re: Homeowner’s Association Stories

Ridiculous. HOAs exist to steal, extort and save local gov money.

They don’t keep out scum if said scum has means. Son’s neighbor was a druggie. Well known by the law and EMTs, who had revived him from numerous ODs. They pointed cameras at everyone and got restraining orders so nobody could look their way. Always causing trouble. Of course, the sheriff’s office never did anything about it except said “don’t look their way.” Finally lean scum took himself out with an OD and all went out to watch his send off.

They were hoping female scum would move. But she hasn’t and they figure life insurance from his offshore job and daddy’s guilt check from divorcing her mother keeps her there. Don’t see much of her these days except now her kid goes around tossing toys and sticks into gutters and onto roofs. HOA does nothing. He’s a vampire kid. Really never sees the light of day.

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That 10% are correct.

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there is a really, REALLY simple way to avoid that. If you don't want to live in a place with HOA rules....don't willingly and consciously purchase a house in an HOA. Voila! Simple as that. The people that knowingly buy in an HOA then complain about HOA rules have to be one of the dumbest subsets of people out there.

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When you abide by HOA’s request it should be a courtesy not forced. It is their property not the HOA’s.

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do you also hold this view with laws? Because an association's governing documents are legally binding documents filed in court. If you are the type of person that thinks the covenants are just friendly suggestions but don't really matter, you don't really even understand what HOAs are at the basic level

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The 20% not paying should also be swept under the rug.

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You're the exact neighbor people talk about as a reason why HOAs are a good thing. "Who cares about the rules? Why should we pay our dues? Just do what you want!"

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I get it, I have lived in both situations. But have you ever driven by or better yet visited a hog farm? I could not fathom walking outside and getting hit with that stench everyday, especially in the Summer. Imagine grilling/ hanging out by the pool with sounds and smell of hogs rolling around in their own shite while spending time with the family.

A perfect situation is respectful sane neighbors and/or laid back HOA

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I have not, but the houses I've lived in most recently have had deed restrictions that state no hog farms and no gun ranges and they're generically restricted from nuisance types of activities. I can acknowledge that deed restrictions are more passive in nature and not always enforceable without the correct steps being taken by the developer.

In my first house we had a bipolar schizophrenic person just stop taking medicine. The stuff he did was comical if it wasn't real life. One morning he was just out in his front yard shattering a full body length mirror into as many small pieces as he could. Another day he decided he was going to start trimming peoples trees for a living and decided the front yard was the best place to discard the limbs from other people's houses. Then another day, he picked up a dead deer and buried it under one of the limb piles in the summer. We thought we were going to find a dead body in the pile and the cops showed up. I could go on and on with this guy alone. I get why you would want an HOA, but I'd rather make my decision about my property, and deal with someone who makes different decisions rather than have an entity at the hands of God knows who that can impose fines at their whim. I recently build a 3100 sq ft shop on my property and didn't have to get permission from anyone including the city to do it.

The lady in charge of landscaping is a diagnosed agoraphobic

Our neighborhood is her entire world. She never leaves it unless for medical reasons.

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Not sure if it's within the HOA purview but we have cars routinely doing 45 mph+ in our neighborhood. Speed limit is 20 and the street is pretty narrow.

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A homeowner's association has no recourse in enforcing moving violations.

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Speed limit is 20 and the street is pretty narrow.

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got kids going faster than that on the sidewalks in their golf carts and ebikes here

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When you live nextdoor to a hoarder in a neighborhood without an HOA you begin to see their value.

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I have three of these. Very nice houses, but fricking junk everywhere. I think they are in a contest to see how much junk they can collect.

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About 15 years ago our homeowners voted to turn the HOA over to a HOA management company. About 8-9 years later it was found that they had embezzelled about 2-3 years worth of dues. Then a year or two later, guess what the dumbass homeowners in my neighborhood voted to do? You guessed it, got another management association. I am currently in a fight with them over financial statements. They provide a bullshite income statement showing what they take in and what they spend it on. I have told them they better provide me detailed income statements and balance sheets for their organization so that I can analyze them. The people in my neighborhood are for the most part retarded.

In 7 years, taking dues of about $400 a year from over 220 homes, they have replaced one small wood walking bridge near the lake and poured gravel on the walking path around the lakes maybe 2-3 times.

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I guarantee you there is a cozy relationship among your HOA's property management company, insurance agent, and law firm.

My HOA is awesome because I am the President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Secretary of it, and I own the only home in the neighborhood.

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Extremely positive.

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This is where it pays to have an extremely knowledgeable realtor.


When we moved to where we live now, we were coming here from another state, so it was all unknown to us. We lucked into a realtor who'd bee in the business in this area for 35+ years.

When we'd go look at houses, he wouldn't need GPS or anything. He knew where each house was just based on the street name, and I imagine a quick look at the area beforehand, but when driving, he'd just drive to each spot with no GPS...that's how well he knew the surrounding areas.


I say that to say, he also could tell you specific stories along with general information about every single HOA for each house we looked at, and also told us to just completely stay away from certain houses/areas with certain HOAs.

The house we ended up buying, been 10 years, zero issues with the HOA.