Here we go again. Another petition against HOAs.

[N7YA]

Maine is going to be cake as homes are hard to sell there, you get a couple of acres in the right place, at least the places and homes we've been looking at...but here in Vegas, different story. I am embroiled in an HOA situation right now, not because of the Inverted V in the backyard, but for a missing plant in the front yard. The only issue is that its not missing, theres been a plant there for a long time...but i just keep getting these fine notices of $50 a pop for repeated violation. This is after 2 people from the property management and an HOA board member came out and met me to walk the yard, they physically SAW the plant. The old guy from the HOA was an insufferable bastard, old and grumpy. He walked around the yard like a military officer doing an inspection, but i know my shit with this stuff and he didnt scare me like he wanted to (he was starting to piss my wife off, though, i had to step in and take over a couple of times, dont mess with an island woman). The other two were cool and didnt want any trouble. I have high rez pictures of the Lantana flowers i put in there, and copies of everything, im not paying any fines. They sent me another notice before about "securing the cable on the side of the house"...thats my coax, so i did, they had no idea what it was for. I sent the pics and compliance letter by registered mail, but they dont communicate to eachother down there.

The point being, most of these HOA buzzards dont know their ass from a coffee cup, they just like to meddle and nitpick without any real knowledge of how things work, what they are or what its used for. I knew i would have to have an antenna that could come down in a hurry. I know i am in violation, but so are most of the houses on my street for one thing or another. We knew what we were in for, we accept that the HOA is a part of the deal, and we are also over it. We are putting our house up on the market next year and moving out of state when it sells. No more HOA's for us, we learned our lesson.

[N8YX]

The point being, most of these HOA buzzards dont know their ass from a coffee cup, they just like to meddle and nitpick without any real knowledge of how things work, what they are or what its used for.

This is precisely why I'll never live in an area with any kind of CCR/HOA retrictions.

Inside every mall cop is a failed/application-denied law-enforcement official, and inside every HOA president is a failed mall cop.

As for security in the inner city or depressed areas goes...you get together the home owners who actually live in an area and take the neighborhood back. That Section 8 house which shelters a never-ending stream of crackheads and crack babies? You have it declared a nuisance, have the city seize it and tear it down. If your city charter doesn't contain so-called 'nuisance tenant' laws, you get the matter before council.

Shine enough light on cockroaches and they'll go somewhere else.

[KK4AMI]

A couple of acres on a hill top and plenty of 60 to 80 ft oak trees to hang wire from. With fall coming, I wish maybe fewer trees. That is where my big A sits! :)

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=2136+R...nia+22959&z=17

[N7YA]

Yep, we are going to be making a scouting trip to this nice mountain town in Maine next year. They have some beautiful houses up there and not a lot of residents. Its also a ski resort town. Most people cant afford the 250k price tag on those chalets, but we are preparing for it, we want one of those.

[KC2UGV]

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.

I did not buy my home in a depressed area, and I have no HOA and no CCRs on my deed.

[KC2UGV]

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.

If the only nice homes you can find are under HOA's or have CCRs; then you need to find a new real estate agent.

[NY4Q]

I'm in an HOA hood. I received three letters yesterday.

1) Paint your mailbox (one of the neighbors ran over it and "forgot" to leave a note). I put it back and after last Winter and this Summer, the paint has faded a tad.
2) Please put ground cover on the bank to the right of the driveway.
3) Remove the dead plants (but I don't know where the dead plants are).

But I will admit, I need to do some yard work! ha ha

[KJ3N]

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

I wouldn't say the housing costs are cheap. I live in an area where there are a lot of upscale homes.

There's a housing development down the road that was built about 2-3 years after we moved to the area. The homes there started at $600,000. The last few sold fetched almost $1M. They have 2 HVAC systems in them because they have something on the order of 5,000+ sq. ft. They look impressive, but the lots aren't very big and the house takes up most of the space. Some of the homes have a nice view of the large shopping mall next door.

