What's so bad about HOAs? (cow, horse, community, USA)
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We had a nieghbor who raised pigs in and old time sty. They were well treated and tasted very good. From time to time they would escape and head for a nearby creek esp in the summer. I often helped with the farm chores on weekends to give them a rest.
The family raised livestock the organic way dating back before chemicals.
The barns would be cleaned out from time to time and spread on the fields. Seeds were saved.
Thier major concession to modernity were some old tractors that were considered almost worthless in the 70's. A wealthy farmer let them have a 1921 John Deere. One of the things they did was collect scrap metal.
The family was not so sure having the interstate hwy come through in the 1950's was really much of blessing.
All would be considered dastardy criminals today by many even though they paid their own way in society.
On this thread there is a culture clash vs people working on old cars and riding dirt bikes and atvs. I cant object to people having guns who use them safely or riding recreational vehicles. There were evern kids who brought guns to school for speech class and show and tell, just had leave them in the Principles office if they were to be taken into the school.
Some people tried to start a HOA where I lived, who wanted me to move.
It turned out to be rather fun taking them on. Since there was no TV where I had lived, to get a good story you need to read a good book. So I really was able to slam the SAT's. I got a free ride to a moderately selective college. So figured out where the leverage was, without breaking and enforceable law had a nice talk with them using measured words.
If someone's personality fits the HOA lifestyles go for it. Over the next 5 to 10 years the fussy lifestyle may not be affordable for the overwhelming majority of people anyway.
We had a nieghbor who raised pigs in and old time sty. They were well treated and tasted very good. From time to time they would escape and head for a nearby creek esp in the summer. I often helped with the farm chores on weekends to give them a rest.
The family raised livestock the organic way dating back before chemicals.
The barns would be cleaned out from time to time and spread on the fields. Seeds were saved.
Thier major concession to modernity were some old tractors that were considered almost worthless in the 70's. A wealthy farmer let them have a 1921 John Deere. One of the things they did was collect scrap metal.
The family was not so sure having the interstate hwy come through in the 1950's was really much of blessing.
All would be considered dastardy criminals today by many even though they paid their own way in society.
On this thread there is a culture clash vs people working on old cars and riding dirt bikes and atvs. I cant object to people having guns who use them safely or riding recreational vehicles. There were evern kids who brought guns to school for speech class and show and tell, just had leave them in the Principles office if they were to be taken into the school.
Some people tried to start a HOA where I lived, who wanted me to move.
It turned out to be rather fun taking them on. Since there was no TV where I had lived, to get a good story you need to read a good book. So I really was able to slam the SAT's. I got a free ride to a moderately selective college. So figured out where the leverage was, without breaking and enforceable law had a nice talk with them using measured words.
If someone's personality fits the HOA lifestyles go for it. Over the next 5 to 10 years the fussy lifestyle may not be affordable for the overwhelming majority of people anyway.
Culture clash eh?
30 or 40 or 50 years ago there was no ATVs flying and zooming about, people had more respect for each other etc. I am in my mid 30s but I think I should have lived in those times. I have no problem with someone riding an ATV on their big ranch for work or fun, I have a problem when six or eight people get together with their ATVs and that's all you hear all day long. Now, where I come from that's RUDE, not "culture".
Personally, I don't like HOAs and one of the requirements when I bought my home was no HOA. I try to minimize the number of payments I have that never go away!
Las Vegas has many HOAs. Some are reasonable, others are draconian. A few even employ traffic officers and give out their own tickets. Because of the housing issues here, there are many vacant homes and some HOAs have raised their dues to make up for the vacant properties. It can be quite an expense. I don't like the idea of being told I can't have a hose in the yard or park in my driveway. I also didn't want to live in an area with all the houses painted the same. I think that looks incredibly boring.
There no doubt people who like living in a strictly regulated environment.
It looks like it could be nightmare, esp when alot of may be about keeping up "real estate values" No values tend to be often less then what people owe anyway.
It looks alot like giving up freedom for security and winding up with niether.
I have all the drama I can use just trying to earn a good living, and provide for the family
I've seen both sides of the HOA issue. We bought a house in a neighborhood whose HOA was run by "Mrs. Kravitz." Many on the board were retired and had nothing better to do that stick their nose in everyone's business. We spent an arm and a leg finding a shed that matched our home exactly. They told us were to put it on our property.
Why did we buy in this neighborhood? The yards were spotless, the homes fresh and clean, and every trash bin in its place. When we relocated 3 years later, we sold the place in the blink of an eye for quite a profit.
It was worth the inconvenience to protect our investment.
When we retire, we will look for a place without an HOA. Cause I don't care what our place is worth when we are dead and gone!
Not all HOA's are created equal. I was the president of a bedroom community HOA for a few years in the early 90s and was pretty easy to get along with. We had very limited fees if memory serves, $150 a year that paid for street lights, road maintenance when needed, flowers at the entrance, a summer picnic, fall hayride and our annual HOA meeting dinner which was well attended. Seemed like a good deal.
I did see where if the HOA board becomes unbalanced in either direction there could be problems. One of our board members/architectural officer got all twisted in a knot over the color that someone painted one of the few non-cedar sided homes. It was a shade of clear mauve with cream trim, wine accents. It was a professional paint job. While not necessarily a color that I'd choose, it was attractive, did not detract from the other homes and it did not technically violate "colors found in nature" that our HOA rules demanded. It took a while to get the offended board member to cool down and see reason before he got into the homeowner's face about compliance and starting a ruckus in the neighborhood. If there had been six others like him, we would have had trouble in paradise. The uptight officer eventually moved to another area with tighter covenants as he was disgusted with us all. We moved out in the mid-90's to get closer to work to an older established non-HOA neighborhood in the city. We occasionally drop by the old neighborhood when in the area. The place has aged well and still seems peaceful.
HOAs can work and do what was intended or they can be a PITA or worse. Depends on the set-up, the residents and the power players. Any one of those gets out of whack and life becomes miserable for many.
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Sometimes worse then common criminals
