Should homeowner's associations be allowed to ban solar panels/clotheslines? (attorney, school)
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Fascism, not communism- if they are 'HOA-Nazis' they must be fascists
My mistake. And like Nazis, they encourage people to report on their neighbors. I have neighbors that don't keep their yard up to desirable conditions and have vehicles in less than steller running condition. Doesn't bother me at all. My yard is cut,...weather permitting. So I may have some weeds in my yard. So what? Some weeds are good for the lawn. Some weeds make beautiful flowers. So on a nice spring day, if I want to air out my sheets on the clothes line, whose business is it other than my own? She's offended by people drying clothes on a clothes line? I'm offended by people who waste huge amounts of water to maintain a grass that isn't native to the region just so they can have perfectly green lawn. Other than rain, only time I water my yard is when I'm spreading a product that kills weeds, feeds the grass, and kills the fire ants. MY choice! Grass will survive a drought though they will turn brown. I'm amazed at the lengths people go to get a green yard so they don't go astray of the HOA regulations on lawn care. If they spent as much time and energy gardening as they do lawn care then they'd never have to purchase fruits or vegetables. My brother-in-law would be a good neighbor for her. His hobby is building cars. Took him several years to build the car he currently has. Several years of this thing slowly taking shape in his drive way. It's what's called a T-bucket car. Do a search for T-bucket car and you'll see what I'm talking about. How dare he have a hobby! My sister didn't care for his hobby but let him have it because if he's working on the car, he's not cheating on her or out getting drunk with the guys.
"I'd much rather be a pig than a fascist" - Porco Rosso
These HOA's are fascist-nating to read about. I'm not sure we have such things in Oz. How can America, which reckon it makes the world safe for democracy and is the home of freedon (yeah right) allow such things?
"I'd much rather be a pig than a fascist" - Porco Rosso
These HOA's are fascist-nating to read about. I'm not sure we have such things in Oz. How can America, which reckon it makes the world safe for democracy and is the home of freedon (yeah right) allow such things?
I don't know. I sometimes think it was something created by a lawyer. There are people who just can't seem to mind their own business. They seem to be more worried about what other people are doing with their home than what's going on within their own home. I live in a mobile home park so I accept their rules because I don't own the land. However, they can't tell me what to do with my home. I can paint my home rainbow colors if I want. Some HOA's even tell home owners what they can have on their windows (white blinds, shade, or drapes when seen from the outside of the home). In one nearby neighborhood, a couple who just delivered a baby were told in an angry tone they were in violation because they dared to decorate the baby's room with dinosaur peel and stick window stickers,..the clear plastic kind that clings to the window, and colorful curtains and blinds. The young couple took the stuff off the window, put up white curtains, and put the house up for sale. If busy body would complain about something like that then they'd surely find something to complain about with the baby. Some HOAs won't even allow children.
Since when is using a clothesline a sign of poverty. That's stupid. Lots of people prefer to air their clothes out rather than use a dryer. I even hang my down comforter out in the winter--sub freezing temperatures will freeze any nasty little dust mites to death and for someone with allergies, that's a plus.
Sheets smell nice when they've been line dried too. I'm so glad we don't have HOAs around here.
Even if I didn't want to use a clothes line or have a certain fence, it's the idea of being TOLD what to do with my own home. There are zoning laws for that and they're usually pretty fair and free.
ROFLMAO OOHH PLEASE - Just drive down Sallie Baxter Rd in Columbia SC and see how one guy has fought the codes and todate is winning by a mile.... The ordinances that are passed need to be enforced even if it cost the county $$$ Or try Pamlico Cir and see how the county / state has allowed one guy to live like a rat - 180/110 I really should know better than to read anything about HOAs because someone always brings up code enforcement WHAT A Fing JOKE
Bottom line is, If you buy a home where there are covenants or a HOA established and knew it you need to follow the rules. Otherwise buy a place in the country. It is people like you who destroy property values for other folks. That is why there are associations. If you want to live in the slums then move there, don't create a new one!
I live in a mobile home park so I accept their rules because I don't own the land. However, they can't tell me what to do with my home. I can paint my home rainbow colors if I want.
Then perhaps you have different standards. You're free to live there and do as you wish while others have chosen to live where they wish according to what they consider acceptable. If you don't want to live in such a community, then don't buy into one. You're criticizing those who choose to live as they wish while at the same time espousing the value of living as you want to. Feeling a bit schizoid this morning?
Quote:
Originally Posted by sailordave
Some HOA's even tell home owners what they can have on their windows (white blinds, shade, or drapes when seen from the outside of the home). In one nearby neighborhood, a couple who just delivered a baby were told in an angry tone they were in violation because they dared to decorate the baby's room with dinosaur peel and stick window stickers,..the clear plastic kind that clings to the window, and colorful curtains and blinds. The young couple took the stuff off the window, put up white curtains, and put the house up for sale. If busy body would complain about something like that then they'd surely find something to complain about with the baby. Some HOAs won't even allow children.
Dictating blind color is extreme by any measure. The only communities which disallow children are "senior" or "over-55" places geared towards retirees. While I don't ever wish to live in one, others are free to live there. Would you buy land or a home in an Amish community and whine about the community standards? If you want to see an extreme (yet non-HOA) community, Google and read about a village named "Kiryas Joel" in New York. Would you buy here and complain about not being able to open a BBQ restaurant?
