Man Sets House On Fire, Dies In It, After Losing Home To..........

[Schadenfroh]

Ahh, I forgot that HOAs are the bane of ATOT.

Maybe if you do not like the covenant, do not move into an area that has a HOA or pick a HOA that has a covenant that you agree with.

My family raised me in one of the better subdivisions in my home county with a somewhat too liberal covenant and a HOA, of which my father was the treasurer. Sadly, there was little they could do to enforce the covenant, so people moved in shitty portable buildings, put up ugly, cheap plastic fences, parked 5+ cars on the grass in front of their houses, did not maintain their yards and people would gut and clean deers with them strapped up by their legs on swing sets.

I like living in an apartment now that I am on my own, it is like a HOA on steroids.

Yes, go ahead and call me a Nazi that wishes to crush free expression / creativity. Usually the only "expressions" were laziness (to maintain the lawn / house) and the cheapest possible utilitarian solutions to storage problems.

I do not know, maybe since I was raised in a subdivision with a HOA (with my father an officer) I have been brainwashed, hahaha.

 

[Capt Caveman]

The problem with that rule is that if they aren't currently run by nut jobs, they eventually will be.

Well that's democracy for you since these nut jobs need to be voted in by the community.

I bought into a HOA when I lived in Seattle and thought it was great. Never was hassled and had definitely more pros then cons.

 

[JEDI]

http://consumerist.com/2010/09/man-...er-losing-home-to-homeowners-association.html

Homeowners' Association


Now you are probable thinking did he have a yard full of cars or any of the other things people always say you need a HOA to protect against. Nope his "crime" was building a white picket fence and a shed.

One of many reasons when looking for a house the first question we asked was is there a HOA. If they said yes then that was the end of that.

geez.. how much were his HOA fines that they court ordered the house to be sold to pay for them?!

in Va, hoa fines are capped at ~$700/yr by state law.

 

[IronWing]

LOL. People act like you are FORCED into an HOA. If you don't want one, then buy a house that isn't controlled by one. It's really that simple.

No, it isn't. The neighbors across the street from us had to take a developer to court to get written out of the HOA the developer organized after their houses were built and sold. The developer never owned any interest in the lots. He was building on the next street over and tried to fold a bunch of existing homes into his HOA. The owners found out when they received a notice of the restrictions of the new HOA. Six months of legal battles got the developer to back off.

This same developer used the newly create HOA to force the sale of vacant lots from absentee owners. The developer bought a majority of the lots on the yet to be built street. He then organized the HOA to include the lots he didn't own and then set the HOA fees skyhigh to cover the cost of building the street. The absentee owners were given the choice of paying for the developer's new road or selling out to him.

 

[Engineer]

No, it isn't. The neighbors across the street from us had to take a developer to court to get written out of the HOA the developer organized after their houses were built and sold. The developer never owned any interest in the lots. He was building on the next street over and tried to fold a bunch of existing homes into his HOA. The owners found out when they received a notice of the restrictions of the new HOA. Six months of legal battles got the developer to back off.

This same developer used the newly create HOA to force the sale of vacant lots from absentee owners. The developer bought a majority of the lots on the yet to be built street. He then organized the HOA to include the lots he didn't own and then set the HOA fees skyhigh to cover the cost of building the street. The absentee owners were given the choice of paying for the developer's new road or selling out to him.

As with any form of government, it's always (and I mean always) about POWER.

 

[MJinZ]

It's not really that simple.

Almost every neighborhood in my area has a HOA. The only ones that don't are old neighborhoods that have exorbitant home values. For middle class home buyers, you don't really have the option to look only at non-HOA neighborhoods.

Move to a different place altogether! Fixed.

 

[datalink7]

I don't see an HOA as keeping me from doing something. I see it as them keeping my neighbors from doing stupid things.

Yes HOA's have restrictions. But if you can live with them, they keep communities looking nice. My wife and I plan to buy our next house in a HOA neighborhood. It is very nice there. All of the lawns and ladscaping are perfect, the houses are all well maintained, no sheds in the yards, no junk cars or crap in driveways.

The HOA neighborhood also has alot of amenities that other places do not provide. Walking trails, bike paths, cross country ski trails, golf course, tennis courts, baseball and basketball fields, playgrounds, pons, a large pool, community center.

My neighborhood has all the above except cross country ski trails and pons. I don't have a HOA.

 

[IronWing]

My neighborhood has all the above except cross country ski trails and pons. I don't have a HOA.

Ooh, I missed the part about the ponds. The ponds the developer was required to install to catch stormwater runoff after cramming in so many houses per acre that very little natural recharge area was left? Then, since the local government didn't want to accept responsibility to maintain the ponds, the developer "gave" them to the HOA, the members of which are now stuck with liability for forever? Those ponds?

 

[dullard]

geez.. how much were his HOA fines that they court ordered the house to be sold to pay for them?!

in Va, hoa fines are capped at ~$700/yr by state law.

I don't think there is a minimum limit where they can foreclose on you. I bet in many areas a $700 fine is enough to let the HOA take your house.

 

[Jumpem]

False, bullshit distinction.

