Homeowners Assc. Sucks Horribly

[Blitz21]

I like your thinking z2go. Basically its a high rise apt building, where the bottom 3 floors are parking, and its concrete. If I really wanted to (which I just might at this point) is go around the parking lot and see all the cars that are "not following the rules" like I am. I can already think of about 6 spaces. Oh, and after parking my car in my space after I tried cleaning it, and when I put the cardboard down, the guard actually followed me, waited for me to turn off the car and get out, and then said "you can't park here, remember? And the cardboard don't cut it even when it under the car". Yes just like I typed it. BUT, oh well. I'll try the thinner and if it doesn't work I'll suck it up and be a good boy and pay out the a$$ for cleaners and never park there again.

In the end, this was just a big rant I wanted to get off my chest. Thank you for the input/opinions/remarks/etc. Due to circumstances I am living here, if I could afford my own place or get friends to rent a place I would, but for the time being I am here, so I just get to make due.

Many thanks.

Edited May 7, 2010 by Blitz21

[hoov100]

HOAs are there because some people enjoy having not only their house, but all the ones in the neighborhood looking nice, and kept in good condition. If you don't want to live by HOA rules, don't move there!

 

It's REALLY not that complicated.

 

Sparks hit the nail on the head. Having neighbors with goats, ugly as hell chain link fences, poorly cut, if cut at all, lawns, cars sitting on the lawn going nowhere, boarded up windows in the garage, what have you, is a MASSIVE eye sore. (Those examples are not directed at you, BTW).

 

Although, for the record, I wouldn't want to live in an HOA either, I'd rather just live in a nice neighborhood where people "get it."

 

Just because there isnt an HOA or some other controlling body, doesn't mean that every other property is a heap, I have lived in some nice neighbor hoods up north where people don't even know what a HOA is.

 

The only good thing I can think of IMHO here about living in a nice well up kept neighbor hood, is to say you live in one. other then that, you're just spending more on property tax, spending money on HOA fee's and fines and are more likely to get robbed/vandalized or both.

 

Lets say for example you pay $3500 a year for property tax, plus $500 a month in HOA fee's in a nice very well up kept neighborhood on the good side of town for 20 years. That totals to $190,000 over the course of 20 years. Now lets say you live in purgatory, between the nice side of town and the bad side. The side that is know to be nice, but has a few problems which keep it from being as nice as the good side of town. say you pay $2500 in property tax, but the insurance goes up an extra $150 a month for living in that part of town. The total comes out to $86000 over the course of 20 years assuming nothing changes (goes up).

 

So out of all of that, how do you justify spending that much more, for the sake of a measly $100k difference in property value and the sake of saying you live in a good neighborhood? Maybe I'm simplifying things here and most likely you're situation is different, but the question still stands. I'm not trying to start an argument here, or say anyone is better then another, but the numbers are right in front of us and they only add up one way.

[rturbo 930]

Just because there isnt an HOA or some other controlling body, doesn't mean that every other property is a heap, I have lived in some nice neighbor hoods up north where people don't even know what a HOA is.

 

The only good thing I can think of IMHO here about living in a nice well up kept neighbor hood, is to say you live in one. other then that, you're just spending more on property tax, spending money on HOA fee's and fines and are more likely to get robbed/vandalized or both.

 

Lets say for example you pay $3500 a year for property tax, plus $500 a month in HOA fee's in a nice very well up kept neighborhood on the good side of town for 20 years. That totals to $190,000 over the course of 20 years. Now lets say you live in purgatory, between the nice side of town and the bad side. The side that is know to be nice, but has a few problems which keep it from being as nice as the good side of town. say you pay $2500 in property tax, but the insurance goes up an extra $150 a month for living in that part of town. The total comes out to $86000 over the course of 20 years assuming nothing changes (goes up).

