Big Neighbor Is Watching You

Homeowner associations can foster a sense of community — or they can
bully you, slap you with fines, even take your house

by C.J. Hughes

Piloting his plane over southeastern Massachusetts en route to
Nantucket one day in 1993, Michael Reardon spotted his dream home. The
two-story Cape Cod, with its wraparound porch and cedar-shake siding,
was both spacious and quaint. Better yet, just a few hundreds yards
from the lot sat a runway where he could land his single-engine
Cessna. And because the Falmouth Air Park Homeowners Association — the
resident-run group that governs the 160-acre neighborhood — was
marketing the homes specifically to pilots, Reardon and his family
would be living in a like-minded utopia.

At least that's what he thought at the time.

It didn't take long for his opinion to sour. The homeowner
association, he claims, was a veritable Big Brother, going after
residents for having the wrong lightposts, landscaping, wood siding,
and driveway surfaces. Before long, Reardon began to feel as if, by
agreeing to the association's bylaws — called "covenants, conditions,
and restrictions," or CC&Rs — he'd signed away his rights. "This place
is an aberration of American democracy," he says. "The association has
become a de facto government. They judge and punish."

But it wasn't until the Reardons decided to move that things got
really messy. The association informed Reardon that his prospective
buyer, who was not a pilot, would have to build an airplane hangar on
the lot. "She heard that and got spooked away."

Frustrated, he sued the association for interference with contract but
lost. "The CC&R documents require the building of a hangar," says
former association president Dave Shaw. "You sign them to show you
agree." Now out $40,000 in legal fees and looking at building a
hangar, at a cost of as much as $150,000, before he can sell the
house, Reardon is more anxious than ever to leave. "We can't even
stand seeing our neighbors anymore," he says.




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On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 20:11:12 -0700, Ablang wrote:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/know...064965,00.html
really messy. The association informed Reardon that his prospective
buyer, who was not a pilot, would have to build an airplane hangar on
the lot. "She heard that and got spooked away."

Well, DUH!!! It sounds like it should have scared him away as well,
since...

"The CC&R documents require the building of a hangar," says
former association president Dave Shaw. "You sign them to show you
agree."

If it's written that way, you'd be stupid to fight it.

That's why it took me nearly two years of looking to find a house
without nasty CC&R's.

sdb

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