Moonshadow_Girl

We currently have the Union Jack flying outside our house in honor of the Olympics. Granted, we don't live within an HOA (thank goodness, that was definitely a deal breaker when looking for a house last year). We live in a cul-de-sac.

When we first moved in, someone had an Irish flag flying outside, so we figured, no holds barred. We have a St. George's flag, a Union Jack, and a U.S. flag, and fly them accordingly. We flew the Union Jack for the week of the Jubilee. We flew the U.S. flag the week of the 4th, and now we figure we'll trade off each day--today, Union Jack, tomorrow, Old Glory.

Oh wait... this was an HOA thread, not a flag thread. Ummm... Just don't belong to an HOA and you'll have no worries. How's that?

Mummy in the foothills

Ours is called a Property owners association. Seeing you can own acres of fields here too and not put a house on it.
We don't have many rules compared to some places and no one really enforces any of them. They are suppose to have a rule that you can't have people living in a travel trailer/RV for more than 2 weeks at a time since the recession we've seen all kinds of families moving onto relatives driveways some have been here for a few years now.
Animals are allowed, and they take precedence over pets like dogs. Dogs can't bother the farm animals owners are supposed to take responsibility if they kill or hurt any.
The fishing ponds are for the use of people who have paid the annual dues only (even those are pay if you want) and so is the clubhouse pool, tennis courts, etc.

md95065

I believe that some of them have strict rules about the correct use of the apostrophe ...

MadRad

Our HOA doesn't seem too bad, and at 200 bucks a year their fees are cheap - most of it goes towards the security officers they provide. The don't allow washing lines outside, which annoys me, but apart from that they seem ok. I believe you're not supposed to leave the bin outside for more than 24 hours, but I know my neighbour leaves it out for longer and the HOA don't seem bothered. You do have to get permission for various building projects, eg a new deck or roof, and I know you have to pay for that permission depending on the scope of the work. We did have to get permission to put up a canopy on our deck, but it was just fill out a one-pager and attach a picture of what you want to put up and it was approved the same day.

They do have rules about needing permission for tree removal which may prove interesting shortly - the houses are all in the forest and of course the recent wildfire was a bit too close for comfort. They are however organising a public meeting with the fire department to discuss wildfire mitigation. I'm hoping that they will push for full-on wildfire mitigation throughout the area and look at applying for grants for it - there was one community nearby which should have be burned but which was saved because they'd done a huge amount of wildfire mitigation and made the area defendable, and that was pushed by their HOA.

Beaverstate

Yours sounds like it works with you rather than a policing body.

Steerpike

My neighbor has just decided to tape up a sheet of newspaper on her window, presumably to compensate for a broken blind or something; it happens to be one of those colorful 'coupon' or 'ad' pages, very colorful and tacky. I'm counting the days before she's made to take it down. If it's still there when I return from my business trip I'll take a picture of it ... it's really tacky!

Overall, I'm very happy they have these rules. As I drove out of the Palm Beach (FL) Hertz car rental lot today, I drove past a house where the owner was obviously salvaging parts from about half a dozen cars parked on his lawn; it was the classic 'cars on bricks' deal! Giant RV's in the drive are another classic.

In my place, you can't change your oil or wash your car (we only have car-ports, no garages), and no storage is allowed in the car-port.

My HOA is currently having a hard time with Satellite dish installers; our rules are that you must use white wire, and secure it appropriately, but the installers like to run black wire, and let it flop in the breeze ... looks super tacky to have loose cable wafting in the breeze.

Beaverstate

While cars parked on the lawn will obviously drive down house values, changing your oil for an hour should be OK. Can't wash your car? Obviously left wingers, surprising in Phoenix.

Bob

Our last place, HOA at the condo -

Nothing but chairs/tables on balconies
Rubbish bins out only on morning of pick up and had to be away in garage by 7pm
Water outside had to be switched off between x months
Cars had to have a sticker, had to be registered
Guests only allowed in guest parking for no more than overnight stay
No gas/coal grills
No window fans
No yard sales
No car work to be done
No commercial vehicles

ChocolateBabz

And i thought I had too much time on my hands

Steerpike

I think part of the issue is water costs in the desert ... washing your own car, with a hosepipe, is supposedly a lot less efficient than a car wash. I'm not sure about oil changes, other than you need a bunch of 'gear' which I'm not sure how you organize if you don't have a garage of your own (we only have car ports, not connected to the units).

This one I fully understand. I've seen so many balconies where people treat it as a storage room; mattresses, old furniture, etc - and mystery stuff covered in tarps ...

Nutek

Our Condo Association sent out a letter warning people that their children couldn't leave toys on their back deck.
Those people drove me nuts. They would boast about having money "left over" at the end of each year.... MY money! If it's left over, give it back and I will keep it in MY bank account. I dont want it "left over", I want you to spend it on upkeep.

Okay... Deep breath...

We moved to get away from all that, thankfully. No more Associations for me.

Bluegrass Lass

Depending on the paint/finish, I think car washes can actually damage paint jobs, and I know I could wash my car for a lot less money than a car wash too. Besides, who's paying the water bill, the HOA or you? If I'm not allowed to wash my car due to water conservation, then that should be a city-wide ban, not something done by an HOA.

We had an HOA in our neighborhood. It was $80/year, and that pretty much just paid for access to our lake for fishing. Grass only had to be cut twice a season, and we couldn't have any farm animals. Our Phillipino neighbor raised some ducks & chickens (that she later slaughtered), and I suspect someone called and complained because someone came around asking us about them one day. We didn't have to ask permission to build, or paint anything on the exterior of our home, and that's the way it should be. If I want to paint my house pink, that's my choice since it's my house.

SultanOfSwing

You need a few quarts of motor oil, something to collect the old oil in, a funnel, a jack and a rolling bed thing to get under the car. That can all be easily stored. That's a thinly veiled attempt by the HOA to create the illusion that no working class people live in their plastic paradise ...

WEBlue

I agree that it seems a (very misguided!) try at projecting a certain white-collar image, as if encouraging people to live in these HOAs who'll refuse to get their hands dirty. It seems totally asinine to me in this ecomony though. Why wouldn't a white-collar person who's good with his hands & frugal with money want to change his/her own oil?

And when more foreclosed houses are coming onto the market across the country, these HOAs should really relax some of their sillier rules IMO. What about vegetable gardens in the back yard--are they allowed? What about growing a half-dozen tomato plants on your over-regulated patio? These HOAs really need to come back down to today's reality.

Bink

I fully understand the point of an HOA, to protect the common interests but they just take it too far in some cases... I mean, when it comes down to it at the end of the day, it's really there to protect house prices isn't it.

I mean, I personally wouldn't want to live next to a rundown house, or have a house painted lurid green (insert vommit colour of choice), but I also want to allow for an expression of indivuality and not be confined by ridiculously stupid rules. I think this is a fundamental difference between the UK and the US, as in the UK it seems to work much more fluidly, without the need for HOAs.

As for the oil changes, I think it's partly to do with the disposal of oil. Some people would probably just ditch it down or the drain or put it in the trash, rather than dispose of it properly.