What's wrong with like-minded folks deciding the rules for their local communities, as long as there's not illegal rules put into place? If you don't like it, live elsewhere! In other words, can the vegetarians please stay out of the meat department?
What's wrong? Well, you end up with cases of an 84 year old widow on the verge of being kicked out of her home (which her and her husband paid out in full), you end up with cases of power mad board who add more and more rules to suit their desires, rules that weren't there when home owners signed the contract, you end up with a former US Marine being threatened with having his vehicle towed for his US Marines bumper stickers which were not in violation of HOA rules. At this point, they HOA is only telling you what you can do with the outside of your home. But how long before they begin to regulate what you can do with the inside of your home? I'm sorry, but if a person owns the house and land then he/she doesn't need a committee to tell them what they can or cannot do with the property they own. I have friends and family who thought an HOA would be good. They sold their home vowing never to buy into an HOA ever again. Threats of fines if their trash cans aren't brought back within a certain time period (kind of hard to do if both adults are at work instead of at home), fines for stray weeds regularly cropping up (a weed, oh the humanity), and one was threatened with a fine for his truck not being washed. He had just gotten back from a hunting trip and was in the process of unloading his supplies when they came to yell at him. Word of advice, don't yell at a hunter who has a loaded rifle. I have good standards for my home and my yard. However, between caring for my disabled wife, her 84 year old father who lives with us, and working full time at the hospital, I have better things to do than try to maintain a perfect yard and religiously obey every whim of a bunch of nosey bastiches who have nothing better to do with their life than to stick their nose in everyone else's business. I think such people lead small meaningless lives and are trying to inflate their importance over others. I served 8 years in the navy and was in Desert Storm and Bosnia. Perhaps if those board members and others would have served in combat or in a life or death situation then they'd know how meaningless their obsession of other people's yard and home really are.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Workin_Hard
Then perhaps you have different standards. You're free to live there and do as you wish while others have chosen to live where they wish according to what they consider acceptable. If you don't want to live in such a community, then don't buy into one. You're criticizing those who choose to live as they wish while at the same time espousing the value of living as you want to. Feeling a bit schizoid this morning?
Dictating blind color is extreme by any measure. The only communities which disallow children are "senior" or "over-55" places geared towards retirees. While I don't ever wish to live in one, others are free to live there. Would you buy land or a home in an Amish community and whine about the community standards? If you want to see an extreme (yet non-HOA) community, Google and read about a village named "Kiryas Joel" in New York. Would you buy here and complain about not being able to open a BBQ restaurant?
What's wrong with like-minded folks deciding the rules for their local communities, as long as there's not illegal rules put into place? If you don't like it, live elsewhere! In other words, can the vegetarians please stay out of the meat department?
Bottom line is, If you buy a home where there are covenants or a HOA established and knew it you need to follow the rules. Otherwise buy a place in the country. It is people like you who destroy property values for other folks. That is why there are associations. If you want to live in the slums then move there, don't create a new one!
OK, you sign up for an HOA and obey the rules. A bossy motherhen gets on the board and pushes through new rules you didn't sign up for and you don't find out until they give you notices of fines for infractions. Suppose you lose your job and now have a reduction in income now that you have a much lower paying job. You can afford to make your home payments but the HOA fees are too much for you right now. Is that worth loosing your home for what is a temporary setback? What if you're now partially disabled and are unable to maintain the yard and home the way you once did. Is that a good reason for them to eventually take your home and kick you out?
Not really, I know of one case in Arizona where a homeowner put in a solar pool heater. He fought with the HOA for 5 years, they took his house, he won and put them in bankruptcy
But since this is a free country, frats, country clubs, and HOAs are not going anywhere just because I think they are nonsense. The bottom line is, you don't have to move into HOA Snobsville, with little would-be Vladimir Lenins running around in charge, if you don't like their policies. If you do move there, then you'll just have to play their silly, illusory little game.
Last edited by ChrisC; 05-16-2010 at 09:45 AM..
Reason: speeling eror
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My mistake. And like Nazis, they encourage people to report on their neighbors. I have neighbors that don't keep their yard up to desirable conditions and have vehicles in less than steller running condition. Doesn't bother me at all. My yard is cut,...weather permitting. So I may have some weeds in my yard. So what? Some weeds are good for the lawn. Some weeds make beautiful flowers. So on a nice spring day, if I want to air out my sheets on the clothes line, whose business is it other than my own? She's offended by people drying clothes on a clothes line? I'm offended by people who waste huge amounts of water to maintain a grass that isn't native to the region just so they can have perfectly green lawn. Other than rain, only time I water my yard is when I'm spreading a product that kills weeds, feeds the grass, and kills the fire ants. MY choice! Grass will survive a drought though they will turn brown. I'm amazed at the lengths people go to get a green yard so they don't go astray of the HOA regulations on lawn care. If they spent as much time and energy gardening as they do lawn care then they'd never have to purchase fruits or vegetables. My brother-in-law would be a good neighbor for her. His hobby is building cars. Took him several years to build the car he currently has. Several years of this thing slowly taking shape in his drive way. It's what's called a T-bucket car. Do a search for T-bucket car and you'll see what I'm talking about. How dare he have a hobby! My sister didn't care for his hobby but let him have it because if he's working on the car, he's not cheating on her or out getting drunk with the guys.
