The Current Situation

[bae]

There are HOAs in a few neighborhoods around here. The problem is that they are only as good as the governing board, which is subject to change over time. Despite bae's board clarifying that it has very very limited powers, another set of board members somewhere down the line can again rewrite the governing documents and seize much more power. (sound familiar, lol?) Honestly, all it takes is a couple power-crazed people, and you're off to the races. Bae, your HOA sounds immensely sensible, and of real use to the membership. I really hope it stays that way after you decamp to, ah, where-ever.

Luckily, it is nearly impossible to change our HOA rules in any way detrimental to property rights. The founding documents give it very little power to begin with, and to change them requires a huge majority of owners to agree, not just the Board members. We've changed the documents once, to correct a pile of errors and simplify things. New WA State law requires a further simplification, as the existing documents no longer are relevant in many ways. So our upcoming revision will be removing things.

Every few years people move here from places with heavyweight HOAs, and try to get us to increase restrictions. It then gets pointed out to them that, well, we can't really. I got on the board years ago to explain this to the previous board, which had been hijacked by folks who wanted to impose aesthetic standards, which was far outside the powers granted.

[pinkytoe]

We looked at some 55+ places and the book of rules was very off-putting. Small list of approved plants. paint colors, what you are allowed to have in your backyard - stuff like that. I guess some like the uniformity and the gated "security." DDs house near Austin is in a huge gated "master-planned" community with pools, tennis court and clubhouse. They pay hundreds a month in HOA fees for the privilege which seems crazy to me.

[catherine]

At this point in my life I am not interested in living in any place with HOA fees, mainly because I don't see the value. Maybe that will change as I get older.

[iris lilies]

I’m probably just not educated about HOA‘s in my region. I suppose there are plenty of suburbia places that have HOAs because I can think of some that have swimming pools and community centers, so those would be places maintained by HOA fees.

My inner city urban neighborhood had a private swimming pool that was tucked away where very few knew it existed, and alongside that tennis courts. But those were maintained by Memberships. The number of those memberships were limited, and there was a long waiting list to get in.

[littlebittybobby]

okay---let me explain something to you kids---simply put, HOAS are like Sharia Law. Think of it that way. Or: Living at home with Mom & Dad. There ya go. Hope that helps you some. Thankk Mee.

[iris lilies]

okay---let me explain something to you kids---simply put, HOAS are like Sharia Law. Think of it that way. Or: Living at home with Mom & Dad. There ya go. Hope that helps you some. Thankk Mee.

That’s kinda funny, Bobby. Living with Mom & Dad, ok.

Still, there is one neighbor on every block who defines “Dad needs to have a talk/box his ears” about property maintenance. We all have them. Maybe *you* are that person on your block.

[pinkytoe]

We gritch about certain neighbor's property but still prefer that over an HOA. When a neighbor has six vehicles and four are parked in the street, that gets me a bit perturbed.

[catherine]

Yeah, in my neighborhood of nine homes with shared property, we mostly just ask the neighbors.. when we sited our camper, we asked our next door neighbor "we can't decide whether to put it here (alongside the neighbor's property line) or over there (on the other side of our house. He said, "I'd put it here" (on the side between our houses). That was our preference, but the way we asked the question we were able to determine whether or not he would have a problem having a camper as a barrier between us.

All of us are pretty good about being respectfully honest with each other, which I realize is a blessing.

[Tradd]

Depending on the price of phones whenever I eventually replace my current iPhone 15 Pro, I may buy refurb directly from Apple or Best Buy (the Geek Squad can have good deals). I can definitely replace battery in current phone if I have to, to make phone last longer.

[littlebittybobby]

That’s kinda funny, Bobby. Living with Mom & Dad, ok.

Still, there is one neighbor on every block who defines “Dad needs to have a talk/box his ears” about property maintenance. We all have them. Maybe *you* are that person on your block.

okay-----thanks so much for the allegations & accusations, faux. So anyway---i am not a licensed, certified clinician, so i can't diagnose someone, however==i have a theory that yeah---among the "pride"-type of people, there are what i refer to as "pride-in-property fanatics". It's a combination of a personality disorder and a neurosis. Maybe even psychosis, like the voices in their head that tell them God expects meticulous lawn care & having a pro repaint your house every three years(for example).
I have collected numerous case-studies about that type of person. But yeah--don't get me started sharing anecdotes. Hope that helps you some. Thankk mee.