HOA letter, what are the odds they side in my favor?

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

As president of my local HOA it was my unsavory duty to perform an eviction a couple of days ago. The cats had been complaining, and I finally caught a possum in the back room stealing their food. Snatched him up by the tail, and out he went. This may be Possum Hollow, but hey, we gots rules

 

[Clay Pigeon]

How did you get the smell off your hands?

 

[churchmouse]

Like the people that buy a house a mile from the airport and then complain about the noise

Edit: I was amazed a how much you could feel a run shaking the air in your lungs. You could just about feel every cylinder firing if you were close to the tree

My favorite spot is midway up in the stands at 850/900 feet when the clutch locks up 100% and the engine is humping the donkey. It will rattle your teeth.

 

[IndyBeerman]

My favorite spot is midway up in the stands at 850/900 feet when the clutch locks up 100% and the engine is humping the donkey. It will rattle your teeth.

While I know what you're talking about, this provided me with today's good chuckle because I've never quite heard it described this way.

 

[Gluemanz28]

While I know what you're talking about, this provided me with today's good chuckle because I've never quite heard it described this way.

CM is a nitromethane poet.

 

[Haven]

As an aside, those fuelers' noise goes farther than you think. If the conditions are right, you can hear it up at the extreme NE corner of Hendricks County where I grew up. 8 miles as the crow flies.

I was going to say the same thing. Though I was further south, but further west of you and could hear them in our yard. I could hear them if I had the windows open on in bedroom at times.

 

[KellyinAvon]

Years ago, IRP at the west edge of Claremont. The suits broke ground on some urban sprawl that continued the westward white flight from Indy.
Now remember that this racing facility has been in operation since the late 50's early 60's to memory. I raced there with my uncle in 1965. No houses save for the ones that were there before the track and some were being built across the road behind the drive in theater.

The area started to boom. The nationals came on Labor day as always. The idiots that bought home adjacent to the track lost their ever loving minds. A class action suit was filed to shut down the track. The judge reviewed the case and dismissed it pretty fast. He said "Did any of you good people actually know what that place was when you moved into the area...???"

We are miles from there and can hear the fuelers run pretty clearly.

As the crow flies we are 5 miles away. I figure it is top fuel and funny cars I can hear, the sound only lasts about four seconds.

 

[HoughMade]

I've drawn the ire of the HOA. We finally got our boat back and have kept it on site to do some deep cleaning/drying and trailer wiring. After 19 years the insulation for the right turn signal wore off and then wore through the paint shorting it to ground. I think a mouse had done some chewing as well.

As expected the HOA noticed an sent their "Courtesy Letter" informing me that
Here is the fun part, it is neither on my driveway or in front of the house, it is behind the driveway bedside the back of the house. Reached out to the management company rep and pointed this out.

What are the odds that he accepts that we are actually compliant or if he attempts to interpret the code?

While it is convenient to be able to keep it on site for a bit we don't intend to make a big fight over it either way.

A few years ago I told the HOA for my in-laws to pound sand when it informed them that the very well-kept, very expensive fifth wheel trailer they kept on a purpose built pad beside their garage could not be stored there because "trailer homes" could not be on the property (a travel trailer had been stored there since the house was built in about 1974).

I pointed out that the language did not fit the trailer at issue, nor the exact location (don't remember the exact wording) and they went away, never to complain again. My esq. signature on firm letterhead may have assisted.

 

[BugI02]

I've heard stories like this and I didn't want to live in an HOA, my wife wanted a nice house and didn't care about the HOA. We live in a neighborhood with an HOA. Mine is an exception though. Never had any negative interactions with the the HOA. The HOA dues (which are very minimal, 75 a year) pay for snow removal and a few other things. They do have a mailbox rule that isn't enforced (they want every mailbox post to be exact) now because they can't get them made for a descent price anymore. Last one I got was free through them and a board member actually helped me replace it. On the 4th of July, they had a block party where the HOA dues bought food. There is bad ones, but mine is good. I just wish the guy who is the President of the HOA wouldn't drive like he does, especially when my kids play in the yard. Yes, I try to keep them in the yard but there is a bunch of kids in my neighborhood and he flies through (along with his kids).

It should not be forgotten that there are situations in which an HOA (and the attendant deed restrictions) may be your only legal defense against an AirBnB or VRBO house being operated by an absentee owner. Ours also strongly restricts the operation of drones. Not everything they do is annoying, just most of it

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

I'm under a weak HOA but next door to a guy that formerly used to really need a hobby after he retired. He's had some mental deterioration since. Anyway, the HOA was pretty powerless themselves, limited to wiggling a finger and saying "stop it". I wiggled a finger, too. The ones with the teeth were the police, and most of the laws allowed for a few days of whatever before they started enforcement. Just fix your problems and put it up when you're done, and I bet you won't hear anything important before that.

