In article ,
"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote:

That's the theory, but in practice it's difficult to find anything
recent without a HOA: we had to expand our criteria to include
properties more than 20 years old.

We wanted something either recent (10-20 years old would be nice, 30
okay) or something older that had decent upgrades (kitchen esp.; bath
also). We wound up lucking out totally by finding something in a very
small, roughly 20-year-old neighborhood that looks like it was just
carved out of parkland...and NO HOA! :-)

Moreover, it's not always possible to find out what one's letting
oneself in for:

[I'm skeptical of this. Not your story, just that it wasn't actually
possible one way or another.]

I read one person's
complaint that when he asked to see the HOA rules he was told that they
were "confidential" and that he could not see them until he had agreed
to purchase the property and become a member of the HOA. He bought
elsewhere.

Sounds bogus...and I'm skeptical that they're not available elsewhere
(e.g. local [real] government)...heck, it seems like it would have to be
a requirement to show the rules before purchase. Probably a good
lawyer...ah, but why bother since obviously this is one of the [many]
evil HOAs. ;-) I can see why the person skipped that area...even if I
could get the rules from a friendly neighbor, why live in an area where
the HOA is THAT controlling.

Reminds me of our local citizens' association (not HOA). Friends of
ours moved in and wanted to get involved...found the prez very
controlling and very down on any new ideas or new blood...they asked to
see the by-laws and articles of incorporation, and she said they weren't
allowed. HAH! They went and got them from the county. (I'm not sure
if it's 'cuz it's a non-profit, or 'cuz it's incorporated, that they
were on file there...but I know that only the copies on file were legal,
not any 'amendments' they passed by never registered.) Anyway, the prez
sure wasn't happy when they showed up at the next meeting with copies
and knowing exactly how things were SUPPOSED to work (versus how SHE was
running things). Years of trouble. We bought our friends' house & they
moved to another state (job-related move). Fortunately, the revolution
was long over and both sides pretty dormant by the time we moved in....

Kendall

--
Kendall P. Bullen http://www.his.com/~kendall/
kendall@---^^^^^^^

Never e-mail me copies of Usenet postings, please.
I do read the groups to which I post!