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The cars-up-on-blocks, sofas-on-the-porch phenomena seems to exist in low-income neighborhoods in the south.
I've never seen it in neighborhoods where the homes cost $200,000+. Not once.
We have tons of neighborhoods that do not have HOAs or have HOAs that consist of a sign but no dues or violation notices. No cars on blocks. No sofas on the porches.
Interestingly enough, the homes in our HOA sell for less per square foot than the homes in these neighborhoods.
It's discouraging.
I grew up in a nice town on Long Island and we had neighbors that had way too many cars in their driveway, cars up on blocks, running their motorcycles up and down the street (it was a dead end and it was the 70s-80s so we kids actually played in the street), chickens in their yard that they raised to eat. Amazingly a family moved in next to them that got sucked into all their shenanigans and the kids all used to run amok together. The father was a deacon in our Cahtolic church and the kids all went to Catholic school which was a complete waste of money. Cant say what the houses were worth at the time but my parents sold their house for $500K in 2004.
We moved here from a very upscale, high wealth town also on Long Island while he kept his front nice, our backside neighbor had - on his 80x40 foot backyard, a deck, a patio that extended to his property line, a hot tub, an outdoor tiki bar, 3 patio tables, a sink/fridge/BBQ set up, a trampoline and had wired his stereo speakers up on the corners of his house. Again, amazingly, a like minded family moved in next door. Luckily, in this case, the village we lived in acted as an HOA so we managed to band together and shut him down once the all night parties started.
I find the OP amusing, as if you could cover every square inch of roadway and neighbor over 90 miles east, west, north and south.
Ultimately, this depends on what bothers you. There is a non HOA neighborhood near me. It's a nice neighborhood. But I see unkempt lawns, boats parked in driveways, crazy landscaping and house colors...if you're ok with that, there's no need to be defensive about it. It's not OK with me, and I feel no need to be defensive about it. You pay a lot of money for your little slice of heaven, so who cares what others think if you're happy? My HOA is not overly strict, we all get the occasional nasty gram from the HOA, which is usually ignored unless it's a dire violation of the rules. We have people here with crazy shutter and door colors, the HOA really only seems to mind if you're on a main road, or maybe they are issuing violations and no one is listening...but one of the things we liked about this neighborhood was that every house does not look exactly alike from the design to the landscaping. But I'm OK with no cars on the lawn and couches on the front porches.
Not an uncommon site in many areas of Phoenix metro. Not just cars on blocks, but cars that obviously aren't running, boats that haven't seen water that didn't come from the sky in years, RV's of various ages and stages of life.
I would think the issue would be rental houses in non-HOA neighborhoods. Rental houses within an HOA, if allowed, would probably be better kept up since the owners would be subject to all kinds of rules and fines, and even liens against their investment. Rentals in a non-HOA area could just be left by the owners to have junky exteriors and yards. As long as the structure wasn't harmed they might not care, or have an good reason to control, what the renters do. Ditto for inherited property when kids don't have anything of their own to lose.
I've never seen cars on blocks in our village but when we first moved in there was a neighbor across the ally that had the body of a Model T on his deck. He parked a big truck next to his garage and had a mini junk yard in his back yard. The mess wasn't fun to look at, especially being new to the neighborhood.
Tom was an ox of an ex Amish man and still sported his beard. He towered over our six foot privacy fence and was one of the kindest, most giving person you'd ever want to meet. Yes the junk was annoying but he was precious to our neighborhood and everyone loved him.
He unfortunately died of a massive heart attack at forty-two and sometimes I still see the image of his Model T sitting on the deck. I also see him in our house and I remember the day he helped John carry the super heavy claw foot tub upstairs that another dear one who is no longer with us found for us.
Our village would not allow someone to put a car on blocks in the front yard, and I'm glad of it, but they did allow someone to keep a fence that was painted an obnoxious purple. Go figure.
The main advantage to an HOA is to preserve/improve the neighborhood. As in keep it how it looks if nothing else. Yes you may have seen no cars up on blocks but without the control of an HOA saying no, the next person to move into the area might just be the one to have cars up on blocks.
The problem with an HOA on the prowl is that it doesn't stop at cars on blocks.
Our HOA threatens people with fines and liens for spots of brown grass in the winter, backyard lights, shrubs that aren't pruned to their liking, bikes in the driveway... the list is endless.
There are several HOAs who have gotten into over flags, of all things.
This is the first time I've lived in an HOA and I've never had neighbors with cars on blocks or sofas on the front porch.
Though we did have a neighbor once with a large collection of folding chairs in the back yard. We build a tall fence. Problem solved.
Drive it or push it into the yard. Put cinder blocks under all four corners of the frame. Use jacks to lift it higher and add another set of blocks if desired. Take off the wheels. There you have it until you can afford to get it running again or to buy parts or to register it or to restore it...could be forever.
Drive it or push it into the yard. Put cinder blocks under all four corners of the frame. Use jacks to lift it higher and add another set of blocks if desired. Take off the wheels. There you have it until you can afford to get it running again or to buy parts or to register it or to restore it...could be forever.
You don't even have to take the wheels off. It was common for a son who was drafted to put his car on blocks (or jackstands) to keep the tires from deforming while they went in the service. I know of a couple who went straight from Basic & AIT to Vietnam and never came back. Sometimes the car would sit in a garage, driveway or back yard for years before the family could decide to sell it. I know of one family who's son became MIA who kept his car until after both parents died. The Mother said she knew her son would probably never return, but if he did ...
In order to park a car in our HOA it must be currently registered.
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