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Post by chaosisapony on Mar 28, 2016 0:14:31 GMT
workingclassdog I'm on my HOA board too for the condo complex I live in. I think condos, duplexes and the like are a lot different than HOAs for single family homes. If there were no HOA here there would be no way to split all of the common expenses and make sure that the building as a whole is taken care of. I love the fact that I don't have to do yard work as the HOA hires landscapers and if something happens maintenance wise all I have to do is make a phone call. I am only responsible for things inside my walls and it works out pretty well here for the most part. HOAs in a regular single family home would drive me nuts. It's my house and if I want to put red shingles up or park my car in my driveway you better damn believe I am going to. There is no way I could ever live in a regular neighborhood with an HOA. But then again I just recently drove by a house that had been repainted a dark turquoise color with white trim and thought it was eye catching and beautiful. I like unique things. In homes and neighborhoods unique does not always equal tacky.
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Post by melanell on Mar 28, 2016 0:23:59 GMT
I would have said the same thing 15 years ago. It's never a problem until it's YOUR neighbor with six cars in the driveway, or who is a hoarder whose hoard has spread onto the porch and driveway, or who has his trees festooned with signs with racist slogans on them, and you're trying to sell your house without losing money on it. Growing up we had 5 cars parked in the driveway. 5 of us lived there. Where else would we park? What's wrong with that? At one point when I was still home we also had 5 cars. And a motorcycle, boat, and trailer for the boat. We definitely did not have a 6 or 7 bay garage. Actually, I would have found the 6 or 7 bay garage to be something less than thrilling to look at. I'm not a fan of enormous garages. I'd rather just see the cars in the driveway. (Which is what we did. And what others did as well---kept the motorcycles, bikes, scooters, boats, etc. in garages and left the cars out.)
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Post by Merge on Mar 28, 2016 0:24:06 GMT
workingclassdog I'm on my HOA board too for the condo complex I live in. I think condos, duplexes and the like are a lot different than HOAs for single family homes. If there were no HOA here there would be no way to split all of the common expenses and make sure that the building as a whole is taken care of. I love the fact that I don't have to do yard work as the HOA hires landscapers and if something happens maintenance wise all I have to do is make a phone call. I am only responsible for things inside my walls and it works out pretty well here for the most part. HOAs in a regular single family home would drive me nuts. It's my house and if I want to put red shingles up or park my car in my driveway you better damn believe I am going to. There is no way I could ever live in a regular neighborhood with an HOA. But then again I just recently drove by a house that had been repainted a dark turquoise color with white trim and thought it was eye catching and beautiful. I like unique things. In homes and neighborhoods unique does not always equal tacky. No, but one person's unique is another person's tacky. That, however, is not the point. The point is that if you as a homeowner buy into a neighborhood with certain standards, you don't get to whine later and say, "But I want to be unique! So the rules shouldn't apply to me!"
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Post by christine58 on Mar 28, 2016 0:27:05 GMT
workingclassdog I'm on my HOA board too for the condo complex I live in. I think condos, duplexes and the like are a lot different than HOAs for single family homes. If there were no HOA here there would be no way to split all of the common expenses and make sure that the building as a whole is taken care of. I love the fact that I don't have to do yard work as the HOA hires landscapers and if something happens maintenance wise all I have to do is make a phone call. I am only responsible for things inside my walls and it works out pretty well here for the most part. HOAs in a regular single family home would drive me nuts. It's my house and if I want to put red shingles up or park my car in my driveway you better damn believe I am going to. There is no way I could ever live in a regular neighborhood with an HOA. But then again I just recently drove by a house that had been repainted a dark turquoise color with white trim and thought it was eye catching and beautiful. I like unique things. In homes and neighborhoods unique does not always equal tacky. No, but one person's unique is another person's tacky. That, however, is not the point. The point is that if you as a homeowner buy into a neighborhood with certain standards, you don't get to whine later and say, "But I want to be unique! So the rules shouldn't apply to me!" And I completely agree with you Merge! HOAs are not for everyone--obviously not me--but one has to know what they are buying into. Me--I like my acre of land out on family acreage where I built whatever house with whatever color I wanted.
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Post by melanell on Mar 28, 2016 0:28:27 GMT
I think condos, duplexes and the like are a lot different than HOAs for single family homes. If there were no HOA here there would be no way to split all of the common expenses and make sure that the building as a whole is taken care of. I totally agree. Town house, condo, and/or apartment communities here have HOAs for the specific purpose of dealing with all of the shared spaces.
