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Any Real Estate Lawyers out there? HOA Property Devaluation Issue

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MotionMan said:
Most of you are missing the point: Having a lesser home in your neighborhood can reduce the property values all around it. On that point, OP is right (though probably not to the extent he is assuming).
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This. You'd think nobody else in this thread owns property.
 
Do the covenants have a provision for changing them? Our neighborhood requires signatures from 2/3 of the homeowners to change the rules.
 
Seems like two options.

1. Buy the lots, or at least the one next to you.
2. Campaign to get the covenants modified.
 
Be involved in your HOA. HOAs are meant to have involvement from the owners.
Go to the next meeting and discuss your concerns.
 
ShawnD1 said:
I had to google this. According to ehow, slab is straight up welfare. It's like building your house on top of a parking lot. No basement. It also drives up the cost of fixing anything under the house, so that means things are less likely to be fixed. A shitty house with broken plumbing stays broken forever. Slab is also low to the ground because concrete is expensive. Crawl space is better. Things are easier to fix and therefore more likely to be fixed. They're also higher above grade; more resistant against water damage and floods.

Then again both of those would be considered welfare around here. We have basements here. The house doesn't need to be xbox huge because it has a whole extra floor under the main level. I live in the basement of a house right now. Rent's the same as an apartment but it's bigger, less shitty, cost less, and my only neighbor is the home owner upstairs instead of meth heads typically found in apartment buildings.
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At least in CA, slab is pretty much the only way to go, they resist earthquakes much better. Basements are just holes for your house to fall into.
 
uclaLabrat said:
At least in CA, slab is pretty much the only way to go, they resist earthquakes much better. Basements are just holes for your house to fall into.
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And certain areas can't even have a basement due to the water table, coral level or bedrock (Florida).
 
This makes me want to form an LLC. Find a stupid bank to lend it money to buy this lot, then stick a "construction trailer" on the lot and rent it out to 10 mexicans for dirt cheap with the condition that they move dirt around every once in awhile to give the impression something might be built some day. Then after the HOA gets tired of fighting this, I'll offer to sell the property to the HOA for twice as much as I bought it for.
 
Mike Gayner said:
Wow I just did some conversions from caveman square feet into normal people square metres - holy shit American houses must be huge. How ridiculous. I still don't understand why it matters to you how big your neighbour's house is or it if has a basement. You are a class 1 snob.
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i agree.

house size's have gotten insane. we live in a 2k sqft. that is for 4 (was 5 but oldest went to college). That gives upstairs: 3 bedrooms of decent size (my daughters is huge. but she has 2 single beds so its ok) and a bathroom, main floor has a kithchen, pantry+laundry, dinning room (far to big it could be half its size), living room and office/playroom.
Then we have a basement with another living room and a playroom (or bedroom).

I had a farmhouse that was 4500sq/ft the sucker was huge! so much waisted space. When we were looking for a newer house we looked at houses around that size. we really didn't need that much space. its rather insane.

I see it often. family's with 3 people getting 3-5k sq/ft houses. you just don't need that much space. it adds a lot to the cost of heating, cooling and time cleaning. I just don't get it.

I grew up in huge houses. i have 4 sisters so i am used to them.




DixyCrat said:
This is why you check the HOA covenants before you buy a house.

Fools and their land value...
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wow..dixycrat is right..im amazed.
 
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ShawnD1 said:
I had to google this. According to ehow, slab is straight up welfare. It's like building your house on top of a parking lot. No basement. It also drives up the cost of fixing anything under the house, so that means things are less likely to be fixed. A shitty house with broken plumbing stays broken forever. Slab is also low to the ground because concrete is expensive. Crawl space is better. Things are easier to fix and therefore more likely to be fixed. They're also higher above grade; more resistant against water damage and floods.

Then again both of those would be considered welfare around here. We have basements here. The house doesn't need to be xbox huge because it has a whole extra floor under the main level. I live in the basement of a house right now. Rent's the same as an apartment but it's bigger, less shitty, cost less, and my only neighbor is the home owner upstairs instead of meth heads typically found in apartment buildings.
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LOL you have no clue.

you may have basements where you live but not everyplace in the US/world is it a good idea to have a basement. Down where my parents live (southern IL a area with a high water table) NOBODY has basements. I thought about moving down there. i was looking at higher end houses ($150-200k) not one had a basement.

Same when i lived in Ca didn't see many their either hmm can't remember OR or Co.

