Comments on: Take that, Homeowners Association!

By: HappyMoose

HappyMoose — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 19:21:21 +0000

I live In Miami, Florida and pretty much all of the new houses around here 2000 and up have HOA’s. The key is research. Where I am renting now it is Townhouses, and the HOA trims the trees, the bushes and the grass, they also lay down mulch etc. Other than that, you wont hear from them unless you leave your car on a jack for more than two days and have like massive oils stains on your driveway.

On the other hand, my brother owns two houses maybe 4 miles from me, and their HOA is run by pure evil. they oversee several communities and go by the name of Keys Gate. You can tell if it is one of their properties because they have this little blue butterfly marking them all. they can’t get anyone to buy or even rent in any of those places now because it is so strict. You can park in your driveway, but you cannot block the sidewalk, or park in the grass period. So most people park on the streets leaving no room to drive through. and if you want to stay over night, you have to drive out to the club house out in the middle of all the different areas, to get a paper to leave in the car so it doesn’t get towed.
Worse than that, there is one place where it is so difficult to gain entrance as a HOMEOWNER that they began to offer “Speed passes” something like the electronic toll payers in your car, just to bypass the long lines at the guard stations, which ran you $200 each, plus a monthly fee of like $50 on top of your HOA fees. Needless to say, we never even considered buying or renting there.

Oh, a Fun fact: A few HOA’s can step in before you close on selling a house, and take money.

By: madrugada

madrugada — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:24:17 +0000

My in-laws had a condo in a largely-retiree development in Florida. One of the reasons they sold it was the officious HOA members who had nothing else to do but mind everyone else’s business. The worst offender was The Sticker Bitch, who would run around slapping stickers on any car that had been parked in a guest spot for more than one hour…and I mean less than a minute more than one hour. Die, Sticker Bitch.

By: chiklet

chiklet — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 06:43:21 +0000

I’ll bet Megan from Atlanta is obese.

By: Vulpis

Vulpis — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 20:59:02 +0000

….You’ve obviously not seen how old ladies dress in the hotter climates.

By: Beckabirdy

Beckabirdy — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:27:58 +0000

The name HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION would imply that yes, people who OWN HOMES have ASSOCIATIONS.
Around here (the Midwest US) they are very common among the newer subdivisions in the farther out suburbs. These subdivisions are often not considered part of their municipality in terms of plowing/salting roads, pavement repairs, etc. The HOA collects fees to take care of these costs. They will also sometimes dictate rules/guidelines for how your house and property should be maintained.
In some parts of the city/near ‘burbs there are similar organizations to preserve the look of certain areas, for example, an historic section of town, to maintain the aesthetic.
Condo buildings will have an HOA as well, again for common maintenance, and some will have rules for upkeep to maintain the look of the building. This also creates a body who is responsible for the building, since no one person owns it, so they can take care of things like noise complaints, etc.
An apartment building usually does not have an HOA, as it is generally owned by one person or company, and they will set the rules which are clearly outlined in the lease which is signed by the renter.

Edited to add-
HOAs usually also have a clause that if the house or condo unit is being rented out, it is still the property owner’s responsibility to make sure that their tenants follow the rules. This would be accomplished by putting the rules in the lease. If the tenant does not comply, the HOA can have them evicted.

By: Dr.Chalkwitheringlicktacklefeff

Dr.Chalkwitheringlicktacklefeff — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 10:05:49 +0000

“Where I live people do things differently to how people do things where you live and that makes me angry!!”
- Most of the people in this thread.

By: Voice of Rhizome

Voice of Rhizome — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 03:57:45 +0000

Ha! I live in Vancouver and $500 a week for a house would be considered a steal!

By: jfc

jfc — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 02:00:04 +0000

the board president of my hoa is a psychologist specializing in child psychology and anger management (Phd in psychology). he’s been in power for longer than his term (it expired a few years ago). now that it’s warm out, he sits by the pool a lot. if he’s there by himself and i’m walking in/out of my condo, he’ll just stare at me open-mouthed. it’s quite disturbing.
we can’t get enough people to attend the one board meeting we are allowed to attend (in violation of state law), so the board gets to pick and choose like-minded slack people. I have a feeling the last person they appointed to the board, is a tad developmentally challenged.
i call these people slack because our wood siding has not been painted in 10 years, the asphalt in the parking lot is failing, if it snows, no one cleans the snow up, except outside the property manager’s unit (she’s a paid employee, and a bully), a few people think she’s embezzling funds. the board president thinks so highly of her, that he’s probably come to her defense and state that he ok’d everything.
we had one owner bring her up on discrimination charges (ethnic), and the psycho backed her up, instead of taking the side of the owner (wtf?)

By: Rattus

Rattus — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 19:57:06 +0000

Cats should be outdoors – that way they won’t shred the blinds.

By: Rattus

Rattus — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 19:46:33 +0000

@DaveGI, I think that Kermit may be from Toronto, but yeah, you have the right idea. I’m also from Toronto and we don’t generally have HOA’s here with the exception of condos and retirement communities out on the fringes. Though I could be wrong. We did have one woman in our neighbourhood attempt to start up some sort of rules and regulations committee, but as I live in the most consistently left-leaning riding in Canada, she eventually felt compelled to move someplace where her totalitarian urges would be more likely to be applauded and upheld by her tight-assed neighbours.

By: Diana

Diana — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 17:16:56 +0000

Oh to just have the chance to write a response note:

“Dear homeowner:
Ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Haha ha ha haa.”

By: really really?

really really? — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 16:30:09 +0000

HOA are commonplace in Florida.

And no, an HOA wouldn’t have the authority to tell you at what level your blinds should be set. That’s going too far even for the most fascist HOAs.

By: CharlesMichaelWilliam

CharlesMichaelWilliam — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 16:18:05 +0000

When i read the comments about HOA i get the Impression that they give Many wannabes their own little kingdom they can rule.

By: The Elf

The Elf — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:46:48 +0000

When you think about, that’s pretty much what fence-painter did to Bob.