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Post by chaosisapony on Mar 28, 2016 0:31:50 GMT
No, but one person's unique is another person's tacky. That, however, is not the point. The point is that if you as a homeowner buy into a neighborhood with certain standards, you don't get to whine later and say, "But I want to be unique! So the rules shouldn't apply to me!" Of course not. If you buy a house with an HOA you need to abide by the rules. I do wonder though how many people wind up in the situation as the lady in the OP where they were told one thing and then get blindsided with another. I know when I bought my place I was explicitly told I could not get a copy of the bylaws and house rules until AFTER I was the owner.
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Post by myshelly on Mar 28, 2016 0:58:10 GMT
So why are you so emotional about defending HOAs? Judgmental bitches pretty much sums up HOAs. Not emotional at all. Look, if you want to live in a trash heap piled with inoperable cars, where your neighbors can destroy your property value, be my guest. Just do it in someone else's neighborhood. If not wanting to live next to that makes me a judgmental bitch, so be it. I work hard for my money and so does my husband, and we don't intend to have our investment ruined by the possibility of neighbors who don't care. It seems to me you're a wee bit defensive about your own living situation ... perhaps your own house/yard is the one bringing down the neighbors' values? I just think there are HOA people and there are non-HOA people. HOA people are not my people. I've never lived in an HOA and I've never had any of the problems you describe. Therefore I don't understand why people think they need HOAs to avoid them. For truly dangerous/bad things like hoarders and junk cars there are city codes. I don't want any more control over my neighborhood than the city codes.
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Post by freecharlie on Mar 28, 2016 1:12:10 GMT
workingclassdog I'm on my HOA board too for the condo complex I live in. I think condos, duplexes and the like are a lot different than HOAs for single family homes. If there were no HOA here there would be no way to split all of the common expenses and make sure that the building as a whole is taken care of. I love the fact that I don't have to do yard work as the HOA hires landscapers and if something happens maintenance wise all I have to do is make a phone call. I am only responsible for things inside my walls and it works out pretty well here for the most part. HOAs in a regular single family home would drive me nuts. It's my house and if I want to put red shingles up or park my car in my driveway you better damn believe I am going to. There is no way I could ever live in a regular neighborhood with an HOA. But then again I just recently drove by a house that had been repainted a dark turquoise color with white trim and thought it was eye catching and beautiful. I like unique things. In homes and neighborhoods unique does not always equal tacky. No, but one person's unique is another person's tacky. That, however, is not the point. The point is that if you as a homeowner buy into a neighborhood with certain standards, you don't get to whine later and say, "But I want to be unique! So the rules shouldn't apply to me!" I agree with you on the knowing the rules and having to follow them, if the rules were there when you moved in. I don't like the situation the OP is describing because it seems the woman did he job in looking at the requirements before building. I also don't like adding rules later that impact someone already living there. I certainly wouldn't buy in an area that wouldn't give me a copy of the by-laws and regulations before buying. WTH is that about? (a few posts below the one I quoted)
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Post by epeanymous on Mar 28, 2016 1:25:47 GMT
Ugh. I lived in a neighborhood that didn't have a HOA. The houses did have covenants providing for one, but the neighborhood was decades old and hadn't had one. Two of my neighbors got into a dispute over an addition, a bunch of people constituted an HOA, and my basically chill neighborhood erupted like the Sharks and Jets. Maybe the HOA was the symptom, not the cause, but I decided no in HOA neighborhoods going forward.
That said, while I'd rather risk RV parking than have to adhere to mailbox aesthetic regulations, I'm not going to lie--having an RV parked right next to my house, visibly, would annoy me :/.
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Post by chaosisapony on Mar 28, 2016 2:01:57 GMT
That said, while I'd rather risk RV parking than have to adhere to mailbox aesthetic regulations, I'm not going to lie--having an RV parked right next to my house, visibly, would annoy me :/. Why is that? The only reason I could think of that it might be annoying would be that it could potentially block your visibility when you're backing out of your driveway. I can't think of any reason why it would be an eyesore or somehow different than any other car parked outside of a garage.
