What are your thoughts/opinions on homeowner associations? I know they are formed to preserve neighborhoods from deteriorating, but they are nothing but nosy, controlling assholes. I absolutely hate them (and they hate me ) The neighborhood I lived in has an association and they have caused nothing but trouble for many in the neighborhood. From singling me out for parking in the guest parking while I was moving additional furniture in, to having the police out here for a neighbor hitting foam golf balls, and then towing another neighbor because a small portion of his back bumper was over the sidewalk, they have been a pain in the ass to most out here. That was definitely the last neighborhood I will never live in that has an association. The sad thing is that no new neighborhoods are void of HOAs. The next home we build will be in the country away from HOAs!

Personally, I turned the table on them and became a royal pain in the ass back to them. They try to make people think they have to bow down to them, when in reality they are for us.

Most of my properties have HOA's. They keep the values up. Yes they're a PITA to deal with but they're worth it. The armed guards are the best! :bravo:

Sometimes they are reasonable in the beginning, but usually turn nasty.

Most of my properties have HOA's. They keep the values up. Yes they're a PITA to deal with but they're worth it. The armed guards are the best! :bravo:

Personally, I would rather lose money when selling my home that to have to answer ever again to someone on what I can and what I cannot do to my own home. I owned my home straight out and still had others telling me for instance, that I couldn't work on my own vehicle.

Yeah, it would feel like living with the parents again "While you're living under our roof...!!!" but worse because its YOUR roof.
Never would we live in a community like that. We do see them being built all over the place, looking identical.

None of mine are that bad. I support them for keeping the pigs out. We don't want beater cars or hoops out front. People can go live in "classic car"/ child-friendly places for that. Seriously, I like it best for the armed guards. Nothing says "no" like a 44 pointed in your face. :D

What are your thoughts/opinions on homeowner associations? I know they are formed to preserve neighborhoods from deteriorating, but they are nothing but nosy, controlling assholes. I absolutely hate them ....

Well, try driving around town and looking at neighborhoods that don't have HOA's and see what a mess they can be. Eight homes on the block are nice and well-maintained, but 3 are rundown and shoddy ...and there's little or nothing that anyone can do about the shitty homeowners.

Hell, even one such rundown, shitty home can ruin the entire neighborhood. Is that what you'd prefer? Buy into a nice home, then find that one homeowner's lack of maintenance is dragging down the value of your home?

Personally, I turned the table on them and became a royal pain in the ass back to them.

That's the spirit! Revenge is a good thing ....keep it up. And while you're at it, look around the world at all the others who are trying to exact their revenge against others. Yep, at least you're right there with all those others! Have you thought of strapping dynamite to yourself and blowing up those assholes?

Baron Max

It's great practice for when the American Taliban turn this country into a police state. I'm not too surprised though.

Gated communities are the antithesis of civilization, for they thrive on separateness and inequality. (http://www.lookingglassnews.org/viewstory.php?storyid=6742)

"Aristocratic communities always contain, among a multitude of persons who by themselves are powerless, a small number of powerful and wealthy citizens, each of whom can achieve great undertakings single-handed. In aristocratic societies, men do not need to combine in order to act, because they are strongly held together. Every wealthy and powerful citizen constitutes the head of a permanent and compulsory association, composed of all those who are dependent upon him or whom he makes subservient to the execution of his designs.

"Among democratic nations, on the contrary, all the citizens are independent and feeble; they can do hardly anything by themselves, and none of them can oblige his fellow men to lend him their assistance. They all, therefore, become powerless if they do not learn voluntarily to help one another. If men living in democratic countries had no right and no inclination to associate for political purposes, their independence would be in great jeopardy, but they might long preserve their wealth and their cultivation: whereas if they never acquired the habit of forming associations in ordinary life, civilization itself would be endangered.

Alexis de Tocqueville

The cream of the crop of the world live in these kinds of communities. Others on 1-500 acres have their own guards, gates, guns, dogs, etc.

