Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Lol, because many places do not allow non-HOA developments, that is why, and have not allowed them for many years. This is why the "market" argument is BS, there is no market driving it, it is the gov.
As for the open floor thing, have no idea what this has to do with HOAs.
you've never seen any of the many, many threads about why open floor plans are evil and how people who like them are too stupid to know what they really like? There may even be more of those threads than there are of the threads hating on HOAs
That's why I figured put the HOA haters together with the open floor plan haters and voila! Business plan
.
you've never seen any of the many, many threads about why open floor plans are evil and how people who like them are too stupid to know what they really like? There may even be more of those threads than there are of the threads hating on HOAs
That's why I figured put the HOA haters together with the open floor plan haters and voila! Business plan
.
Lol, got it.
I guess add open floor plan to the list of other things; tattoos, sandals/flip flops, SUVs/Pick up trucks, that some people really get hung up on.
Isn't it something like 18+ homes and you're legally required to have an HOA? And developers aren't interested in building smaller than that.
While most new neighborhoods in the triangle do have HOA's, it is not required. I live in a fairly new subdivision in town with approximately 150 houses and no HOA here. There are several others as well built this century. My last neighborhood had one and frankly, they were a bit of a PITA. Ironically, my current neighborhood is better kept generally speaking.
You know what you are getting into when you move to an HOA community. If you don't like the rules when they apply to you, work to get on the board and get them changed.
How many actually read the paperwork regarding the HOA and how it works. My husband and I had to have a notary come to our home when we refinanced our new home from a second home to our primary home to get a better interest rate. Part of the paperwork we had to sign was the HOA rules and regs. In it it stated that if we were sued/had a lein granted for whatever (not paying dues, I think) that the HOA could take/claim all private property such as drapes, curtain rods etc. My husband had a big problem with this, and refused to sign that particular paperwork, and I did not either. The notary was horrified that all the paperwork was not signed, she had never run into anyone refusing to sign any legal paperwork regarding the purchase of a house. We never signed agreeing to this and we still got our loan.
And, like I always say, "there is always more to the story."
Disclaimer: I was not able to read beyond the "He was later written up for a dead cat in a window well - which Mr. Hildenbrand suspects was planted by a neighborhood enemy."
Yes and no... my only HOA was chartered in 1948 and it was a simple road maintenance agreement that totaled 1 page including CC&R... minimum lot size, minimum home size and roof type... that was it.
As late as 2000 it was still a simple document and administered by members elected...
A lawyer moved in and said professional management was needed for liability protection and to come up with modern rules...
In the last 15 years the document has grown for over 80 pages and the annual fees which had been $200 for years bumped to $1000... part for new insurance, part for professional management that provides compliance audits... of course the lawyer that initiated the changes has long since moved on...
I've had a few minor run ins... one was my entire street was cited for having trash cans out the day after pick up... the entire neighborhood... well pick up day is Thursday but Thursday happened to be Thanksgiving so pickup was one day later due to the holiday... again... over a hundred citation letters went out... mostly to those that come home from work after 5 pm... those that are retired simply retrieved the cans as they were emptied...
Another was a fine for unpaid assessment... funny, because I have my cancelled check paid in full and early... seems someone the Professional Management manages in another association has the same house number...
The old timers sure miss the way it was run and all of my long time neighbors have served at one time or another...
The guy knew the rules when he bought there and chose to ignore them.
He has spent $200,000 in court fighting the HOA and might eventually become responsible for the HOA’s legal costs, too.
A more rational person would have moved.
I do not understand people who move into an HOA controlled community and then do not follow HOA rules.
I am a long term HOA board member and officer in a self- managed single family HOA. The purpose of the HOA is to assess and collect Assessment to cover the cost to maintain, repair and when necessary, replace common assets.
This HOA respects private property rights. Nothing would prevent an owner from installing a purple roof. Thus far, no one has. If your neighbor’s dog barks all night long, call the municipal police. Park on the street over night? The municipal police will issue a warning. Want a vegetable garden instead of a front lawn, the deer will eat it within hours of planting.
One of the most consistent challenges has been maintaining individual property rights vs a vocal minority who obviously prefer to live in a more restrictive community.
My response is consistent- when 2/3 of owners agree, those wishes will be respected.
Sure, HOAs for single-family homes may be much less restrictive than condos/townhouses.
I once lived in a community of new twin homes that had no HOA. People started doing their own thing with fences (some wood, some vinyl, some the ever-so-attractive chain-link), landscaping, I remember one person had a metal chimney coming out of the side of his house, it just turned into a mess. It got a bad reputation in the neighborhood and property values definitely declined.
I previously lived in an HOA neighborhood and was hassled for having 5 too many dandelions.
But I now live in a non-HOA neighborhood and have a few neighbors who leave trash in the front yard, park their campers and boats in the driveways, and have as many as 5 cars parked along the curb.
Serving on an HOA board is a thankless task and it tends to attract people who seek power. They can easily create a hostile and adversarial relationship.
Personally, I don't like being "ruled" so I guess I'll just tolerate the neighbors.
I was on an HOA board once simply because no one would run for a spot so one guy — the president — had been running a one man show along with his best friend. He was an ok guy but it really wasn’t fair to him and the community voted down every iniative to raise the fees and the HOA had almost no reserves for future repairs. It was a mess. About 15% of the residents weren’t paying their dues! So I took on the bad role of Treasurer and spent a year in Hades mostly doing collections. I didn’t live there so it was a lot easier to be the collector. I owned an investment property there. After a year, when we had 100% participation in dues collection, I sold my rental property there and left my HOA board post.
