A Freeper's observation: Home Owner Associations

E.G.C.

[E.G.C.]

HOWDY FREEPERS!!!!!

With tonight being Halloween I expect that many of you will have halloween related activities to take care of. I have some plans of my own for this evening as a matter of fact.(passing out candy to all the trick or treaters out there) When you're through with these activities and you're ready to get back to freeping, just come by here and take a look at my post and give me your feedback. I'll check back in tommorow and respond to all the posts on this subject.

This essay was scheduled to be posted by me at this time yesterday but as everyone was well aware the website was shut down due to technical difficulties.

In this essay I will tackle the subject of homeowner associations. As everyone was well aware, there have been recent articles concerning people's dealings with such groups. One Vietnam vet is facing grief with an HOA for displaying of his flag outside his home. I've also heard horror stories about people who have had dealings with HOA's telling them what they can or can't do with their house and other stuff. Here's what I've discovered about HOA's

These groups DO NOT have the best of intentions about their own neighborhoods. What these people will do is require you to pay a fee to live in their neighborhood. These groups are kind of like gangs. they assume a territorial dictatorship over neighborhoods telling people what they can or can't do with their own homes. The fees they take from you sometimes will be used for their own self-serving purposes, sometimes to support candidates for public offices whose ideas may conflict with yours. Sometimes these groups will exercise power if allowed to to force people out of their own homes if they decide they don't like their political or religious ideas or beliefs or their lifestyles or what have you. Here are a few hints when dealing with HOA's. This is for those seeking to buy a new house or moving to a new house.

When buying a new house,
BE SURE TO READ THE DEEDS VERY CAREFULLY FOR ANY TERMS AND CONDITIONS, ESPECIALLY INVOLVING MANDATORY MEMBERSHIPS IN A HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATION.
Do some checking into this HOA. If this group chooses not to be forthcoming with you, then there's something very smelly about this group. In that case, I would cancel the deal and look for a new house. Quite frankly, IMHO your best bet would be just to get a house in the country that is NOT located in a subdivision. If a home owner association forms in your neighborhood, check into it and see just what they intend to do. If they choose not to be forthcoming with you and you have enough discretionary funds, move out and get a new house in a neighborhood that is not run by an HOA. That's what I would do.

Now, here in the small Southwest Oklahoma town where I live, we've been fortunate enough not to have to deal with a homeowner association. But if one was to ever form here, at least I have enough money to move out into the country where there are no such groups. Remember, a lot of these group DO NOT have the best of intentions for their neighborhoods so be aware of what's going around your neighborhood.

[E.G.C.]

This article and all the others are book marked on my profile page. I must sign off for right now and get ready for tonight's trick or treat activities. I'll check back tommorow for responses.
regards, E.G.C.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Home Owners Associations SUCK. I would never get involved with one. NEVER!

[RightOnline]

I've said it a thousand times here: If you live in a neighborhood with a "mandatory neighborhood association", you're positively nuts.

[Republic of Texas]

"Zactly. Don't like 'em? Don't live in one!

[Billy_bob_bob]

Agreed. I would never buy a home that I could not paint any color I wanted to, or remodel any way that I saw fit, within the guidelines of general good taste. HOA's are a pain in the behind at best, and they go downhill rapidly from there.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I knew I was in the right neighborhood when I found out that the head of the "architecture" committee raised chickens in their yard.

[Dog Gone]

It's good advice. They can serve a good function, and in places like Houston where there are no zoning laws, they are a necessity in order to prevent the house next to yours from becoming a quickie-mart site over your objection.

People who do not read the by-laws (which become enforceable covenants running with the title to your land) are fools.

I would not buy a house in a subdivision governed by an HOA without first checking with a few neighbors, too. They will have invaluable insight as to how their HOA operates.

They tend to keep the property value of your neighborhood high, as it is nearly impossible for neighborhood deterioration to occur under their supervision. They also can be a real pain in the butt, especially with little things that you think should be none of their business (like how many indoor pets you can have.)

READ THE FINE PRINT.

[freedom4ever]

HOA's and city zoning laws are exactly why I live in the country.

[Sloth]

they are a necessity in order to prevent the house next to yours from becoming a quickie-mart site over your objection.

Really? My strategy would be to buy the adjacent lots, if I wanted to prevent this. If I couldn't afford to do so, I guess it wouldn't be ANY OF MY BUSINESS what was built there.

