Politics

[Brent in Az]

I honestly don’t know… they were something of a rarity when I was growing up.. these days it seems almost every suburban neighborhood has one regardless of the income level…

There are even businesses out there that “manage” HOA now… they collect all the dues, enforce all the rules, etc.., they aren’t actual home owners in the neighborhood.. the association hires them and pays them out of the homeowners dues to do all the work other than host the monthly meeting where the Karen’s all gather to determine what new rules they want to impose…

They can serve a useful purpose if properly managed.. you won’t have a neighbor raising chickens in his back yard and have a rooster crowing 10 feet from your bedroom window… and you won’t have some neo hippy painting their house in purple and orange hues when every other house in the neighborhood is painted in traditional earth tones, etc…

But… as an example of the PIA of dealing with an HOA.. we had a storm come through about 2 years ago that destroyed my fence… I’ve got dogs.. I needed the fence repaired quickly…

It took me almost 3 weeks to get the HOA to approve me building a new fence that was going to be identical to the fence I lost…

After waiting a full week for a response I basically told them to kiss my ass, I was moving forward without them..

So I received a nastygram from some HOA officer declaring that I was building the fence at risk and that if they didn’t approve it after it was built they’d force me to take it down, rebuild another at cost, etc..

To which I replied they’d have to sue.. so go on and ask the members if they’re prepared to have their dues increased to cover legal fees due to the incompetence of the HOA and its inability to approve a necessary, emergency project in a timely manner… and to prepare for the counter suit…

Never heard another word out of them other that getting a letter in the mail 2 weeks later approving the fence to be built..

Sadly that’s not an uncommon interaction with an HOA..

I spent 2 years as a secretary and president of a 300+ member HOA.
I wasn't one of the Nazi Karen's (Complete opposite), and I could tell you all kinds of horror stories about some of the idiots that run HOA 's and the crap they try to get away with.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Why anyone would allow a group of there neighbours to impose rules on what they can do on there oen property baffles me let alone pay for the privilege of being imposed upon

 

[Russ16]

I honestly don’t know… they were something of a rarity when I was growing up.. these days it seems almost every suburban neighborhood has one regardless of the income level…

There are even businesses out there that “manage” HOA now… they collect all the dues, enforce all the rules, etc.., they aren’t actual home owners in the neighborhood.. the association hires them and pays them out of the homeowners dues to do all the work other than host the monthly meeting where the Karen’s all gather to determine what new rules they want to impose…

They can serve a useful purpose if properly managed.. you won’t have a neighbor raising chickens in his back yard and have a rooster crowing 10 feet from your bedroom window… and you won’t have some neo hippy painting their house in purple and orange hues when every other house in the neighborhood is painted in traditional earth tones, etc…

But… as an example of the PIA of dealing with an HOA.. we had a storm come through about 2 years ago that destroyed my fence… I’ve got dogs.. I needed the fence repaired quickly…

It took me almost 3 weeks to get the HOA to approve me building a new fence that was going to be identical to the fence I lost…

After waiting a full week for a response I basically told them to kiss my ass, I was moving forward without them..

So I received a nastygram from some HOA officer declaring that I was building the fence at risk and that if they didn’t approve it after it was built they’d force me to take it down, rebuild another at cost, etc..

To which I replied they’d have to sue.. so go on and ask the members if they’re prepared to have their dues increased to cover legal fees due to the incompetence of the HOA and its inability to approve a necessary, emergency project in a timely manner… and to prepare for the counter suit…

Never heard another word out of them other that getting a letter in the mail 2 weeks later approving the fence to be built..

Sadly that’s not an uncommon interaction with an HOA..

HOAs are very much a function of these new builder neighborhoods. The builder develops a whole block or area and creates the HOA as part of the housing development. They do it to keep the neigborhood looking the way the built it so that their "reputation" stays the same.

They are terrible, I've never lived in a neighborhood with one and won't. Luckily I have some options around here.

 

[LivingTheDream]

I honestly don’t know… they were something of a rarity when I was growing up.. these days it seems almost every suburban neighborhood has one regardless of the income level…

There are even businesses out there that “manage” HOA now… they collect all the dues, enforce all the rules, etc.., they aren’t actual home owners in the neighborhood.. the association hires them and pays them out of the homeowners dues to do all the work other than host the monthly meeting where the Karen’s all gather to determine what new rules they want to impose…

They can serve a useful purpose if properly managed.. you won’t have a neighbor raising chickens in his back yard and have a rooster crowing 10 feet from your bedroom window… and you won’t have some neo hippy painting their house in purple and orange hues when every other house in the neighborhood is painted in traditional earth tones, etc…

But… as an example of the PIA of dealing with an HOA.. we had a storm come through about 2 years ago that destroyed my fence… I’ve got dogs.. I needed the fence repaired quickly…

It took me almost 3 weeks to get the HOA to approve me building a new fence that was going to be identical to the fence I lost…

After waiting a full week for a response I basically told them to kiss my ass, I was moving forward without them..

So I received a nastygram from some HOA officer declaring that I was building the fence at risk and that if they didn’t approve it after it was built they’d force me to take it down, rebuild another at cost, etc..