 

[russc2542]

I still cringe every time I watch this...

/video

That hurts to watch. That's just brutal.

And I would bet that the number of things that have been curtailed are nothing compared to those that have not.

My familys farm in St Marys co Maryland takes brunt of a few bases in rivers above and below it. When the Rail Gun and artillery are shot for testing at Dalgrin on the Potomac it sounds like the rear door on a tri axle slamming in your driveway, Or the Navy Test Pilot School at Pax River going sonic on the Bay in there Super Hornets or testing the F22 ... LOL... Thats Freedom...

True, there are cases of judges wisely throwing out such cases but there are also tracks etc that have been shut down.

Heck, I strongly suspect our club's indoor range is another such victim. No lawsuits but the city built a neighborhood and people trail right behind it in what was once cornfields and the last time the lease on the land was up for renewal, the city revised it and there were some untenable items added and nobody seemed to want to talk to us about it. Some of it I don't blame them for but it doesn't make it OK or acceptable for us to sign.

 

[Ingomike]

This is all quite simple, don't want an HOA, don't buy a house with one. The purpose of an HOA is to maintain property values through management of exterior aesthetics. If you live in an HOA and bought your home with the standard Realtor contract the seller had a time to deliver the covenants to you or your agent, you then had a time to review them. At closing you accepted the property with the deed restrictions of the HOA and usually sign a document from the lender that you will follow the covenants.

An HOA and covenants can run the gamut from a few rules to very tightly controlled. If you don't want them don't buy a house with them. If you were to invest over a million in a house on an acre that has another home on the next acre you would be good with the crap in Coopadup's picture? I can tell you that if you were selling next to that it would turn away most buyers and you would lose money. Just what the HOA is designed to control.

Had a buddy that had the Coopadup situation way worse, he asked if he could clean up the neighbors yard when he sold his house, they let him, he hired a trash removal company and landscaped to clean it up. The crappy neighbors cost him a lot of money.

Neighborhoods can enforce street parking by the members if it is in their covenants but speed limits are set by government.

So yell freedom all you want, but your freedom is to or not to buy in an HOA. If you blatantly go against the HOA covenants you are reneging on your agreement that you would follow covenants. I am huge on freedom, would love to have a place big enough the neighbors could never bother me. But the same covenant that keeps the OP from parking his boat in the drive keeps all the other neighbors from parking all manor of trailers and RV's. Have you ever been in a 1/4-1/2 acre lot neighborhood that every home has a big trailer, fifth wheel, or RV in the drive? Not where I want to live

It is awesome that all of you were in 100% agreement with this post on the topic or was it lost in racetrack posts?

 

[jkaetz]

This is all quite simple, don't want an HOA, don't buy a house with one. The purpose of an HOA is to maintain property values through management of exterior aesthetics. If you live in an HOA and bought your home with the standard Realtor contract the seller had a time to deliver the covenants to you or your agent, you then had a time to review them. At closing you accepted the property with the deed restrictions of the HOA and usually sign a document from the lender that you will follow the covenants.

An HOA and covenants can run the gamut from a few rules to very tightly controlled. If you don't want them don't buy a house with them. If you were to invest over a million in a house on an acre that has another home on the next acre you would be good with the crap in Coopadup's picture? I can tell you that if you were selling next to that it would turn away most buyers and you would lose money. Just what the HOA is designed to control.

Had a buddy that had the Coopadup situation way worse, he asked if he could clean up the neighbors yard when he sold his house, they let him, he hired a trash removal company and landscaped to clean it up. The crappy neighbors cost him a lot of money.

Neighborhoods can enforce street parking by the members if it is in their covenants but speed limits are set by government.

So yell freedom all you want, but your freedom is to or not to buy in an HOA. If you blatantly go against the HOA covenants you are reneging on your agreement that you would follow covenants. I am huge on freedom, would love to have a place big enough the neighbors could never bother me. But the same covenant that keeps the OP from parking his boat in the drive keeps all the other neighbors from parking all manor of trailers and RV's. Have you ever been in a 1/4-1/2 acre lot neighborhood that every home has a big trailer, fifth wheel, or RV in the drive? Not where I want to live

It is awesome that all of you were in 100% agreement with this post on the topic or was it lost in racetrack posts?

I'll disagree! Though only halfheartedly.

Nothing you noted is factually incorrect. By far the easiest way to avoid HOA issues is to avoid HOAs all together, this can severely limit housing options though. The theory of an HOA is also a good one as you point out most neighborhoods have small lots with houses relatively close.

