[Sporaticus]

Originally Posted by .264 magnum

Stop fictionalizing. I've lived in HOA communities for the last 21 years. I've yet to "turn in" anyone for anything.

I know the type. I've worked with them, and lived amongst them. I know how they are and can be.

The great lawn feud was very educational, then I started seeing the same mentality in my neighbors, and our HOA isn't run by oppressive Nazi's. But the snitches are pretty much the same wherever they are, and they have the same "protect my home value" mentality.

[ROGER4314]

An interesting result of or community HOA vote was that every homeowner started keeping their property neater and well tended. Not a word was said to anyone but we had an new awareness that every property affected the value of every other property. In all, the HOA was a very positive influence on our little neighborhood.

Is that Socialism? We have always looked out for each other and if you break into my house and begin packing stuff out, one of my neighbors will shoot your asx! We call that being a good neighbor!

Flash

[IGotIt]

Buyers have the choice to live in a HOA controlled community or not. I chose to have the HOA because the community is kept up nicely. We don't have barking dogs, we don't have cars parked on lawns, we don't have the backyard mechanics working on cars in the streets or their yards, we don't have trash strewn about, we don't have houses painted pink or blue, or whatever color you can buy from Home Depot, we don't have flower pots, wind chimes and other trailer park accessories hanging from trees or front porches, and I could go on.

Are they perfect? Not if the board members are on a power trip, but if you have a good board and cooperative homeowners, it's quite nice.

[ray9898]

Wow....who would have thought a scenario such as when people freely enter a contract to live in a HOA regulated community is equal to living in opression such as by a Commie or Nazi government. Only on GT does emotional ignorant blather like this get posted.

[Glock&KimberLady]

I have both...a home on acreage with no HOAs and a condo that does have an HOA.

The HOA at the condo provides mostly for exterior repairs, paint, and snow removal (the biggie). It's bloody expensive (goes with the location) but I figure it's worth it, given the design of the parking lot and the necessity for DAILY snow removal during the high points of winter.

The house...I'm at the end of the road and nobody bugs us. And yeah, I can shoot my guns (or crank my stereo) whenever I feel like it. I also have to drive an hour minimum to buy ANYTHING in town (half hour there and back). The twice monthly grocery trip takes four hours, minimum.

*shrugs*. Tradeoffs. Read the HOAS, abide by the rules, and if you don't like the rules, don't buy the property.

[ray9898]

Originally Posted by Glock&KimberLady

*shrugs*. Tradeoffs. Read the HOAS, abide by the rules, and if you don't like the rules, don't buy the property.

It really is that simple. If you agree to the stipulations of the community it really can be a benefit to join with other like minded people. If you do not agree or are not responsible enough to abide by the terms yet still choose to enter the contract then complaining when you are penalized for breaking the terms is really a futile effort.

[tantrix]

Originally Posted by gjk5

It's not about lawns, you just don't get it.

Go put another cinderblock under your El Camino.

How about the guy in the HOA who ended up arrested because he couldn't get his grass to grow? You're right though...it isn't just about lawns, it's about EVERYTHING cosmetic.

Originally Posted by DanaT

Now you make comments about the pigmentation in my skin? Thats racist.

Uh...ok.

[Glock&KimberLady]

Look, the only way I can get TV or Internet is with a dish mounted on my deck at the condo. Considering we are there every.single.weekend and additional days from November to April, it would nice to watch TV and surf the net....not watch Mr. GKL/kids crack out on XBox and have to use my (rather unreliable) hotspot for internet or watch DVDs.

I did not know this until after I bought the condo.

However, I'm not mounting a dish anyway and flipping the bird to the HOA. The rules are what they are, and I could've bought a condo elsewhere on the mountain. I didn't and oh well, those are the rules.

[J.Kill]

Originally Posted by faawrenchbndr

Exactly,........OP screwed up & he's now crying the blues!

Maybe I wasn't clear enough in the OP. I am waiting on a new sticker...

[Sporaticus]

Originally Posted by J.Kill

Maybe I wasn't clear enough in the OP. I am waiting on a new sticker...

Don't let the hall monitor bother you. He was up late patrolling the neighborhood, measuring the height of the grass, and seeing who hadn't pulled their weeds, or who left the flag on their mailbox half way up.