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Post by chaosisapony on Mar 28, 2016 2:03:33 GMT
I certainly wouldn't buy in an area that wouldn't give me a copy of the by-laws and regulations before buying. WTH is that about? (a few posts below the one I quoted) I have no idea. I asked until I was blue in the face and was told they only release them to owners. It took an ungodly amount of effort to even find out what the monthly dues would be. It was a gamble that I probably wouldn't take again but it's worked out well for me.
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Post by bigbundt on Mar 28, 2016 2:19:23 GMT
I think your friend needs to talk to a real estate attorney. There are a lot of moving parts between the builder, the HOA and the timeline of when things happen. As for HOA people vs non-HOA people, there are tons are variances in both sides. We currently live in a neighborhood with a HOA and for the most part, it is pretty casual. My ILs have an HOA but the most they do is pay for the street lights. My co-worker that lives in a neighborhood that has one of the most uptight HOAs I've ever heard of. Like they can't have fences. At all. Their monthly HOA meetings are bloodbaths basically. On the flip side I've lived in non HOA areas and in one it was perfectly fine as the neighbors had similar sensibilities but in the other all it took was one neighbor to move in and kind of crap up the street. I would prefer not to live in a HOA neighborhood (with some acreage so you aren't right next to everyone) but we live outside city limits so you can't rely on ordinances, HOAs fill that gap between common sense/courtesy and the law. When we were looking at our current house we knocked on a few random doors and asked the homeowners what their experience with the HOA was like. We also had a copy of the covenants long before closing, no way was I going blindly into a transaction where we were plunking down that kind of money.
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Post by mom on Mar 28, 2016 2:29:43 GMT
So, just out of curiosity, would you be allowed to have pink and blue chairs if you wanted? Do they sort of let you do as you please as long as it fits into the theme unless someone complains? Or do you have an actual color palette that you have to follow in order to put accessories/lawn furniture where they can be seen by your neighbors? I don't live in a community with an HOA but find it interesting to hear how they operate! None of the documents cover lawn furniture except under the general guidance of clean and well maintained. You could have pink and blue chairs if you wanted and we would probably decline to act on a complaint because that doesn't violate the guidelines. The palette is siding, trim, roofing. My chairs are cedar because I found them at a tag sale and liked them, that's all. This is how our HOA is. Its really not a big thing at all for us. Re: garages and cars that someone posted about - we can have cars in the drive way over night, but not parked on the street (though I have seen this done and nothing was said. They just don't want cars piled up in front of the homes, like a used car lot.
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Post by bigbundt on Mar 28, 2016 2:29:46 GMT
That said, while I'd rather risk RV parking than have to adhere to mailbox aesthetic regulations, I'm not going to lie--having an RV parked right next to my house, visibly, would annoy me :/. Why is that? The only reason I could think of that it might be annoying would be that it could potentially block your visibility when you're backing out of your driveway. I can't think of any reason why it would be an eyesore or somehow different than any other car parked outside of a garage. I think it has to do with lot sizes and density of house vs open areas. Houses in our neighborhood are .5 acre and below so depending on the size of the RV, that can be a ton of visual clutter. People have many different ideas on what is cluttered or not. And we have a decent sized lot! There is a ton of new construction going on where there are huge houses on itty bitty parcels of land, you can practically reach out and touch two houses at the same time they are so close together. It would also prevent people from parking one on their property and having someone live in it. When my parents come to visit, they come in an RV but they stay at the campground a couple of miles down the road because they can't park it in our driveway or in the street overnight. Our neighbors have an RV that they use at least once a month. But they pay to store it offsite somewhere. Isn't a big deal to them but they knew the deal when they bought the house.
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Post by mom on Mar 28, 2016 2:32:19 GMT
workingclassdog I'm on my HOA board too for the condo complex I live in. I think condos, duplexes and the like are a lot different than HOAs for single family homes. If there were no HOA here there would be no way to split all of the common expenses and make sure that the building as a whole is taken care of. I love the fact that I don't have to do yard work as the HOA hires landscapers and if something happens maintenance wise all I have to do is make a phone call. I am only responsible for things inside my walls and it works out pretty well here for the most part. HOAs in a regular single family home would drive me nuts. It's my house and if I want to put red shingles up or park my car in my driveway you better damn believe I am going to. There is no way I could ever live in a regular neighborhood with an HOA. But then again I just recently drove by a house that had been repainted a dark turquoise color with white trim and thought it was eye catching and beautiful. I like unique things. In homes and neighborhoods unique does not always equal tacky. No, but one person's unique is another person's tacky. That, however, is not the point. The point is that if you as a homeowner buy into a neighborhood with certain standards, you don't get to whine later and say, "But I want to be unique! So the rules shouldn't apply to me!" Yes! I hate the idea that everyone thinks they are a special snowflake, and the rules don't apply to them. You bought into the neighborhood knowing what you were getting. Don't get pissed when you have to go by the rules.
