I hate my HOA!!! - Long Vent

[mickeysgal]

In fact of the last three shows I've been to, one was Tom Jones and the other was Heart.

Tom!!

 

[4greatboys]

I dont like HOA's either. When we bought a bigger house we went with a neighborhood that didnt have one. Our subdivision isnt a large one but its nice and everyone here keeps their yards and houses looking great. No eyesores around

 

[MUFFYCAT]

Everyone has different tastes annd colors.

How one person or a group can say just because they don't like a certain style or color and ban other homeowners from it is absurd.

I couldn't live with such snobby people like that.

 

[ducklite]

Our HOA doesn't even allow our subdivision to have mailboxes in front of our houses! They think it is asking for vandalism and I think at one time I heard they were thought to look tacky?! Believe me, I want a mailbox. We've tried to get it changed and some of the old school neighbors won't budge on it. Puleeze. We have to go down the street to a bank of mailboxes to check our mail. It drives me crazy. We also have to get approval to paint our house. Must be a certain color, as must be the shingles and the door and garage door. I will say HOA's have their good points and their bad points. I just want a mailbox!!!

That's really weird. I don't see where having individual mailboxes would be any more attractive to a bank of mailboxes to a vandal.

In my neighborhood most of the houses have two mailboxes on one post. My builder fought with the post office for each house to have a seperate post for the mailbox--perosnally it wouldn't have been a battle I would have picked, I don't think there's anything wrong with two mailboxes sharing a single post. JMHO.

Anne

 

[mylilnikita]

I don't live in a HOA community, no one gets to tell me what I can or can't do to a house I pay for.
Anyway, my neighbor who spends a lot of time on his yard, and it looks beautiful, takes it upon himself to edge my yard, and a couple other neighbor's near the street. Then he tells me today he came so close to cutting my yard. Now most of the time I get exdh to do it, he has to be good for something-lol, but I did do it a little more than a week ago, but of course it grew. So it wasn't even ankle high tall and he feels a need to tell me he was going to cut my yard. I have a full time job, unlike him and a life, and the last thing I will think about as I die will be my lawn. I was like, ok, but how about the neighbor next to me who has shrubbery literally going up to his roof and has animals scurrying in the bushes, why not help him out as he is an older man. Or the fact that 1st neighbor has a truck parked in a makeshift driveway that looks like it had been sitting in a swamp with this film like covering over the windows. My exdh did come by and do the yard for me

 

[Aimeedyan]

We bought with a HOA on purpose. When house hunting, we didn't have an opinion either way so we looked at homes with and without.

You could quickly tell which neighborhoods didn't have one... and we wanted no part in it. A house is a big investment and we didn't want our value lowered because of a neighbor's decision.

We also looked at neighborhoods that have HOA guidelines that I refused to live with, as well.

The one we have has very basic guidelines; there was nothing on there we even thought twice about. Very cheap too - $108 a year. I've yet to see anyone getting notices, and a few people should have had some! I've tried hard to not be THAT neighbor and complain...

I really want to attend the meetings but they have them on Wed nights right now... =(

 

[lowie]

I would never live in a community with an HOA, heaven forbid that my undies hanging on MY clothesline would affend someone! Or that my 7cats would escape the house one day to walk all over my neighbors car!.
Some people love to live the elitiest lifestyle so if that is how they chose to live then let live, but also let the rest of us chose what plants and amenities we want to have in our yards and homes.

lol, sorry, can't help but laugh here. but you are the very reason people live in HOA's. it's NOT ok for your cats to walk all over your neighbors cars.

i don't know why you feel that living in an HOA would be 'elitiest' maybe you meant elitist. but either way, it's just a choice that people make, nothing wrong with either style of living.

 

[chyam]

lol, sorry, can't help but laugh here. but you are the very reason people live in HOA's. it's NOT ok for your cats to walk all over your neighbors cars.

i don't know why you feel that living in an HOA would be 'elitiest' maybe you meant elitist. but either way, it's just a choice that people make, nothing wrong with either style of living.

Well I am sorry I misspelled a word.........but REALLY, my cats do not walk over peoples cars, they don't get out.....and I don't appreciate it when other peoples cats do, I was being a little sarcastic (hope I spelled that right) I was just trying to say that really we do not have to live in a police state to do things right, there are beautiful neighborhoods all over the country that aren't governed by rules on what people can plant or do in their yards. But some of HOAS go way over and beyond, there was a case in Tampa where the HOA was fineing her because she had flags in her yard (AMERICAN) waiting for husband to return from IRAQ.........I just feel that ALOT of HOA's carry things to an extreme. But for the record.....I do hang my undies out on the clothesline but I also have privacy fence, but I wouldn't complain if others did the same if they didn't have a fence. I just feel that people should find REAL problems to complain about instead of some regular Joe who is just trying to live. I don't and wouldn't want to live next to junk cars etc. but as I said a call to code enforcement should handle those situations. And for the record.......sometimes I mistype because my hands fall asleep since I work for a living with them.......so sorry I misspelled something and you had to point out the fact that maybe I am not quite as educated as you....but I guess I had better get out there and get my grass cut so my neighbors don't complain, even though I just worked a 12 hour shift, thank GOD I don't have an HOA!