No one wants to live in L.A. anymore. It's a hellhole. And it's coming to your neighborhood if you're not careful. ;)

If you have your way, such a prospect is guaranteed.

No, my way is to get rid of all the gangs and violence. Lock them up or deport them. Your way is to be nice to them while they steal/ruin your country. I know you're young and idealistic so I'll be kind: liberalism is not your friend. :)

No, my way is to get rid of all the gangs and violence. Lock them up or deport them. Your way is to be nice to them while they steal/ruin your country. I know you're young and idealistic so I'll be kind: liberalism is not your friend. :)


sandy,
if Jesus came back today, do you think he would be ministering to you and your friends or to the people on the other side of that gate?

Right now you are on the other side of jesus's gate. I hope he doesn't treat you, a sinner, the same

Hell, even one such rundown, shitty home can ruin the entire neighborhood. Is that what you'd prefer? Buy into a nice home, then find that one homeowner's lack of maintenance is dragging down the value of your home?

Yes. I would rather have that than to have to answer to someone else on property that I own, not them. If it caused my home value to drop, I would be more satisfied than having to answer to a HOA. I think you should go here, http://www.ahrc.com/new/index.php/src/forums, and read some of the horrors of what others have gone through with HOAs.



That's the spirit! Revenge is a good thing ....keep it up. And while you're at it, look around the world at all the others who are trying to exact their revenge against others. Yep, at least you're right there with all those others! Have you thought of strapping dynamite to yourself and blowing up those assholes?

Absolutely. One of the things I threatened them with was running a full page add in the local newspaper for several weeks on my own home on all of the horrors of it. There would not have been a thing they could have done to me for that either because I wasn't talking about anyone else's homes. Of course, since all of the homes there were the same, you know what that would do to them; a lot of them were up for sale at the time too! :D I was willing to lose money on my home to prove a point. I was an outright asshole to them. They tried to be to me, so it was payback time. That was just one of the things that I had planned for them.

You could not pay me to live in a community like that!

We live in a really nice neighbourhood. Everybody seems to take the same pride in their property and keeps things nice. The house prices here just keep going up and up and up......:D

A homeowners' association (abbrev. HOA) is the legal entity created by a real estate developer for the purpose of developing, managing and selling a community of homes. It is given the authority to enforce the covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) and to manage the common amenities of the development.It allows the developer to legally exit responsibility of the community typically by transferring ownership of the association to the homeowners after selling off a predetermined number of lots. Most homeowners' associations are non-profit corporations, and are subject to state statutes that govern non-profit corporations and homeowners' associations.

The fastest growing form of housing in the United States today is common-interest developments, a category that includes planned-unit developments of single-family homes, condominiums, and cooperative apartments.[1] Since 1964, homeowners' associations have become increasingly common in the USA. The Community Associations Institute trade association estimated that HOAs governed 23 million American homes and 57 million residents in 2006.[2]


Assessments
Homeowner associations can compel homeowners to pay a share of common expenses, usually per-unit or based on square footage. These expenses generally arise from common property, which varies dramatically depending on the type of association. Some associations are, quite literally, towns, complete with private roads, services, utilities, amenities, community buildings, pools, and even schools. Many condominium associations consider the roofs and exteriors of the structures as the responsibility of the association. Other associations have no common property, but may charge for services or other matters. Assessments paid to homeowner associations in the United States amount to billions of dollars a year.[4]



Some scholars and the AARP charge that in a variety of ways CIDs suppress the rights of their residents [5]. Due to their nature as non-profit corporations, HOA boards of directors are not bound by constitutional restrictions on governments, although critics claim that they are a de-facto level of government.[6]

A board of directors can be sued if it breaches its duties, but board members risk nothing financially in these suits. Association insurance provides not only for a board member's legal expense, but any judgment attained against them.[citation needed] Homeowners must pay out of pocket for any case they bring to court and risk being personally liable for any judgment and/or Association's legal fees as well as their own.

