I'm sick of the drama with my HOA/neighbors

[Anonymous]

I’d never choose a home that came with an HOA. I’ve heard too many stories.

[Anonymous]

I love our HOA! Pool, tennis, garbage, and great community landscaping for $70/month.

Plus people aren’t allowed to do ugly tacky stuff to their houses.

Bargain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All they do is gossip and start fake controversies to get the entire development rattled and riled up. Half of them are on the PTA and that spreads the drama to their. I haven't been caught up in it but I've witnessed a neighbor get "bullied" by that group and its disgusting.

+1

Don't need an HOA for that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess there might be some drama that I'm not aware of that's happening among some kind of inner circle, but the townhome community I live in has an HOA, we've lived here for 16 years with zero issues.
That's not so say I'm some huge advocate of HOAs, it was just something that came with the house, and we wanted the house. I think it can be really just random bad luck to get a bad HOA, or a bad neighbor in a non-HOA neighborhood.

Our townhouse HOA is the same. I think the key is that they have a good, non meddling reason to exist, in that we've got a common parking lot area to maintain, clear snow off, etc. Ours is also funded well enough to do that, but they'd need a special assessment to do anything else (they're not suing anyone, the finances don't support it).

My parents live in an HOAless neighborhood on a private road and they've got people filling the potholes in front of their house with concrete from Home Depot. I'm glad not to be dealing with that in our parking lot.

[Anonymous]

While I am lucky never to have tangled with them, every HOA I have lived under has been a complete nightmare.

[Anonymous]

I not only dislike Mello Roos but HOA as well.

[Anonymous]

We refused to even look at houses with HOA’s.

[Anonymous]

The b@stard$ at the local county likes the HOAs. They are in cahoots with the new developers and saddle the future homeowners with all the maintenance and annoying governance issues. County gets to shift the costs to future homeowners. For example homes with HOAs have to pay for their own street lights, paving the streets & sidewalks, maintain storm drainage and snow removals. They put it in the bylaws along with pesky community covenants. The county gets new tax base and the builder gets to build and they stick the bills with the homeowners for in-perpetuity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We picked a neighborhood with no HOA for this very reason.

We live in an area with few HOAs, and it's OK living in our small, older neighborhood without one. Most of the neighbors are older and follow "norms". However, an old house turned over and an impossibly tone-deaf family moved in... commercial vehicles, driveway disputes and paving/fencing right to the property line, one of those temp pools with no fence. It goes on and on. The county got involved with the things that need actual permits, but these people pushed everything and they frankly make the whole neighborhood unpleasant. Be grateful if your neighborhood is full of decent people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our neighborhood association president burned down a neighbor's house twice over a disagreement. It could be worse!!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/serial-arsonist-arrested-in-maryland-is-former-police-chief/2021/03/03/eed0e3d0-7c63-11eb-b3d1-9e5aa3d5220c_story.html

This guy. Thank goodness no one died. I have had elected officials come after me at my job and in court. But qt least no one has tried to burn my house down. This guy is going down in DC region history. Dude, there are other ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh — we also picked a non-HOA neighborhood for some of these reasons, and guess what, gossiping control freaks who think they own the block live here too, unfortunately. People suck.

But it's just all bark, no bite. HOAs cost you $$$ for non compliance. And it's a whole other level of annoying. We stopped by to visit my cousin and had our jet ski parked in the driveway. Within an hour they got an email from the HOA asking us to move it.

But what could they have really done if you didn't move it right away?

I live in an HOA that has all sorts of "rules" but if someone doesn't follow them, there is little the HOA can do.
One person on my street was remodeling their bathroom. They had their old toilet sitting out in their driveway for months! People complained but the HOA can't go into their driveway and physically remove the toilet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We picked a neighborhood with no HOA for this very reason.

We live in an area with few HOAs, and it's OK living in our small, older neighborhood without one. Most of the neighbors are older and follow "norms". However, an old house turned over and an impossibly tone-deaf family moved in... commercial vehicles, driveway disputes and paving/fencing right to the property line, one of those temp pools with no fence. It goes on and on. The county got involved with the things that need actual permits, but these people pushed everything and they frankly make the whole neighborhood unpleasant. Be grateful if your neighborhood is full of decent people.

“Commercial vehicles”? You mean someone has a work truck he wants to park at his own house? And that is a problem?

You are the kind of person HOAs were intended for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our neighborhood association president burned down a neighbor's house twice over a disagreement. It could be worse!!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/serial-arsonist-arrested-in-maryland-is-former-police-chief/2021/03/03/eed0e3d0-7c63-11eb-b3d1-9e5aa3d5220c_story.html

That story is wild!

+1


Not at all surprised!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love our HOA! Pool, tennis, garbage, and great community landscaping for $70/month.

Plus people aren’t allowed to do ugly tacky stuff to their houses.

Bargain.

+1. Our old neighborhood did not have an HOA. The neighborhood pool was in constant disrepair because it was underfunded, trash companies came or didn't come on random schedules, and people rented out their basements to other families, which meant tons of cars all over the side streets.

I'm happy to pay $70 per month for a nice pool and one set of trash/recycling trucks that come through twice a week, plus someone to plow our cul-de-sac whenever it snows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh — we also picked a non-HOA neighborhood for some of these reasons, and guess what, gossiping control freaks who think they own the block live here too, unfortunately. People suck.

+1

Yes! And they have guns! No thanks.