My advice when living anywhere whether in a condo, or a neighborhood with an HOA is to cruise the neighborhood and take a few pictures unobtrusively, make sure the camera has a time and date stamp feature.
If you even get in a fracas with the board about some ‘violation’ they accuse you of, you can reply back to them with evidence of their arbitrary “constructive endorsement” and threaten them with your lawyer who just loves these kinds of lawsuits.
That is the risk of living in an apartment complex, except you own it in a condo.
Noise, obnoxious neighbors, parking issues, the whole ball of wax.
These are not the same as single family homes, and people are much less considerate of others these days.
Having lived in a condo for several years, and also having lived in an apartment, I could not see much of a difference in the quality of life except the condos didn’t attract drug dealers. But every problem I ever had in an apartment, was harder to deal with in a condo. An apartment I could break the lease and move, a condo you were stuck with it until you sold it, which is not always as easy as it sounds.
What an unfortunate name.
Crap like this is a major reason why I will not rent anymore, nor will I consider ever living in a Condo or HOA. Quite apart from the idea of paying someone else for the privilege of them telling me how to live in my dwelling, and all the restrictions, there is the (mentioned) problem with sharing walls, floors, and ceilings with people who are not automatically going to consider the effect they’re having on the neighbors.
Detached home is much more preferrable-—even if its a cheap mobile home. There’s plenty enough neighbor noises to deal with in those too but at least there’s no shared walls or halls. Some people want to retire in a city—not me —I’ll take some land and some distance from neighbors and find a way to maintain a small home myself without a bunch of obnoxious and interfering,annoying expensive rules from tyrant yahoos.
Small condo projects are usually a nightmare. Not enough money coming in to hire management, and not enough neighbors willing to volunteer to do the necessary labor. Then at least half of them will think their obligation to their neighbors is fulfilled by making lists of things “we” (which never seems to include them) need to do.
Shortly before I sold my unit, one of the neighbors decided “we” should cut down a tree in the front courtyard. The neighbor who loved gardening also loved the tree. When Ms. Complainer got the majority vote, he packed up the shovel, pickax, and saw, and left them outside her front door with a note saying that he wasn’t volunteering to cut down the tree, and since it was her idea, she could do it. It’s been 15 years since I escaped from that place, and I drop by every once in a while to see if the tree’s still there. It is.
"I don't use 'em"
Rocky Balboa
This is the kind of living that will be the norm when Agenda 21 and the forced migration to the cities kicks in. Except the rules will be MUCH stricter and the condo board will have a police force at their disposal.
Bump
I thank God everyday that ‘Bammy’ was only a Community Organizer and not a member of the Board of a HOA. because if he had we be seeing some REAL tranny coming from the ‘White Hut’.
Condos. You “buy” space in a building then pay “rent” on it forever and have to abide by some board’s rules.
Why?
For people like who hate mowing the lawn and find a single family home too much to upkeep, condo life is perfect. Its virtually turn-key residential living - just move in with your toothbrush and enjoy!
That said, its not for everyone.