Stupid HOA! *warning...ranting ensues*

[UrsulasDaBomb]

We recently recieved a letter from the head of our HOA stating we needed to 'remove our trashcans from the community view'. DH and I went back through our HOA rules (all 988 pages of them!) and tried to find SOMETHING that said we cannot leave our trashcans (provided BY the city) outside next to our house. DH even went down to the office (they are still building homes in our development) and asked to see a copy of the revised HOA rules for the new homebuyers. He was granted his request and along with an agent, went over the rules with a fine tooth comb. Nothing about putting your trashcans out of the community view. So...DH called the head of the HOA, asking her where it said we had to hide our cans. She said she didn't know, but nobody wanted to see the cans. I mean c'mon! They are big, bulky, green cans. EVERYBODY has the same cans. On any given day you can drive around the division and see cans all over the danged place!The Head of the HOA promised to mail us a copy of the section where it said we cannot put our trashcans on the side of the house. That was Monday and here it is Thursday and we still haven't heard anything from her.

I also have grown to hate the HOA's 'Lawn Nazi" who comes by periodically and if your grass is over a certain height, you get a letter telling you to cut it. DH and I have busy schedules. We are lucky if we get the front lawn mowed once every two weeks and the back yard once every three or so. We cannot afford a lawn service like a lot of folks around here and so do not have our yards mowed every week or (like some I've seen) every three or four days. In the letter you recieve for NOT mowing your yard, you are warned that if it is not done within a certain period of time (a week I think) they will come with a lawn svc to mow it for you and charge you like $200 to do so.


Gayle(UDB)

 

[maci]

I know what you mean, those HOA can get a bit out of hand!!! We havnt had a problem with ours yet (knock on wood), but I know lots of people who have!!
Good luck getting it worked out!

 

[UrsulasDaBomb]

Seeing as we haven't heard from her yet and it's been like 4 days...I bet she's backed down and won't say anything.


Gayle(UDB)

 

[MosMom]

I hate them too. Unfortunately, it is hard to find a neighborhood these days without one. I'm having a garage sale next weekend and not getting permission first (permission requires you to make a big hooplah out of it and invite the entire neighborhood in on your sale) *shhh*. I've seen at least 3 other people in the neighborhood do it without having a neighborhood sale so I am too! Mandating how you have a garage sale is a little silly.

I understand the point of them to a degree but it seems some take the "power" a little too far and let it get to their heads. They are currently fighting about whether they will allow us to have 5' fences vs. the 4' fences. Seems so silly to me. Don't allow anyone to paint their house neon green or let the grass grow so high you can hide cars in it and I'd be happy.

 

[UrsulasDaBomb]

Luckily, we don't have to do something that big for a simple garage sale.

You know what I wish (and this is as fruitless as wishing for apples to grow on orange trees....)? I wish that with our HOA dues that during the summer they'd hire a freaking lifeguard (or two or three!) for the 'community pool'. I also wish they'd go to a key or keycard system for the pool so that non-residents wouldn't be able to get into the pool. There is a lock with a code you have to punch in but so many times people claim to 'forget' the code and somebody just goes up and lets them in. According to HOA rules, you're also not supposed to leave your kids unattended there but I've seen so many parents do it just because there were one or more adults present. During the summer a lot of kids seem to be latchkeys who just spend all day at the pool acting like hooligans, running around, using foul language in front of little ones, acting like neanderthals. And they leave the pool a mess, to boot. We got a letter early in the season (late April I think) that said last year the maint. people found all manner of disgusting filth such as dog poo, human poo, dirty diapers, etc IN THE POOL! I know that this stems from unsupervised children and/or children who are sent to supervise their younger siblings and are unable to do so properly. People also bring their dogs in, which is also prohibited but it doesn't seem to stop them. Several times coming home late at night, I've seen police cruisers parked out by the pool breaking up late night drunken parties attended by the recently-home college students who think they're still at school. There is a phone in the pool area that, up until this year, was a free phone. It is a regular wall phone that was connected to an outside line and was in a box marked "Emergency Use Only". Was it used solely for emergencies? Heck no! WHenever I visited the pool last year, it was always in use by somebody and not to call 911 either. I guess the HOA got wise to this (or didn't want to pay any more long distance bills!) and made it a 911- only phone. No more outside calls except to 911. Well good for them. I've only been to the pool once this year because of last year and the letter we got back in April. I don't wanna be swimming in a pool where they found that stuff, even if it is cleaned once a month!

Gayle(UDB)

 

[MosMom]

At least you have a pool. When we moved in here they told us we would be getting a recreation area and pool. Guess what? They already filled that area with homes. We pay $255 a year and have nothing. No park, pool, basketball court, walking paths, NOTHING. I would sue them but we have no proof that they ever offered this (besides other neighbors agreeing they were promised this as well). I would REALLY like to know where our $255 a year goes because mowing a little patch of commons grass and snow removal doesn't cost that much.

Before this neighborhood we lived in one with a pool, basketball court, tennis court, walking paths, & playground. We paid $100 more a year for all of this than we do here. It is a racket!

 

[UrsulasDaBomb]

Wow that really does suck. Maybe you should come move into my neighborhood where we have TWO parks, extensive sidewalks and a pool!

