Here's how you do it.

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The best I can with what I got

Given the silliness that HOAs seem to require, I have no intention of living in an area covered by one.

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NHI, 10-8.

I like mine. They can't seem to get enough candidates to have enough board members for a quorum so they can't do much.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Neither my nor I have any desire to do so either, but we've been looking down the road a few years to when we're older. It might be a viable option at some point.

I hope not.

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Can open, worms everywhere.

I moved to the suburbs to avoid them. Then a city annexed us, and appointed themselves as our defacto HOA org. We get letters (one for each infraction) demanding reparations in a few days of notice or face a $2500 fine and a year in jail.

Some of our criminal activities have included - a flat tire on a car in the driveway, a few small limbs in the yard that blew off a tree in a storm, the paint on the house, didn't like where I parked my 5' x 10' trailer, etc.
The drug dealers around here don't get that kind of punishment.

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protocalldesign.com

Limiting/defining short term rentals is what's on our HOA agenda to prevent neighborhoods turning into AirB&B/VRBO casualties. In this case, the effort is appreciated.

Ours is run by adults, no issues here. No power trips.

Keep the junk cars, pink entry doors, rusty Jack stands, commercial vehicles, chained up pits in the yard, oil drain pans, etc out?

Yeah, I’m good.

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Sure you did

Having grown up in the apartment business, I know what the law is, when the Condo Asson. wants something ridiculous, I tell them I will be suing the association and them personally for their abuse of power (a felony) and then whatever I can come up with! Columbus, has turned all civil code violations over to their Zoning Board. The board automatically gives 30 days to remedy an infraction, a second 30 days can be had for just asking.

They sent one of their Nazi Party hate letters to us giving 5 days to comply! I was all geared up to have a war. Then I looked at the problem. The front bedroom window had a mini blind that was broke! It did look bad, so I bought one for $7.00 and replaced to bad one. Then said to the president's wife, I appreciate finding out it needed done, but doesn't anyone just say "please" anymore!

The reply from the association was a nice "thank you", with an apology for the overbearing approach. They have people get in their face over nothing! I said it goes both ways.

The rules Nazis (as I like to call them), get very selective about enforcement sometimes. Just a little curtesy would go a long way!

In a little under 20 years, The Association has impeached two enforcement officers for abuse of power! (so people like me don't file suite!) People with nothing else to do and a little power can get in a lot of trouble!

Ivan

Ditto. Ours is good and very non-interventional. When they do intervene, it’s on issues that would have a negative impact on all of our house values, so it is very much appreciated

When I first moved here near the corner of Hillbilly and Redneck I worried that using a wringer washer as a planter on my porch might be an issue.

Now everyone has one.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

When buying a house, my aim was to only look at the houses next door. If they were good, I knew I could always make mine better.

My last chosen lot was between 2 very meticulous families. Manicured lawn, property kept pristine. So what happened?

They all died. The houses were willed to grandchildren. If I said they were pigs it would be a gross understatement. Sticks lie where they fall. Old TVs and garbage that isn't allowed to be picked up is piled in front of the garage door. Drive-thru coffee cups from every morning are merely thrown on the front lawn.

The town has ordinances, but apparently they only go so far. Black garbage bags are allowed on collection day, but the law doesn't say you have to carry them to the curb for pickup.

Ohhhhhh pleeeease send me an HOA. I'll happily do whatever they say...

We lived in a HOA community for a few months, and those old blue-haired snoops made lives miserable for everyone. They insisted the word premises included the back yard in additional everything viewable from the front. They made up rules as needed, and nobody challenged them. Their homes were less than perfect.

Well……. I am not only a board member , but also on the compliance committee for our place in Naples FL. Zero problems. There are rules, everyone knows the rules ( or they should) when they purchase home. Just follow the rules. Main reason I ran for the board seat was the HOA spends my money. I’d like some say in that. The common goal of HOA and members is always maintain property values and quality of life. At least it should be. The compliance committee has only ever had one issue. We were building 68 boat slips and a new sea wall. One busy body kept calling Collier Co to complain about work crews. Every time work had to stop. The third time the construction company said we’re done here. HOA rules clearly state, come to board with issues or concerns. This construction company came in by barge. I don’t half to tell you the cost associated with that. The owner learned the hard way when told she would be responsible for additional cost to complete job. Note, the county never found any violations but work had to stop while complaints were investigated.

My MIL lived in a HOA community,,
It was located near Tampa.

