Any Real Estate Lawyers out there? HOA Property Devaluation Issue

[PingSpike]

I'm just going to go ahead and tell myself this is a troll thread because it makes me feel better about the world that way.

 

[ShawnD1]

if you can close off a part of the house you don't need it. so why have it?

Storage space. That's pretty much the only reason to buy a house in the first place. Some condos are a lot nicer than houses, but they suck because there's no space. My book shelf seems to take a whole lot of living space. If I had extra rooms, the books would go in those rooms.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

They're getting rarer and rarer. Too many facists who like to control others in this country.

There are still plenty of places to live without HOAs.

 

[amdhunter]

Where is this property located. I want to build some inner city housing projects there.

 

[ShawnD1]

Throughout most of the year the room door is closed and the vent is shut. How much this saves us in heating/cooling is probably negligable though since most interior walls have little to no insulation.

It's not about heat conduction. It's about convection. Air flow. My bed room can be nice and hot while the door is closed, but it immediately gets cold again when the door is open. Having the door open or closed also has a dramatic effect on room humidity. With the door closed at night, the room humidity stays up around 50% just by having a passive humidifier in the room (a sponge sits in water; no moving parts or power required). Opening the door to the rest of the suite plunges it down below 30%.

That can also go the other way. If one room has some kind of moisture problem, shutting the door can make it a perfect place to grow mold. Keeping the door open spreads the humidity throughout the house a bit more.

 

[OutHouse]

The slab condition is included to avoid having people building modular homes on a property. iow, trailers. Those who actually own a home don't want to see a neighbor build some crap that drops property values. For those who are into seeing your home's value decline, regardless of size, congrats on being an economic glutton for punishment. If you want to allow any old crap in your neighborhood then I'm glad I live nowhere near you.

i live in a modular and i have a crawlspace and god forbid i actually own my home. there is not a damn thing you can do to stop your neighborhood property values from dropping.

 

[Train]

You bought a house next to two empty lots. A litte too late to be worried about what they are going to build there.

oh, and you sound like a douche.

 

[ShawnD1]

i live in a modular and i have a crawlspace and god forbid i actually own my home. there is not a damn thing you can do to stop your neighborhood property values from dropping.

We should start some advertising campaign that tries to attract black people to OP's neighborhood. That will drive down those land prices so you can rip out the slab and lay down a modular home


America: homes are an investment
Everyone Else: home is where you live

 

[Capt Caveman]

We should start some advertising campaign that tries to attract black people to OP's neighborhood. That will drive down those land prices so you can rip out the slab and lay down a modular home


America: homes are an investment
Everyone Else: home is where you live

Kind of like Toronto, Vancouver, etc... Or did Canada relocate those cities to the US?

Stop posting.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

America: homes are an investment
Everyone Else: home is where you live

I agree that people should primary look at a house as a residence, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be mindful of property values and things that affect them.

The solution is easy -- if you don't want an HOA, don't move into an HOA neighborhood. If you move into an HOA neighborhood, don't bitch about it later -- you're not forced to live there and all the terms and the covenant are made available to you before you sign on the dotted lines.

 

[Drekce]

A almost bought a 4400 SF house last year, but pulled out at the last minute. As I really got to thinking about it, me, my wife and two kids fit fine in our 1800SF house, and it would have been insane to buy that huge thing.

 

[oogabooga]

lol yeah that is higher end house in southern IL/norther KY area. I was amazed at what i could get!

my house now is 2k/sq ft on 3 acres. i paid $140k. i figured we would go higher then that and get something.


i was looking at 2-3ksq/ft house's on 20+ acres with ponds etc. for $140k

200k houses were fricken insane.


but..then a buddy of mine just baught a house outside of chicago and paid $400k and its 1800/sqft on a postage stamp. nice house but WTF!

I'm never going to be able to afford a house in California =\ At least not anywhere I want to live, sigh.

 

[Anubis]

lulz

you say lulz, but out here 200k gets you 3k-4k sqft + land

 

[ShawnD1]

Kind of like Toronto, Vancouver, etc... Or did Canada relocate those cities to the US?

Stop posting.

Vancouver is owned by Hong Kong and Toronto is owned by nobody because both Canada and USA recognize that it's a shit hole.

 

[Caveman]

Thanks for those who had rational, emotion-free responses.


It seems shallow to judge someone as a snob based on the square feet of their house. And... As I stated in my second post, I grew up in a 900SF home with 5 people. My Dad comes from a line of farmers and coal miners... He broke the mold with an engineering degree. I grew up as low/middle class American - an "average Joe" who came from a happy family. I never wished I lived in a larger home while I was growing up, and I was always content. My wife spent 5 years of her childhood in a trailer home. Money can't buy happiness; that's a given in our lives. And yes, we feel fortunate to live in the US.

I've worked very hard to improve on the little my parents could give me. My BSME is 100% financed. I have a great job that I like and get paid well to do it. My wife has a BSCS that she/I paid for 100%.

I was not as educated as I should have been at the time I purchased the home I talked about in my OP. I moved up from an 1800SF house a few miles down the road with the intent to have a place to "live" as much as an investment... I have 5 kids now so the extra space is a really nice thing to have. Is it necessary? No. But do we enjoy the home? Absolutely. We may have more kids. I love kids. I'm guessing at least some of the kneejerk "snob" comments were from people that have more SF/person than myself.


