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Whenever I read someone's post: "I will never . . ." or "All [fill in blank] are terrible" I just smile at their limited views. Many groups are so varied that blanket statements are rarely valid. HOA in particular run the gamut from tightly regulated to voluntary associations.
One of the HOA's around here specifies what you can show in your front windows. I wouldn't want that. But my HOA has very limited rules and is mostly concerned with the vegetation and gardens at the entrance to the sub-division. I'm aligned with their concerns.
Whenever I read someone's post: "I will never . . ." or "All [fill in blank] are terrible" I just smile at their limited views. Many groups are so varied that blanket statements are rarely valid. HOA in particular run the gamut from tightly regulated to voluntary associations.
One of the HOA's around here specifies what you can show in your front windows. I wouldn't want that. But my HOA has very limited rules and is mostly concerned with the vegetation and gardens at the entrance to the sub-division. I'm aligned with their concerns.
That's why in the US, (at least for now), you can choose what level of intrusion on your land you are willing to live under.
Nobody gets to tell me what I can or can't do on my land, and I don't tell them what they can do on theirs.
Mom is old now, I don't need her to tell me to clean my room anymore.
But I guess some folks never grew up beyond the, " You better do what I say or I'm telling" phase and need parental controls no matter how old they get.
I always wanted to avoid HOAs and land with covenants and restrictions.
To avoid those nosy types that want to tell you how your shed should look like your house, aesthetic guidelines and other regulations.
I've looked for unrestricted land, which gets harder and harder to find these days and is more valuable. But now I think my next house should be in HOA and land should have covenants/deed restrictions (my neighbors land too). Not the micromanaging type of HOA/subdivision which regulates every aspect of your property but something rural, with few and reasonable restrictions.
Why should I agree to have restrictions on my land?
1) The nutty people let their dogs run all over other people's properties a lot in unrestricted areas and feel like they're entitled to this. This can create problems for any of your own animals and get them killed. This can chase game off your property. I also don't want to be harassed by dogs on my property, woken up by a dog barking by my window nightly, etc. Not to even mention any liability that might arise if their dog bites a guest or worker on your land.
I might have to shoot their dog in pursuit of my animals and then I possibly have to deal with revengeful nutjob owner and bringing cops upon them. Or I have to deal with animal control and haul the dog off to the pound.
I want to have HOA to deal with these unsavory types who don't respect other's properties.
Or, at least, to have subdivision deed restrictions to give me legal instrument to protect from dogs at large, since only few states have this written into law.
2) I don't want people dumping unsightly piles of junk, trash, construction materials from their business and whatever, in common sight, or ruining my view, and burn these toxic junk piles. This is normally banned through covenants.
3) I don't want dilapidated, collapsing abandoned mobile homes next to me, especially if they're looking like meth lab explosion aftermath. This is not allowed by covenants, usually. These things look like a horror movie.
4) Don't want to have noisy business next to me. If it's a discreet business, like someone working online, that's fine, but something like a welding, carpentry, auto shop, junk yard, a lumber mill, furniture business, pig farm, etc, no thanks. HOA covenants usually prohibit business activity. If someone runs discreet (no parties) short term rental with 1 guesthouse, it's fine, but if they want to run a campground or party houses...that's a no. Quiet enjoyment of one's property is what covenants usually protect.
5) Setbacks for construction should be met to avoid blocking view and unsightly situations, thanks to covenants, if parcels aren't large or you might find yourself staring into 4000sq ft metal shop wall one day.
6) HOA often provides common services like water coop, road clearing, common lake/pond, that's nice to have.
Overall, as much as I wanted unrestricted land before I think I'm now a big fan of HOAs.
I'm also a woman living alone, and being from Europe I got foreign accent even though I moved decades ago (and people often don't like "outsiders") - thus I have extra safety concerns in case of dispute with a disrespectful neighbor who's violating my peaceful enjoyment and don't want to worry about them damaging my house, property, shooting me, etc - I like the idea of HOA as a legal entity being on my side, or at least the law being on my side due to covenants.
With unrestricted land you can do almost whatever you want...but your neighbors can do the same, and not all are going to be respectful of everyone's right to peace, quiet and safety on their own property.
HOA do have their problems...but got to say they do more good than bad overall, to think of it.
HOAs seem to get very bad rap...but yet there're so many of them and most new land on the market has covenants and restrictions. This is good and helps to preserve the nice character of the area.
Sounds about right. You will be very happy in your new HOA as long as none of the restrictions apply to you.
I want to second that you better read the HOA rules very carefully. My Mother In Law purchased a very nice home in a tightly controlled subdivision. Ton's of HOA rules that covered everything. To me it would be a nightmare but she loved it as the house met all of the requirements already and she doesn't do outside activities. What she didn't know is that all of the homeowners were equally liable for the pool and related expenses, and that the HOA didn't have adequate insurance. A kid drowned at the pool and the HOA was sued for millions of dollars. The HOA hired lifeguards during the summer for the pool and the waterpark, and the lifeguard was off goofing around and let a kid drown. Guess what happened, all of the homeowners got hit with a piece of the liability and now she has a judgement on her home that she can never repay. Her home is basically worthless. When she passes whatever equity she has will go towards the judgement and then the new owner will have to negotiate to get title with the lienholder.