Well, rules stated the yards must be kept mowed, and irrigated.
IIRC, it was near the housing market downturn of 2008, EVERYBODY just quit lawn maintenance,, especially those that only lived there during the winter.

The place looked horrible, there were so many "infractions" that the HOA could not keep up.

Downed trees, branches, dead lawns, or growth of 18 inches or more.
It was something to see.

I served on my HOA board for about 20 years.

I quit when I couldn’t support a board action that was likely to have me litigating against the board: a classic conflict of interest.

The board wouldn’t approve anything but dark colors for roof replacement. They thought light colors didn’t look good, ignoring the fact that light colors reflect the heat and help cool the house: all more important with today’s emphasis on energy conservation.

Fast forward a couple years and a couple of the officers of the board have installed solar panels on their homes. Looks terrible, using the board’s beauty criteria. Board created an energy conservation exception to allow the panels as a result of my opposition to their beauty standards and their concern over the costs of litigation.

Some of the board members still resent my opposition.

Same here, we intentionally looked at neighborhoods that had one when we bought our new house a few years back and we love em!
Everybody has to have a weed service and their lawns mowed.

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Dave Ramsey Cultist

ABSOLUTELY!

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Dave Ramsey Cultist

Strangely, I live in a fairly large HOA development, but have one of five houses that are not part of it nor governed under its restrictions. Sort of a grandfathered thing, as they existed before the HOA did.

I have intentionally avoided neighborhoods with HOA's. While I'm sure the good ones are a blessing, there are too many horror stories of those that weren't. I personally feel that if I spend "x" amount of money for a home it's my business what I do with it if all is legal and physically harms no one. Having said that, I never let my property look like "Sanford and Son".

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Support Israel!

Part of the problem is that too many people subscribe to Part A), and can't imagine that in actuality they really look like part B).

Had to look up what a HOA actually is. Don't think they would fare well up here. Not keeping my house prefect keeps my taxes down, keeps religious zealots away and buglars wouldn't waste their time.

Plenty of them here in Florida but I don't and will not live in one. I have 5 acres and no neighbors anywhere close to me. The only rules here are mine and the wife.

We call that type "Yard Narcs" here in Vegas.

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Release the Kraken

I’m looking to move to Florida in a couple of years I am actually considering moving to an hoa. I currently live in a nice area of nyc the houses are very expensive people are buying these houses and just don’t take care of them.the house next door to me was owned by an elderly woman the outside was immaculate the family sold it when she passed it now looks like a dump.When I’m out walking the dog I’m amazed that people pay so much for a house and then let it look like ****.

I'm going to put a fresh coat of paint on mine as soon as it cools down some.

Might paint it bright pink to match my front door.

I'm guessing in reality this is half true.

My Florida experience was my first with an HOA. My home in NY is on 5 acres backing up to hundreds more. My cabin is 100 acres. Like many of you I’m used to having room to roam and no rules. But certain neighborhoods have to have an HOA. Condos, townhouses, patio homes etc. They are especially necessary when talking about seasonal residences. Someone has to maintain the property. The trick is to do your research and know the rules before purchasing. As I said before, the HOA is there to protect you and your investment. It’s a necessary evil.

That's a huge no-no in our hood, zero yard art! American flags year round perfectly fine, team flag during season okay, but no yard art at all in front. I'm okay with that, some might not like that pink flamingo flock hearding across your yard? lol

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Dave Ramsey Cultist

Twas just a joke.

I have to say that the HOA in my neighborhood has been pretty easy to deal with. The monthly assessments are low enough that I usually pay for the whole year up front to be done with it. The HOA acts through a professional management company whose owner I have known for many years.

When I was thinking about getting a whole house generator, I checked the covenants and concluded that I needed HOA approval. So not having any idea what to do, I drove down to the management company office and explained my situation and obtained its application form for approval. Initially I was told that I would have to put a screen around the generator.

So I filled out the application and not knowing really what else to do, I printed off the entire Generac web site and attached that to the application. I also advised the person I was dealing with to look up my property on a web site called "Showmystreet.com" that had photos of my property and adjoining properties so she could see the prospective location of the generator. When I received the approval, it expressly said no screen would be necessary.

So recently when I got a "Friendly Reminder" (that's what they called it) to power wash my house to get rid of the mold/mildew on the siding, I remembered how they had cut me a big break on the installation of the generator. It was something I had thought about doing for a long time but never got around to it, plus I remembered the words of our late Planning Commission chairman that as public officials we should hold ourselves to a higher standard. I found a power washer through Angi, and the power washing lady did a wonderful job. In light of the slack the HOA cut me before, I figured I should take care of the matter immediately and I did.