Anyway... Like most other folks, my property value has taken a hit since I built due to the recession. There's nothing I can do about that.

But... The HOA code deficiency seems like something that could be addressed, and I'd like to do so if possible. For those that don't understand the importance of having homes of similar value adjacent to your own in a subdivision, you may want to educate yourself more.

I'm have mixed feelings about HOAs. I chose to live in a "protected" neighborhhood to avoid people who don't care about anyone but themselves -- people with little civic pride. These people can be found in any neighborhood. Neighborhoods in the US with smaller homes typically have a higher percentage of folks like this, but a small home does not a slob make. Again, I grew up in a 900SF home. I like the idea of an HOA helping someone understand "good stewardship"... But like most other people, I want them to stay out of my business on trivial things that don't affect property value.

I've seen letters of concern about things like how long the garbage cans should be out in the street for pickup etc... That's fine, but I wish the HOA had been more proactive in telling me that the few empty lots around my place were going to be sold to a builder that is taking advantage in some covenant loopholes.

Yes, I and almost all the other 13 homeowners on my street did not look through every nook and cranny of the HOA covenants prior to purchase. It was implicitly understood that similar quality/value homes would be built in any remaining lots similar to what had been done since we moved in almost 5 years ago before the last 15-20 houses had been sold...

It was a surprise to learn the covenants did not match the homes in my phase of the subdivision. It's as if there's no relationship to the specs of the "established" homes at all. I'm beyond flogging myself for my inattention to the Elephant in the Room.

I'm hoping to get the covenants changed ASAP to prevent a builder from non-compliance to the obvious "established standard". I'm not sure why someone would think it's wrong to want to preserve their property value...

At this point, I have the backing of 13 other "dumb homeowners"... Since I've never been part of an HOA and the rules vary from place to place, I'm not sure how much (if any) help from a lawyer is required (or if there is any hope for that matter)...

I'll be at the next HOA committee meeting 7Feb to table the issue... I'm not sure what to expect... Probably a lost cause but maybe not...

 

[Dr. Zaus]

a buddy of mine just baught a house outside of chicago and paid $400k and its 1800/sqft on a postage stamp. nice house but WTF!

TF is that cities are full of culture that people superior to you want to be around. These are people that realized that using a Mac makes you more creative and have leveraged this creativity into making a lot of money as starving artists with rich parents.

 

[GotIssues]

This. You'd think nobody else in this thread owns property.

They probably don't or they live in such a backwoods or low-value area that it's not much of a concern.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

They're getting rarer and rarer. Too many facists who like to control others in this country.

lol, don't you live in apartment because you like having home maintenance taken care of?

 

[GotIssues]

lol, don't you live in apartment because you like having home maintenance taken care of?

Hey now, that's actually really nice, but pretty damn expensive. Funny thing is that I know exactly what my house payment will be in 20 years, while renters don't know what theirs will be in a 20 months.

I still prefer to not be renting, though. Assuming that my house sells for exactly what I paid for it in 10+ years (and the house is about the same right now as it was when I bought it), I'm saving about $150/mo (mortgage capital + tax deduction - taxes, mortgage ~= rent) by paying a mortgage instead of paying rent and getting twice the space (utilities are fairly close, too), 2 car attached garage, a yard, no shared walls, etc, etc.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Hey now, that's actually really nice, but pretty damn expensive. Funny thing is that I know exactly what my house payment will be in 20 years, while renters don't know what theirs will be in a 20 months.

How do you know what tax rates will be and how badly your house will have decayed in 20 years?

 

[Mike Gayner]

It seems shallow to judge someone as a snob based on the square feet of their house. .

I don't think you're a snob based on the size of your house. I think you're a snob because someone who wants a smaller house isn't good enough for your neighbourhood.

 

[Caveman]

I don't think you're a snob based on the size of your house. I think you're a snob because someone who wants a smaller house isn't good enough for your neighbourhood.

It's not that someone who wants a smaller house is not good enough for the neighborhood. It's that the value of my property may be affected by something "off-nominal" happening next door. Walmart could move in next door and that would be an issue. It has nothing to do with rich/poor, size of the house, etc... Are you against residential and commercial zoning then?

 

[boomhower]

I'll go against the consensus in that I don't really have a problem with the OP. He moved into a HOA and agreed to abide by constrictions thereof and pay the fees with theassumption his property values would be protected somewhat. Though he failed in reading them correctly/thoroughly. OP you need to go to the HOA meeting and have the bylaws changed so this plot meets the restrictions of the surrounding homes. Or just buy the lot and not have to worry about it.

This is just an oppisite of most HOA threads we have. For the record I hate HOA's but if you choose to live in one you need to know what your getting yourself into before buying the house.

 

[edro]

I don't have a problem with the OP's concerns either.
If you build in a upscale subdivision, you should expect your neighbors to have the same upscale property.

Since the housing market is slow, the developer probably wants to get anyone he can to build. He doesn't give a crap about you since you already bought. If he could, he would eliminate all restrictions on what is built.

 

[MotionMan]

I don't think you're a snob based on the size of your house. I think you're a snob because someone who wants a smaller house isn't good enough for your neighbourhood.

You would be an idiot if you were not concerned about how your neighbor's actions could permanently devalue your property.

I get the feeling that Mike Gayner has no clue how property values are calculated.

MotionMan