Gayle

 

[Adrianna]

Well if that's the way they're gonna be, don't remove them, in fact put them in an even worse place, maybe they'll learn a lesson

 

[UrsulasDaBomb]

DH is actually planning to build a little hutch for the cans or maybe purchase one from Home Depot or something. I know if he BUILDS a hutch, we'll be seeing a letter from the Architechterual (sp?) commitee, saying we didn't contact them first and get permission.

Gayle(UDB)

 

[katerkat]

Wow, if we let our yard go for 2-3 weeks, we'd be kicked out of housing. Our lawn isn't allowed to go over 3", and with the nice afternoon rain storm watering it daily, we have to mow twice a week.

 

[peg2001]

I have a couple co-workers who complain constantly about their HOA. I just keep reminding them that THEY picked the neighborhood to buy in.

I used to live in a neighborhood where my next-door neighbor did car repairs as a side business. His tools were stored in an old car permanently up on blocks. He always had 2 or 3 cars in his driveway and front yard that he was repairing.

Now I'm in a different neighborhood and a neighbor down the road just painted their house Pepto-Bismol pink. It practically glows in the dark.

Still, I'd pick either of these neighborhoods again over one that tried to tell me what I could do with my house and yard beyond what is required by city codes.

Peggy

 

[Rajah]

I see these things as a necessary evil. They are rediculous, get out of hand, cost too much... but on the other hand, I do have to admit that the subdivisions with active HOAs *do* tend to look nicer and *feel* safer (whether they really *are* safer or not) than those that don't have them.

I just wish they could recognize that fine line between keeping the neighborhood nice and going overboard.

 

[scarlett873]

hey bridget...you can come and visit me in our neighborhood next year!! there's already a pool and lots of playground equipment, basketball court, tennis court, volleyball court...even a big wheels park! now all's we need is the house!!

we're building our house in a new community. it seems to be very nice and full of families. we've gone over our rules and stuff with a fine toothed comb so we know what we can and can't do long before we move in! we won't have a HOA until our builder finishes selling 80% of the lots (800 homes). we will pay dues each year, but the builder maintains the HOA until then. heaven help us all when the HOA is turned over to the neighborhood!!

 

[UrsulasDaBomb]

I know, I know. I just have to keep gritting my teeth and saying "We bought a house here because we knew property values would skyrocket soon." which is true. We looked at used..er..older..homes and new homes and purchased when we did because we liked the neighborhood. Property values HAVE gone up (partially due to expansion of the city where we live and partially due to improvements we've made). We had our value estimated at around $115,000 up from $99,000 when we bought it. Like I said..part of it is because of the rapid development of the small town where I live (and it's proximity to the Dallas/Frisco/The Colony area) and part of it is due to improvements we've made (put in a sprinkler system and added a very nice deck).

Still....sometimes those HOA people irritate me,ya know?

Gayle(UDB)

 

[crazelion]

Wow what kind of neighborhood that have pays for. We do not have pay any of that in Chattanooga. We have indoor swimming pool, basketball courts, park, and meeting rooms in our recation centers and the city pays for it all with our property taxes.

 

[Cinders]

Our realtor recently tried to get us to buy a house in her addition but I refused. I refuse to let some power hungry nobody tell me what to do with the property that I own. They've had some of the same problems with their association so now 3 couples have decided to run for the offices. They figure being very active with the HOA is the only way to control the boneheads that expect the trash cans be stored in the garages and the ones that want to take out the basketball and tennis courts to put in a swimming pool (all the houses have lake access to a beautiful lake so no pool is needed). The officers have also brought up a request to limit the size of dog a person owns.

 

[Pin Wizard]

I empathize with you, Gayle! We're not allowed to have ours out in view either. But I do have them outside on the side of the house. So does my next door neighbor! I see hers anytime I walk out the door...doesn't bother me. I can't understand the people that keep them in their garages. I don't want 3 or 4 days of garbage sitting in a can in my garage! That's disgusting! In the last couple weeks we received a notice "reminding" us that garbage cans are NOT to be placed at the curb prior to 5 p.m. the night before. Give me a break! They must not have enough to do.

 

[we3luvdisney]

Do what we did ---- We moved to the country. We have a HOA, but are rules state the minimum house size, no "farm" animals, no renting rooms, etc. I feel for you with all those restrictions!

 

[disykat]

Wow - I have the opposite problem. HOA's have no authority whatsoever. They've sent letters to my neighbor, but unless we hire a lawyer etc. it is useless. We have only 27 homes in our development. Selling my house will be a problem because of my nieghbor - his septic tank is broken, at one point he had 12 people living in the house, he has trash all over his lawn, he has rock piles, dirt piles, cars that don't work... and those are just the problems that are specifically against the covenants.

I wish the value of my home was protected by the HOA!

 

[UrsulasDaBomb]

PinWizard--Ours is currently by the side of the house. DH does NOT want these giant cans (and they are HUGE) in the garage messing with his 'workspace' (although what he does out there is a complete mystery to me ).
luvdisney--I'd LOVE to move out to the country but cannot afford to buy a 'country home'. But when I win the lottery (or my grandmother kicks off and leaves me a ton of money..like that's gonna happen any time soon ) I have a plan in mind. We will go to the country. We will hire a builder to build the PERFECT house...a big sprawling, white-columned, wrap-around porched, southern Plantation style house. And we'll buy two big slobbery bloodhounds to go with it.

Gayle(UDB)