This. When my wife have been discussing a potential move out of the northeast we both have a preference for a non HOA area.

If that's not possible, before I make an offer or sign anything I want to read the entire HOA agreement to make sure that no one stuck anything stupid in there.

My son previously lived in an area with an HOA. Once he got to know the members of the board of directors he realized that they had no financial knowledge at all. So, he became finance director and fixed that. After that, he saw his roll as stopping them from doing anything dumb.

He and my daughter in law built a house on a rural road and no longer have an HOA to worry about.

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Can open, worms everywhere.

Golddollar I agree with your handling of the situation 100%. I would not like a “friendly reminder “ letter either. As a board member I would not approve of this unless there was a REAL problem. I simple conversation would have been the better option. I like to put myself in the owners shoes. For example a resident wanted to replace his windows in a first floor condo unit with hurricane glass windows. Even though the building is only 15 yrs old. My thoughts were, as long as they look the same on the outside as all the other windows, go ahead. They were not identical but not enough to notice either.

We lived in an "Active Adult" {55+} community for 14 years. Every year the HOA would charge us more while reducing the services they initially provided. About 6 people in a 2,500 home development controlled everything.

They subsidized the restaurants over $560K a year but they still could not turn out a decent meal. The golf courses went into the toilet when the HOA bought them from the original developer and the fees just kept going up.

The last straw was when they proposed charging all buyers a full years HOA dues up front at close of escrow. By then the dues had risen to $225 a month so buyers had to up front $2,700 on top of all of the other closing costs. This dramatically decreased the communities desirability with potential buyers electing to look and ultimately buy elsewhere.

The HOA claimed that this influx of additional funds would enable them to stop raising the monthly dues every year... yeah right. Sure enough in September the HOA announced another significant increase and I was done with them. Moved 180 miles north to a small town in the mountains and NO HOA!

Now I can park all of my toys {Rzr, Can AM, Trailer and motorhome} on my own property without restrictions saving me $125 a month. No more HOA dues, another $225 a month, my property taxes dropped more than $100 a month for a comparable house. My utilities dropped another $100+ a month {no sewer, we are on septic, no gas - now all electric, water bill went down and as we use the wood burning stove as our primary heat source 5.5 months of the year even after buying wood I am saving big time overall.

Bottom line my monthly nut went down by $550 a month for home we love far more with NO HOA! When I had my driveways asphalt paved I asked the contractor if we needed any permits. He just laughed and said "Oh yeah, your are new up here. This is your property and you can do whatever you feel like doing.

There are HOAs and there are HOAs. Was in a very small one, 13 owners, for a few years. Was a board member for a while. Drove me nuts as everybody was in everybody else's business constantly.

In an HOA now, much larger, and hardly ever hear from them, which is fine with me.

I agree that it is useful to have HOAs enforcing minimum cosmetic standards in suburban settings where houses are relatively close together.

It is nice to live in a well kept neighborhood.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

The VRBOs I've rented have been in pretty choice places, although I admit I have not tried one in downtown Detroit.

My house is 35 years old. I power wash it every Spring. Not because I'm FORCED to do it, but because the mildew, makes the house look ******.

When I built my current house I had a lot of toys. I specifically built MUCH garage space so that all of them would be housed inside. Not because of aesthetics, per se', but so that they would last a long time and continue to serve me well.

Down the street are rusted old cars and boats with grass growing in them. I wish I had a HOA.

An HOA ensures that. Without one, you are at the mercy of the bums that couldn't care less.

And with one, you are at the mercy of the bums that own your life.

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protocalldesign.com

In my tiny little town there are no HOA's. There is also NO zoning. My neighbor across the street has decided to use his "homestead" as a junk yard/car repair facility. This is within the city limits and on a dead end street mind you-not out in the counrty. Houses line what used to be a nice bucolic dead end street-all well kept except for this *&%^ sawed off little peckerwood He leaves trash all over his yard, moved in a moble home in the dark of the night and somehow shoe horned it in the back yard. He has a mini bobcat excavator in the front yard on a trailer, stacks of corrugated tin sheeting, an engine lift, jack stands and a "front porch" he moved in and set up with christmas lights (The porch is about 6 inches from the front door of his "house" as it was as close as he coule get it from the trailer). I have poured over the city ordinances and there is absolutely nothing that can be done. I found a few things, but the mayor won't let the chief of policewrite any citations. I have offered to buy the guy out and just bulldoze the lot but he won't sell at a justified price. All I can do is pray that the house falls apart or we get a really big hurricane. So although I am a believer in property rights-some people just take it wayyyyyy too far.

