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Comment by staysafeanon | Hacker News Reader

Having lived in an area without a HOA, I've witnessed people fly confederate flags, park RVs, boats, broken down trucks, etc. all over their driveways, yards, and the streets, etc. etc... I became a believer in HOAs. At this point in my life, I'd rather live in a HOAed neighborhood than not. This is my opinion I've formed from my personal experiences so not all may agree.

Indeed some HOAs are ridiculously overbearing and limit things you'd think aren't even possible to limit. There's a nice middle ground somewhere but not all HOAs are there.

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I don't understand your complaint. They park RVs and boats in their driveways and yards? Who cares? It's their property. Why do you care what they put on their own property? Who even has time to worry about their neighbor's lawn?

They park on the streets? Unless you live on a private road, that's a municipal matter. Parking rules should be up to the city, not your HOA.

Honestly it sounds like you are exactly who the top-level comment was talking about. You care more about restricting your neighbors than your own personal freedoms.

>They park RVs and boats in their driveways and yards? Who cares?

Indeed, I don't want broken down RVs and trucks that leak oils and fluids all over the place on the street, or on their lawn where it eventually ends up in the water table.

It also makes the area look like an industrial area, not residential.

>Why do you care what they put on their own property?

I don't want symbols of oppression and racism flying around anywhere, and especially not in my neighborhood.

>They park on the streets? Unless you live on a private road, that's a municipal matter.

HOAs can also enforce this it's not simply a municipal matter. It makes the roads cluttered and more dangerous for pedestrians, bikes, etc.

>Honestly it sounds like you are exactly who the top-level comment was talking about. You care more about restricting your neighbors than your own personal freedoms.

Not at all, I just want some simple standards so where we live doesn't look like the city dump.

Those things tend to run down the value of the entire neighborhood.

And here we are, at the fundamental reason people want to control their neighbors.

I never understood this. I bought my house to live in it, for decades, why would I care about value not rising as fast as it could?

The thing is, HOAs tend to have little to no power over people like that. They simply don't give a shit. They will ignore every letter the HOA sends and are will refuse to comply with court orders. And those court orders take years to and a not inconsiderable amount of expense to obtain in the first place.

IMHO, the only reason to have a HOA is to pool money for common area maintenance. Anything beyond that tends to do more harm than good.

>The thing is, HOAs tend to have little to no power over people like that.

Not entirely true as you outlined, since HOAs can put liens on your property and they can end up foreclosing. The HOA will absolutely get it's money and enforcement, either through a foreclosure or court order.

Back when I lived in a townhome the unit attached to mine had a very nice single mother and her son living there. Sadly, they moved out and some house flippers moved in, shortly afterward the housing market imploded. They started letting their friends crash at the house and wreck it, eventually it go so bad one of the windows fell out (dormer window mounted in a wooden frame left open to the elements). Right into the front yard.

Anyway I tried going to the HOA about it, and they explained that a lien would be a waste of time. Even in an egregious case like this nobody wants to take responsibility for a property like that. It's a lot of work to get the lien, foreclosure from a HOA basically never happens, and even then all they inherit is a huge problem that nobody wants to deal with. So instead I get to sell my house attached to one that literally has siding falling off, missing shingles, and a goddamn window in the front yard.

This is the same HOA that wrote me up for refilling the windshield washing fluid in my car parked in front of my house and hassled my neighbour because he replaced the shitty wooden windows with vinyl that you couldn't even tell the difference without tapping on them.

Basically, they only have power over people who are already trying to be good neighbours.

As an epilogue, the bank eventually foreclosed on the property and presumably sold it as distressed. A coworker of mine toured it, but apparently the basement was black mold city. A lien on the property wouldn't have helped the situation.

It's just the worst when people park their broken trucks on their driveways, glad you made it to somewhere where we can fine them for it.

>It's just the worst when people park their broken trucks on their driveways

It's not the worst, but I don't want my neighbor to look like the city dump.

>glad you made it to somewhere where we can fine them for it.

You agree to the HOA when you purchase your home. Don't like it? Don't move there.

You're complaining as if you moved to Germany and you're upset you can't fly the Nazi flag. Isn't that just the worst? Not at all, you made a conscious effort and agreed to the laws when you to move to Germany. You should follow them. Same logic applies here.

There has to be a middle ground between you can have your car up on blocks till the weeds cover it, a storm fence in disrepair, loud barking dogs and the other where the kinds of plants you put in your garden are up for discussion, nevermind hanging a tire from a branch as a swing and needing permission to change the shade of the color of the house.

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