Yet another reason I will never live somewhere with HOA...

[Kevins89notch]

and so do people who make broad ass generalizations based on little or no personal experience with them.

One friend wrecked his mustang. It was towed home to his parents house, and place under a car cover in the driveway. His parents were warned/fined with 24 hours. What if someone had a ferrari, and wanted to recoat their garage floor, thus couldn't park on it for 48 hours?

One friend bought a house and had the HOA president ask him not to cut the grass while wearing his old camo pants from the AF as, "a military presence isn't wanted in our neighborhood."

One friend bought a house and 5 years later was fined for having a palm tree to close to the lake. The palm tree was there when they bought the house.

Once friend decided to freshen up his engine. He removed it, and pushed the roller into the driveway for 2-4 hours on 4 days in a row while he worked on the engine. When done working on his engine, it was always pushed back into the garage. He was fined for possessing a non operative vehicle.

Lastly, my lease was up, and I was looking for a new place to rent. I found an offer that was damn cheap, $300 a month for a room i a 6/4 house, and I could have complete use of the garage. SOLD! Come to find out, it was a pre-foreclosure, one guy was renting the whole house for $1,300, and then renting out 5 rooms at $300+ each. Damn smart idea, but he let several idiots move in that trashed the place. No one including him wanted to clean up any mess nor cut the grass, so here's a picture taken when I moved out, shortly before the house did go into foreclosure. The neighbors were paying like $130 a month for HOA. Lots of good it did, huh?

Oh wait, another one.

I walk out to my car with a 24 hour tow sticker on it. My car was parked on the street, in a non-gated community. By law, street parking thus follows local laws because it's a public street. Calls to the towing company just lead to appologies because of the massive amount of pissed off people calling them. They said they were just doing what the HOA said. I informed them the HOA doesn't have the legal right, but they stood by, "hey, just doing what we were told." They admitted the read issue was a school bus couldn't get down a street because some jackass parked like 3 feet from the curb.

 

[DriftwoodSVT]

One friend bought a house and had the HOA president ask him not to cut the grass while wearing his old camo pants from the AF as, "a military presence isn't wanted in our neighborhood."

Nothing to do with the HOA at all.

If people would be smart enough to read the HOA guildines before moving in lots of problems could be avoided. But then again, many people have trouble with basic reading it seems...

 

[JD03Cobra]

It's simple...read the HOA first. If you don't approve, don't buy a home in the subdivision. People don't read the HOA and then bitch afterwards. Frankly I'm happy my neighbor can't park his RV on the front lawn. It keeps the community and values of our homes looking decent. Now is there BS in some of the HOA's, hell yes there is. They all do but join the board and fight it out if you have the energy. Frankly I would rather polish my mufflers than argue with douche bag neighbors.

 

[HoustonGT]

Nothing to do with the HOA at all.

If people would be smart enough to read the HOA guildines before moving in lots of problems could be avoided. But then again, many people have trouble with basic reading it seems...

You sound like someone who sits on the board of a HOA. A bunch of people who's only power in their day-to-day lives comes from telling other what they can and can't do with their own property.

My personal experience with our HOA has been a nightmare; they pick on certain individuals while ignoring others based on who their friends and neighbors are.
We received 5 notices for a 2'x2' are of discolored bricks on the side of my mom's house which turned slightly white from constantly being sprayed by an existing sprinkler system. I tried 10 different solutions to solve the issue, including calling someone out to see what they could do. I emailed the HOA each time letting them know that I tried to solve the problem, but nothing worked. They continued to harass us with multiple letter. Not until I got pissed and told that we just lost our dad a month prior and to leave us the **** alone did they stop sending ****ing 2 page letters for discolored bricks. (BTW, they sent a notice for having too many cars at the house when our family came over to console us after the funeral too).

3 months later, they sent another notice for the blinds not being fully raised or lowered, as in leaving a 6-inch gap for the dogs to look outside without destroying them. Yes, the blinds in our own house had to be either fully open or closed (nowhere in the contract). The neighbor kindly reminded them to please stop harassing my mom again and it magically stopped.