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Forum consigliere

Cajun,
Sound like my neighbor. Been in my home for over thirty years. Had a nice semi rural neighborhood on a dead end street. Not in the city but only 15 minutes away from it. Then once Marge, the elderly woman next door passed, her trash daughter and her kids got the house and it became similar to what you described. Hate to say it but we kind of wish we had an HOA.

I completely agree with you and that was what I did for years after I bought the house. Unfortunately I ran into some major distractions like getting laid off and trying to find a new job, 2 unsuccessful heart procedures, my dad's death and my knee surgery and rehabilitation. And then my cousin-in-law who had done my power washing in the past got busted up in a construction accident. So things kind of got away from me. Happily I now have a new person who did a real good job power washing my house and I have her lined up for future work.

Thank you for your kind words. I'm not fond of getting "Friendly Reminders" from any governing body but it beats getting a Nasty-Gram. I think the management company was trying to act as much as possible with your way of operating. The person I talked to indicated that a number of houses had the same issue, so I guess this was the least overbearing way to take care of the issue with multiple property owners. As long as I was showing that I was acting in good faith to immediately remedy the issue on my house everything went along fine.

I used to work with the late Code Enforcement Officer for our borough. If there was a code violation, his first approach was "off the books" to avoid having to make an official citation that would involve fines and going before the local magistrate. He wasn't looking to bust people, just to get the issues resolved.

When I looked for a place in Nevada for retirement, I specifically excluded any property with an HOA. After I moved into my place, a middle-aged woman came to my door, told me that she was from the HOA, and handed a sheet of paper with a set of rules written in pencil. Now my momma didn't raise no dumb kids. I knew there was no HOA. I also knew that rules written in pencil on a sheet of paper from a nonexistent HOA had no legal standing. I smiled, thanked her, and threw the sheet of paper away. I never saw her again.

Before purchasing, we were given a list of covenants and HOA rules. Required by law. We actually read them.
My wife searched county and municipal building plans, road construction, major infrastructure improvements, etc.

We knew the adjacent properties were getting sold and developed with single family houses. We were fine with that. They were entitled to sell their land and develop within zoning regs.

There were no nuclear power plants, racetracks, airstrips, or prisons in the works anywhere near us.

We contracted for a house.

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Sure you did

One size doesn’t fit all. Everyone in my community, myself included considers are community paradise. It is the gateway to the Everglades. It’s surrounded by State and Federal lands. I boat and fish the Ten Thousand Islands and have direct Gulf access. There will never be anymore development. It’s a simply beautiful place. The HOA keeps it as such. But some people will never warm up to having rules. And I get that.

I lived for 12 years in Southern California with an HOA. The local manager, "Howard" was a petty bureaucrat who had let his power go to his head. We constantly got nastygrams for such major offences as leaving the garage door open for more than 15 minutes, not getting the trash cans back in by 8:00AM, and the final blow was getting cited for our lawn being more than 1 1/2 inch long. I fought them over this one, ultimately going to small claims court to avoid having a lien placed on the house. When I finally got to cross examine him, I asked if he actually measured the lawn, or did he just estimate the height? "I measured it" he replied. "With what did you measure it?" I then asked. He responded by stating, "I used my lawn ruler". "May we see it?" Howard then pulled a dirty piece of broken-off wooden yardstick out and said, " I use this.". I then asked him, "Since you are using this to make financial judgements, when was the last time you had it calibrated against the NIST Standards?"

The courtroom broke into laughter; the Bailiff couldn't keep a straight face, and even the judge was smiling when he gaveled the court back to order. "Mr. Boardman, do you have any more questions for this witness?" "No, your Honor." "Then case dismissed"

We didn't have any more petty letters from the HOA Manager.

Never had a good one.

The first one hired a law firm to enforce the deed restrictions. I think they were on a contingency because they roamed the neighborhood constantly and enforced every tiny little infraction, except against the board members. My neighbor got fined because his basketball goal pole was the wrong color. Had to be black or white. His was gray. Sheesh.

The second one the president and his cronies were robbing the homeowners blind. They finally got tossed but it took threats of an audit from the county attorney to force them to resign. Found out we were covering his RV fuel and paying his wife thousands for bookkeeping. Guess it was a lot of work keeping track of all the money they were stealing.