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Post by bigbundt on Mar 28, 2016 2:38:50 GMT
I don't care about people not parking in their garage (we have a two-car garage and have one car in and one out) but I do like that we don't allow street parking overnight. There is a neighborhood that I sometimes drive through as the back way to our doctor and there are so many cars parked on both sides of the street that you are basically on a one lane street with two way traffic. If there is a car coming from the opposite direction? One of you has to stop to allow the other to pass. It is pretty bad.
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Peamac
Pearl Clutcher
Refupea # 418
Posts: 4,218
Jun 26, 2014 0:09:18 GMT
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Post by Peamac on Mar 28, 2016 2:44:34 GMT
I had high hopes. I dare you to buy a pair of old rubber boots and plant flowers in them and put them at the feet of those inoffensive cedar chairs, and then report back on how long it takes for you to get a complaint. Please! Or make one of those flower planters out of an old toilet. Or a whole set of flower potties!
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Post by epeanymous on Mar 28, 2016 2:55:11 GMT
That said, while I'd rather risk RV parking than have to adhere to mailbox aesthetic regulations, I'm not going to lie--having an RV parked right next to my house, visibly, would annoy me :/. Why is that? The only reason I could think of that it might be annoying would be that it could potentially block your visibility when you're backing out of your driveway. I can't think of any reason why it would be an eyesore or somehow different than any other car parked outside of a garage. I live in the middle of a densely-populated city. I had a neighbor in my old neighborhood who had a coveted double lot (which would probably fit into the side yard of a suburban home, ha ha), and the neighbor used it to park their RV. It just looked unattractive. Again, I don't care enough about this kind of thing to want to live in a neighborhood where I can tell my neighbor not to park their RV in their yard, but I don't like looking at it. Of course, I now see two giant construction cranes from my window (building commercial buildings), so there are worse things you can view.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 21, 2024 1:15:36 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2016 5:13:01 GMT
I think that the builder should rebuild her garage to fit that rv.... Free of charge.
Or refund all her money and help her find a suitable lot.
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TheOtherMeg
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,541
Jun 25, 2014 20:58:14 GMT
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Post by TheOtherMeg on Mar 28, 2016 6:09:50 GMT
We built in a new plan. Our plans HOA was run by the builder until it hit 67% occupancy. Until it hit that percentage ALL matters were approved thru the builder. If the builder told her she could have it, wrote a letter, and says he is still in charge of the HOA then I think she has a great chance for that to be grandfathered in. She should stand her ground! She should really meet her neighbors and explain to those who question? It is not an easy investment to make when you build/move. I hope she finds friends and comfort in her new home. In our plan some people REALLY care about the bylaws and then others couldn't care less. This is how it works for the HOAs I know about. The builder has control until the developement reaches a certain occupancy, then the builder hands control over to the HOA. Whatever happened when the builder had control is grandfathered in.
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Mar 28, 2016 13:10:07 GMT
Yeah, we have four cars. Four drivers. I suppose there's a special place set well outside the gates for those with extra cars? Or families just make do with two cars? Or they all have ginormous garages? I'm dying that there are people so offended by the sight of a car in a driveway. Just imagine if someone dared park on the street! Our good friends live in a condo complex that has a two-car driveway for each unit and that's it. There's really no visitor parking except a very limited amount on the street between some driveways. We sort of parallel park behind their cars when we are over there. You can only oark in a space like that for a very limited time and never overnight. They have three vehicles in the household so one actually has to be parked off site. He walks to and from his car a pretty good distance if he doesn't come and go when someone else is the household is to drop him off. That would drive me nuts. Whoever designed that complex surely didn't think things through.
