posted on May, 8 2011 @ 07:21 AM
HOA's aren't all that bad. I refused to live in one for a while because of all the bad things I had heard. But then I ended up living in a community
being taken over by
Gypsies. These people were terrible neighbors
and there were dozens of these households. So now I live in a moderate HOA where I know that people have made a conscious decision to live here. Its
quite and looks nice and I couldn't be happier. And for that luxury I have to pay about $500 a year.
HOA's are kind of like America I guess, you have rules which take away self liberties but offer protection. Of course some HOA's are more severe
then others, but when people disagree with a rule they have a specific target they can blame it on. When you live in a normal neighborhood you can
still get screwed over but you don't really have anyone to blame it on so you just go about your business and chalk it up to bad luck.
When I lived in the gypsy neighboorhood I think the police or city was trying to screw with them as much as possible because we had city workers that
would constantly check for violations like are your trash cans stored out of view or off the street in time, or your car parked the right direction,
or grass height within city code. So I got hit a couple times there, but I couldn't blame that on an HOA.
I know quite a few have rules like that you can't park a truck in the driveway, it has to go in the garage. Now this may sound offensive to some, but
like in the case of the gypsies, they
ALL do construction work so everyday the street would be chock full of big Ford and Chevy trucks parked
in all the driveways and along the street. So driving up and down the street was a hassle and I got to see a nice big truck in front of my house. So
thats the risk of having freedom...other people get freedom as well.
As far as an HOA not allowing kids, that sounds like a neighboorhood that wants things to be quite and safe from the general chaos that kids
can bring. People are looking for that particular enviornment by moving there, probably older people or the umm "yuppies" that think
social or materialism is more important then family. But it would not be good for general neighboorhoods.