Homeowner's Associations

Upper deck all of 'em. Bet that's not in the bylaws.

 

Do you have pictures of the HOA president or something?

 

You must like throwing away money.

[cheap Nats joke that doesn't make much sense since I have tickets, too.]

 

Why even bother with an HOA at all?

I'm sure that gets you nothing.

 

The best way to deal with an HOA is to never live in a neighborhood that has an HOA. Country livin' has its perks.

Of course I'm the guy who had a rattlesnake in his kitchen a couple of years ago so there are some tradeoffs.

 

It is impossible to find a condo without an HOA, which pays pool, clubhouse, grounds fees and often includes cable.. and really difficult to even find a house in a neighborhood without one.. at least in Fla., because all the neighborhoods are developments that sprung from one developer. The condo thing though, that's just what it is. You get the pool and the weight room, but you pay a fee to help take care of it.

 

The job of an HOA (as I understand it) is to keep the value of everyone's property as high as possible. Since everyone lives so close together, what one person does on their property can affect your property's value.

For example, if you share a fence with a property and your side doors are 60 feet apart, do you want them raising coon hounds as a side job? Do you want them opening up an oil changing business or a day care? No. The HOA should protect against this.

It also should protect the upkeep of a building. If there are broken windows or cars with flat tires in front of the house, it does hurt your property's value.

Do white windows? Probably not, but that is where they have drawn the line.

 

Holy shit, if I found a rattlesnake in my house I'd have to be institutionalized. Or at least move immediately.

 

We rent a condo, and the owner said the HOA prez or whatever lives upstairs on the third floor, right above our condo. Never heard anyone blast the stereo any louder than she does.

I often feel like saying something to her, but now I'm afraid I'll be fined.

 

Keep in mind there are different kinds of associations that cover different things.

For instance - the association I live in is pretty large roughly 350-400 townhomes and condos spread across seven blocks. The townhomes are shared walls (roughly 8 to a building). There's a swimming pool, the association is responsible for the roofs, the siding, all of the yards/trees/plants, plowing all the streets and clearing everyone's driveways and sidewalks, replacing the townhome driveways as needed, replacing the deck (owner is responsible for powerwashing and staining it every two years), etc. So the $287 monthly maintainance for townhome owners (condo owners pay less because of no driveway, no wood deck (just a small balcony), covers a lot.

The association a couple of blocks over has dues that are significantly less, but the unit owners are responsible for the entire exterior of their home (the roof, the siding, the driveway, the lawn, etc.) and I forget what's included in the association fee. But looking at each property there, alot of owners let their properties go to shit.

I don't mind paying the extra knowing I don't have to worry about mowing the yard, replacing the roof or wood siding, shoveling/plowing snow, etc.