At least 2 of the homes on my street went for close to $400,000. They are, however, fairly new. Both are probably less than 15 years old and big. My guess is something on the order of 4,000 sq. ft., maybe a bit more. They are also 2-story homes. Our place is barely 2,000 sq. ft. and is your typical ranch style house.

When we bought the current place, we got it under market value. I believe we paid $215K. We also bought it from the original owner, who happened to be an 80+ year old ham who was looking to unload it fairly quickly. It needed work (still does in some places), the carpets were old, windows needed replacing, etc. There's no central AC system and probably won't be one anytime soon, since the last estimate came in at $14K. At some point, we'll probably replace the electrical panel and do a bit of rewiring. We took out a 15 year mortgage that has a little over 5 years left to go. Once that's done, then we'll get into some of the other stuff we want to do to the place.

Unlike a lot of people these days, we didn't buy the place as an investment. We plan to live here until we die. We don't care if it's not "perfect" or "new". I treat a house as a home to be lived in, not a financial tool. IMHO, too many people treat their houses as the latter. That's probably one of the reasons that so many people have mortgages that are now underwater.

I convinced the XYL to buy the place not for its value, but for the space it provides me to put up antennas. There are no restrictions here, other than whatever the county has in place. If I wanted to put up a tower, I could. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of money and I can't get it pass the XYL, anyway.

[KB3LAZ]

I wouldn't say the housing costs are cheap. I live in an area where there are a lot of upscale homes.

There's a housing development down the road that was built about 2-3 years after we moved to the area. The homes there started at $600,000. The last few sold fetched almost $1M. They have 2 HVAC systems in them because they have something on the order of 5,000+ sq. ft. They look impressive, but the lots aren't very big and the house takes up most of the space. Some of the homes have a nice view of the large shopping mall next door.

At least 2 of the homes on my street went for close to $400,000. They are, however, fairly new. Both are probably less than 15 years old and big. My guess is something on the order of 4,000 sq. ft., maybe a bit more. They are also 2-story homes. Our place is barely 2,000 sq. ft. and is your typical ranch style house.

When we bought the current place, we got it under market value. I believe we paid $215K. We also bought it from the original owner, who happened to be an 80+ year old ham who was looking to unload it fairly quickly. It needed work (still does in some places), the carpets were old, windows needed replacing, etc. There's no central AC system and probably won't be one anytime soon, since the last estimate came in at $14K. At some point, we'll probably replace the electrical panel and do a bit of rewiring. We took out a 15 year mortgage that has a little over 5 years left to go. Once that's done, then we'll get into some of the other stuff we want to do to the place.

Unlike a lot of people these days, we didn't buy the place as an investment. We plan to live here until we die. We don't care if it's not "perfect" or "new". I treat a house as a home to be lived in, not a financial tool. IMHO, too many people treat their houses as the latter. That's probably one of the reasons that so many people have mortgages that are now underwater.

I convinced the XYL to buy the place not for its value, but for the space it provides me to put up antennas. There are no restrictions here, other than whatever the county has in place. If I wanted to put up a tower, I could. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of money and I can't get it pass the XYL, anyway.

Yeah, my area is quite a bit cheaper for more or less the same style of housing.

Also, I just put in Central air last year. It cost a little over 8k.

However, housing in my area is down significantly. For about 4 years everything sat without selling. About three months before I came to Spain those houses saw about a 25% price decrease and they started selling, quickly.

The one thing I can say is that I really like the area of PA in which I lived. Quiet, green, and cheap. The job market has seen much better but most of us are in that situation.

[KC2UGV]

Unlike a lot of people these days, we didn't buy the place as an investment. We plan to live here until we die. We don't care if it's not "perfect" or "new". I treat a house as a home to be lived in, not a financial tool. IMHO, too many people treat their houses as the latter. That's probably one of the reasons that so many people have mortgages that are now underwater.

It's also likely one of the reasons for the housing market collapse. Too many people betting on ever-rising home prices, and expecting quick flips, and moving like renters.