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uksue
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,500
Location: London
Jun 25, 2014 22:33:20 GMT
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Post by uksue on Mar 28, 2016 13:16:42 GMT
I would no longer want to love there. My best outcome would be to get all monies paid back, plus a little For inconvenience and look elsewhere. I have been down the court route for a building dispute, and it ended up costing us three times our initial projected cost. With hindsight we would have been better off to give in right at the start.., even though everyone including the magistrate told us we were in the right.
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Country Ham
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,313
Jun 25, 2014 19:32:08 GMT
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Post by Country Ham on Mar 28, 2016 13:59:18 GMT
I thought I remember reading on one of these HOA threads that there are some suburbs or the like where you have no choice but to live in a HOA.
Either way not my cup of tea. Just the fees would make me cringe. I noticed a lot of comments and questions here. One thing I never noticed was an explanation of the solutions. If you were a family who likes to RV every weekend of the summer where are you supposed to park your RV if not at your home? Where do you park your cars? Your boat you like to take to the lake sometimes? Does the HOA provide space?
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Post by whipea on Mar 28, 2016 14:25:39 GMT
Buyer beware, especially in pre-planned communities. The sales people, AKA builders are only there to close a sale and will represent what they can get away with doing their best to serve their needs not the buyer's. By no means evil, just business and again buyer must do their homework. So sorry she is going through this, it can be an awful uphill battle.
Regarding HOAs and as previously mentioned they run the gamut. It seems to depend on the area of the country and state legislation. Florida has brutal laws supporting the HOAs and some of their practices. Even with the laws in Florida I have chosen to live in a neighborhood with an HOA. Our neighborhood is small, 47 houses on on acre plus lots which is rare in this area as zero lot lines is the norm. Our HOA is pretty laid back but really gets the job done.
Prior to living here I lived in another area in the same county with no HOA with homes on acre plus lots. The house across the street stored bulldozers and heavy machinery in the front yard. The guy in the house next door was a hoarder of vending machines, front, back and side yards. The county code enforcement is weak, as they seem more interested in some of the dangerous substandard urban housing then the rural issues, just limited resources.
Bottom line is the house I have now about the same size and features as the previous house but is worth twice as much. In this area bring on the HOA but research before buying.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Mar 28, 2016 14:28:37 GMT
I think it's hilarious that people think all HOAs are the same - or that all municipalities enforce or even HAVE laws governing some of the issues HOAs deal with - and it's utterly ridiculous to make blanket statements about people you know nothing about and are just re enforcing the fact that you've never lived outside your own little corner of the country.
I have lived in HOA and non-HOA neighborhoods. We built a house in an EXTREMELY strict HOA - not about uniformity - it actually was anti-uniformity and the architectural committee was a giant PITA to have your plans approved as they utterly determined that this neighborhood would not look like a typical builder built neighborhood. We only lived there a few years - the day to day living in that neighborhood had absolutely NOTHING on living in a non-HOA neighborhood in Boulder, Colorado where code enforcement is there ready to fine you for absolutely anything - including garbage cans, cars parked on streets, shoveling your sidewalk and weeds.
We've lived all around the country and in each location - we evaluate the strictness of the city ordinances and whether they are enforced, if there is an HOA and what the CC&Rs include to determine if we'd buy in that location. We currently live in an extremely low-key HOA. We only pay $100 a year and it covers some landscaping at the entrance of the neighborhood and a block BBQ in the summer. Our county ordinances are sufficient for most issues - but our particular neighborhood has some view corridors that are built into the CC&Rs. We bought our lot because of that view, and it would absolutely impact my house's value if my neighbor decided to plant a giant cottonwood blocking it. We have a committee of 2 that approves trees. It takes about 2 minutes to look at the protected corridor and where they're planting the new tree and determine if it's an issue. No one driving through our neighborhood would think uniformity. Every house was built by the owners with almost all having different builders.
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Post by ferblover on Mar 28, 2016 14:43:15 GMT
We live in a division that has an HOA but then there are sub divisions within the HOA. One area has the worst "monitor" of them all and will fine you for leaving a tupperware container of chalk out on your front porch. Meanwhile on my side it takes 1 year for the "monitor" to notice my neighbors hadn't painted under their deck (roll eyes here! It wasn't bothering me and I am the one who can only see it) and needed to do it in the next week or else. HOA can be good, it is just the extremes that make it not so good.
