Just read that some HOAs won't let you grow vegetables in your backyard.
Homeowners Associations . . .
- Thread starter backstept
- Start date
What, yours don't play them?
Honestly, I'd be very surprised if they did.
Aren't they from Iowa too?
If they're flat on the roof, they wouldn't look too bad. But if they're angled way up, to catch better sunlight at certain latitudes, they wouldn't look so good.
None of us are from Iowa.
Midwest, same thing.
)
In Australia they are usually put on the northern facing side of a house. No-one really cares if they can be seen or not. There are about half a million houses in Australia with them now and most new houses have solar hot water heating. Maybe Australians are so use to them we barely notice them any more.
I have just read that some HOAs don't let you grow vegetables in your backyard. In Tasmania many houses have not only vegetables gardens (and garden sheds, compost bins) but wood stacks as well as wood heaters are popular here.
On the Mainland many houses have garden water tanks especially in the drier cities such as Adelaide.
It's different when you are given a choice of signing the contract when you buy a house in such neighborhoods.
Where I live, it's so dry in the summer time that some clothes will dry as fast on the clothesline as they will in the dryer.
We have a clothesline, but my wife doesn't use it much. The problem is that the laundry room is in the back corner of the basement. The clothesline is only about 10 feet from the washing machine, but to get to it, one has to carry the clothes through the basement, up the stairs, out the front door and around to the back of the house. It's probably about 200-250 feet. I really need to cut a hole though the foundation and put in a door there or something.
Funny, that’s the first thing I thought of when Lindley mentioned clothespins. I never knew I had such a dirty mind!
Errrr... what?
There's no such thing.
If the house you want to buy is in an HOA, you have to sign the HOA contract or you can't buy the house.
Your "choice" is either buy the house and join the HOA or go buy a house that isn't in the HOA.
I do the accounting for two condominium HOAs in Florida. Everything that you need to abide by should be in the Documents of Condominium and any fees and/or penalties for infractions of rules should be spelled out in them. There are rules as to how to amend the Condo Docs spelled out in them. It varies from HOA to HOA but usually a pretty large percentage has to vote on any change to the Condo Docs or to the common areas.
Being condos, the common areas are controlled by the Association which is responsible for the unfinished drywall of the unit on out. By law, the Association has to maintain the common areas in the same condition as they were in when the Association was turned over from the developer. In this economy, that can be tough on the homeowners who have to pick up the slack for the people who don't pay their dues due to pending foreclosures by the banks or even by the HOA. People buying into a property controlled by an HOA need to understand that they could be agreeing to writing a blank check if the HOA needs extra money to keep running or to make emergency repairs.
I'm not certain of this because it hasn't been an issue for my HOAs but I believe that there are generally strict limits to the maximum amounts that fines can mount up to.
The most crucial aspect of any HOA is going to be having a competent Board of Directors. If the residents allow power-hungry dicators in, the complex can become a hell for the residents.
Jan
Being condos, the common areas are controlled by the Association which is responsible for the unfinished drywall of the unit on out. By law, the Association has to maintain the common areas in the same condition as they were in when the Association was turned over from the developer. In this economy, that can be tough on the homeowners who have to pick up the slack for the people who don't pay their dues due to pending foreclosures by the banks or even by the HOA. People buying into a property controlled by an HOA need to understand that they could be agreeing to writing a blank check if the HOA needs extra money to keep running or to make emergency repairs.
I'm not certain of this because it hasn't been an issue for my HOAs but I believe that there are generally strict limits to the maximum amounts that fines can mount up to.
The most crucial aspect of any HOA is going to be having a competent Board of Directors. If the residents allow power-hungry dicators in, the complex can become a hell for the residents.
Jan
FWIW, it's probably a far better idea for your friend to short sell even though the bank has to approve it. The reason for that is that many people don't realize that even if the bank forecloses, it can still come after the mortgage holder if they lose money when they sell the property - which they most likely will in this economy. It's definitely a buyer's market. With a short sale, the bank agrees that whatever the selling price is, they write off the balance of the loan. At least that's what our attorney's have told us.
Oh, and if your friend is behind on his dues, the HOA may have to approve taking a loss because the bank will only pay so much.
Sadly, there's no end of this in sight.
Jan
And your friend should have known that when he bought a house there.
That's not true in every state.
You may be right. Laws are different from state to state but from what I've been told, if the loan was federally guaranteed, that's the case. Overseas the laws are also different. As the HOA, all our Board is concerned with is getting somebody in who'll pay thier association dues.
Jan
Similar threads
