Moving to Seattle and HOA questions (apartment, condo, lawyer)

[seattlenextyear]

Hmm. I know people who live in the city of Seattle and can plant any type of tree they want in their yard.

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by seattlenextyear

Hmm. I know people who live in the city of Seattle and can plant any type of tree they want in their yard.

Yes, and I know people who have had to remove certain kinds or be ticketed. Apparently some have root systems that mess up sewers or side walks and the city has banned them. For the life of me I cannot tell you what kind I just remember it was a type of fruit tree.

[Ira500]

I think you can plant whatever you want in your yard, but there are restrictions on street trees, or closest to the sidewalk or sewer line. I think weeping willow was one.

[seattlenextyear]

That's quite different than a HOA mandating Bradford pears for "aesthetics"

[Woof]

Originally Posted by ArcticPhoenix

Avoid HOA's. At all costs. Anywhere. Any group that tries to tell you how to use property that you own should not be permitted, by law, to exist.

True, and it's usually one or two petty tyrants and their zombie minions who grab control.

Maybe she likes the model and color of your SUV, and then again maybe she doesn't. Your desire won't factor into the decision unless you grab control of the HOA through astute social maneuverings.

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by Ira500

I think you can plant whatever you want in your yard, but there are restrictions on street trees, or closest to the sidewalk or sewer line. I think weeping willow was one.

I think you may be right. This person bought a house where the trees were already planted in the parking strip and then learned he had to pay to remove them because they were on his property and were the wrong kind of tree.

[Geechie North]

Originally Posted by ArcticPhoenix

Avoid HOA's. At all costs. Anywhere. Any group that tries to tell you how to use property that you own should not be permitted, by law, to exist.

.

Unfortunately, various state courts have found HOA covenants have the effect of law.

Like them or not, that's just a fact.

[obsidian97]

Originally Posted by seattlenextyear

So, why does it even matter if some guy has a shed or weeds? Big deal. Is it really worth it to have someone tell you the 15 approved trees that you're allowed to plant in your front yard (Cary, NC), what color you can paint your house or how often you have to mow your fescue monoculture yard?

It's not weeds. It's NO YARD at all. It looks like hell and is a major disincentive to others to keep their properties up. If I wanted to live somewhere that looked like a slum, I'd have just moved to a slum.

Yes, it really is worth it if I know that my neighbors are not going to be able to do something completely off the map that screws me over from being able to sell my house.

It's not about limiting people's freedom of choice, it's about being a part of a community. Some people have zero consideration for others and ruin the party for everyone else. Yes, HOAs can go bad. Yes, people can use them to hose over people they simply don't like (I've seen it done), but most of the time this isn't what happens, and they're there for good reason. If you're moving into an area, HOA or not, you should familiarize yourself with what is allowed and not allowed by the community standards (HOA or local government).

Having an HOA is no different than having zoning laws that says that someone can't swoop in right next to your house and put in a leather tannery or a slaughterhouse, just on a smaller scale.

[ArcticPhoenix]

Originally Posted by obsidian97

Then who is going to enforce the law?

HOAs have their place. We moved into an area without one in Dallas years ago (which is very, very, unusual for anywhere in urban Texas) and it was alright, except...

The guy down the street who decided to take all the grass out of his yard and put in rocks. Then remove most (but not all) of the rocks and replace them with weeds. Then they removed a few of the weeds and put in shrubs that were never watered and died, but left them there for effect.

Or the guy who decided he really wanted a huge steel shed in his back yard to put old cars in. It took up his entire back yard and was quite big.

Yeah, I'm all for not having people nit pick my choice of house paint colors or write me up for petty crap, but property values are a major component to a lot of people's finances (enter Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac saga) and having something in place where you can keep people from doing things that are going to destroy your property value isn't a bad thing. They're taking money out of your pocket (eventually) by tearing up the neighborhood. Just be sure to find an HOA that is locally administered and be sure you get along with the people who run it before buying into the neighborhood. It's the corporate run HOAs that are out to turn a buck that suck bigtime.

HOAs do NOT have their place. If the "law" needs to be enforced, that is up to the government, not a HOA. If you own something, it should be yours to do with, as you please, without intervention from someone else. As long as you pay your taxes, and do not endanger others, who cares how tall your grass is, how large your satellite dish is, or what color your house is? All an HOA does is control how YOU manage YOUR stuff. That would be like Toyota telling me whether or not I can put a bumper sticker on my car.

If you don't like one of your neighbors, or more importantly something that they've done, you go and talk to them. You don't have a group of people force someone into doing something that they don't want to do... or keep them from doing something that they want to do. Like I said, if it isn't endangering anybody, and it isn't against the law, who the fark cares?

[bigtrees]

Originally Posted by seattlenextyear

Hmm. I know people who live in the city of Seattle and can plant any type of tree they want in their yard.

Prohibited Street Trees for Seattle


City Ordinance No. 90047 names the following trees as prohibited:

• Acer Macrophyllum (Bigleaf maple, Oregon maple).
• Populus trichocarpa, P. deltoides (Cottonwoods).
• Populus Nigra (Lombardy poplar).

These species have aggressive roots. The wood of some species is brittle and breaks up in wind.


It's funny because Bigleaf maple and cottonwoods are two native species that grow very nice around here in Seattle. I own around 500 bigleaf maple and probably 2,000 -10,000 cottonwood trees and sure love the bigleaf maple. I'm doing a selective harvest on the cottonwood because they are growing way too thick. The cottonwood are actually pretty nice for wetlands though because they will grow in ponding water when most other trees won't.

My comments extend to more than just trees. In general, there isn't the same need for HOAs here because of our strong government.