[tantrix]

Originally Posted by Sporaticus

Don't let the hall monitor bother you. He was up late patrolling the neighborhood, measuring the height of the grass, and seeing who hadn't pulled their weeds, or who left the flag on their mailbox half way up.

[Gallium]

We live in a "semi-gated" community, with no HOA. We don't have any problems.

My crib closer to NYC is a "co-op", and I've been there for a slew of years, never a problem there either.

When I drive my small 4 cylinder banger car, I don't expect a comfy luxurious ride. When I drive my V8, 18ft 5000lb SUV I don't expect fuel economy.


Any of the "dings" I've gotten from the co-op are just a part of the territory. Kinda like I expect to get a $125 parking ticket when I go into NYC.

[.264 magnum]

Originally Posted by Sporaticus

I know the type. I've worked with them, and lived amongst them. I know how they are and can be.

The great lawn feud was very educational, then I started seeing the same mentality in my neighbors, and our HOA isn't run by oppressive Nazi's. But the snitches are pretty much the same wherever they are, and they have the same "protect my home value" mentality.

Really, so by that do you mean you don't care about your home's value?

[.264 magnum]

Originally Posted by Glock&KimberLady

Look, the only way I can get TV or Internet is with a dish mounted on my deck at the condo. Considering we are there every.single.weekend and additional days from November to April, it would nice to watch TV and surf the net....not watch Mr. GKL/kids crack out on XBox and have to use my (rather unreliable) hotspot for internet or watch DVDs.

I did not know this until after I bought the condo.

However, I'm not mounting a dish anyway and flipping the bird to the HOA. The rules are what they are, and I could've bought a condo elsewhere on the mountain. I didn't and oh well, those are the rules.

FYI - there is an FCC imposed federal regulation that disallows HOAs to limit or forbid the installation of satellite dishes.

Check it out.

[Sporaticus]

Originally Posted by .264 magnum

Really, so by that do you mean you don't care about your home's value?

The third time I had my home appraised, it was $50 million lower than the previous appraisal. When I asked the appraiser why, he pointed to a dandelion in the neighbors yard, and said as long as my neighbor had that in his yard, my home would never be worth more than $400 million. Then he pointed to a flag on the other neighbors mailbox: it was half way up, and said that cost me another $30 million in value. I quickly ran over and put the flag down, and he adjusted the value up, but he wouldn't let me pick that dandelion. Imagine that. I realized then that some things were just beyond my control.

I'm a little different than people like you. I chose an area based on the 3 most important factors: location, location, location. I know all those petty little piss ant things don't have the first thing to do with property value.

I know some idiots who think colored Christmas lights in the neighborhood hurt their property value, and protest loudly when their neighbors use them.

"Protect my property value" is a phrase coined for busy bodies, snitches, $%tches, putzes, and wannabees. It's kind of a status symbol for the lame. For the "low brow" seeking "high brow" status.

[gjk5]

Originally Posted by Sporaticus

The third time I had my home appraised, it was $50 million lower than the previous appraisal. When I asked the appraiser why, he pointed to a dandelion in the neighbors yard, and said as long as my neighbor had that in his yard, my home would never be worth more than $400 million. Then he pointed to a flag on the other neighbors mailbox: it was half way up, and said that cost me another $30 million in value. I quickly ran over and put the flag down, and he adjusted the value up, but he wouldn't let me pick that dandelion. Imagine that. I realized then that some things were just beyond my control.

I'm a little different than people like you. I chose an area based on the 3 most important factors: location, location, location. I know all those petty little piss ant things don't have the first thing to do with property value.

I know some idiots who think colored Christmas lights in the neighborhood hurt their property value, and protest loudly when their neighbors use them.

"Protect my property value" is a phrase coined for busy bodies, snitches, $%tches, putzes, and wannabees. It's kind of a status symbol for the lame. For the "low brow" seeking "high brow" status.

Or people who have been in the real estate sales/financing industry for two decades.

You are wrong and he is right. Keep bloviating all you want, it will not change that fact. You know exactly jack squat about what drives property values.

[ray9898]

Originally Posted by gjk5

Or people who have been in the real estate sales/financing industry for two decades.

You are wrong and he is right. Keep bloviating all you want, it will not change that fact. You know exactly jack squat about what drives property values.

