HOA - no yard art? (Austin, Shady Hollow: buying a home, neighborhood, option to buy)

[atlanta hope]

I was reading Circle C's newsletter and it said that it had sent out a number of notices of violations to homeowners, one violation being yard art. I can understand the junked cars, weeds, no grass, peeling paint, but YARD ART? What the heck!?!? Are all the HOAs so strict?

Guess it's a good thing that me and my pink flamingos didn't find Circle C terribly interesting. Someone tell me Shady Hollow isn't so anal... please? (Although I don't remember seeing any yard art over there either... )

[HappyTexan]

No, HOA's are all different. Read over all the rules before you decide to buy.
My HOA is for an acreage subdivision..we have rules like 1 large animal per 1.5 acre (cows, horses, etc)..definitely geared towards hobby farming/ranching rather then estate type subdivisions. Thankfully mine doesn't have a single word about how tall the grass can get before you have to mow

I got a copy of them and read them over before I bought my place. I was looking for some land to let the wildflowers grow (which means no mowing Jan-May), raise some chickens and not have any HOA commando's telling me I was violating the rules.

Some people like strict rules. They like living in cookie cutter communities where everything is defined right down to the color of your house or roof tile.

Just make sure those are the type of rules you can live by. That's just not my cup of tea.

[llkltk]

Yard art, such as signs saying "welcome" or "happy home" are awful. I can understand why HOAs don't want this. It doesn't make a community cookie cutter it just makes it more appealing. People who chose to live in Circle C probably don't mind the rules. If it bothers someone, then they should find a subdivision that fits their needs.

[love roses]

Yes, they are all different. Ours allows yard art. Although, thankfully, noones taken that to the extreme so far.

[atlanta hope]

Originally Posted by llkltk

Yard art, such as signs saying "welcome" or "happy home" are awful. I can understand why HOAs don't want this. It doesn't make a community cookie cutter it just makes it more appealing. People who chose to live in Circle C probably don't mind the rules. If it bothers someone, then they should find a subdivision that fits their needs.

Yea, I'm not down with the signage like that. I don't even have any yard art other than a sundial in my flowerbed. I do like seeing cool art in other people's yards -- there is a sculptor in my neighborhood that has some really cool metal pieces amongst his flower beds. I love to look at it when I'm out walking.

I'm not fond of rules... and if I wanted to put the big tacky inflatable Santa in my front yard or even my roof, I wouldn't want angry neighbors mobbing my house with a copy of the HOA rules in hand.

[b. frank]

My neighborhood has a "voluntary" HOA - in other words, the neighborhood "association" is organizing their own HOA and residents have the option to buy in. No rules though other than the covenants put in place by the original planners/builders in the early 70s.
In a house nearby mine, the yard has several sculptures of dragons made mostly out of bicycle gears. They are very cool.
Before buying a home there, the dragon sculptures were a huge green light for me. That combined with the fact that almost every yard and house was in good, well-kept condition was proof that you don't need an HOA to have a good neighborhood.
Generally I hate HOAs - of course, I don't want to live in a dump either. But it doesn't have to be one or the other. People of Austin are capable of keeping their things nice without any HOA enforcement. My neighborhood is proof of that.

[Lumerian Feast]

I know a number of people who bought houses with HOAs, and thought it would be cool, and most of them wound up hating it. Also, they had hilarious/unbelievable stories about the politics that sometimes evolve among the HOA groups, people bickering and positioning for power, HOA Presidents who get carried away with their "power," sort of like the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry's parents are involved in election intrigue for their retirement community.

Not for me, thanks.

[HappyTexan]

I think you should read over the rules before you buy to make sure you can live with them. They range from non-existent to very strict so there's something for everyone.

People buy and have ample time to make sure it's right for them so IMO they should abide by the rules no matter how ridiculous they think they are AFTER they move in.

[tashina]

I'm in an HOA neighborhood now and about to move to a non-HOA neighborhood.

Problem with an HOA is that it legislates how it wants, not how I want. For instance, they complained about some weeds in a tree circle that were actually pretty purple flowers when they allowed another neighbor to grow Lantana in his tree circle, which is certainly a weed where I grew up. Plus, they allow the IMO tacky blow up nativity scenes at Christmas.

If I were Queen of the Word, I would allow funky sculptural yard art, weeds with flowers, purple houses, and flamingos.
I would ban all holiday banners, faux country signs, sports flags, anything "cute" and all inflatables.

I will likely not find a single person to agree with me on all these, so that is why I prefer no HOA, rather than one with IMO artibrary rules. YMMV.

[achtungpv]

Originally Posted by tashina

I would ban all holiday banners, faux country signs, sports flags, anything "cute" and all inflatables.

I will likely not find a single person to agree with me on all these, so that is why I prefer no HOA, rather than one with IMO artibrary rules. YMMV.

I think most of the holiday decorations are hideous to say the least. We never do anything other than a simple wreath on the door at xmas. However, I am trying to convince my wife that for Halloween next year that we should hang a life-size Santa from a noose in the front yard.