data.
I do believe TOS should apply equally to all posters regardless if they are moderators or not.
Reminds me of my OP where my complaint was certain people getting special treatment.
When someone moves into a community such as those that are HOAs it goes without saying that they are accepting the terms and conditions of living in that community.
To answer what I think the OP is broaching, after going back six times to it to try to get it (in the OP he did not state whether his is a formal HOA community or one in which seniors comprise the majority of dwellings), it would be nice to have a "committee" to have some social conscience for those whose financial circumstances have changed since moving in and who are thus unable to uphold their responsibility to maintain their grounds. I continue to hold the view of the HOA maintaining a small fund and offering an application for assistance on a temporary basis. If assistance is not needed (seen by the responses on the application), then it's clear there is negligence and then that's that.
Having lived in HOAs (2 of them) since 1981, I see nothing but pitfalls in having a committee trying to exercise "social conscience" and determine financial need.
My current very large HOA has paid groundskeepers who maintain common grounds. When a homeowner fails to maintain a yard, the groundskeepers do it (mow and water, but not fertilize, grass only) and the HOA adds a charge to the homeowner's monthly fee. In most cases, the homeowners thank the workers and are happy to pay. Some deliberately choose to let the HOA take care of their routine mowing, and call in a lawn service for periodic weeding, fertilizer, etc. Quite a number are gone for long periods in the summer, and they know the HOA will take care of the yard. It's all spelled out in the bylaws.
(Happily, the HOA's tolerant of various landscaping styles so a lot of us have alternatives to lawns that don't require any mowing and minimal watering or other maintenance. Our numbers increase ever year. )
Having lived in HOAs (2 of them) since 1981, I see nothing but pitfalls in having a committee trying to exercise "social conscience" and determine financial need.
My current very large HOA has paid groundskeepers who maintain common grounds. When a homeowner fails to maintain a yard, the groundskeepers do it (mow and water, but not fertilize, grass only) and the HOA adds a charge to the homeowner's monthly fee. In most cases, the homeowners thank the workers and are happy to pay. Some deliberately choose to let the HOA take care of their routine mowing, and call in a lawn service for periodic weeding, fertilizer, etc. Quite a number are gone for long periods in the summer, and they know the HOA will take care of the yard. It's all spelled out in the bylaws.
(Happily, the HOA's tolerant of various landscaping styles so a lot of us have alternatives to lawns that don't require any mowing and minimal watering or other maintenance. Our numbers increase ever year. )
I agree with the pitfalls of "social conscience". Where does one draw a line?
One way to prevent some using the groundskeepers from being their personal lawn service is for the HOA to raise the fees thus costing them more then having a lawn service of their own. Now if this is a "left handed" arrangement that works for all (groundskeepers. HOA, owners, neighbors, etc.), then ignore what I said....LOL
I just looked up our city ordinance (no HOA) and I can let my grass grow to 10" before I will be cited by the city. If it gets longer they send a warning letter and then a second with a mow by date and then they will come and do it and bill you. There would be a lien against the house with additional fines and interest and fees until it's paid. They won't care if I hobble with a hanky or if I'm elderly. This seems to work here. The neighbors, and I mean everyone that lives in a 4 block radius, would not be so patient.
One way to prevent some using the groundskeepers from being their personal lawn service is for the HOA to raise the fees thus costing them more then having a lawn service of their own. Now if this is a "left handed" arrangement that works for all (groundskeepers. HOA, owners, neighbors, etc.), then ignore what I said....LOL
Works well, the HOA is 41 years old, we've been here 21 years and I don't recall individual yard care ever being an issue. It just gets done.
This thread has so much potential if it had gone a different direction and different scenario. A very legitimate discussion of the topic is retirement and having the sufficient resources long term to keep and maintain adequate and appropriate housing. We all know out living your money is a fear and certainly a well kept property is going to bite the dust prior to other things. Seniors face the challenge of roofing and HVAC repairs etc just like everyone else. We always read tales about seniors and rising property taxes forcing the issue for them. Lawn care probably goes early on in the game for many. The ramifications are considerable and futue blight a reality in some communities which isn't going to help senior sell to go into more appropriate housing. Hmmmmm reverse mortgage equity value?
Can you rephrase in one sentence what the OP is asking? And what kind of answer seems wanted? And also how you would frame the issue in question without other issues clouding?
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So I could never live in an HOA where they dictate what you can plant! lol
Works well, the HOA is 41 years old, we've been here 21 years and I don't recall individual yard care ever being an issue. It just gets done.
