Posted on 02/15/2015 9:08:46 AM PST by Oldpuppymax
For people who live in urban or suburban townhome developments where the houses are very much alike and the color scheme for front doors and trim has been professionally designed by the builder, it can be a plus to have the HOA prevent some loon right next door from painting neon pink with yellow polka dots where everyone else has muted earth tones of gray, green, sepia and cranberry, for instance. An HOA can also keep people from operating illegal businesses such as 8 or 10 kids in an unlicensed home day care with all their parents double-parking to pick them up and preventing the actual dues-paying owners from parking in their assigned space to unload groceries, for another example.
As an earlier post noted, it all depends on whether your Board is full of reasonable people or power maniacs; and also how close the homes are together and the availability of parking. People need to check up on the relative benefits according to the features of where they are considering buying in. And if they choose to live in an HOA, one of the best ways to control their individual situation is always to show up for the HOA meetings and volunteer for a few things. This is how to gain some influence.
There is no guarantee on your property values though, it’s conceivable too that the HOA could become infamous in some way and turn into a drag on associated property values. If it works for you great, but for me there is too much opportunity for petty dictators. My aspirations go in the direction of one day buying a small farm though, and I did once scare off a Mercedes driving suburbanite lawyer by hauling a load of manure in my car, lol!
Good point.
I'd suggest that most people who own property in HOAs have no idea what they're doing when they make their purchase.
Don’t buy into communities with common properties.
That is the way to stop HOAs ... assuming that is the goal.
To me this is the same thing as people who constantly complain about Walmart and how it is destroying the country, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Yes, well. DON’T SHOP THERE.
Well wait...I NEVER SAID guarantee....there ARE no guarantees, period. And I never said I liked them on balance. Of the 7 residential properties I have, or now own, 2, maybe 3, have been in HOAs. (Can’t remember house 2 for sure).
I’m discussing the ideas here, not specifics. The idea that they are inherently bad is just wrong. The idea that they are the same as big government is just inherently wrong. When discussing rights, it’s critical to know WHEN a certain right can be exercised. Not every right can be exercised at every minute and in certain situations, because to do so, it would infringe on someone else’s right.
As said about 10X - the property rights issue should be exercised PRIOR to buying - either in, or not in, an HOA.
Then I would suggest that’s their problem, and maybe an errors and ommissions case against their realtor.
1. Wants some advantages of home ownership without all the responsibility of maintaining exterior areas.
2. Is flexible enough that he/she can move to another home while keeping the HOA home as a rental property.
3. Is willing to walk away from the property and have it seized by a bank and/or HOA in foreclosure if/when the place is allowed to fall into a state of disrepair.
In other words, an HOA is fine ... but don't ever pay an amount for a home in an HOA that is comparable to an amount that you'd pay for a similar home outside an HOA.
Maybe I’m being naïve here, but how does someone sign a property deed without knowing that it’s part of an HOA?
You did actually, check your post.
HOA rules are like life insurance policies: the ideal one for me is where I am the absolute worst person allowed so everyone around me brings up the neighborhood while no one else brings it down below my standard, just like my ideal insurance will have healthier people bringing down rates and no one unheathier than me pushing rates up.
I did get a nice little trailer cheap because the original owner couldn't keep it at the HOA he was moving into.
I vaguely remember that episode courtesy of the photo. Good episode.
HOA’s are non-profit private corporations. They are the ultimate in local government run by the people. Conservatives should love them.
There will probably be a blurb about being subject to an agreement recorded at book and page number whatever, and being subject to subsequent amendments.
Good job contradicting yourself within a single sentence.
By the way, wasn't the United States Constitution intended as a mechanism for self-government?
Actually, I didn’t use the word guarantee at all. I did say you have the right to protect your property value, but that statement does NOT NECESSARILY indicate that the protection will be successful.
You have the right to protect your home with a gun - but that doesn’t guarantee successful protection. Same concept.
The time I elected to buy into an HOA community, I had formerly been living in a neighborhood controlled by the mafia. Compared to the wiseguys, the HOA were amateurs. Going forward, however, I would hesitate for many reasons, including:
With every year that passes, the liberal progressive agenda in place since the 1960s has nearly destroyed not only the Christian culture of loving one's neighbor, forming a close community and looking out for one another; it has virtually outlawed many forms of community behavior, such as repairing your own pothole or tidying up the city tree branches or flower beds (the city won't fix it, but will prosecute you if you do). Since the immigration act of 1964, it started with a trickle and now it is a flood of immigration from non-European countries and non-JudeoChristian cultures. Immigrants used to have to relinquish their original citizenship but do not have to any longer, so many are simply using America as a place to work, but their loyalty and allegiance is elsewhere. At the citizenship swearing-in, they show a video of Obama reassuring "folks" that they don't have to leave their culture behind. And they don't.
Even if you have an HOA with by-laws and people willing to pay for a gated community to try to keep both financial and social values high, the government in blue states like mine will now seize any opportunity to place Section 8 renters in any houses where people had to move away suddenly and their house didn't sell promptly. Hence, these government-subsidized "folks" don't feel any need to follow any rules or behave like people who have to work to afford their circumstances, including doing yard care, quiet behavior at night, trash containment, picking up dog waste or any other courtesy expected by people who are paying from their efforts.
...because who among us doesn’t want more people telling us what to do and enough red tape and fine print to choke a rhino, woohoo, good times ;)
Let me help you here...the Constitution protects us from THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. It does NOT protect us from making stupid decisions about where to buy a house.
Again, analogy fail, which is evident if you understand the Constitution.
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