Hell...common sense and personal experience should tell people this. I know when I was looking at homes a few years ago I passed up a lower priced home that was nicer than the one we purchased because of the neighborhood. The neighbor on one side appeared to be running a car resoration business out of his driveway and the other side was a rental with at least 2 families in it. I loved the house but passed because of the neighbors.

[gjk5]

Originally Posted by ray9898

Hell...common sense and personal experience should tell people this. I know when I was looking at homes a few years ago I passed up a lower priced home that was nicer than the one we purchased because of the neighborhood. The neighbor on one side appeared to be running a car resoration business out of his driveway and the other side was a rental with at least 2 families in it. I loved the house but passed because of the neighbors.

but what about your PERSONAL FREEEEEDOM!!!!!!

[Glock&KimberLady]

Originally Posted by J.Kill

Maybe I wasn't clear enough in the OP. I am waiting on a new sticker...

Make sure you hand them a measure of GFY and "You'll be paying the tow bill" on Monday. Granted, they'd popped you several times before, but with a new car and you waiting on a sticker THEY are providing...I think this one is pretty clear.

[ray9898]

Originally Posted by gjk5

but what about your PERSONAL FREEEEEDOM!!!!!!

I am sure that homeowner was a fan.

[tantrix]

Originally Posted by Sporaticus

"Protect my property value" is a phrase coined for busy bodies, snitches, $%tches, putzes, and wannabees. It's kind of a status symbol for the lame. For the "low brow" seeking "high brow" status.

Pretty much. And they're also people you wouldn't want to live by to begin with. I'd rather live next to a guy working on his '66 Chevelle in the driveway than one that's out watering his lawn all the time. What a miserable existence HOA people have.

[TK-421]

Originally Posted by ray9898

Hell...common sense and personal experience should tell people this. I know when I was looking at homes a few years ago I passed up a lower priced home that was nicer than the one we purchased because of the neighborhood. The neighbor on one side appeared to be running a car resoration business out of his driveway and the other side was a rental with at least 2 families in it. I loved the house but passed because of the neighbors.

I'm 22 and know jack squat about realty, and even I know that the way your neighborhood looks, and how nice/crappy your neighbor's houses are, will affect your property value.

If you buy a nice looking house, in a nice looking neighborhood for $300k, and then the neighborhood goes to ****, your house isn't going to be worth $300k anymore, no matter how much money you put into it to try and make it look nice. If the neighborhood goes to ****, your home's value will also go to ****.

[Sporaticus]

Originally Posted by gjk5

You are wrong and he is right. Keep bloviating all you want, it will not change that fact. You know exactly jack squat about what drives property values.

Bad schools, bad roads, high crime, high taxes, bad government, highway cutting through your front yard, too much retail, not enough retail, too much commercial development, a landfill, junkyard, overall dilapidated appearance of the neighborhood, and numerous foreclosures..... all DO harm property values.

Weeds in the neighbors yard, grass not cut weekly, grass not watered, a lack of parking stickers, cars backed in, colored Christmas lights, mailbox colors, backyard tomato plants, garage doors open, DO NOT harm property values.

It's not that some things don't harm property values. The question is, what really DOES. And most of the things the high brow wannabees and pricks think do, actually do not.

The whole direction of this thread is due to some of the above claiming the OP not having a parking sticker harms their property value, and his incompetent HOA is the defender of the property values. It's just stupid.

[Sporaticus]

Originally Posted by tantrix

PWhat a miserable existence HOA people have.

There's a line in a Seinfeld episode about this very thing. His parents and their condo board was over reacting about something petty. Seinfeld says "they come down here to live, and enforce those rules". And that is what it is. People move into those areas so they can stick their nose in their neighbors business. Somehow, overly oppressive HOA's have become a status symbol.

[Sporaticus]

Originally Posted by ray9898

Hell...common sense and personal experience should tell people this. I know when I was looking at homes a few years ago I passed up a lower priced home that was nicer than the one we purchased because of the neighborhood. The neighbor on one side appeared to be running a car resoration business out of his driveway and the other side was a rental with at least 2 families in it. I loved the house but passed because of the neighbors.

That was basically about location. The local zoning code of that area apparently allowed multifamily dwellings. That kind of thing DOES hurt property values.