Anyone else have an out of control HOA????

[ScreamingMeemie]

I moved to Houston (NW) in December 2009. in the 16 months that I have lived here I have received 16 deed restriction "reminders". For weeds in the flower beds. I weed every two weeks, just put down mulch 2 days before the last notice, edge, trim and basically go insane. Driving past common areas in our neighborhood (there are just the mail boxes and a little strip of land at the entrance) they are rarely kept up until after the weeds (Gosh does Texas have weeds!) are a foot and a half tall. I don't have a car up on blocks, we don't park an RV in front of the house and on and on...

Anyone else have to deal with this? They never state when "Inspections" are going to be and the president walks around nightly with a clip board. We have yet to receive a budget and I've been here over a year.

I know the path I am going to take I just wanted to see if it was just me.

[kentauros]

1. As I'm in an apartment, I don't have to put up with an HOA.

Whenever I do own a house, that's going to be one point of contention to buying at all. I am wholeheartedly against them, since most of the time, it's someone or a committee making it their business to mind your business.

As for your weeds, I would suggest printing out these two sites and handing out copies to your HOA

Weeds - Guardians of the Soil

Don't Kill Those Weeds!!!


Of course, I don't fully expect the members of any HOA to believe a word, but it's worth attempting to educate them :)
One "weed" I hope to actually grow is dandelion, as it's edible, beneficial and has therapeutic properties.

[hobbit709]

2. Go by that clowns house with a notebook and rulebook

see how many violations you can spot.

[ScreamingMeemie]

3. I've got a binder with pictures of the weeds in his own tree rings,

the grass creeping over the edge of his driveway etc. I can't wait for the meeting tomorrow night. :)

[ParkieDem]

4. HOAs are completely out of control

And thankfully, it seems like both parties are finally wising up to it. I just saw this story in the Dallas Morning News yesterday:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/042010dnmethoa.3b0fe7b.html

HOAs used to have lots of GOP lawmakers in their hip pockets, because they were closely tied to suburban developers. However, since most GOPers want to protect property rights (at least in theory), and their constituents are telling them these stories, many are starting to come the homeowners' way.

Homeowners associations used to be a good thing to have, and in some cases they still are. In our neighborhood, with homes from the 1960s, we have a voluntary HOA that does neighborhood watch, organizes activities for kids, etc. It's cheap and fosters a sense of community. The ones mentioned in this article are nothing but thug-enablers, allowing a small minority of people (who often have nothing else better to do) to dictate what others can do with their property.

I'll admit that I don't know the best way to fix the problem -- do we really need legislation giving a laundry list of what HOAs can and can't do (e.g., they can force you to take cars out of your lawn, but can't tell you what color of tape to use on your garden hose)? Taking away their foreclosure power would be a good step, though.

[rainbow4321]

5. Frantically raising both hands....

OMG...I cannot even begin to explain how bad mine is. The good news is, in 3 days they will have one less person to give a hard time to cuz I am moving to an apartment..I've been longing to downsize and now is the time.

They have sent me nastygrams for the side of my house having some rust on it from when one of my a/c drains leaked (no more drainage, I just never have the $$ to get the house painted), one of my garage doors is off the track and is crooked by literally an inch or two and they are bitching...um...the corner of my roof has a hole in it (the eaves area) and they are upset, even though it is in the back of my house and not visible to anyone..the list goes on and on. I am pretty sure they turned this all into the city cuz I got a nastygram from them even though these have been problems with my house for, oh, several years now.
So when you add it all up, I'd have regular bills to pay, the repairs to pay, the fines to pay, have to go to court to face the city.

Never mind that I keep to myself, go to work/come home, keep my lawn neat, never caused a fuss in the neighborhood in the 16 yrs I have lived here. I've seen so many neighbors come and go but I've stayed.

Apartments have rules, too, I know that, but at this rate, it cannot be any worse than my HOA and at least if something breaks or needs repairs I won't have to pay out of pocket to fix it nor will I be facing a fine or court dates with the city.

I like to think that the HOA will eventually chase all the good eggs out of the neighborhood and the only ones left will be the board members and their friends so all they will have left to harrass is each other if they want to fill their coffers!

Three days and counting!!!!!