The HOA failure is that, for the most part, they are not "homeowner's" associations. They are put together by a developer with boilerplate rules and enforced by a third party who's only interest is justifying the giant chunk of $$$ that is given to them by the HOA. Having put some thought into this I would expect that if HOAs were truly run and enforced by the homeowners we would see the foolish HOA rules quickly removed from CC&Rs (or not enforced) and only the egregious problems addressed.

In any event the trailer re-wire is complete and we'll likely try to get to the lake another time or two before returning the boat to its storage location. The management company has not yet responded to my note pointing out that we're actually in compliance with the CC&Rs.

 

[JettaKnight]

I'll disagree! Though only halfheartedly.

Nothing you noted is factually incorrect. By far the easiest way to avoid HOA issues is to avoid HOAs all together, this can severely limit housing options though. The theory of an HOA is also a good one as you point out most neighborhoods have small lots with houses relatively close.

The HOA failure is that, for the most part, they are not "homeowner's" associations. They are put together by a developer with boilerplate rules and enforced by a third party who's only interest is justifying the giant chunk of $$$ that is given to them by the HOA. Having put some thought into this I would expect that if HOAs were truly run and enforced by the homeowners we would see the foolish HOA rules quickly removed from CC&Rs (or not enforced) and only the egregious problems addressed.

In any event the trailer re-wire is complete and we'll likely try to get to the lake another time or two before returning the boat to its storage location. The management company has not yet responded to my note pointing out that we're actually in compliance with the CC&Rs.

I'm not sure I share that viewpoint - our neighborhood is 60+ years old, the developer is long dead, and the HOA (homeowner run) is quite active in maintaining things. Homeowners appreciate the level of consistency and enforcement.

 

[jkaetz]

I'm not sure I share that viewpoint - our neighborhood is 60+ years old, the developer is long dead, and the HOA (homeowner run) is quite active in maintaining things. Homeowners appreciate the level of consistency and enforcement.

This was exactly my point. If the homeowners really run the HOA, and not a management company, things are likely to be positive. In most neighborhoods, there is an HOA board, but they didn't draw up the CC&Rs or pick a management company. The developer did and handed it all over to the board so that it looks like the homeowners are in charge and put everything together.

 

[dave6]

Our HOA changes management every year; don't know who it is this week. They left me a nastygram because I pinstriped my mailbox. So I ignored it....

 

[Ingomike]

This was exactly my point. If the homeowners really run the HOA, and not a management company, things are likely to be positive. In most neighborhoods, there is an HOA board, but they didn't draw up the CC&Rs or pick a management company. The developer did and handed it all over to the board so that it looks like the homeowners are in charge and put everything together.

And you describe exactly why HOA boards love HOA management companies, you hate the muscle not the godfather. Why would the management co give a flying f*** in a rolling doughnut? They don't there is no logical reason for them to. They just do what the board says to do to get paid for management. Now I will grant if the board had to do everything in person themselves they might be less inclined to nit pick than when they have others do it for them. The board absolutely has the power to select management co after they control the HOA.

Why do developers/builders put HOA covenants in place? To keep the risk of selling to the Clampett's as low as possible while they have the risk that the Clampett's could hurt sales and values while they have a financial interest in the neighborhood. In fact most control the HOA alone until almost all lots are sold. The homeowners can and often do change them after the builder is gone. There is a specific legal process to change them in the covenants themselves.

 

[carbinekid]

Our first home we had build in one of the new CP Morgan neighborhoods in Noblesville around 20 years ago, only place I've been in with a HOA. I can say it was definitely needed as this "starter" community had it's fair share of ding dongs that would have made the place an eyesore if left to their own devices. As the homes went into bankruptcy and folks formed a revolving door, it just got worse. I believe the HOA kept up best they could and kept the chaos down to a dull roar. Moved into an older, non HOA, neighborhood next and folks had enough respect for themselves and neighbors that it was kept up quite well. Now live on 40 acres and have my own shooting range and only a few neighbors.

 

[JettaKnight]

This was exactly my point. If the homeowners really run the HOA, and not a management company, things are likely to be positive. In most neighborhoods, there is an HOA board, but they didn't draw up the CC&Rs or pick a management company. The developer did and handed it all over to the board so that it looks like the homeowners are in charge and put everything together.

Cue Leadeye -- management companies function with their profit in mind, not the best interest of homeowners.

 

[jkaetz]

Update! I know this will surprise no one, after almost three weeks of trying to contact the management company rep, he immediately went full respect my authorita. Went from citing the code to it can't be on the property, he's gotten several complaints, and I should know that boats aren't allowed in an HOA. When I pointed out that we are complying with the code he immediately jumped to attorneys and telling the board that I'm a jerk.

Time to see if I can get onto the board or at least make some friends.