# You simply could not pay me enough.......



## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

......to live within an HOA. :smt078

Homeowner told to remove noxious & offensive pro-police flag | Fox News


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## Tip (Aug 22, 2012)

“They said another resident complained and they said if one person complains they have to take action,” he said.

Does this mean that if HE complains about all of the neighbor's NOT flying the flag in support of police they have to take action???


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

paratrooper said:


> ......to live within an HOA. :smt078
> 
> Homeowner told to remove noxious & offensive pro-police flag | Fox News


Where the hell did you get that picture from? No wonder her husband (I call him "The Stain") fooled around. The only problem is that she should be draped with the hammer and sickle.


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## Cait43 (Apr 4, 2013)




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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

desertman said:


> Where the hell did you get that picture from? No wonder her husband (I call him "The Stain") fooled around. The only problem is that she should be draped with the hammer and sickle.


HRC and I text each other from time to time. She sends me pics, and I return the favor. :mrgreen:


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## tony pasley (May 6, 2006)

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.


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## Cait43 (Apr 4, 2013)




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## RK3369 (Aug 12, 2013)

I live in a condo controlled by an hoa. While there are varying degrees of what an HOA can regulate, this is my first and last time living in anything controlled by a board of folks who can tell you what and what not to do with your property.


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## boatdoc173 (Mar 15, 2014)

Paratrooper

I agree HOAs suck. that is why I agreed to get my wife a home of our own in2003.

you choice of pics to display is part of my new diet

I can eat,look at THAT PIC and vomit instantly like I was bullemic!!!! WOOF!


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

I live in a development in which there are restrictive covenants in the HOA contract. However, they are fairly lenient when compared with some we saw when we were in the market to have a new home built.

As for a "neighbor" complaining, my answer to the HOA is simple. Supply me with the name and address of the complainant and perhaps we can work something out. If I have problems with this, I will cite the Sixth Amendment as my reason to know from whom the complaint originated.

Like others, I despise HOA's which exercise power over property owners. But the only way to avoid them is to move into an older development with might have a civic association (they exercise no power) or buy a piece of land far away where there is no such entity and build there.

Some of the worse I have seen dictate how and where you can park your vehicles, whether or not you can work on a vehicle in your driveway (think changing oil), and grass police. Some can really get out of hand. The worse one I ever heard of was in a townhouse development in McLean, VA. back in the 1970's. A woman had to get permission and approval on the color of paint she wanted to use in a bathroom!


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## RK3369 (Aug 12, 2013)

SouthernBoy said:


> Some of the worse I have seen dictate how and where you can park your vehicles, whether or not you can work on a vehicle in your driveway (think changing oil), and grass police. Some can really get out of hand. The worse one I ever heard of was in a townhouse development in McLean, VA. back in the 1970's. A woman had to get permission and approval on the color of paint she wanted to use in a bathroom!


Ours says, no working on cars in driveway. No hanging like towels, etc from porch railings, no exterior changes to unit without board approval (which is becoming increasingly difficult to get), interior structural changes need board approval ( I did mine and never told them. They want me to put it back, they're going to have to sue me at which time I will countersue for neglicence and malfeasance on their part for not funding property reserves adequately despite professional report on property condition and reserve funding requirements.). Yada, yada, yada. HOA's are just one huge PITA to deal with and not worth the effort imo. Never again for me.


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

I suppose that for some, HOA's are fine. I've never lived in one, so I'm not an expert on the topic. 

But, I know what I can live with and without. I'm quite sure that I'm better off not having to deal with one. Life is too short to put up with them.


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

To some degree we all belong to an Association or Union (yes, you are a union member paying dues, lol) that makes the rules.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

I was once the president of a homeowners' association.
Jean and I now live in a community with covenants which control certain aspects of one's own property.

My take?

1. Homeowners' associations have no real teeth, in most cases. In the case of the pro-cop flag, just ignore the association and they'll go away. If they take you to court, they'll lose this case on First Amendment grounds. You may also be able to collect your court costs from them.
2. Our community's covenants specify (in item #1) that there shall be _no manufactured houses_ allowed in the community. Our home once belonged to the family which developed the community in the first place, and...(wait for it)..._it's a manufactured house_. Of the maybe 15 houses in the community, at least eight of 'em are manufactured houses.