While all of this went on (months), the neighbor across the street has a boat in his driveway, the people 2 houses down looked like they were preparing their lawn for Jumanji 2, and the guy down the street had a car his 15 foot trailer in front of his house.

**** the HOA and the people who seem to think that they have some sort of authority or blame the members in this thread for signing the contract. Signing a contract in no way opens you up to harassment or bullying by a bunch of middle-aged pricks with nothing better to do.

/rant

 

[DriftwoodSVT]

You sound like someone who sits on the board of a HOA. A bunch of people who's only power in their day-to-day lives comes from telling other what they can and can't do with their own property.

Nope. I'm just someone who read my HOA guidelines before picking where I live.

 

[rotor_powerd]

I could never live in an HOA. Leave me out in the country where I can't see my neighbors and don't really care what they do with their house or yard.

My buddy lives in a townhouse community and got slapped with a $700 fine a while back because the sliding glass door on the back of his house (Backs up to woods, not other houses) had become foggy. :bored:

 

[HoustonGT]

Nope. I'm just someone who read my HOA guidelines before picking where I live.

Right because those guidelines force the board to be fair, treat all neighbors equally and ensure that they don't single out some while ignoring others.

I mean can you imagine the chaos that would ensue if EVERYONE in the neighborhood partially opened their blinds!?!? Oh the humanity!
:rollseyes

 

[4u 2 nv]

Nope. I'm just someone who read my HOA guidelines before picking where I live.

We can all agree its common sense to read it before moving in...i think most or just amazed at the lack of common sense in the "rules" most try to push.

I have had my run in with my family also:

- No more than 2 cars in the driveway at a time? what? so no guest for dinner over? how did that even pass?

- Friends house had complaints prob 5 times a day for a week about a 5x10 trailer sitting in front of his garage with his parents Harleys sitting in it. They drove the bikes down for Bike Week in Daytona. Sad thing though...THE TRAILER WAS STILL ATTACHED TO THE TRUCK..a newer F250! It wasnt just dumped on the side yard. Neighbors felt it made the neighbor hood look trashy? Trashy? It had prob $60-80k worth of custome harleys sitting in it. His dad is RVP for a big company lol.

- Ex GFs mom got a note one time saying "No company vehicles allowed in neighborhood" and that they noticed the same van there for over a week. Well..the van was there because it belonged to the company renovating BOTH bathrooms...what? so its illegal based on the HOA to upgrade your bathrooms now?

 

[DriftwoodSVT]

Right because those guidelines force the board to be fair, treat all neighbors equally and ensure that they don't single out some while ignoring others.

I mean can you imagine the chaos that would ensue if EVERYONE in the neighborhood partially opened their blinds!?!? Oh the humanity!
:rollseyes

Fight the board. Join the board and change the rules. Move somewhere else. There are options other than just complaining.

 

[Kevins89notch]

- Ex GFs mom got a note one time saying "No company vehicles allowed in neighborhood" and that they noticed the same van there for over a week. Well..the van was there because it belonged to the company renovating BOTH bathrooms...what? so its illegal based on the HOA to upgrade your bathrooms now?

I had a roommate get our house fined for that too. He's a pool boy, with a company issued truck. The company logo was painted on the doors. The company thus gave him giant white magnets to place over the logo when he was at home. So what good did the HOA do there? There's still a truck them deem trashy with it's hoses and nets, but magically not seeing a company name makes it all better. :rollseyes

 

[HoustonGT]

Fight the board. Join the board and change the rules. Move somewhere else. There are options other than just complaining.

This goes back to the OP and everyone else saying they hate their HOA.

An association you pay should not be putting you in a predicament to fight against it, rally for change, or make you consider moving out of the neighborhood all together to avoid them.
Just like someone previously mentioned, it has not to do with reading comprehension, but with common sense and the understanding that the HOA exists to better the neighborhood, not to empower some 50 year old lady to drive around looking for shit to nitpick about.

