DIYbanter - View Single Post - HOAs

In article .com,
says...

"Munincipalities don't go into house colors and the like. "

That is simply not true. Most don't but just like there are HOA that
may not get involved in paint colors, there are municipalities that do
get very much involved in issues of paint color. It's not unusual for
towns to have historical districts, where they closely regulate
everything from house paint color, to what type of windows you can use
for replacement. I recall seeing someone in here or alt.home.repair
a few months ago complaining because they wanted to repair a slate roof
in a town with these type of restrictions. They could not do the
repair, because the town insisted the repair would not look right and
insisted on replacing the entire slate roof. Now, considering what
that costs, I would say this behavior by a municipality is a lot worse
than a HOA regulating house color.

Ah, yes, that's true.

But it's not *generally* true; it's more of a specific case.

Although, especially where old victorian houses are involved, what is enforced
is whatever can be historically confirmed, which can be quite bright and garish
in terms of siding and trim colors!

And lots of municipalities regulate things like fences, limiting where
you can put them. Here where I live in NJ, fences are not permitted in
a front yard, which is simply an aesthetics issue, exactly as a HOA
might do.

"Not Xmas decorations and lawn ornaments and stuff like that which are
a matter of taste. "

That isn't true either. A current example: A local municipality here
in NJ is looking into that very issue. Seems at one guy's house, it's
always some kind of holiday, with no respite. He goes from massive
Halloween, to Xmas, to Valentine's Day, to Easter.... You get the
idea. Neighbors are complaining about not only how it looks, but the
cars that pull up to look at it, etc. So, enough people have
complained that the municipality is in the process of dealing with it
and they are considering an ordinance.

"Where I am in the northeast, there aren't so many HOA's as in other
parts of the country."

Not for individual homes, but HOA are all over the place here for
condominiums and town homes.

Yes. Although there, so much is common I'd expect to find something like an
HOA.

But it's not like one can't easily avoid having an HOA around here.

Cheers,
Banty