Posted on 02/08/2015 9:27:33 AM PST by Oldpuppymax
Committees are now drafting bills to be presented in the March session of the Florida legislature. If enough citizen input is received demanding regulation of single family residences in Florida’s gated communities and regulation of drug-re-hab centers now being located in private neighborhoods (which may or may not be gated), relief just may be coming for oppressed homeowners, their families, their children!
About ten years ago, the Flower Pots bill was successfully passed which regulated only residents of condo communities. However, the State of Florida was reluctant to do anything about giving protection to those of us who own and maintain our own homes in gated communities; protection, that is, from the same Condo Commando mentality that made life miserable for condo dwellers. Hopefully, Florida lawmakers will draft and pass legislation that can exemplify for the entire country just what is needed to protect long suffering homeowners from heavy handed tactics of Home Owner Association (HOA) boards of trustees, the legal firms they hire and the management services they engage to “control” residents, many of whom are elderly, sick, or too beaten down to fight back.
We all become aware of the tensions bubbling just beneath the surface of these Potemkin villages when some sick veteran is put through the HOA meat grinder when he tries to fly the American flag in front of a home he fought and sacrificed to make safe. But here are important issues Florida’s lawmakers need to address first: 1. TERM LIMITS now are vital to stop the ingrained and perhaps, self-serving mindset of HOA board members who are returned to office by select cliques which they accommodate in a quid-pro-quo of political nastiness that shuts out other homeowners. One HOA just had their lawyers deem it perfectly acceptable to hold another election when...
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
How are they nanny state?
They are not government.
They are private contracts entered into voluntarily.
Can’t believe you don’t understand the difference.
That may be true, but it’s still a voluntary choice.
If enough people refuse to buy in HOA neighborhoods, they will die out.
I never have. I’ve been tempted by some very nice houses but once I find out there is a HOA, I’m outta there.
HOA’s are evil.
They need to be completely voluntary. You should be able to un-join one without moving out.
Nice strawman.
No one is forced sign a contract to live in a HOA neighborhood. It’s a voluntary choice.
Put that in the initial contract.
Goodness, there sure seem to be a lot of people here who do not understand private voluntarily entered into contracts.
No wonder some of you got burned.
Seek an attorney next time you buy a house in a HOA. Maybe he/she can explain the basics of contract law to you
I can’t believe there is anyone on this site who would knowingly enter into one of those private contracts voluntarily.
That is the first question I ask as well.
Or I tell the realtor, don’t even show me any houses that require HOA contracts.
Terminate all HOAs.
I doubt that most here that oppose HOAs know what they are talking about. In fact I suspect some have never owned any property at all.
First the basics: Anybody buying an HOA property gets complete disclosures, including rules, budgets, bylaws, what is paid by the association etc. BEFORE THEY DECIDE to complete the purchase.
In all or most states, a buyer is advised to consult with an attorney, if after the explanation by the realtor, and reading of the documents, they STILL don’t understand the contract.
I have been a real estate broker for over 25 years, and have had MANY buyers simply state they don’t want to be in an HOA community. Fine, end of discussion. We get on with the business of finding them a property meeting their criteria.
I have had many people specify they want to be in a particular area, where all or most properties fall into variations on HOAs. They know exactly what they are bargaining for, pros and cons.
Among the pros of an HOA are security, certainty of maintenance, amenities (pools, etc.), degree of conformity, protection of property value etc.
I suppose there is a certain profile of somebody that buys in such an area, but later becomes dissatisfied, and makes a big deal about his/her dissatisfaction.
I have had clients, and family members, who were very active with HOA boards of directors. You as an owner, might need to do so in the future, especially if matters turn negative.
I have seen associations with problems, get turned around by concerned owners, with the skill and willingness o get involved.
But as with everything, are some who spend more energy complaining, than anything else.
By the way. If you are shopping for property in HOA communities, don’t hesitate to inform your realtor that you intend to interview some owners of the community/complex.
After owning in a well managed HOA community, many owners would gladly do so again.
What I don’t get about all these HOA horror stories (and I admit, I’ve never lived under one of these regimes) is:
Don’t the home owners have the voting power to elect who they want into the power positions?
And if they do, is the problem that a critical mass of them are always to sheepesque to care about what is being done to them?
Just curious (because I would never in a million years buy property inside one of these organizations).
HOAs are socialist in nature. Anything where your neighbors tell you what you can and can’t do to your house, beyond existing local/state codes, micromanage your property, is just wrong.
There are already codes for crap like not cutting a lawn or leaving decaying sh1t on your front lawn, and for people using a private dwelling as a business and dealing with occupancy type issues. Forcing people to buy a certain door or paint trim a certain color, or not being able to plant a bush where they want or fly a flag, none of anyone else’s business.
In some large areas, there are no houses for sale without attached HOA contracts. Board members in some associations take large sums of money from dues for services not rendered. Lawyers enforce the robber regimes and also take large sums of money. In some areas, one either becomes a subject of home owners’ associations by becoming a resident of one or by paying outlandish rent to an HOA resident for a slum somewhere else.
People think they can escape the mini-Fuhrer's of the HOA by buying a detached single family home, but alas the mayor and city council of many cities are corralling all homes into giant citywide pseudo-HOA's.
Even if you live in a single family detached home you may still have to follow:
1. Pet registration, leash, and clean-up laws
2. Regulations on what types of trash cans are allowed and what can be put in each
3. Restrictions on water usage
4. Building code restrictions to limit how you can remodel your home
5. Nuisance infractions that prevent you from doing whatever you want on your property if the effects travel into the neighborhood such as loud noises, cigarette smoke, etc.
6. Limits on where and what you can park on or about your property.
There will soon be no escape for those who decide to up and move if they don't like the way things are run in a particular neighborhood. Even the red lips of Texas are turning a bit blue as the liberals, nanny-staters, and general do-gooders clamp their hands ever tighter over its throat.
We have. Twice. We lived in home with no HOA and never again.
We had so many dog related problems and people who didn’t keep up their homes. It does affect your property values when homes are close together and your neighbor’s yard is a junkyard.
And being chased and bitten by pit bulls wasn’t fun either. As long as you have people who are inconsiderate and can’t be negotiated with HOA will exist.
There are bad HOA and others that are very well run. Those are the ones where residents get involved and stay involved. We have term limits for our BOD.
This was a choice for us and we prefer living with HOA.
So as long as everyone in the same city, county, or state is forced to follow a particular law that's OK. Otherwise it's socialism.
What about the people in one city who all agree that people in that city ought to be able to smoke on their porches, but the state decides otherwise? Are the state people being socialists? Or are the city people being scofflaws?
My answer is this.
There is legitimate government, and then there are Homeowners Associations. And if you don’t understand what I mean, you haven’t dealt with a Homeowners Association.
“Here in florida it’s almost impossible to find a newer home (newer than 1960) that isn’t in a hoa”
wow that’s too bad. I didn’t know that.
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