 

[4u 2 nv]

I had a roommate get our house fined for that too. He's a pool boy, with a company issued truck. The company logo was painted on the doors. The company thus gave him giant white magnets to place over the logo when he was at home. So what good did the HOA do there? There's still a truck them deem trashy with it's hoses and nets, but magically not seeing a company name makes it all better. :rollseyes

thats crazy...my EXs situation was crazy. The van didnt belong to a family member. It belonged to a company the family hired to renovate a bathroom. IIRC the dropped like 10k doing both bathrooms top to bottom with this company only to have her mom and the company get crap from the HOA.

 

[CompOrange04GT]

I ****ing hate my hoa. I think they are embezzling. Everyone pays dues yet the pool is awful, the nieghborhood sign is in shambles and that is what they are supposed to be fixing....the last 2 years.

About to move back onto the farm.

We pay for the landscaping here in our dues


It's never done....Until someone complains. Pool is disgusting, and there has been grafitti on the neighborhood sign for 2 nmonths

 

[ff500]

The lettered vehicles was a huge concern for me when I first heard of HOA's in Va. I'm an Electrician, I have 2 trucks up in Ma, when I called about my trucks I was told they couldn't be parked in the driveway or on the street. I don't know why they think that brings down property values but they do. I was able to find a secure lot near my home for $65 a month, you get a 20' x 40' space to park or store whatever you want, so eventually I will go that route.

Some of you got some cheap dues, we pay $240 a month!

 

[Torch10th]

My HOA saved me a bit this week. A couple months ago I noticed I was getting some water seepage in my second bedroom. One call and they had roofers out the next day. We've now received close to a foot of snow since Sunday. The roof has been repaired and I don't have to worry about anything more serious.

I also didn't have to pay anything out of pocket to get it fixed. So I'll +1 my HOA.

 

[clbailey]

My HOA saved me a bit this week. A couple months ago I noticed I was getting some water seepage in my second bedroom. One call and they had roofers out the next day. We've now received close to a foot of snow since Sunday. The roof has been repaired and I don't have to worry about anything more serious.

I also didn't have to pay anything out of pocket to get it fixed. So I'll +1 my HOA.

That sounds more like home owners insurance rather than a HOA. Never herd of them paying for repairs unless you rent.

 

[Torch10th]

That sounds more like home owners insurance rather than a HOA. Never herd of them paying for repairs unless you rent.

I own a condo. Per the HOA regulations, the structure of the building is covered by the HOA and the insurance for the structure. The only thing I have to worry about is from the drywall in.

Our HOA does not contract small roof repairs out to the insurance. It's covered under the general fund. For a neighborhood with a house, no you could not expect them to cover that type of damage. But then you're also paying quite a bit less usually as well.

But it still goes to show that not all HOA's are bad.

 

[CompOrange04GT]

I own a condo. Per the HOA regulations, the structure of the building is covered by the HOA and the insurance for the structure. The only thing I have to worry about is from the drywall in.

Our HOA does not contract small roof repairs out to the insurance. It's covered under the general fund. For a neighborhood with a house, no you could not expect them to cover that type of damage. But then you're also paying quite a bit less usually as well.

But it still goes to show that not all HOA's are bad.

Im in a condo also.

It sucks when they only maintain the landscape by the leasing office.

 

[Torch10th]

Im in a condo also.

It sucks when they only maintain the landscape by the leasing office.

That's the type of stuff you need to be proactive about. Your HOA represents a contract of service. They provide x service for x price. If you are paying your HOA and not receiving the services they are claiming to provide, then you need to go to the board with those grievances.

If they tell you it's not in the budget, you should be asking for a break-down of expenses. Remember, the residents own the HOA. You should also be receiving these at least annually anyway.

 

[highdensity007]

HOA's have their benefits. THOSE neighbors who don't pull weeds, don't mow their yards, etc.

To the extent they are written up and enforced can be argued.

Can't work on your car in your driveway that is on jacks several days/weeks at a time and your yard looks like Joe Dirt's front and back yard? HOA is a winner.

Can't work on your car in your driveway to be done in a couple hours and your yard looks like a Chinese Garden? HOA is a fail bag.

I purposely picked my neighborhood because it does not have HOA. We don't have Joe Dirt neighbors and we do not have problems. I can do PM's in my driveway and no one gives a crap.