 

So out of all of that, how do you justify spending that much more, for the sake of a measly $100k difference in property value and the sake of saying you live in a good neighborhood? Maybe I'm simplifying things here and most likely you're situation is different, but the question still stands. I'm not trying to start an argument here, or say anyone is better then another, but the numbers are right in front of us and they only add up one way.

Oh no. Like I said, there is not a chance I would live in an HOA neighborhood. However, I get why they are there, and if you (or anyone else) don't want to follow their rules, why live there? You would just be causing unnecessary stress, on both your end, and their end. I have never seen the point of making life harder for other people. If you're just going to cause problems for people who WANT to live that way, just move and leave them alone.

 

However, that doesn't mean I don't want to live in a nice neighborhood. I don't want to look at other people's trash, because it looks like crap. I don't enjoy eye sores, so as you might expect, I would like to avoid them. Generally trash = bad neighborhood, and nice, up kept houses = good neighborhood. Or option C) Live in the in country where neighbors aren't a problem No HOA fees either, no neighbors to complain, etc. Sounds good to me.

 

Example though: My two friend's parent's houses. They are neighbors. One of them has a nice house, most of it is renovated, all of it is kept nice and pretty, freshly painted, lawn cut, gardens in order, cars parked where they should be, trash cans taken in, etc, etc. The other is the opposite. Ugly fence, front of house is sort of, kind of maintained, but not really, because it's brick and there's not much to maintain. There is still trash that the trash people wouldn't take LITERALLY from last summer (2009). Cars parked on the lawn, making ruts, stained driveway (sorry, but it does look really bad), garage doors broken/halfway open/crooked, with junk pouring out of it, vines going wild wherever they please, etc. That's a brief description. And those are the kind of people that I cannot stand, and probably why HOAs exist. It's extremely inconsiderate to have your property looking like that when you have neighbors that DO care.

Edited May 7, 2010 by rturbo 930

[z2go]

It all comes down to pride of ownership. If you are ok with your place looking like a dump, then you have no pride in the things that you own. There are plenty of people like that. HOA's are a pain, but they are kind of like everyone's MOM... "Mow the yard! Pick up your damn toys!"

 

Some people just need told what to do...

 

I bought my house in a neighborhood that was going under a lot of foreclosure, now most houses are bought up, but there are a few people that moved in who don't really care much for what things look like. One would be my next door neighbor. They mow the lawn twice a year, don't do anything for the weeds, etc. Everyone has trees in their yard, and theirs is half the size of everyone else because they don't water, or fertilize. We don't have a HOA, because the builders of the development were supposed to turn it over to a HOA when they were done building... they never finished building, because of the market turning for the worst. So, we are in limbo. They are supposed to enforce the rules, but they have one foot out the door. Kind of sucks, because most houses look really nice, but a select few look like total garbage. On the other side of the tracks (metaphorically speaking) The houses are 15-20 years old, and half of them have 4 foot high chain link fences, weeds, broken down cars, and other things in various states of decay. It looks horrible, and that's where the ghetto-types seem to flock. No one wants to act 'hood' around nicely manicured lawns, nice cars and beautiful homes. That's not real, yo!

 

That's at least my opinion.

 

It seems that the scenario here is really just an incredibly picky, bored property manager who feels their complex is so upscale that it doesn't want to allow anyone but the most affluent to live there, and drive their benz's and BMW's and wear their designer suits. You are probably being singled out because of it, which is bordering on discrimination. How many people live in the complex? If its gigantic, how the heck do they have time to single you out???

[blue72]

Maybe you can ask the HOA rep. to loan you some of their Depends Adult Diapers to strap onto the oil pan?

[Blitz21]

I like it Blue. OK: The building is 23 floors, with 8 or 9 stacks, so a lot of people. The funny thing is, the building isn't all THAT nice/upscale, (things constantly break down and its only about a decade old), and the surrounding area (across the street and the street directly behind the building) is always littered with bottles and trash. Think of the building like an oasis in the sea of ghetto (pretty literally too!). I think most of the hassle is from my car, from what I stated before, and I've only been living there since the beginning of Jan. So I can also think of the "fresh meat" mentality.