 

[marlasmom]

Quote:
Originally Posted by annegal
I find this statement rather amusing from someone who has pink hair and spends her nights listening to young punk rockers half her age...thought you were more "with it"

Great. You have no point to make but you can't resist what you perceive as an opportunity to dump on Anne. Very nice indeed.

 

[BeNJeNWaFFLe]

Everyone has different tastes annd colors.

How one person or a group can say just because they don't like a certain style or color and ban other homeowners from it is absurd.

I couldn't live with such snobby people like that.

I personally couldn't live like that either. But do you remember the original rules for our town were? No fences, none. No laundry out on Sundays. No sheds. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a house following those rules these days.

Sure there are some houses that need help. My moved-out-in-the-middle-of-the-night-and-left-the-house-for-dead neighbors for one. But oh well. Another house around the block from me decided to paint the front first floor of the house a bright blue. At first it was a little shocking, but it fits there personality and it looks good. I'm personally getting tired of all the beige, tan, and buttercream houses. Color is a nice change.

As long as you aren't running a chop shop out of your garage, breeding mosquitoes in your pool, or playing loud music all night long...I'm not going to get my panties in a twist over much. I understand some people want to live in a communities like that. They are pretty, and more power to you. It's just not something I could do.

 

[mickeysgal]

Quote:
Originally Posted by annegal
I find this statement rather amusing from someone who has pink hair and spends her nights listening to young punk rockers half her age...thought you were more "with it"

Great. You have no point to make but you can't resist what you perceive as an opportunity to dump on Anne. Very nice indeed.

Quite honestly, I didn't think this was allowed on the DIS. If this wasn't a personal attack, I don't know what is.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

I personally couldn't live like that either. But do you remember the original rules for our town were? No fences, none. No laundry out on Sundays. No sheds. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a house following those rules these days.

Sure there are some houses that need help. My moved-out-in-the-middle-of-the-night-and-left-the-house-for-dead neighbors for one. But oh well. Another house around the block from me decided to paint the front first floor of the house a bright blue. At first it was a little shocking, but it fits there personality and it looks good. I'm personally getting tired of all the beige, tan, and buttercream houses. Color is a nice change.
As long as you aren't running a chop shop out of your garage, breeding mosquitoes in your pool, or playing loud music all night long...I'm not going to get my panties in a twist over much. I understand some people want to live in a communities like that. They are pretty, and more power to you. It's just not something I could do.

Some of the houses look great. Each house has it's own personality and look. I love to drive around and see what everyone did to their house.


One house is painted and looks just like a doll house. The colors and designs they used are unique. I think it's one of the cutest houses around.
They even painted the fence with a mural type of children on a swing.
I never once heard anyone complain because it was purple, white and other colors.
Then again, my neighborhood is full of working class people just happy to live in home. We don't have the time or care to tell others want to do with their houses.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

Quite honestly, I didn't think this was allowed on the DIS. If this wasn't a personal attack, I don't know what is.

Mickey just to be fair I've read alot of personal attacks on both sides in this thread.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

I know someone who lives in a community with an HOA. Her neighbor was turned in by one of the other neighbors for the height of her fence. So she fixed it got angry than went around the neighbor pointing out all the issues with all the neighbors. My friends said the lady figured Turn about was fair game.

 

[MiniGirl]

My neighborhood has a HOA. Of course, most of the areas here do, and I really wouldn't want to live in the neighborhoods that don't. Some of the HOAs are very restrictive and some are less so. If I were looking for a new home, I would not automatically discount an area with an HOA -- unless I simply could not afford it. To do so (around here anyway) would be short-sighted. I would, however, get a copy of the rules and ask around to see just how strict they are. Our HOA is quite lenient. We do have to submit plans for improvements/changes to the outside of our house, however, I don't know of anyone that has had plans, colors, etc. rejected. We also have some bright and colorful houses in our neighborhood, so I don't know what color someone would have to submit in order for it to be rejected. I do like though that when my neighbor across the street had a problem with another resident who insisted my neighbor's yard was her dog's bathroom, she was able to resolve things through the HOA. We also had a neighbor a few street down that found 2:00 in the morning the best time to work on his very loud hot rod. When I mentioned to a neighbor that I hadn't heard this in awhile, I was told he was threatened with a fine by the HOA.

Not all HOAs are created equal, and not all are evil.