Corporation and homeowner association laws provide a limited role for HOA homeowners.[7] Unless either statutory law or the corporation's governing documents reserve a particular issue or action for approval by the members, corporation laws provide that the activities and affairs of a corporation shall be conducted and all corporate powers shall be exercised by or under the direction of the board of directors.

Critics argue that homeowner associations establish a new community as a municipal corporation without ensuring that the residents governed will have a voice in the decision-making process.[8] Voting in a homeowner association is based on property ownership, [9] per the by-laws and covenants of each association. Only property owners are eligible to vote in elections, and voting by renters is prohibited, since the association has contractual agreements solely with owners. Additionally, only one vote per unit may be cast, rather than one vote per adult occupant, so that voting representation is equal to the proportion of ownership.[10] In the case of partially built out subdivisions in resort areas with a homeowners association, the majority of property owners may not live in the community. Homeowners have challenged political speech restrictions in Associations that federal or state constitutional guarantees as rights, claiming that certain private associations are subject to the same constitutional restrictions as municipal governments.


WIKI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeowners_association

Assessments is one of the worst things about HOAs. A friend of mine was assessed $32,000. Everyone in her neighborhood was assessed this. It was for several fixes, including a few of the townhomes' windows had gone bad. That style was no longer made, so the HOA decided that in order to match, all homes had to have their windows changed for the few that were bad. That was just one of the assessments she had. One more reason why I got out of the HOA environment. When the warranty expires on the homes and the assessments start.....

Never get into a place where any type of homeowners or other associations

are there. They rip everyone off and take the money for themselves through

kickbacks from the contractors that do work at the cond, townhouse or

other types of communities.

No, my way is to get rid of all the gangs and violence. Lock them up or deport them. Your way is to be nice to them while they steal/ruin your country. I know you're young and idealistic so I'll be kind: liberalism is not your friend. :)

What a wonderful idea! No one ever thought of locking up gangs and criminals and deporting them! Smart and beautiful, what a package.

i cant say id ever even heard of one until i read this thread. they sound like the city equivalent of lifestylers; some asshole goes and subdivides his farm into 5ha blocks, then sells them to townies who 'want to get away from it all' but do nothing but bring their city values out here then bitch and moan because we make too much noise when we go bring in the cows at 4am

i cant say id ever even heard of one until i read this thread. they sound like the city equivalent of lifestylers; some asshole goes and subdivides his farm into 5ha blocks, then sells them to townies who 'want to get away from it all' but do nothing but bring their city values out here then bitch and moan because we make too much noise when we go bring in the cows at 4am



Actually he sells it to the "townies" then charges even more money to make sure everything is kept up property wise.

Personally, I would rather lose money when selling my home that to have to answer ever again to someone on what I can and what I cannot do to my own home. I owned my home straight out and still had others telling me for instance, that I couldn't work on my own vehicle.

The funny thing is that you KNOW beforehand that you must join the homeowner association. If you don't like it, live somewhere else. These things exist to help keep a neighborhood "in shape."

sandy,
if Jesus came back today, do you think he would be ministering to you and your friends or to the people on the other side of that gate?

Right now you are on the other side of jesus's gate. I hope he doesn't treat you, a sinner, the same

When Jesus comes back he's not going to be ministering to anyone. He's coming back for us. And if my ideas about wanting to keep America crime-free are disturbing to you, then it's probably good you don't live near me. :)

If you have your way, such a prospect is guaranteed.

So having gated communities where security is pretty much guaranteed for you, your house and your family (generally accepted as a person's three most valuable possessions) is wrong? It's resulting in the breakdown of American society? C'mon! How is it that liberals blame the wealthy for having their wealth and wanting security and privacy, but get all weak-kneed with the vapors when anybody mentions the possibility that illegal immigration and inner-city morality might also be contributing to said decline?

