New house being built on my cul de sac--off center of lot??? (Hurst: for sale, rent)

[loves2read]

There was one lot left on cul de sac our house is on -- someone finally bought it and started to build a house on it--
Supposedly this house's design has complied with the HOA design requirements and been "passed" by the HOA architectural committee--
someone on that committee lives on our cul de sac and I think he has no clue what this house will actually look like...
He has been out of town for over a week and the foundation was poured end of June and they have been doing the framing...

The house--which is a single story and just at the min sq ft for the HOA requirements--is kilted on the lot--
the front door of the house is framed to face right into the garage door of the house next to it--
there will not be enough room at the (street-front) left corner to actually HAVE a flower bed because it is so close to the boundary line--
TOO close to be in accord with the HOA building code
the garage will have such an acute angle turn that the cars will more like spend the night on the driveway...

this house is seriously flawed--
the man who is the head of the HOA and the architectural committee has made enemies with people on my court already because he was inflexible about another house design for different lot--next to HIS house--on another street--that a friend of someone on my court wanted to build couple of years ago (lot is still vacant)
he refused to grant a variance for the house to be 6 inches closer to the lot line dividing his lot and the possible build--that house would have been 4000 sq ft (his is like 2800) two story--just 6" over the HOA 4 ft separation between lot boundaries--no big deal--
definitely not the violation that the house on MY court is showing--

he wanted the people to take their plans back to the architect and have them redrawn to comply with the HOA rules--they had spent 4K getting the plans done--
I know the architect should have obeyed the HOA requirements--but believe me--that house would not have been nearly the eyesore/drawback to house values in the neighborhood that this house under construction on MY street will be

Our lot is one house over to the north--so it is not nearly as affected by the whopjaw design as the houses on either side--
both of them are two storied--and over 3500 sq ft--
it just looks awful--

the people who are building it came when they were setting the forms but I have not seen them come to check on it since then---don't spent lot of time looking out my front windows but the neighbor across the street said she had not seen them either
I don't know if THEY know how bad this looks--some people just don't have a good sense of what a drawing will become when it goes real--
they apparently rent a house that is south of Hwy 10 in the River Trails neighborhood--that is south of Hurst--about a 10-15 min drive so they could come and see it fairly easily-

the guy building this house has built some really nice custom homes--
he told one of my neighbors when they could tell how skewed the front door/siting on the lot was that he "would have told them not to built that house on this lot"--
but I guess he did not want to lose the job--
what does he care--he is not going to have to sell the house--

I am really upset--
we had been out of town end of June and did not see how the front was going to be framed until we came back from vacation--

this sucks big time

any suggestions for legal remedies--
it is possible to get injunction to stop the build if it violates the HOA restrictions?
what if they misrepresented the layout of the house on their drawing submission to the HOA?

[oilfieldtrash4]

Yeah myob. Are you paying for the house? It has been approved by the hoa and doesn't need the nosey neighbors approval.

[twiggers]

Why not start with talking to the HOA. Just because a house doesn't look pretty doesn't mean it's illegal.

It sounds like most of your complaints are due to the fact that the house is smaller than the other houses surrounding it, or that they won't have flower beds. Is it against HOA rules to park in the driveway (I've lived in HOA's where it actually was...we moved out of there quickly)? Is it against the rules to not have flower beds?

Anyhow, if you're really concerned about violations of HOA rules, then I suggest contacting someone on the board and expressing your concerns. I'd probably leave out all the vanity concerns.

[loves2read]

courtmap.jpg picture by loves2read247 - Photobucket
shows the court/vacant lot the house is building on

courtmap.jpg picture by loves2read247 - Photobucket

shows how the house is facing into the garage of its neighbor--

the neighborhood has lots that avg less than .25 and some of them have other problems--like change in elevation to make bldg difficult
the problem with this lot is that it is pie-shaped and needed a house designed for it particularly--
instead it got a square peg in a round hole

the HOA requires that homes have flower beds of certain dimensions and that they are maintained
also requires that if cars are parked outside on driveway that they have to be certain distance from the street--(like at the back of long driveway)
this house won't have that option

I don't care that it is a smaller house--really I don't--I just care that it will be an ugly house sitting as it will on that lot--

how do you feel when someone parks so close to you in parking garage or parking lot that you cannot open your driver's door to get out--
you have to literally crawl across the seat and come out the passenger side--
my husband has had to do that in his parking garage because some people do that--

that is almost what this house is doing--it may be legally inside the easement for the lot--but the total design is "in your face" in the way it ignores balance and design concepts...
just because you CAN do something does not mean it is a good decision
plenty of people have children because they can yet turn out to be bad parents
plenty of people drink to excess and that can turn out bad for many reasons
so just because they CAN build this house, this way--does not mean it will be good for them or the neighborhood when all is said and done

get 10 RE agents to see this court before and after this home goes up--and all of them will say that was a bad decision--that whatever they think they gained by doing it will not make up for what they lose in bad curb appeal/bad design

[ChristineF]

I'm not understanding what the problem is here.....

The city approved the plans and permits were pulled.
The HOA approved the plans.
The people building the house want it that way. Their money, their choice.
Maybe they plan to park their cars in the garage instead of the driveway. If not, oh well.
"Ugly" and awful" are subjective terms.

I'm still not understanding what the problem is here....

[PrincessKick]

If nothing is against zoning or HOA approval I doubt there is anything that can be done. Even if you don't like the house or the flow of it or where it sits, etc it seems as though you have a choice: accept it and be neighborly or not and have people as opposed to neighbors living there.

[Eric S]

Originally Posted by loves2read

courtmap.jpg picture by loves2read247 - Photobucket

shows how the house is facing into the garage of its neighbor--

Wow. Talk about making the house fit on the lot. I hope things turn out better than they appear in that photo. That's an awkward orientation to say the least .

-Eric

[twiggers]

It's really hard to tell what they are doing with just the frame....maybe it's going to turn out OK in the end?

That is a really weird lot though....and small!

[txtoal]

This house is almost exactly like one we saw in our neighborhood. The front door was facing the neighbors and you could see directly into all the neighbors windows. The owners put a bunch of trees and plants to try and "obscure" the neighbors house but in the winter, you could see everything. We loved the house, except for the way it was built and it was enough for us not to buy it...the house is still for sale and has been for a year and a half now. I am surprised the owners would want to build a house like that, if the front door is facing the neighbors garage. It wouldn't be a view that I would want but to each their own. I wonder if they designed it that way to get more of a back yard?

[hypocore]

I wonder.....if this house had already been built and was already occupied when you were searching for your dream house/lot, would you have passed on the house/lot you are currently in simply because of the orientation of that other house?

Or would you have merely shaken your head at their choice and gone on to end up where you are now anyway?

Like so many things in life, people tend to get more worked up over things they see occurring than they do when they see an end result.

It's like seeing a room being remodeled from start to finish. You know in detail all the problems that had come up and had to be fixed, so you 'see' those once it's completed. Yet no one else sees anything but the finished results and love it. They don't see the minute detail of something slightly off that you know is there.

Or it's like eating a meal at someone's home and really enjoying it....until they tell you how it's made or what the secret ingredient is.

I'd suggest quit stressing over what it 'might' be and maybe you will be pleasantly surprised at the end result.
Not everyone want's everything to line up exactly, perfectly formed and completely expected. Just because you seem to, doesn't mean this is a horrid situation.

I'd be more bothered to have driveways inches apart like a couple in that over head pic. But that's just me.