[Jon 74 260Z]

What's been missed so far is the biggest problem with HOA's: The only people who WANT to be president of the HOA are the exact people who you DON'T want to be involved in any position of responsibility or power.

 

Think of the nerdy, butt-puckering Hall Monitors from grade school. Where do you think they are now? (They're HOA prez's, I tell ya!) That type of personality defect never cures itself -- it needs to find an outlet and thus, HOA's were created.

 

Oh, and that was an interesting analysis of the ROI on HOA fees. Personally, I think it's actually worse than that because I don't believe that HOA do anything to "keep property values up."

[rturbo 930]

What's been missed so far is the biggest problem with HOA's: The only people who WANT to be president of the HOA are the exact people who you DON'T want to be involved in any position of responsibility or power.

 

Think of the nerdy, butt-puckering Hall Monitors from grade school. Where do you think they are now? (They're HOA prez's, I tell ya!) That type of personality defect never cures itself -- it needs to find an outlet and thus, HOA's were created.

 

Oh, and that was an interesting analysis of the ROI on HOA fees. Personally, I think it's actually worse than that because I don't believe that HOA do anything to "keep property values up."

You can't lump all HOA presidents into one type of personality/stereotype/whatever. Just like there are good cops and bad cops, there are good, reasonable HOAs, and ridiculous ones as well.

[thrustnut]

I just had a 45 foot High Cube container dropped in my back yard. What do you think the Homeowners Association would say about that?

 

Oh, I don't have one...

 

Sucks to be you. Join the military, then you can have regular lawn inspections as well.

I knew a guy who parked his truck OUTSIDE the housing complex on the street, and WALKED to his house, because he wasn't allowed to park cars in the driveway, only in the garage. But it was a three car garage, but you could only have TWO cars. He liked the rules. He said it helped keep the property values up. I think he stayed within the lines as well, because he knew 'the lines are our friends'...

 

Been there, done that. Never again!

 

My buddy lived in base housing and had to chalk one of his tires because his parking pin was broken. The military housing inspecters came by and told him he had to fix his car or move it off base due to the non-op vehicle rule. He drove it to the housing office to show them that it ran just fine, and was actually fine when sitting most of the time, tha chalk was just a saftey measure. They told him he still had to fix it or move it, so he just quit using the chalk.

 

On the oter hand, my HA sucks for the opposite reason. I live in a pretty nice middle class newer housing development and our HA won't enforce anything. I take care oof my place, try to not let things leak in my drive way or in front of my house, keep the yard up ect. but there's a dude down the street putting an engine in a Ford station wagon in front of his house (at the curb) and I had skate ramps in the middle of the street in front of my house for over three weeks. People had to drive around them to go down the street. No one did anything, so I called the city and had them torn down. So I guess the moral of the story is it can go both ways.

[Blitz21]

Well, the main intention of this was that I felt it was blown way out of porportion for a oil stain maybe 10" diameter at most.

[zxtoy]

Let me know how the laquer thinner works for you. I think you'll be amazed at how easy it works.

[Blitz21]

Ok, I must have some super stain...laquer thinner didn't work. Acetone didn't work. I'm thinking Muriatic Acid by now.

[icapture]

yea i absolutely hate HOA's that have sticks up their asses, which is pretty much every one. I would just fill up a bucket up with old dirty oil, take a turkey baster, and drop oil spots on everyones spot.

 

yes i am immature.

[hoov100]

Lol, I remember this one, one of the HOA board members had this great dane that liked to poop on my lawn when she would walk him and she never cleaned it up. So one day I scooped it up with a shovel walked down to her house and launched it at her front door. Never again did that dog go anywhere near my lawn.

[Blitz21]

Hmmm....I do have a turkey baster...and there are pets in the building....hmmm ideas.

