Worst / most invasive HOA rule? (investment, housing, price, legal)
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Also, we have plenty of people with front yard vegetable beds. Haven't seen corn but LOTS of tomatoes which get pretty big. To be honest, I like it. I don't think they look bad at all and love seeing people grow their own food, front yard or back!
As you can tell, I live in a non HOA neighborhood and would never have it any other way.
"Your right to display the United States flag is protected by federal law. The “Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005” makes it illegal for an HOA to restrict owners from displaying a U.S. flag."
Most older neighborhoods are non-HOA. I would never live in a neighborhood that had one for many reasons, but mostly because the rules and covenants are to me, some of the most ridiculous things. Before we purchased our current house (non-HOA) we looked at other neighborhoods that had them and after reading through the covenants and restrictions, I passed.
Here were just a few of the stupid rules:
No lawn ornaments or statues on your front yard.
No flags of any kind
Grass in front yard had to be cut to a certain height and any plantings had to be approved.
Windows that face the street must have white curtains only
Your garage may not be opened unless you are working in it or on your driveway.
Front doors had to be either white, beige or grey
No structure could be placed or built in the backyard that could be seen over fencing/wall without approval.
Gardens in the backyard could not be seen over back fence or wall.
Fences had to be the same color throughout the neighborhood and you could not paint the inside of the fence any color.
cars had to be parked on the driveway or in garage. No street parking.
RV's/ boats/any recreation vehicle had to be stored off site.
Mailboxes had to be the same color throughout neighborhood.
Patio furniture on front porch had to be neutral colors.
Those were just some of the ridiculous rules I read. No way would I have people dictate to me what I can and cannot do on my property. I get that some people like the ideas of HOA's and that is perfectly fine, but I am not one of them.
Ok you got me with the bolded ones, those are pretty surprising.
"Your right to display the United States flag is protected by federal law. The “Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005” makes it illegal for an HOA to restrict owners from displaying a U.S. flag."
Right. This got fixed years ago in Williamsburg Commons in Cary.
HOA fined the owners, so he did the only proper thing. He went out and bought an larger flag.
The state got involved at that point, too, and flying the flag is allowed anywhere.
A 40' flagpole? Maybe not...
Ok you got me with the bolded ones, those are pretty surprising.
Especially the curtains.
Folks I know have a tenant in Cottages at Stonehenge. The tenant got a letter and threat of fine for having off-white curtains.
Have to be white, or at least a white lining towards the street.
Ok you got me with the bolded ones, those are pretty surprising.
Especially the curtains.
I thought the same ones were a bit over the line. The curtains seem ridiculous as well as not being able to paint the INSIDE of the fence any color? Huh?
I'm super glad we don't live in an HOA neighborhood.
When I was with my ex we had an HOA which had the "no backyard buildings (sheds, etc) visible from the front of the house" rule and our next door neighbor built a shed, one bit at a time in his garage and over the course of a few weeks assembled them all in his backyard very quietly. You could literally only see the top corner of it from the street but I suppose he didn't want to deal with trying for HOA approval (don't blame him) so he snuck around and did it anyway. Kudos to him and no one every said anything (at least in the 2 years I was living there after he put it up).
I'll be damn if someone tells me I cant park a boat in MY driveway or hang an American flag up. I could never live in an HOA
You're absolutely right that you shouldn't live in an HOA neighborhood. It wouldn't be a good fit. But some homeowners see the HOA as "us" making a decision to keep "our" neighborhood a certain way. That's a good fit.
My old neighborhood had that rule in the HOA covenants "Windows that face the street must have white curtains only." But, my daughter had bright pink curtains and her windows faced the streets and no one ever said anything. Most of the time the blinds (which were white) were closed, but you could see the pink glow at night when the lights were on and the curtains were shut.
Now I live where there is no HOA and I love being able to have my garden and whatever I want. Soon I will have chickens roaming the front yard
HOA's wouldn't bother me as much if they focused more on keeping things maintained, clean and orderly and didn't insist on such a cookie cutter approach to style, color and design. I imagine them as a bunch of curmudgeonly old ladies sitting around fussing about someone's mailbox or curtain color.
HOA's wouldn't bother me as much if they focused more on keeping things maintained, clean and orderly and didn't insist on such a cookie cutter approach to style, color and design. I imagine them as a bunch of curmudgeonly old ladies sitting around fussing about someone's mailbox or curtain color.
99% of HOAs are what you want and 1% or less are a bunch of fiddly old ladies. The typical HOA rules are written by the developer because they are required to have an HOA by the state and they wrote the rules to help them sell houses. The color rules are primarily to make sure that people don't do crazy stuff and make the neighborhood look bad with the builders are still selling. Many people also don't like to live beside pink or other wild color houses, so the rules have to draw a line somewhere. If people didn't do stupid things and used common sense, many of the rules could be relaxed. I mean, you shouldn't have to have a rule that says you can't let your trim rot away or have your house covered in mold with shutters hanging at angles, yet people will let their houses get that bad in neighborhoods of $350k houses if you don't nudge them.
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