And you thought your neighbors were bad!

I am fortunate that I live out in the county. I live in a deed restricted development with a disorganized home owners association, and that is a good thing. I live next to great neighbors. The folks next door are great and they take care of my horse if I wish to go out of town. I have taken care of their dogs and cat for them in the past. We have broken bread on holidays. Across the street is my Cougar buddy. They have 14 acres. My neighbors on the other side keep to themselves. Most of the lots are 5-10 acres. Mine is 10 acres, so I have good buffers between us. Most of my work is done inside my 48X60 building, so it is out of sight. However, I have stripped several cars outside the building with never a complaint. I make sure they are hauled off in a timely manner. There are no young children to worry about running out in the road. My street is a full 1/4 + mile level straight stretch which I have used several times to try out improvements on the cars. Never a call or complaint. We all get along and life is good.


Jim

 

A friend of mine was always a Main Street type of guy in my town. He marries a woman who already lives in a development that has a HOA and he sells his older home and moves in with her. Being a Main Street type of guy, he goes out one day to clear the leaves away from the storm grate in the steet in front of his house. 2 different residents stopped where he was working and told him not to touch those leaves because "the township took over these roads - they have people that do this kind of work". Summer comes and he is out cutting his own front lawn and he is approched by a lawyer, who also lives in the development. He identifies himself as the president of the HOA and hands my buddy a piece of paper. The lawyer tells him that on the paper is a list of "HOA approved" lawn care specialists. It was suggested to him to pick one and stop cutting his own grass. My friend "suggested" something to the lawyer and he left also. I haven't heard any more stories for a long time now.

MYSELF, I WOULD HAVE FLIPPED

 

I live on a state road in a township that has an ordinance to control junk vehicles sitting on resident's property. My Maverick sat outside, without plates, from the time I got it in 1989 until the day I put it in the newly built garage in late 2006. My wife harped on me for all of those year telling me that the township was going to get on my azz for having "that junk" sitting in the driveway for all these years. Never got anything in the mail, no one ever said anything and no one ever came around.

The best part about it is that I have a neighbor that hates my guts and I figured if I ever got fined, she would have had something to do with it.

I guess it paid off, years ago, when I had her convinced that I was completely out of my mind - absolutely bonkers.

 

It would here too, IF I had gotten caught. I just think its funny that after I did that the citations stopped.

Around the same time I got the citation (there were several in a short period for various reasons) I had parked the car in the street, legally plated and insured, then drove my other car to the quarter car wash. In the time it took me to get back, about a half hour, I pulled up to see a police car driving away. Apparently they were responding to a report of an abandoned vehicle. I know damn well who called, but of course no way to prove it. Shortly thereafter I made a comment to him and I think he realized I knew who was complaining. Stereotypical old guy that complains about everything. He even complained to another neighbor that the leaves from his tree were blowing onto his perfectly manicured lawn.

 

Here is the practical truth about HOAs ... if someone is breaking the rules, they can ask them to stop. If they ignore this request, then, the HOA has to weigh whether or not to pay to get a lawyer involved. Then, they have to decide if they actually want to take the issue to a court mediation, etc. Going to court, the offender can be fined. Actually collecting the fine is another issue, and frequently does not happen. Then they have to have a lien posted against the property, and would collect at the time that the house sells to a new owner.

The offender can resume offending the day after going to court, and the whole process starts over again.

Long drawn-out process (like many legal matters ... ). A lot of people lose the will to fight somewhere along the way.

Local code enforcement is a bit more effective, but even this can be pretty procedural, and a bit drawn-out too.

 

It is the county code enforcement, I called them yesterday and she (the code enforcement officer) said she was called out here to a complaint about something two houses down from me, as she drove by, she saw my car up and the wheels off so she stopped and wrote me up for that, and some parts I had painted that were hanging in the sun to dry.
Go figure it was a woman who prolly hates someone working on cars, may have had a bad experience as a child who knows, anyhoot she said as long as there is progress when she comes back out ahe will leave me alone....not even gonna bother me about it not being tagged, or so she says.
She will see progress because now there are two cars on jack stands with no rearend under them lol.

 

LOL ummmmmm, I think thats probably not going to go over to well with the code enforcer. Its all about making it look like there is NOT a vehicle being worked on and that it is a vehicle worth value not "junk in the driveway".


I have a feeling you will get another citation for the other car with no rear end under it now. LOL

 

I have fought the city where my garage is.......I have won a few and lost a few.....I know the city manager....mayor....engineer on a first name basis

 

The complaintant may be easily identified...

 

Five months ago a renter neighbor across the street backed into a freinds car on the street in front of my house, Big pay off on ins. Now the neighbor is parking their car in our blind spot on the street as we back out very obvious to friends and neighbors. Well the H.O.A sent out a nice letter to all, that street parking is not necessary if parking is available at resedence.

 

HOA's have their place but more often than not they're annoying if you have annoying neighbors. Last year, after languishing far too long in storage, I brought my Comet down to my apartment complex and parked it (nonrunning) in a parking spot along the main drive as I'd have more room to work on it. It wasn't even 24 hours later that I came home from work to see a giant orange sticker emblazoned on the drivers side window threatening towing. So me and the Dude pushed it into my assigned covered parking spot and never had another problem.

Granted the tags were three years out of date and it was about 4 different colors but meh. I had the entire left front brake assembly off for several weeks (damn thing locked up on me - even the Dude had issues getting it free!) and no complaints. People routinely work on their vehicles around here; general consensus is that as long as it's in your assigned spot it's your "property" and is allowed.

Gotta wonder though what the complex is gonna think of the potential Comet I'm getting now, last tagged in 92 and spray painted by hooligans. >

 

We had a neighbor's regular visitor parking directly across from our driveway as well. Since our drive is sloped down to the garage you can't see the car till you're on level with the street. Perfect situation where the neighbors need to talk with each other. Comment I got back from the offender was that she didn't realize the situation she was creating and happily pulls forward another 20 feet now and the problem is solved. Communication is key!! If that doesn't work, tape one of these to their door, maybe they'll get the idea.

 

In my HOA, I have been sited for waxing my car in my garage at 2:00PM on a Sunday with the garage door mostly down. The complaint was a noise violation. I was using an electric buffer.

I have been sited for parking a licensed, tagged and insured wehicle in my assigned parking place. I have had neighbors complain bitterly about me using hand tools to work on a char where two feet of the car extended out of the garage.

Yet nobody complains about the guy who runs a cabinet making business out of his garage with saws, routers, nail guns and air compressors running way late into the morning.

Funny that the same people who have been complaining, are never shy about asking me to fix their cars, showers, computers, etc. Then they even commiserate with me like they can't believe someone would complain about me. This is even after I have seen the written complaints filed by these three old biddies.

I will never live in an HOA again.

 

THAT is the key to a lot of these responses on here. Read the HOA before you sign it folks.

 

And to think that you even have to pay yearly Association fees for the honor of having your stones busted 365 days out of the year.