[Tony D]

"Sparks hit the nail on the head. Having neighbors with goats, ugly as hell chain link fences, poorly cut, if cut at all, lawns, cars sitting on the lawn going nowhere, boarded up windows in the garage, what have you, is a MASSIVE eye sore. (Those examples are not directed at you, BTW)."

 

What's wrong with the occasional Goat mowing the lawn? And chain link fences are the only thing that works against roving packs of dogs...

 

But what works best is Sea Containers in the back yard to keep it all locked up tight and dry!

 

My $80K SoCal Doublewide is worth far more now than when I bought it, my profit will be the same as someone in an HOA whose price of admission for their postage stamp lot and minimcmansion was 4 or 5X that and who's appreciation, while looking good on paper still only nets them $400K when they sell.

 

All the while they burned $3200 a month instead of $900 a month. NOBODY lives in those houses for retirement. They sell them and move downmarket. All that fancy crap does is soak your pocketbook for the 20 or so years you pay for it till you sell and move where you WANT to be.

 

I prefer instead to spend the difference on Lakefront Property back East (second home for less than 2/3 the price of one 'fancy' one here in SoCal protected by an HOA...

 

Though recently some HOA's been getting sued due to radically dropping property values. Seems a sows ear really IS a sow's ear, no matter what CCR's come imprinted on it!

[rturbo 930]

"Sparks hit the nail on the head. Having neighbors with goats, ugly as hell chain link fences, poorly cut, if cut at all, lawns, cars sitting on the lawn going nowhere, boarded up windows in the garage, what have you, is a MASSIVE eye sore. (Those examples are not directed at you, BTW)."

 

What's wrong with the occasional Goat mowing the lawn? And chain link fences are the only thing that works against roving packs of dogs...

Lol. My neighbors have like 2 goats, 4 chickens, 4 dogs, and 4 kids, and they had some petition thing go around to let them have the goats... not sure what happened with that though. Their lawn has gotta be over a foot high now though. It looks horrible. Fortunately, I got word they are moving. So soon? So sorry to see you go... Not.

 

And for the record, again, I am not saying I want to pay HOA fees or live in an HOA. I just understand why others do.

[Calgary280ZT]

We just sold our house and will be moving to a condo in BC, where my Z will be parked in an underground facility...going to have the same problems. But first thing I will do before buying is check the condo bylaws. Those set out my responsibilities as a condo owner, the rules for everyone and the actions the condo corporation can take if I break the rules. I imagine it is the same for the HOA. So if you feel you're being treated unfairly by the HOA, do your homework, learn their bylaws thoroughly and act accordingly. You can use the bylaws to your benefit if you know what they are.

[Blitz21]

Calgary: That sounds pretty much like a HOA, and I have sifted through the novel of "Rules and Regulations" and it is funny how many people I can see that don't follow those rules, and it makes me wonder if they get the same "warnings" that I do. On another note, it seems someone was shot outside the building this morning, and when I parked my car on the street last night there was a bumfight pretty much where I parked in front of the building next door to mine. There goes the neighborhood, oh wait...

[Michael]

I’m one of those deadbeat owners who never mows the grass, hasn’t yet gotten around to repairing 2008 hurricane damage, and has all sorts of varieties of leafy plants climbing the exterior walls up to the roof. I have various vehicles in various stages of inoperability scattered about my driveway, and the driveway is splattered in puddles of various fluids. The asphalt is cracked and weeds are growing through the cracks. But most of this is invisible because the house is 300’ back from the road, and the grass is reaching 3’ high this time of year.

 

These are the benefits of living in a rural area. We have no homeowner associations, no neighborhood watch, no irate notes placed in recalcitrant owners’ mailboxes.

 

So why not maintain my house? Because I realized long ago that it won’t appreciate in value, and my time is better spent furthering my career than trimming the bushes. I intend to let it rot, and sell the property when I retire for the market price of unimproved land.

 

For all of the many disadvantages of rural life – and indeed there are many! – one can take solace that in these environs private property is genuinely private property, undiluted by communal sensibilities of what’s considered to be appropriate homeowner behavior.