Here in northern IL basements are common. I love mine. its cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Plus it gives you extra Sq/FT
 
waggy said:
I see it often. family's with 3 people getting 3-5k sq/ft houses. you just don't need that much space. it adds a lot to the cost of heating, cooling and time cleaning. I just don't get it.
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You can sort of fix/cover that problem by closing the vents and doors to rooms you don't use very often. Example: my parents close all the doors in the house when they run their cheap air conditioner that blows the air out the front door. The living room gets a lot colder when doing that.
My bed room goes the opposite way. I like it really hot in here when I eat breakfast in the morning. Instead of trying to cook the entire suite, I keep an electric heater in this one room. It gets nice and hot very quickly and it doesn't take much energy.

If you leave all the vents and doors open then yeah it's going to be a bitch to heat. This regular size (small) basement suite would be ridiculously hard to heat even if I really wanted to. A lot of the heat escapes through the ceiling and goes upstairs.
 
Mike Gayner said:
But irrespective, I can't see how your neighbour's house being on a slab affects your house - visually it's difficult/impossible to tell from the road.
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It is usually extremely easy to tell if a house is on a slab, crawl space, or has a basement from the road. Crawl spaces usually have vents along the foundation, basements usually have windows or window wells, and slabs have nothing.
 
ShawnD1 said:
You can sort of fix/cover that problem by closing the vents and doors to rooms you don't use very often. Example: my parents close all the doors in the house when they run their cheap air conditioner that blows the air out the front door. The living room gets a lot colder when doing that.
My bed room goes the opposite way. I like it really hot in here when I eat breakfast in the morning. Instead of trying to cook the entire suite, I keep an electric heater in this one room. It gets nice and hot very quickly and it doesn't take much energy.

If you leave all the vents and doors open then yeah it's going to be a bitch to heat. This regular size (small) basement suite would be ridiculously hard to heat even if I really wanted to. A lot of the heat escapes through the ceiling and goes upstairs.
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Lol

A few people i know have insane big houses (my sister for one) i always laugh when they "close off" parts of the house.

if you can close off a part of the house you don't need it. so why have it? A buddy of mine has a 5ksq/ft house. it has 5 bedrooms, 2 living rooms. a huge kitchen (with dinning area) a formal dinning room, office and a playroom. Not to mention full basement with 1 bedroom, living space and playroom. for 3 PEOPLE.

they seal off 3 bedrooms, the dinning room and 1 living room. the kid has to play down in the basement no toys allowed up stairs.

lol wtf its insane.
 
edro said:
lulz
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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!
 
So your panties are in a bunch because somebody "could" build a home not up to your standards next door? Not that this has actually happened or anything...why would somebody want to build a lesser house there which would drive UP their home value and make them pay excess taxes, most likely you have nothing to worry about but maybe get back with us when you see the trailer being dropped off😛
 
edro said:
Be involved in your HOA. HOAs are meant to have involvement from the owners.
Go to the next meeting and discuss your concerns.
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This. OP talk to the your HOA board If you can get enough home owners to express your concern, you can have the HOA change the covenants/restrictions on those lots. You may need to pitch in some money to have lawyers amend the HOA docs but based on how it would benefit all the current owners, I don't see it being an issue.

And ShawnD1 needs to stop posting. I don't think I've yet to read anything intelligent from him. He obviously hasn't traveled a lot.
 
Go to your local ravine and pick up some dumped asbestos shingles or asbestos siding. Dump it on the lots and drive over it a few times. Tag the sidewalks and the side of your house facing those lots. No one will buy the property, problem solved.
 
waggy said:
Lol

A few people i know have insane big houses (my sister for one) i always laugh when they "close off" parts of the house.

if you can close off a part of the house you don't need it. so why have it? A buddy of mine has a 5ksq/ft house. it has 5 bedrooms, 2 living rooms. a huge kitchen (with dinning area) a formal dinning room, office and a playroom. Not to mention full basement with 1 bedroom, living space and playroom. for 3 PEOPLE.

they seal off 3 bedrooms, the dinning room and 1 living room. the kid has to play down in the basement no toys allowed up stairs.

lol wtf its insane.
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I have less than 1400 square feet and I still have a room "closed off". Its just me and my wife and the room is used for storage and as a guest room when we have friends/family staying over. 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.

I'm really glad I didn't buy the 2500+ sqft house I thought about getting at first. I would have never even used half of it, and would have wasted a fortune heating/cooling and paying property taxes on it.
 
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