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Post by gmcwife1 on Mar 28, 2016 14:44:17 GMT
That said, while I'd rather risk RV parking than have to adhere to mailbox aesthetic regulations, I'm not going to lie--having an RV parked right next to my house, visibly, would annoy me :/. Why is that? The only reason I could think of that it might be annoying would be that it could potentially block your visibility when you're backing out of your driveway. I can't think of any reason why it would be an eyesore or somehow different than any other car parked outside of a garage. I've always been puzzled by the car/vehicle/RV hatred some show here It's like it's some odd utopia picture that people want to see or present where people travel by car but they are always tucked out of sight! But I like cars, I enjoy RVs and I don't want to live in some House Beautiful picture perfect place that can't be enjoyed.
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Post by bigbundt on Mar 28, 2016 15:00:29 GMT
If you were a family who likes to RV every weekend of the summer where are you supposed to park your RV if not at your home? Where do you park your cars? Your boat you like to take to the lake sometimes? Does the HOA provide space? Off site storage exists. Like I said my neighbor RVs a ton, especially in the summer. They store their camper at a lot a couple of miles away and when it comes time to pack it up, they drive it over to the house, pack up and go. When they are done, they drive it back to the house, unpack, clean and take it back to the storage lot for next time. Every now and again they just go and get it to do routine maintenance and drive it back. We live close to a few large lakes and people either rent a slip or store their boat at the same type of lot my neighbors use for their RV. Like I said, they knew what they were getting into when they bought the house in our neighborhood. And cars all my neighborhood cares about is that there aren't cars parked on the street overnight. And in reality what they mean is for an extended amount of time or a routine thing for each house. So if you have occasional visitors and park overnight, no big deal. If you have a lot of people living in your house, it is an issue. There is a house a few doors down where they have two adult children still living with their parents and an elderly relative. So there are always people parked on the street with boyfriends and nurses coming and going all the time. However they manage to squeeze all of their cars into the driveway at night. It must be a PITA though, I've seen them playing car tetris early in the morning when one of them is blocked in. But again, they knew what they were buying in to.
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Post by lisacharlotte on Mar 28, 2016 15:41:23 GMT
bigbundt "Car Tetris" is a great analogy! We play that at my house occasionally. We live in an old house with an old 1 car garage that doesn't fit a modern car. We have a single driveway so we have to do the whole move cars around sometimes. There is no parking on my city street so it makes it even more fun when it's busy. Street parking is allowed on the side streets but our neighbors are quick to call parking enforcement if a car hasn't moved in 48 hours. No HOA required here.
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Post by Lexica on Mar 28, 2016 19:38:18 GMT
I have lived in HOA neighborhoods and neighborhoods without, and have personally not had any issues in either home. My current house is in a neighborhood without and they use that as a big selling point around here where the majority of homes do have HOAs. My neighborhood is over 30 years old, but homes have all been kept up without anyone telling us to do so. I guess some would say we were lucky. Oh, there was an incident many years ago where someone in a house down the street from mine painted it a bright lime green. He was from Hawaii, and had no idea that a bright house would be looked down upon by the neighbors. He said all the homes where he was from were cheerful and bright. I guess word got back to him that some of the neighbors were quite upset with the color he chose. He was a painter for a living and started painting it beige the following day. He listed the house and moved within the year, saying he didn't want to live in a neighborhood where painting your house lime green was a bad thing. I think he went back to Hawaii. The neighbors would have had no power to make him repaint, but a few neighbors shamed him into doing so.
I do know of an instance where I thought the HOA was grossly overstepping. A friend of mine purchased a home in a very adorable old historical neighborhood. The homes were all different, having been built well before any planned neighborhoods were even heard of. There was an elderly gentleman who had his porch area rebuilt because it was beginning to fail, as was he, and he designed an entry with stairs and handrails to help steady himself. After the work was complete, he was told he was not in compliance with the regulations and that he had to have the steps/porch area rebuilt to exactly the way the original was done. This man's father designed and built the home before he was born. In fact, he was actually born inside the house, as were all of his siblings. He had lived there his entire life.
The neighborhood was eventually considered historical and an HOA established. The elderly gentleman was upset that they had the power to make him rebuild the steps, especially since the original did not have handrails on them. I don't know how it ended, but at the time I was being told the situation, the neighbors were at war with about half saying he had to redo it and half saying leave him alone, he was here before the neighborhood was historical and should be allowed to do what he wanted. I hope he was allowed to keep them. I would hate to think he would end up feeling forced out of the house he was born in.
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