To which I replied they’d have to sue.. so go on and ask the members if they’re prepared to have their dues increased to cover legal fees due to the incompetence of the HOA and its inability to approve a necessary, emergency project in a timely manner… and to prepare for the counter suit…

Never heard another word out of them other that getting a letter in the mail 2 weeks later approving the fence to be built..

Sadly that’s not an uncommon interaction with an HOA..

So some people complained about the HOA here, and though I didnt have any complaints, I heard enough and ran and got on the board. It has been an interesting experience.

For example, we had a homeowner lawyer up, after numerous compliants, because leaves were blowing into his yard and he didnt feel it was his responsibility to clean them up, because they weren't from his trees and could prove they were from trees the HOA was responsible for.

We had another guy complain about increasing the dues 1.25 a month because he didnt like the HOA having a reserve fund and we should use that rather than raise dues.

We also had a couple get divorced, and they had automatic payments set up and are not paying the extra 1.25 a month, so technically out of compliance. We raised that to their attention, the divorce lawyer of the husband contacted us saying per his agreement he was only required to pay X amount and the wife would have to pay the rest. Her lawyer emailed us saying he was required to pay the HOA. At which point we decided not to bring it up again, until it reaches a large amount. We will collect the difference when they sell the house as part of closing.

For the most part people follow the rules and there are minor infractions that kind of get looked the other way, like no electric bikes on the sidewalks, well all the kids rid electric bikes to school, so no one really says anything.

The fence issue I can almost promise you no one would care. If you replaced with a medieval wall, there were probably be a discussion, but for the most part it is there just to keep things looking nice, share services such as snow removal, and trash collection. We also have a community pool, which is nice.

It is like anything, they serve a purpose but people can get drunk on power and mess it up.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

See that’s the problem I have with the whole idea of hoas, nobody not owning or paying taxes on a piece of land should be able to the owner what he can or cannot do as long as it is within the confines of the law.

Basically I agree with you. I had to get permission to put in Oleander plants in my backyard. Karen gave me some sh1t about it and how they were technically poisonous. Again they were going in my backyard which is fenced, so why does she care? Furthermore, there are oleanders all over the neighborhood in what we call "common" areas. Common areas are the parks and pieces of ground owned by the HOA and not homeowners. Definitely a case of a batshit crazy Karen.

But to your point of being able to do what you want to with your property. Let's say you decide you have a thing against any kind of herbicide, and that you're just going to let the weeds grow. They will grow even here in the desert even if you don't water them, soon you will have an eyesore in the neighborhood. This is where the HOA can step in to apply pressure where it's warranted.

It's a double edged sword. For sure I look forward to not being in or paying due to an HOA as I have been for the last 25 years.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Unfortunately, it’s not just neighborhoods and HOA‘s. I owned several pieces of hunting land in Colorado and got a bill from the county. They received a complaint that I had an outhouse on my property. The county went in and removed it and then billed me to remove it.
Apparently, there was clear language that out houses are not allowed in that county due to sanitary reasons. You have to build a specific engineered system.

I protested that a couple guys hunting, left less natural waste on the ground than all the animals that were on that dirt. We were only there a week or two a year. The animals were there all year long.

They threatened to take my property if I did not pay them labor cost, and the fine. I butted heads for awhile, then realized that I didn’t buy it to add more stress to my life. so sold it immediately.

 

[mdwest]

I agree that they CAN serve a purpose.. the problem with the HOA concept is the humans involved..

inevitably it seems you end up with people serving on the board that dont have any "power" or control anywhere else in their lives.. so they make being "in charge" a thing.. some go so far as to become legitimately corrupt..

in a completely different neighborhood, almost 20 years ago when I was living in TN there was another "fence" issue with the HOA..

the HOA was super slow and super picky about approving fences... and you'd often get a personal visit from the HOA VP if you were putting up a fence.. this dick bag would go so far as to chastise and threaten home owners over the most minor percieved deviation from an outrageously elaborate fence policy the HOA had in place..

turns out the dick bag VP just so happened to own a fencing company.. and if you called and asked his company to put up your fence, theyd submit your HOA paperwork for you, you'd get almost immediate approval, etc.. but otherwise, get ready for an assclown to roll up on your property on a saturday mornig to give you shit about your new fence..

Thankfully I never had to deal with said dick bag personally..

I did think my next door neighbor, an ER doc, was going to put the dick bag into the ER one saturday afternoon though lol..

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

So some people complained about the HOA here, and though I didnt have any complaints, I heard enough and ran and got on the board. It has been an interesting experience.

For example, we had a homeowner lawyer up, after numerous compliants, because leaves were blowing into his yard and he didnt feel it was his responsibility to clean them up, because they weren't from his trees and could prove they were from trees the HOA was responsible for.

We had another guy complain about increasing the dues 1.25 a month because he didnt like the HOA having a reserve fund and we should use that rather than raise dues.

