I happily live in an HOA. I write a check every month and the grass is cut, snow is plowed/shoveled, tress and bushes are trimmed, gutters are cleaned, exterior maintenance is done, I use the park and pool, and we have great neighbors. A storm just went through and a few trees came down. Do I need to worry about that? Nope. When the roof needs to be replaced, do I need to worry about that? Nope. Whenever my wife and I want to leave we just lock the door, shut off the water and forget about it. When I want to work on my vehicles, I own a garage condo (also part of on HOA) that is a heated shop with electric and plumbing.
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I am really glad for you . I just don’t feel that way about ours .
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You described the services of a condominium. The owner of a house doesn’t receive these services via a homeowner’s association, each landowner is responsible for their own maintenance and upkeep.
Each homeowner within a HOA can be a “Barney Fife” and have those HOA rules enforced.
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Of course owners of single-family homes don’t have an HOA that organizes these services. My point was that there are benefits to an HOA. I was responding to bcohen saying they would never even accept a property in an HOA for free. There are benefits to owning a single-family home as well and I’ve owned 12 different single-family homes. I just thought someone needed to go to bat for HOAs since they always seem to get a bad rap.
Where I live (and I assume most states), every buyer of a property in an HOA needs to be given a copy of the governing docs (Declaration, Rules & Regs, etc.) and sign off on them prior to purchasing the property. If you don’t want to abide by them, you have ample time to back out of the purchase. If you want to breed dogs, hang political flags, or fill your driveway with inoperable vehicles, then an HOA is not for you. I’m well aware of what is acceptable and what isn’t so I have no concern about a Barney Fife. Although the story about the guy getting a fine from his HOA in AZ by putting out free cold water is kinda sad. IMO, stories like that are the exception not the rule.
My parents moved into a single family home in a retirement community with an HOA. My dad asked me to install a fan to ventilate the attic. There were two windows one in each gable. I was installing a window fan in one of them and i saw my dad outside talking to someone. I took a break and went outside just in time to hear my dad and the stranger arguing loudly and saw my dad grab him by the lapels and tell him “mind your own business or I’ll shove your fingers into the blades with the fan running. Now get the eff out of here”. The guy ran off and i asked my dad what that was all about. He told me that the guy came up to him in the street, told him he was from the HOA, and that the rules required that an attic fan be installed by a licensed electrician.
It is because of busybodies like that I would also never live in an HOA community. I would have slugged that guy and knocked his teeth down his throat. Im more volatile than my dad was.
One of the smartest things my father told me was to NEVER try to out-muscle or outrun that which you can outsmart. Instead of getting my blood pressure up, and risking an altercation, I would have simply told the guy politely that I am a licensed electrician, and that I am doing the work to code, and that the only reason I’m not here in my work truck is because I’m doing this as a favor for my friend/family member. It’s not as if he’s going to ask for proof of your licensing and insurance, etc.
@old_mopar_guy - Sounds like your dad didn’t read the HOA documents before buying. That’s a must. Ours is fine, worth it.
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Aren’t those services normally provided by the condominium association?
A HOA does have its merit: their rules improve property values so that after you die your heirs will receive top dollar for your house.
Almost every year I hear about an HOA in NH or northern MA that’s being sued. Some people get on the HOA board and the power goes to their head.
Since we are off topic I don’t know who to credit but this quote sums it up.
HOA - An organization run by people with too much time and money on their hands.
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Oh, my dad read the documents, but frankly he worked as a gangster in the 1930’s and early 40s for a guy named Lepke. Dad didn’t comply with regulations or laws that believed to e ridiculous.
20 years ago my sister bought a condo on mag mile in Chicago, parking spot was $1400 a year and $2700 In city taxes. She decided to live without a car.
You mean to tell us you actually thought a 1989 Dodge Aries would be “fun to drive”, really? You set the bar quite low.
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Yes. I thought this car would be fun to drive. As did millions of other people, which is why these models were so popular for so many years. However, my expectations were too high, and I also did not need a fourth vehicle.
My Great Aunt also worked for him!
I wonder if your Dad and my Great Aunt might have known each other. But, your Dad probably worked in Brooklyn, and my Great Aunt worked in Manhattan, running what was called the “punchboard” racket.
I’d venture to say they bought them because they were relatively inexpensive cars that served a utilitarian purpose.
What screams ‘fun to drive’ about this? (I won’t say anything about the irony of the image- oops, just did 
)-
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I guess my idea of ’ Fun to Drive ’ is wrong .
I have a car that is Fun To Drive, it is not that one… lol
Now if it had a turbo producing 15+ psi of boost, then it might be a fun to drive car…
Dad worked out of Midnight Rose’s candy store on Livonia Ave. In Brownsville.
I think that my Great Aunt simply worked from her apartment in Manhattan. Once the Great Depression ended, she was able to go back to her old career in hotel management.
And, to keep this somewhat automotively-oriented, she never owned a car–even though you could actually find free parking spaces in Manhattan, back in those days.