Here we go again. Another petition against HOAs.

[W2NAP]

Freedom to blight the sight lines of others because in ham radio it is all about me

hey im standing up for not only the ham. but the backyard mechanic the metal scrap collector the guy who wants to paint his house purple with pink stipes the guy who dont want to buy gas to mow his yard so he gets some goats!

[KG4NEL]

You have the freedom to buy an HOA home, or not. What else do you want?

In theory.

In practice, what happens when it turns into a tradeoff between buying into an HOA, or buying into a depressed area? Seems like it's a pattern that feeds on itself.

[KJ3N]

In theory.

In practice, what happens when it turns into a tradeoff between buying into an HOA, or buying into a depressed area? Seems like it's a pattern that feeds on itself.

What's a "depressed area? The homes aren't new? More than 20 years old? The first house I had was probably 10-15 years old. The second was at least 60 years old. The current house (pictured below) was built in the mid to late 50s.

IMG_0523a.jpgIMG_0527a.jpg

I didn't know I lived in a depressed area. Thanks for pointing that out.

[KB3LAZ]

What's a "depressed area? The homes aren't new? More than 20 years old? The first house I had was probably 10-15 years old. The second was at least 60 years old. The current house (pictured below) was built in the mid to late 50s.

IMG_0523a.jpgIMG_0527a.jpg

I didn't know I lived in a depressed area. Thanks for pointing that out.

Hum..If you do, does that mean the housing costs are uber cheap? Want a new neighbor? Looks like a nice area.

[W2NAP]

What's a "depressed area? The homes aren't new? More than 20 years old? The first house I had was probably 10-15 years old. The second was at least 60 years old. The current house (pictured below) was built in the mid to late 50s.

thats just it YOU might be lucky to find a "nice" area. but many others dont have that option.

lets say you have 60k to spend and you live where I do. you also want internet so your stuck with cable/dsl (cause ya aint going to be doing much on dial up) so out in the country around here is out since you will get no internet. so you are stuck with city. you want no HOA so you can play radio. guess what. that leaves out all the nice places. (ie newer homes) so your stuck with the old city.. guess what hope you love that you will be living near section 8 thugs who will steal your shit. maybe even kill you for the dollar in your pocket. but you can play radio! course wont do you no good if all your radios get stolen or you end up dead victim of homicide. now if you find a nice city well now your stuck with a lot where you are unable to put any real antennas up. cept maybe a 2 meter stick.

[kb2vxa]

I remember when this issue came before the FCC and what eventually came out of it was PRB-1 which is simply a set of guidelines some fools believe has the power of law. Not being a layer I can't point out existing law (Constitutional?) but the FCC has a legal reason for not getting involved, the law prohibits meddling in private agreements and contracts. HOA rules are a private contractual agreement so the FCC took a hands off stance so what makes Homer think Congress has power to supersede a private agreement any more than the FCC has?

Oh hey, I see Tux isn't the only metal head with a BC Rich guitar.

[KG4NEL]

thats just it YOU might be lucky to find a "nice" area. but many others dont have that option.

lets say you have 60k to spend and you live where I do. you also want internet so your stuck with cable/dsl (cause ya aint going to be doing much on dial up) so out in the country around here is out since you will get no internet. so you are stuck with city. you want no HOA so you can play radio. guess what. that leaves out all the nice places. (ie newer homes) so your stuck with the old city.. guess what hope you love that you will be living near section 8 thugs who will steal your shit. maybe even kill you for the dollar in your pocket. but you can play radio! course wont do you no good if all your radios get stolen or you end up dead victim of homicide. now if you find a nice city well now your stuck with a lot where you are unable to put any real antennas up. cept maybe a 2 meter stick.

Not every location had a postwar building boom, either ;)

A lot of the places I was looking at in SW VA were farm fields in the '50s. Probably were farm fields up until not too long ago. It's tough on a budget when the area is either unmaintained claptraps or shiny new construction that comes with HOAs.

[KJ3N]

thats just it YOU might be lucky to find a "nice" area. but many others dont have that option.

It's not just me. Can't be. I'm not even in the minority. If that were the case, there would be 10s of thousands of signatures on these petitions. I haven't seen one of them gather anything close to 10,000.

The ham radio population in this country is about 750,000. It amounts to 0.2% of a population of 350 million. Now, if you manage to get 10,000 ham signatures on a petition, that's 1.3% of the ham population. Do the math and tell me that any of these petitions will go anywhere.

Get 100,000 to sign up and then I might be interested, even though none of this effects me. Ain't gonna happen.

[W4RLR]

Finding a home where you can operate as an amateur radio operator sans HOA Nazis takes a lot of work, but it IS doable. Finding our new home took half a year. We have internet via satellite, DirecTV, city water, and AT&T telephone. What restrictions are recorded at the courthouse deal with junk cars, log cabins, and livestock operations, all of which are prohibited. The developer cares not one whit about antennae. The house is twelve years old.

The only downsides? No trash collection. I have to haul the trash to the convenience center at the bottom of the mountain twelve miles away. No newspaper delivery, I'm three miles out of the delivery area. Going to shopping and entertainment varies in distance from 15 to 65 miles. The local movie house is open only two days a week. Most county services are limited. I'm still pestering the county mayor to replace the street signs that are missing.

The good outweighs the bad, though. Best of all, I own a house for a monthly mortgage payment that is $300 less than what I was paying in rent in Florida.

My advice? Do your homework, check the county records for restrictions, and if you can't live in an area administered by an HOA, keep looking.

[KB3LAZ]

It's not just me. Can't be. I'm not even in the minority. If that were the case, there would be 10s of thousands of signatures on these petitions. I haven't seen one of them gather anything close to 10,000.

The ham radio population in this country is about 750,000. It amounts to 0.2% of a population of 350 million. Now, if you manage to get 10,000 ham signatures on a petition, that's 1.3% of the ham population. Do the math and tell me that any of these petitions will go anywhere.

Get 100,000 to sign up and then I might be interested, even though none of this effects me. Ain't gonna happen.

Avioding an HOA and finding an nice area is not overly hard in PA, OH, or lower NY. At least the areas that I frequent. They are nice neighborhoods too. I guess a lot of it depends on where you live.

For example: I live in the country but I still get internet. I dont have cable or Fios options but I do have DSL which is becoming more and more common in the sticks (again in my area at least).

Now, when I go to visit my family in MD..it is a different story. They live outside of Baltimore and in the country there it is nice but very very very expensive.