Posted on 04/21/2023 5:01:17 PM PDT by daniel1212
you obviously have never had a neighbor that parked their old abandoned cars in the front lawn, or thought of the front lawn as extra storage for all their crap!
lol
In some places, HOAs are responsible for maintaining common property - communal playgrounds, sometimes the streets, swimming pools, etc. Others were formed just for insurance purposes - not sure how that worked. The one I was in had zero community property. Fees went for collecting fees and for insurance for the BOD.
Everyone wants a tyrannical organization as long as they get to run it, assist it, believe they benefit from it. They, as is human nature, never think what happens when tyrant focuses on them. I find that most people that are pro tyrannical HOA are women who will use gossip, shaming and rallying for their cause. Basically they make up false but damaging stuff, try to isolate their targets from supporters, then rallying the peripheral members of their power base in order to keep control and force others to fall in line or leave.
The actions of this particular HOA are totally out of line. We live under an HOA and I don’t mind it so much but we knew the rules before we bought. It is expensive, but it does keep the neighborhood nice looking. The restrictions are reasonable in our case. All the homes are custom, no two are alike, and you kind of need some rules to keep somebody from doing something weird.
Something doesn’t sound right, what I think happened was there was a rider on the deed for the property that said that once so many properties got sold at homeowners association would be established and there were Covenants that were adopted by the construction company as holding the covenants in trust until the homeowners association got created. So a lot of times at closing there’s no indication that there is a homeowners association but on the title it indicates that there are Covenants and at closing as part of the title insurance you should have signed a document recognizing what the covenants were and that you were recognizing their authority over the deed for the property that you were acquiring. This would have happened at the property close not necessarily at the closing on the house if you did a construction loan for your property separate it just depends on how the close was transacted. The construction company is the one that would have gave it approval for the basketball court and everything else, you can’t establish a homeowners association unless there was an ongoing Covenant right or on the deed that enabled that otherwise the homeowners association would have been informed from all the property owners which they can choose to do, why I don’t know but that’s what happens a lot of times. So I’d go back and look at your deed and look at the Covenants, I bet they were there the whole time and they just got overlooked. I bet they even have the homeowners signature on the paperwork.
They do the things I can no longer physically do myself, such as shovel the snow, cut the grass, trim the trees and bushes, keep the streets paved, maintain the outside of the building and the roof.
Is it perfect? NO. As my health has been failing, I could no longer take care of the 3,000+ SF home, landscaping, and all the upkeep and maintenance.
Aside from moving into an apartment or condo (NO F'ing WAY!) a townhome community suited my needs. Takes a lot of stress off of me, which is what I need due to the condition I have.
Can HOA's be a pain in the ass? Sure. Spend the time, get to know the people who "serve" on them and help out instead of just complaining. It works *for me* and my situation. No, it's not for everyone.
Some people love being controlled by others, or they percieve they are the ones doing the controlling.
Glad to know what a HOA is.
Right a TLA.
Well, they also control how your neighbors live in their homes. Would you want to live in a neighborhood with $700k homes and have a next-door neighbor with cars in his driveway on cinder blocks? HOA's help to preserve property values.
1. It established harmless rules and regulations about the use of the properties. Basically, you can't keep junk cars on your front lawn, you can't park commercial vehicles in the street, and you can only park RVs on the street for 48 hours at a time.
2. The subdivision backs onto a creek and has a large landscaped area in the rear for stormwater detention. The HOA is responsible for maintaining this area and paying the property taxes on it.
There was a movement among several owners last year to disband the HOA. That would be an enormous mistake, and I have no idea why they wanted to do it. It only costs each homeowner $75/year in HOA fees.
The next subdivision does NOT have an HOA, and whenever a home comes up for sale there the listing includes a prominent boast that they have no HOA. I looked at a home over there before I bought this one. The neighborhood is awful, and looks like a rural slum with all kinds of trailers parked in the street and cars and junk all over the lawns. A home over there typically sells for about 40% less than a comparable home in this subdivision.
My daughter is buying a house in a little town in Indiana. She ensured the house was not in a HOA area, but I’m going to show her this posting so she’ll know what to do if one ever moves into her neck of the woods.
Our semi rural neighborhood formed a neighborhood association to deal with an external problem, it was a good sign nobody wanted to be president so we drew straws, and once the problem was solved we disbanded it. We recently started it back up again because it gave us leverage on getting county maintenance done.
I lived in Reston, VA.
I found RHOA to be reasonable but time-consuming to deal with.
I once painted a fence what I thought was the cluster color but was told it was not.
I’m not too happy about the solar mess my Florida neighbor put on his roof. I realize he makes a living put on roofs and solar panels but ugly is ugly.
Virginia law required me to provide RHOA documents to the buyer. It cost me $100 in 1992.
Nice to read some good news!
My neighbor next door wants to buy an RV, put in an RV garage in the back and a concrete driveway to it.
Hopefully, his wife will be more sensible; she generally is.
They have new dogs and want to fence their backyard.
Beware of people with money because they often have bad taste and the means to bring it to reality.
When we bought our house we were told there was an HOA. However, in Ohio HOAs are required to register with the state and this one didn’t exist in any form. When they attempted to charge me dues I replied with questions on their registration, bylaws, etc. I got a reply that it was really just a voluntary group to “beautify” the subdivision. I’ve ignored them ever since. Who knows how much money they’ve raked in over the years to line their own pockets while claiming that the money was being spent - oh sure some of it was - on maintaining things in the neighborhood.
One cannot be forced to belong to an HOA if the lot was not subject to the HOA at the time of purchase.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.