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## RK3369 (Aug 12, 2013)

Steve M1911A1 said:


> I was once the president of a homeowners' association.
> Jean and I now live in a community with covenants which control certain aspects of one's own property.
> 
> My take?
> ...


very good point. For the HOA board, it will be for them to decide whether they want to spend the legal fees to take an owner to court. In our case, our HOA bylaws have been amended so many times, that there is good reason to believe that the amendments which the current board are using were in fact never duly adopted by the majority of the members of the HOA, so it could end up being a very expensive legal hassle to sort it all out. If the HOA attorney advised the board as such, it might make them think the entire pursuit of a legal battle was not worth the cost, particularly when they would have to explain to the members why they spent the money in legal fees to try to enforce a by law or amendment or provision which may have not been legally adopted in the first place. Our HOA board also engaged a firm to do a physical needs assessment of the community and provide a recommendation about capital needs by year and costs necessary to meet those needs, then refused to adopt the recommendations of the firm because they felt they could never get the community to agree to the required increase in reserve funding of about $50 per month to the current funding level. Does that sound like a dereliction of duty, or negligence case? Sure does to me when they start handing out special assessments to each owner to cover the cost of capital projects which could have been appropriately funded over the years through reserve contributions. The problem with HOA's is that they are not operated like a business, they are run by the good old boy network, which doesn't want the blame for big cost increases in monthly fees.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Problems with your HOA?
Just say "wHOA"!
After all, they're just a bunch of HOas.
:anim_lol:


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

RK3369 said:


> Ours says, no working on cars in driveway.


Thank God we don't have that, and if we did I'd ignore it. My vehicles need to get their oil changed at the proper intervals and need other normal services.



RK3369 said:


> ...no exterior changes to unit without board approval (which is becoming increasingly difficult to get), interior structural changes need board approval ( I did mine and never told them. They want me to put it back, they're going to have to sue me at which time I will countersue for neglicence and malfeasance on their part for not funding property reserves adequately despite professional report on property condition and reserve funding requirements.). Yada, yada, yada. HOA's are just one huge PITA to deal with and not worth the effort imo. Never again for me.


I've made several exterior changes and never submitted any approval requests. In my opinion, and that of my immediate neighbors, those changes enhanced the appearance of my home as well as being of better quality.

As for the interior, I and my wife have also made improvements. What we do inside the home is none of the business of the HomeOwner Nazis (there aren't any restrictions for interior modifications of which I am aware, anyway).


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

RK3369 said:


> The problem with HOA's is that they are not operated like a business, they are run by the good old boy network, which doesn't want the blame for big cost increases in monthly fees.


I tend to think they are populated and run by people who have a penchant for being nosy and busybodies. People who are not the type to face someone in any sort of confrontation and who hide behind their keyboards on websites with "safe" handles while being a royal pain in the ass. People who may have been born without a spine.

Not all, mind you, but I would bet a fair number of them fit this bill.


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## Tip (Aug 22, 2012)

HOAs can have value. House we owned before moving to the sticks had a HOA. Had a lot of rules which we simply ignored -- things like needing to submit a landscape plan (yeah right), or get HOA approval for any exterior changes. We simply ignored the rules and they never bothered us. When we moved out house looked much, much nicer than when we bought.

However, there was the time backside neighbor decided to put up fugly metal shed right up against fence, which, by the way, was 1 foot inside property line. Yeah, I coulda fought him and won but instead dropped an anonymous dime on the HOA president. A few days later the half built shed was dismantled and never appeared again. Apparently neighbor took em seriously. Our relationship remained "cordial", his with HOA board was a tad more "strained"....

Note, my research showed the HOA covenants had actually expired 3 years prior and the "vote" to extend them did not meet the written requirements to do so. I stopped paying dues, they asked why, I told them. Remarkably, dues became "voluntary" the following year. The shed episode came during the second "voluntary" year..... Some people believe anything.

For the most part with HOAs I've found they are a lot of bluster and bark but little bite. Ignore them, they'll holler and scream but in the end do nothing...


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## CW (Mar 20, 2015)

Oh Life on the farm is kinda laid back
Aint much an ole country boy like me cant hack
Early to rise, early in the sack
THANK GOD I'm a country boy.

A simple kind of life never did me no harm
a raisin' me a family and working on the farm
My days are all filled with an easy country charm
THANK GOD I'm a country boy.

Well I got me a fine wife, I got me ole fiddle
AR in the pickup and burgers on the griddle 
Life aint nothing but a funny funny riddle

THANK GOD I'm a country boy.

_John Denver w/edit_

Ok I have a mandolin not a fiddle.......

If looking for a retirement community I would look for vets, railroadiana, and Gadsden flags.


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## paratrooper (Feb 1, 2012)

A few years ago, I knew a guy that lived in an HOA that was very active and strict. He wanted to have a storage shed erected on his lot, behind his house. 

From the very start, the HOA fought him every step of the way. From the size of the desired shed, to the color and to where he wanted it placed. The HOA didn't want the firm erecting the shed, to deliver and install it during the "busy time of the day". The HOA also didn't want the firm's big truck blocking or impeding traffic in any way when delivering / building the shed. 

No matter the issue, the HOA was not going to back down. In the end, my friend settled on a storage shed much smaller than what he had wanted, he had to paint it a color from a list provided by the HOA, and he had to place it close to, but not exactly where he initially wanted it placed. 

After it was all said and done, the company that delivered the shed stated that they would not deliver another one to the area / community.


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