[ReaganGirl]

Agreed! HOAs are the last bastion of communism in America. If McCarthy knew what was happening at those meetings he would be turning over in his grave.

Unfortunately, when you live in most major cities, especially historic areas like I do you don't have a choice. As with hubby and me we have not only the HOA but the BAR (Board of Architectural Review) and the AHS (Alexandria Historical Society) to deal with no matter what we want to do to our house.

We recently sat through a four hour meeting of our HOA to get approval to have a second dog. HOA law says you can only have one. We already owned one toy breed and wanted another one. Keep in mind she weighs 5 pounds and her counter part would weigh the same. Meanwhile there are people in the HOA who fulfill their one dog limit by owning Mastiffs....LOL Both my dogs together don't weigh as much as the paw on a mastiff.

[TheCPA]

Is there any type of court action or anything else that homeowners can do to dissolve a homeowners' association? I belong to one involuntarily. It was not something I wanted or freely negotiated. It was belong or else you cannot buy the home. I absolutely hate homeowners associations.

[JZoback]

I just bought a home and the VERY first question I ask:

Does this sub-division has a home owners association?

Most real estate agents think it's a real plus that people want, passed up several nice homes for that very reason.

It's going to be my home and NOBODY is going to tell me how to live in it or what:

flag I can fly
bushes I can plant
trees I can own and where I can place them
Where I place my satellite dish
Where I park my cars
How many cars I can have
Etc, etc,etc,etc,etc.

Most association leaders become Nazi-like as soon as they grab power.

Imagine if they know I owned guns.

The horror!!!

[Vladiator]

Move.

[38special]

We live in a nice small middle-class subdivision around Houston without any H.O.A and everything is fine. They are really not needed. Some of our neighbors are assholes but that's ok, we don't talk to them and they don't to us. Most of our neighbors are good and we build decks, saunas, patio covers, flagpoles, and nobody says we can't because it's our homes not the H.O.A.

[lonestar]

I had a HOA once. The Pres. who ruled with an iron hand, was the only person whose door didn't meet the specifications of the Association. It was crazy! There was a case in a Houston suburb recently, an association filed for foreclosure on an elderly widow because she hadn't paid her dues for two or three years. A person with ties to a member of the board got her house for a little of nothing. It did get a lot of nasty publicity but it was all legal.

[truth_seeker]

I belong to one involuntarily. It was not something I wanted or freely negotiated. It was belong or else you cannot buy the home.

You mean you were forced to buy the house? Was it the only house available? Were you in a "buy or else" situation?

[MinuteGal]

Hogwash. There's always glaring exceptions to everything. The majority of homeowners' associations are benign. I live in one. We have elections to the board every year. I live in a nice middle-class subdivision where our property values keep increasing because it's such a visually attractive, well-kept place to live. A non-convenanted subdivision abutting ours which started out 25 years ago with houses the same as ours has decayed and become a trash heap. Property values there went down over the years, and the homeowners take a beating when they try to sell. Our association board members are non-paid volunteers who live among us. They get a bop over their heads with brooms if they get out of line. I speak from experience as I did my bit as chairman of our association for two years. Of course, I had to deal with the occasional jerk who always had to do his/her own thing, like throwing laundry over rocks on the sides and back of their yards to dry them. Or to keep junk cars on the lawn. Or to paint their house a hideous day-glo lime green (which actually happened down the street from me.) I always say to each his own. If people want to live in subdivisions unprotected by covenants or anywhere else that suits their style of living, be my guest. But please don't intimate that those of us who choose to live in a place with safeguards for our property values are somehow stupid and non-individualistic people.

Leni

[JoeSchem]

HOA's and city zoning laws are exactly why I live in the country.

Crime and congestion and high taxes have nothing to do with it?

I've lived in apartments for half my life, and an HOA sounds like heaven to me.

[Dog Gone]

That's certainly the ultimate free market approach, and maybe it's the best.

But there is nothing wrong with people agreeing up front as to what the rules are for property in the area. If we all agree that no quickie-marts will ever be built on our land which we contribute to the agreement, then that's no different than any other voluntary, but binding, contract that we might chose to sign.

That's all that HOAs are in theory. My point is that you have to read that contract before you sign it. In many cases, it actually gives the HOA far more power over your property than you have. And look out for what they can do to you if you ever forget to pay your dues.

This isn't nearly as bad as what governments can do, especially in environmental laws, which are not voluntary agreements on your end at all. There, they essentially strip you of all the uses of your land, but leave you with the property taxes.