On Wed, 16 Nov 2005 01:02:24 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:

"Sbyrne" wrote in message
I think the roofers did a good a job but other's in HOA
are concerned about the cosmetics.


Who is paying the bill? If the HOA, tell them it is normal and they will be
OK. If it is you. tell them to get lost. This is why you should never move
to a place with an HOA

FTR, no new neighborhood can be built (since the 1970's or 80's) in
Maryland, or maybe Central Maryland, but it might well be the whole
state, that doesn't have an HOA. This includes both townhouse n'hoods
and those with half-acre lots, and probably any size lot if one
corporation divides a larger property.

The HOA doesn't have to collect fees or even ever meet, but it and its
bylaws has to be there. I think this makes it a lot easier for
discontented residents to do something, without for example going to
court, which is expensive, and iiuc can have limited authority.

One of the rules of the HOA of a girl I used to know with a half-acre
was that no garage could face the street. That way those who drove on
the street wouldn't have to / get to look inside garages with open
doors.

Another rule which I think has to be in every set of by-laws, or maybe
the covenants, which now that I think about it the same law may have
required, is that: If the owner doesn't repair his property, after a
fire, and maybe less serious stuff (I'd have to check my docutments.),
the HOA can repair it for him, put a lien on his property and
eventually sell it to get the HOA's money back. The purpose of this
is to prevent the creation of relative slums. That is, cheap n'hood
might become real slums and expensive n'hoods would be degraded,
property values driven down, lower income people move in, who don't
have the money to hire say, gardeners, or the time to do it
themselves, and the value of the n'hood greatly diminished. Ever since
I saw an abandone, weed-grown shopping mall in a well-to-do area, I
can actually imagine an expensive n'hood becoming a true slum,
although I"m not saying it has ever gotten that bad, anywhere.

Despite the advantages, it does seem that no HOA can get along. I've
heard many stories of places,, including mine, far worse than where
Jerry Seinfeld's TV-show parents lived. Even though everyone has
about the same amount of money, and really share the same interests in
the n'hood.. Ego, ignorance, stupidity.

If one is going to move to an HOA that has expenses, be sure it is
moderately easy to raise the dues. We use to take in much more than
we needed, but as prices go up and our dues stay the same (one tiny
increase in 26 years) we can't afford to do everything we should. We
own our own streets, and although the last contractor who paved them
had a good name, the job came out bad. The very secretive president
probably dickered too hard on the price, and he cut corners. Some
communal sidewalks have crumbled but instead of replacing a whole
section, they do one piece here and other piece two away to save
money.

And they're stupid. If a sidewalk cracks, even though it offers no
risk of tripping to anyone, they think it has to be replaced. Because
they lost one suit against one neighbor who did something wrong, they
think they have lost their right to sue anyone. And someone suggested
putting the HOA money in a socially responsible mutual fund. When a
second person said that mutual funds weren't insured, a third member
of the board insisted that they were. He was advised to call his fund
and find out, but he was too stubborn to say if he ever did.


(They insured against theft by someone managing the fund, but not
against the investments plummeting. It's also illegal for a
non-profit organization, at least an HOA, to invest in mutual funds.
They're not secure enough.)





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