My advise would be to get additional liability insurance if you have commonly held property in the HOA to protect you against lawsuits.
I always wanted to avoid HOAs and land with covenants and restrictions.
To avoid those nosy types that want to tell you how your shed should look like your house, aesthetic guidelines and other regulations.
I've looked for unrestricted land, which gets harder and harder to find these days and is more valuable. But now I think my next house should be in HOA and land should have covenants/deed restrictions (my neighbors land too). Not the micromanaging type of HOA/subdivision which regulates every aspect of your property but something rural, with few and reasonable restrictions.
Why should I agree to have restrictions on my land?
1) The nutty people let their dogs run all over other people's properties a lot in unrestricted areas and feel like they're entitled to this. This can create problems for any of your own animals and get them killed. This can chase game off your property. I also don't want to be harassed by dogs on my property, woken up by a dog barking by my window nightly, etc. Not to even mention any liability that might arise if their dog bites a guest or worker on your land.
I might have to shoot their dog in pursuit of my animals and then I possibly have to deal with revengeful nutjob owner and bringing cops upon them. Or I have to deal with animal control and haul the dog off to the pound.
I want to have HOA to deal with these unsavory types who don't respect other's properties.
Or, at least, to have subdivision deed restrictions to give me legal instrument to protect from dogs at large, since only few states have this written into law.
2) I don't want people dumping unsightly piles of junk, trash, construction materials from their business and whatever, in common sight, or ruining my view, and burn these toxic junk piles. This is normally banned through covenants.
3) I don't want dilapidated, collapsing abandoned mobile homes next to me, especially if they're looking like meth lab explosion aftermath. This is not allowed by covenants, usually. These things look like a horror movie.
4) Don't want to have noisy business next to me. If it's a discreet business, like someone working online, that's fine, but something like a welding, carpentry, auto shop, junk yard, a lumber mill, furniture business, pig farm, etc, no thanks. HOA covenants usually prohibit business activity. If someone runs discreet (no parties) short term rental with 1 guesthouse, it's fine, but if they want to run a campground or party houses...that's a no. Quiet enjoyment of one's property is what covenants usually protect.
5) Setbacks for construction should be met to avoid blocking view and unsightly situations, thanks to covenants, if parcels aren't large or you might find yourself staring into 4000sq ft metal shop wall one day.
6) HOA often provides common services like water coop, road clearing, common lake/pond, that's nice to have.
Overall, as much as I wanted unrestricted land before I think I'm now a big fan of HOAs.
I'm also a woman living alone, and being from Europe I got foreign accent even though I moved decades ago (and people often don't like "outsiders") - thus I have extra safety concerns in case of dispute with a disrespectful neighbor who's violating my peaceful enjoyment and don't want to worry about them damaging my house, property, shooting me, etc - I like the idea of HOA as a legal entity being on my side, or at least the law being on my side due to covenants.
With unrestricted land you can do almost whatever you want...but your neighbors can do the same, and not all are going to be respectful of everyone's right to peace, quiet and safety on their own property.
HOA do have their problems...but got to say they do more good than bad overall, to think of it.
HOAs seem to get very bad rap...but yet there're so many of them and most new land on the market has covenants and restrictions. This is good and helps to preserve the nice character of the area.
HOA is an evil. Period. No exceptions. It's just plain outright slavery.
Unfortunately, for most people this is inevitable evil.
On another hand, there are fantastic areas with no HOA where you have zero of the problems you listed. Caveat: only millionaires can afford to live there.
I just can’t see me spending my hard earned money on a nice rural property and having someone tell me what I can or can’t do with it.
Everybody is different I guess.
If you don’t want trashy neighbors don’t live in a trashy neighborhood.
It is really that simple .
Our house is in a subvision with covenants but they are toothless. We were given a copy of a copy of a copy of them. People have violated them but not terribly . For the most part, the homeowners do keep their property up and the homes have increased in value.
A "good" HOA can morph into a "bad" HOA very quickly
You might think you are living under one of the few good HOAs, but it doesn't take long for an activist president and board to turn it into your worst nightmare.
I won't buy a property with even a "dormant" HOA, must less one run by a Gladys Kravitz type. When I was house hunting, I told my agent not to even tell me about any property in a HOA.
I did look at one house which was "in" a development with one of those "dictates not just the height and type of fence, but what color you paint it" HOAs, but because the lot was split off before the developer bought the rest of the property, it was exempt, grandfathered.
The HOA apparently kept trying to entice the owner to join the cult of HOA, but as it stood the home got all the benefits of the association (except access to the clubhouse) but paid no dues and had no deed restrictions!
I was tempted to buy it just for the epicaricacy to be gained from choosing my own paint colors or leaving the garage door open.
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A "good" HOA can morph into a "bad" HOA very quickly