But, I have lived and owned in both HOA communities and non-HOA communities. Would choose HOA every time. People still violate the rules but no one paints their house a screaming color or parks 10 cars on the street or has multiple households living under one roof with tons of cars parked all over. No one blasts music onto the peaceful neighborhood. No one parks on lawns, no one has knee high weeds. Trash cans are put out right before pickup day and returned to hidden places right after. That’s the way I like it!
This is an interesting story about a homeowner fighting with the HOA over who controls whom.
People are so crazy!
"“It’s standing up for my constitutional rights,” he said. He called the HOA board “a dictatorship” that polices residents for any infraction of its 50 pages of covenants, conditions and restrictions.
Board members and some residents said they are the victim of a rogue neighbor: “We’d just like for this to go away,” said Bob Collins, 77, a retired machinery executive. “The guy just didn’t comply with the rules like the rest of us have.”
Niels Mortensen, the current HOA president, said the association has to enforce its rules. “The minute you start saying, ‘Oh well, that’s not a big deal,’ then before you know it, nothing is a big deal,” Mr. Mortensen said. “I view this as a test case: Either our declarations are enforceable, or they’re not.”
Another contingent of residents supports Mr. Hildenbrand, asserting they have been mistreated by the HOA board. “They have bullied for so long so many of the residents,” said Connie Morris, 66, whose complaints include the association not allowing a decorative bench in her front yard."
"A new judge, Rhonda Mason, ruled last year that Mr. Hildenbrand had been dealt with unfairly but also failed to obtain approval for the wall and ordered him to pay a $25,000 fine to the HOA. The HOA appealed, and Mr. Hildenbrand said he plans to as well.
As of October, HOA records show it has spent a total of $388,000 on the case with $35,000 more budgeted for 2019, while people familiar with the matter said Mr. Hildenbrand has spent about $400,000. That’s close to the market value of his home."
What people don't realize is that these HOA board members are Volunteers. Most are not out to hassle you constantly, but the rules are there for reasons. Look at the rules before buying. If some of the rules have been shown in other cases to be overthrown (such as flying the US Flag) then go to meetings and bring this up to have such a rule revised but be prepared that if someone wants to fly the Confederate flag and it makes you go insane revising or eliminating rules may not be such a good idea. Same goes with the display of lawn ornaments. Tasteful ones may be fine, but tasteful is in the minds of the decorator. Getting approval for certain things is necessary so that someone doesn't affect your property value, but in most cases, you get approval or at least a request for a slight revision to your plans. If you do not want to abide by HOA's then don't buy in one, but also be aware that even some towns have restrictions on what you can and cannot do on your property.
Be kind to your volunteer HOA members, try a term volunteering and you might have a new respect for the unpaid job.
I like HOA's that are simple and reasonable. The fellow in this article admitted he got a copy of the HOA rules when he bought the house, signed it, but didn't bother reading any of it. That's on him so I can't care about any of his troubles. It might be better to put effort into making sure people DO read and know what they are agreeing to, but that takes real estate agents and others to step up.
HOA's that become too particular, too insular and too powerful for reasons having nothing to do with the neighborhood need to be held accountable. I've heard of boards going after people just because they had a personal grudge, and other that made up new rules to accommodate the preferences of themselves and their friends, or used the rules to raise money by nickle and dimeing people with ridiculous fines.
It's a balancing act for sure. I'm thinking about moving into an HOA senior community in a few years that has tons of rule. I found the CCR's online and read them already and while I can agree with most there are parts pertaining to paint colors that need updating. They are working off a color chart created in the 80's and have never updated so everything is a pale shade of beige, even white trim is considered too jarring. I love the area but even the newer homes, a complete remodels of original ones, there look like they are old and dirty. There is neutral and calm and then there is death by beige. If I do purchase there my plan is to run for the board and try to make changes from within. I watched a battle a few years back between my city and a homeowner who built in a protected area. The homeowner was give something like 4 paint chips to choose from for the exterior of their house, they chose something from the same color family but a little more/less and that turned into a huge drama. Fact is nobody could tell unless you held the paint chip up against the walls of the house but apparently someone did. I don't think they ever repainted so someone must have realized how silly it was.
I believe (as the founders of this nation did) that everyone should have the freedom to do what they want, especially with their property, as long as it doesn't harm me. I also don't take an overly broad view of what 'harm' means, so paint colors and extra vehicles don't count. Others don't share my sense of liberty, thus HOAs.
HOAs aren't necessary in nicer areas where responsible homeowners live.
I previously lived in an HOA neighborhood and was hassled for having 5 too many dandelions.
But I now live in a non-HOA neighborhood and have a few neighbors who leave trash in the front yard, park their campers and boats in the driveways, and have as many as 5 cars parked along the curb.
Serving on an HOA board is a thankless task and it tends to attract people who seek power. They can easily create a hostile and adversarial relationship.
Personally, I don't like being "ruled" so I guess I'll just tolerate the neighbors.
Usually but we now have such a state of apathy that people are serving because someone has to. It's condos. There is no option than to have people making sure all the things get done.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