My neighborhood has ALL this PLUS affords me the personal freedom not to have the choices I make with my property in any way restricted or dictated by a small group of amateur, part-time power seekers.

Really? you have a non-HOA neighborhood with all of these amenities? Around here even 95% of the HOA's don't offer these. Which is why we are interested in only a particular HOA community.

 

[iGas]

As with any form of government, it's always (and I mean always) about POWER.

I concur.

We own a property in a small town 35 minutes from where I currently live, and the developer bribed the town council to raised our property tax by 4 folds as a mean to paid for the development sewer & treatment plant (so far it only serves the new sub division, and there are no immediate plan to serve the rest of the town).

Developer got the approval to rezone 500 acres of agricultural land to residential property that they subdivided to less than 8000 sqf lots. While agricultural restriction indicates that lot/s must be 2.6 acres or greater, and can only have a maximum of 2 structures.

8 out of the 10 town council members got fired after the papers got a hold of the bribes, and 2 of them were fined and striped of their lawyer bar (2 also were political member of the BC provincial parliament.)

 

[MrPickins]

Move to a different place altogether! Fixed.

I have to stay where the jobs are.

Besides, this city is my home, always has been. I shouldn't have to leave just to find a house that isn't controlled by an HOA...

 

[Modelworks]

Cities already have laws over what is and isn't allowed in city limits and those are all that is needed. Why pay for a home for 30 years only to be told how you can live in it ? Decide to put up a fence and need their permission ? Might as well rent.

Have a problem with a neighbor, try talking to them, radical concept I know but some of us have great success with it.

 

[iGas]

I have to stay where the jobs are.

Besides, this city is my home, always has been. I shouldn't have to leave just to find a house that isn't controlled by an HOA...

The 60s~70s slogan was America love it of leave it. And, now we have HOA love it or leave it.

 

[Narmer]

Are HOAs lik co-ops in New York?

 

[MrPickins]

The 60s~70s slogan was America love it of leave it. And, now we have HOA love it or leave it.

It's funny, as I was typing that post, I was thinking of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT0OqHr3wHQ

 

[GagHalfrunt]

The problem with that rule is that if they aren't currently run by nut jobs, they eventually will be.

I submit that they're ALWAYS run by nutjobs and there will never be a second that they're not run by nutjobs because only nutjobs will do it. What makes a person serve in the first place is the strong desire to run other peoples lives and people like that are nutjobs.

in Va, hoa fines are capped at ~$700/yr by state law.

Sounds like it could be fun. Write out a $700 check and deliver it to the HOA president on January 1st, then install a giant sign on your front yard that says "FUCK THE HOA!!", surround it with strobe lights and air horns, let your grass grow to 6 feet high and have a couple of rusted out Pintos up on blocks in your driveway, then tell the HOA that you'll remove all that stuff for $10,000

 

[datalink7]

Really? you have a non-HOA neighborhood with all of these amenities? Around here even 95% of the HOA's don't offer these. Which is why we are interested in only a particular HOA community.

 

[Eli]

Ah, an HOA thread again.

If you want to live in a HOA, more power to you. You are sheep.

I could never, and would never willingly subject myself to such arbitrary rules. May as well rent.

If I can't do whatever I want(within the law) to my own house/property, then what is the point in even owning it?

Further, why on Earth would I PAY someone else for the privilege of them being able to tell me what to do and how to live my life? Absolutely unbelievable how any of you could put up with that kinda stuff.

 

[Jumpem]

Who pays for this with no HOA?

 

[Modelworks]

Who pays for this with no HOA?

Here we have similar things and taxes pay for it as in most cities. Only with a HOA you get to pay for the HOA and all their crap and still pay taxes for other people to use what you pay for.

 

[CPA]

If I found the right house via google then it looks like he put up a fence in the front yard which is a big no-no in any HOA.

Sorry dude, my HOA requires a white fence in the front of all homes. It's a 3 horizontal picket horse fence, but a fence none-the-less.

 

[datalink7]

Who pays for this with no HOA?

I pay for it out of my taxes. There might be a fee to use the pool (I don't know I don't use it as it is always packed with a ton of kids).

The costs are probably similar, but I don't have to deal with an HOA.

 

[Modelworks]

I pay for it out of my taxes. There might be a fee to use the pool (I don't know I don't use it as it is always packed with a ton of kids).

Here the pool cost $1 per child or $2 per adult. Way better than a HOA.

 

[destrekor]

Lolololololol at the big right-wing, pro-personal fweeeeedom P&N railer against the nanny state and needless regulations giving his love to HOA's and not even seeing, let alone understanding, his deep, deep hypocrisy.

Edit: Ahhh, I see this has already been addressed.

Honestly though, I actually don't see much hypocrisy in this attitude.
I am similar in that I am against big-government, but that doesn't mean people like us are necessarily against governing and organizations. Organizations are just great, at the local level.

I don't think I'll ever want to live in an HOA, but they can provide a certain style of "local governance" that actually represents exactly what people desire. Personally I am very pro-community, but my goal will be a home in a community-centric location without the actual organization; a loose HOA-style approach that doesn't actually have authority. Whether I will ever find such a place that is actually affordable... that's the challenge.