I'm not a homeowner, but I can assure you that if the day ever arrives that I purchase a home I will absolutely not but a house in a place where there is a homeowner's association.
Crap like what this video speaks of is (in my humble opinion) entry level socialism. Homeowners associations strive to create ultimate sameness amongst their residents. Everyone can only do what the organization says, individualism is not acceptable. Ruling from the top down. I could go on, but you get the point.
Those of you who live in such housing tracts, I'd be interested in hearing from you. Do I have it completely wrong? Is there some hidden benefit to living in a place that you pay so that they may tell you that you can not have a flagpole in your front yard?
I get it that you won't have neighbors with scraggly looking lawns, and that the redneck next door can't keep his old Chevy up on bricks.. so maybe I'm a redneck, because in my opinion, that's part of Americana...
6 comments:
It's the book Anthem on a small scale.
It makes no sense to me why people will pay what is usually way too much for a house and then be told what to do with it. Helloooo.....personal freedom?
...Chevy up on bricks
In some parts of these mountains, that's a doghouse, pal. :-D
In O C, CA there are many associations of this type. I choose not to live under their tyranny.
HOA's really bugged me when we first moved to AZ from UT. We didn't see them much there. I don't like to be told what to do by anyone (which got me in trouble a lot growing up), so to be told I couldn't paint MY house a certain color or whatever, really bugged me.
The only good things are like you said, making the house next to you keep their weeds pulled, and garbage out of their yards, and they also take care of all the landscaping in common areas and provide little parks in the neighborhood. That's the only good part.
In my last neighborhood, I got tired of all the letters they'd send out if you kept your garbage can out a day past collection, or let your lawn get a little too long, so I wrote them a letter. I told them that maybe instead of complaining about every little thing that people did wrong, maybe they should start finding out why that person's yard wasn't mowed. Were they sick? Was their husband out of town all week while they were pregnant (i.e. me)? I also told them they should start letting people know when their yard looked incredibly nice. Start praising a little more instead of complaining all the time. And guess what? They listened to me and started doing it. Then we moved.
Oh, and my 13 yr old just told me that driving a car with an automatic transmission is socialist because I'm letting the car do the work for me. I had to laugh.
I live in a subdivision with a home owners association. I'll never do it again. For awhile it was a battle even using the "right colored" tarp to cover my wood pile.
All the homeowners got together and informed them their little jobs were in jeopardy. They very quickly backed off. I've seen these battles go on everywhere there is a HOA. HOAs are usually started by the developer. If enough people say they won't buy because of a HOA, they'll drop the idea.
ski, over at global domination, also wrote about this and has phone numbers listed for the HOA and their law firm, if anybody wants to call and let them know how you feel.
I've never lived in an HOA. I've talked to people who have.
In the end, if your property values are going to take a slide, they're going to take a slide.
People are trying to protect themselves from things that largely, they can take normal legal action on. Cars on blocks in the front yard, grass not cut, etc.
Maybe the 60 foot Citizen band radio antenna falls into a grey area, but if you move into a modestly expensive neighborhood, the chances of having to deal with something like that are slim to none. If you move into an economy neighborhood, you're going to have problems whether you pay for them or not.
It's an illusion and a waste of money.
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