On Sat 20 Dec 2008 05:37:08a, Ed Pawlowski told us...


"Plebe" wrote in message

I will NEVER..NEVE..NEVER live where I have to deal with a HOA.

TMT


Then those of us who prefer some order and civility in our "controlled"
neighborhoods won't have to put up with the likes of you. We should
both be happy! :-)

Plebe

My next door neighbor would be penalized by any HOA. He has 2 cars, van,
two trucks, camper, snowmobile, motorcycle, tractor, wood pile, probably
a few things I'm forgetting.

He cuts my lawn, raises our vegetables, blows my leaves. I hope he
never moves away.

I suppose a lot depends on how you grew up and what expectations you have.
I grew up in an upper middle class neighborhood where the lawns were
manicured, homes were well-maintained, cars/vehicles were in the garage,
neighbors were friendly, and strangers were civil. People that had wood
burning fireplaces did have woodpiles, but they were discretely place
somewhere in the back yard. An overflow of vehicles and other "grown up"
toys were kept somewhere off site. If people had vegetable gardens, those
were also in an appropriate location in the rear of the yard.

There was no HOA and no need for one. It was simply a matter of people
having dignity, self-respect and respect for others, and an appropriate
sense of values.

I have been fortunate to live in similar neighborhoods most of my life, and
only two of them had HOAs. One of those was a brand new community where
the HOA was overly zealous and even tried to impose "rules" that didn't
exist in the by-laws or in the CC&R. I was secretary on the board of that
HOA and witnessed at lease two such rediculous attempts. This was a small
community of 36 unique "French country homes". One home owner had a very
attractive weathered copper weathervane installed on their brick chimney.
The board president sent a letter stating that it had to be removed. The
homeowner was quite upset and came to me to discuss it. We sat together
looking for any evidence prohibiting such an addition, but could find none.
I brought this to the attention of the board, but they maintained their
position. Although the community was fully wired for cable and everyone
used it, there was a provision in the CC&R that allowed for television
antennas that could be as large as 3 x 4 feet and on a mast as high as 20
feet above the roof. I privately pointed this out to the homeowner and
suggested that they tell the board they would be happy to remove the
weathervane, and instead, install the maximum allowed antenna. The board
relented. In another case, a decorated WWII veteran was told to remove a
20 ft tall flagpole bearing the American flag. The board's rationale was
that there was a flag mounted in the center of each cul-de-sac. I pointed
out to the board that there was no reference to this in the CC&R and that,
furthermore, it was probably illegal to prevent an American citizen from
flying the flag, they again relented. After those two incidences, the
board's demeaner changed altogether, and it was a very pleasant place to
live.

The other community with an HOA where I lived was much older and had either
never had these growning pains or had long ago outgrown them. They simply
did their job, and quite reasonably. My only encounter with them was when
I applied for a permit to build a shed in the back yard. The only
requirements they had was that the shed had to be built of wood, have
roofing that was compatible with the roofing of the house, and that it had
to be within the sight lines of the house when looking from the street. I
did not find that to be unreasonable.

Now I live in a neighborhood with no HOA in an atmosphere where "anything
goes", and believe me it does. Many homes have numerous vehicles parked
all other the yards, many yards are unkempt, usually full of weeds and
unmown grass. The area is generally unsightly. It's no wonder that anyone
who comes to our house (visitors, service and construction people, etc.)
always tell us we have the best looking house/yard in the neighborhood. I
don't even consider this a compliment since it is just what I consider
average. For nearly six months the neighbor directly across the street
kept a tractor trailer parked in front of their house. We could barely get
out of our driveway. Other neighbors had complained about it to the owner,
but with no results. I finally called the sheriff's department and they
were told to remove it immediately and permanently. All this in a
neighborhood where the least expensive home sold for ~$200K. We are
fortunate, however, to have very nice neighbors immediately on either side
of us. They are friendly, kind, and helpful.

I think it was a mistake for us to move here, but financially we can't move
in the forseeable future. If we ever do, it will definitely be to a
community where there is an HOA. I'd rather deal with those issues than
with the ones I'm dealing with.

Plebe