I live in a neighborhood with a Neighborhood Association. It's NOT a Homeowner's Association. It has no teeth, and the dues are voluntary. The dues cover upkeep of small areas of common property, neighborhood ponds, snow removal, and the occasional neighborhood block party. They have no control over things like the height of your lawn, color of your house, type of fences allowed, or anything like that. That's the only reason I bought this house, because the association has no teeth. I would not live in an HOA neighborhood. I know people who do, and it can be a nightmare.
I don't pay the dues, because they waste them in very stupid ways.
I guess they elected a new association president a few years ago, and her and her husband are real (insert a word that would be blocked by the language filter).
I first noticed this a couple years ago. While they have no control over many things, they can use the city code enforcement to harass people. For example, they can't control people parking their boats and RVs on their properties, but the city code says they can't be parked on grass. Some people keep boats parked here, and one of my neighbors kept his boat parked on the grass at the side of his house. Of course, "someone" called code enforcement and they came out and warned him about it. So he dropped a concrete pad there, and parks his boat in the exact same spot. I bet that burns their butts.
It gets worse.
First, they spent the dues money to hire a lawyer to explore changing us from a NA to an HOA. Wasted money, thousands of dollars for a lawyer to tell them thay can't do that. Well, they can, but only for the people who agree to beconme part of the HOA. They didn't like that there would be many people in the neighborhood not subject to the HOA. Heck, I could have told them that for the cost of a six pack and a carton of smokes. Second, they were concerned about people selling their homes to companies that buy houses and turn them in to rental units, because "renters" bring property values down. You can read into the term "renters" what you want to, but we all know what it means. It gets more clear later in my post if you haven't figured it out. Anyways, they spent thousands on lawyers again to find out if they can add to the rules that you can't sell to a company, you must sell to an individual who plans to occupy the residence. I don't know what kind of idiot lawyer they hired to give them advice, but it's in the NA rules now. You can't sell to a company unless you've lived here for at least 3 years. LOL, that'll never survive a legal challenge.
They went around they neighborhood trying to get signatures to change the rules for the whole renter thing, and I really tore into this woman. They came to my door, and her husband stood behind her with his mouth agape while I told her things that probably would have earned me a punch in the mouth from a man. I certainly wouldn't have let anyone talk to my wife the way I did, I don't care how big a man you are.
So now we get to the most current drama, and my daughter getting banned from the neighborhood facebook page.
Apparently, the president's husband has been complaining about how "new residents" are "bringing the neighborhood down". Well we all know what that means. I don't know what he means about "bringing the neighborhood down". It's a safe, clean nean neighborhood, and if you have the means to live here, then regardless of race, you are going to be a good neighbor and take care of your property. I haven't seen anything to the contrary.
Next bit of drama, the NA runs a "yard of the month" competition, and they post the pictures of the best yards on their facebook page, and you get a sign in your yard if you win. One person who keeps a really nice yard with flowers and such never gets considered, and when they asked why, they were told that they couldn't get a good picture of the yard without their "Black Lives Matter" sign being in the picture. Oh, boy.
Well, now apparently, there's someone who is selling a house in the neighborhood, and the listing includes the FACT that the NA dues are voluntary, and the president has been harassing the realtor to remove that FACT from the listing.
So, that's how my daughter got banned from the neighborhood facebook page. I raised her to not be silent, and she wasn't. She called them out for all their BS. Proud of her.
I don't pay the dues, because they waste them in very stupid ways.
I guess they elected a new association president a few years ago, and her and her husband are real (insert a word that would be blocked by the language filter).
I first noticed this a couple years ago. While they have no control over many things, they can use the city code enforcement to harass people. For example, they can't control people parking their boats and RVs on their properties, but the city code says they can't be parked on grass. Some people keep boats parked here, and one of my neighbors kept his boat parked on the grass at the side of his house. Of course, "someone" called code enforcement and they came out and warned him about it. So he dropped a concrete pad there, and parks his boat in the exact same spot. I bet that burns their butts.
It gets worse.
First, they spent the dues money to hire a lawyer to explore changing us from a NA to an HOA. Wasted money, thousands of dollars for a lawyer to tell them thay can't do that. Well, they can, but only for the people who agree to beconme part of the HOA. They didn't like that there would be many people in the neighborhood not subject to the HOA. Heck, I could have told them that for the cost of a six pack and a carton of smokes. Second, they were concerned about people selling their homes to companies that buy houses and turn them in to rental units, because "renters" bring property values down. You can read into the term "renters" what you want to, but we all know what it means. It gets more clear later in my post if you haven't figured it out. Anyways, they spent thousands on lawyers again to find out if they can add to the rules that you can't sell to a company, you must sell to an individual who plans to occupy the residence. I don't know what kind of idiot lawyer they hired to give them advice, but it's in the NA rules now. You can't sell to a company unless you've lived here for at least 3 years. LOL, that'll never survive a legal challenge.
They went around they neighborhood trying to get signatures to change the rules for the whole renter thing, and I really tore into this woman. They came to my door, and her husband stood behind her with his mouth agape while I told her things that probably would have earned me a punch in the mouth from a man. I certainly wouldn't have let anyone talk to my wife the way I did, I don't care how big a man you are.
So now we get to the most current drama, and my daughter getting banned from the neighborhood facebook page.
Apparently, the president's husband has been complaining about how "new residents" are "bringing the neighborhood down". Well we all know what that means. I don't know what he means about "bringing the neighborhood down". It's a safe, clean nean neighborhood, and if you have the means to live here, then regardless of race, you are going to be a good neighbor and take care of your property. I haven't seen anything to the contrary.
Next bit of drama, the NA runs a "yard of the month" competition, and they post the pictures of the best yards on their facebook page, and you get a sign in your yard if you win. One person who keeps a really nice yard with flowers and such never gets considered, and when they asked why, they were told that they couldn't get a good picture of the yard without their "Black Lives Matter" sign being in the picture. Oh, boy.
Well, now apparently, there's someone who is selling a house in the neighborhood, and the listing includes the FACT that the NA dues are voluntary, and the president has been harassing the realtor to remove that FACT from the listing.
So, that's how my daughter got banned from the neighborhood facebook page. I raised her to not be silent, and she wasn't. She called them out for all their BS. Proud of her.