How, then, should a person of means live? (I'm operating under the assumption that you still believe it's not a horrible evil to be wealthy in this world) I lived in a gated community for three years-- I knew my neighbors, we got along, we hung out, it was almost a snapshot of neighborly life in the 50's. I miss it. THAT, my friend, was a "community". You can't legislate people into being good neighbors, and it's pretty darned tough to stop gang bangers from driving by and shooting up your house. You might as well do your best to preserve a little piece of peace and sanity for your family to live in.

Anybody who has the money wants to live in a place that's secure, the gates and the armed guards secure that fact.

~String

When Jesus comes back he's not going to be ministering to anyone. He's coming back for us. ...

us? What's the name of your church?

Homeowner associations are for people with nothing better to do than moan and bitch :D

Homeowner associations are for people with nothing better to do than moan and bitch :D

Actually they help those that run them get rich. They steal money that was

supposed to go to helping with keeping the areas looking good but it

sometimes goes right into the associations presidents pockets!! Just keep a

close eye on the accounting books. ;)

don't worry, we don't get much of that comradery bullshit in britain

Homeowner associations are for people with nothing better to do than moan and bitch :D

And how many properties do you own with HOA's that you can make said ASSumption? :confused:

The funny thing is that you KNOW beforehand that you must join the homeowner association. If you don't like it, live somewhere else. These things exist to help keep a neighborhood "in shape."

I knew I had to join it, but I had no idea how bad they are. I thought they were good until I learned the truth. Hell, my brother-in-law told me about their HOA and how there was a literal fist fight at one of the meetings and their neighborhood is one of the more expensive in the area. Oh and yes, that is why I sold my home and moved into a neighborhood that does not have one. Never again!!!

[QUOTE=Non-Logical-Idea-Guy;1597779]Homeowner associations are for people with nothing better to do than moan and bitch :D[/

Exactly! There was one old man that would screw around in the neighborhood looking for trouble. There was a rule that said you couldn't park your car over the last groove in the driveway. If it was and was left there for more than two hours, your car could be towed. This fucker would go around the neighborhood looking for people's cars over the line and call the towing company.

I finally came out one day and told him that since he was so old and bored, why didn't he just creep on back to his home and die. The world would be a better place. Shit like this that you have to put up with!

And how many properties do you own with HOA's that you can make said ASSumption? :confused:

I live in a street with one, i technically don't own the house but my mum does.

[QUOTE=Non-Logical-Idea-Guy;1597779]Homeowner associations are for people with nothing better to do than moan and bitch :D[/

Exactly! There was one old man that would screw around in the neighborhood looking for trouble. There was a rule that said you couldn't park your car over the last groove in the driveway. If it was and was left there for more than two hours, your car could be towed. This fucker would go around the neighborhood looking for people's cars over the line and call the towing company.
I finally came out one day and told him that since he was so old and bored, why didn't he just creep on back to his home and die. The world would be a better place. Shit like this that you have to put up with!

Now THAT sucks. I have never seen or experienced that. If anyone tried that in any of my HOA's they would be out on their @sses real fast. :(

If anyone tried that in any of my HOA's they would be out on their @sses real fast.

You can't kick out someone that lives in your area just because they follow

the laws. Where do you get that information from anyway? The guy was

doing something that was only trying to better the community by following

the laws set forth by those in charge of the HOA. Where's the law against

that to kick him out?

Lunatics and radicals don't last long where I have HOA properties.
That guy was both.

we're talking about HOAs not your HOAs

Lunatics and radicals don't last long where I have HOA properties.
That guy was both.

There are no laws in any HOA's that can kick someone out for following the

laws that were enacted.

There are plenty of political games played in HOAs. It has been my experience that the loons who go out of their way to make trouble for the zillionaires/powerful people who live there usually don't last long. ;)

There are plenty of political games played in HOAs. It has been my experience that the loons who go out of their way to make trouble for the zillionaires/powerful people who live there usually don't last long. ;)

Its the Zillionaires that are the loons...IMHO. They want to keep themselves

away from regular society because they are afraid of what normal people

are doing.

Not afraid, just disgusted. ;)

i hope you snobs die, i really do