We also had a couple get divorced, and they had automatic payments set up and are not paying the extra 1.25 a month, so technically out of compliance. We raised that to their attention, the divorce lawyer of the husband contacted us saying per his agreement he was only required to pay X amount and the wife would have to pay the rest. Her lawyer emailed us saying he was required to pay the HOA. At which point we decided not to bring it up again, until it reaches a large amount. We will collect the difference when they sell the house as part of closing.

For the most part people follow the rules and there are minor infractions that kind of get looked the other way, like no electric bikes on the sidewalks, well all the kids rid electric bikes to school, so no one really says anything.

The fence issue I can almost promise you no one would care. If you replaced with a medieval wall, there were probably be a discussion, but for the most part it is there just to keep things looking nice, share services such as snow removal, and trash collection. We also have a community pool, which is nice.

It is like anything, they serve a purpose but people can get drunk on power and mess it up.

It all depends on who is serving on the board. I was asked to join the board a few years back. We had had a very serious issue in the community that I won't boar you with. So I started to attend the HOA meetings. Good grief, the childish and rude behavior was ridiculous.

One gent was quite the a$$hole, he was just a homeowner, but he was damn certain it was going to be his way or no way. I'd had had enough of his rudeness, interrupting others when they were wanting to express their opinions. And I called him out on it, which apparently everyone wanted someone else to do and as such I gained some respect.

Well I had enough stress in my life and I didn't need this on top of it and declined to join the board. Some other good folks joined instead, but the A-holes like I mentioned above caused them so much grief, they soon quit.

Now we have a board that I think should rename the HOA to the "Peoples HOA Republic and Communist Party."

 

[Brent in Az]

Early on, the HOA tried to bully and intimidate me about some issues, up until they received a letter from my lawyer, where I also pointed out some potential non compliance issues by one of the main Karen's on the board.
Ironic, how quickly they left me alone after that.

 

[Altitude sickness]

I think the whole state of Colorado is under an HOA

 

[Brent in Az]

These days, HOA's are really no different then the Democrat party. Same type of control freaks.

 

[Brent in Az]

I think the whole state of Colorado is under an HOA

It's unfortunate that such a beautiful and amazing state like Colorado is run by the deep blue people.

 

[Altitude sickness]

What bothered me most about my Colorado outhouse situation was there is no possible way the Karen’s saw that from the road. So they’re obviously trespassing to begin with.

I was in the wrong. They did have a clear rule of no out houses in that county that I was not aware of.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I think the whole state of Colorado is under an HOA

For sure California is.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Vance did exactly what he should have done. To be fair getting up and walking away from the table is all they understand. If you sit there and let them play you then you deserve to get played.
Now with the blockade, they have China in their ear, telling them to make a deal.

This teaches Iran every time the U.S. gets up and walks away. Iran is getting a worse deal.

Iran is sitting pretty. Or at least prettier. If Trump could get his craziness under control for at least a few days in a row, maybe the US would be in a better position to bargain. Given the events of the past week, I think Iran can maybe sit on their hands a little longer to see if Trump doesn't go completely off the rails. Should they be negotiating with crazy people? The world did not react well to Vance walking out so quickly. Then the Jesus Trump thing and slamming the pope. Public opinion is swinging in their favor ... a bit. Or rather swinging away from US ... a lot. It's a mess. Rubio is not a genius by any means but he's got more common sense than Trump and the rest of his cabinet combined.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Iran is sitting pretty. Or at least prettier. If Trump could get his craziness under control for at least a few days in a row, maybe the US would be in a better position to bargain. Given the events of the past week, I think Iran can maybe sit on their hands a little longer to see if Trump doesn't go completely off the rails. Should they be negotiating with crazy people? The world did not react well to Vance walking out so quickly. Then the Jesus Trump thing and slamming the pope. Public opinion is swinging in their favor ... a bit. Or rather swinging away from US ... a lot. It's a mess. Rubio is not a genius by any means but he's got more common sense than Trump and the rest of his cabinet combined.

You're one of the board members of my HOA aren't you?

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Iran is sitting pretty. Or at least prettier. If Trump could get his craziness under control for at least a few days in a row, maybe the US would be in a better position to bargain. Given the events of the past week, I think Iran can maybe sit on their hands a little longer to see if Trump doesn't go completely off the rails. Should they be negotiating with crazy people? The world did not react well to Vance walking out so quickly. Then the Jesus Trump thing and slamming the pope. Public opinion is swinging in their favor ... a bit. Or rather swinging away from US ... a lot. It's a mess. Rubio is not a genius by any means but he's got more common sense than Trump and the rest of his cabinet combined.

I feel like crazy negotiating with crazy should balance out. Although I don’t think Trump is crazy, not the most prudent but not crazy. As far as Rubio not being a “genius” I find that a little ironic coming from someone who makes easily refutable statements constantly

 

[skydiver386]

Why anyone would allow a group of there neighbours to impose rules on what they can do on there oen property baffles me let alone pay for the privilege of being imposed upon

It's nothing more than Collectivism at a lower level. City Karen's with nothing else to do all day tend to love it.

 

[skydiver386]

You're one of the board members of my HOA aren't you?

Ontario Karen

 

[mdwest]

You're one of the board members of my HOA aren't you?

Ontario Karen...