[quote=SandraL][quote=Ren]
HOAs can be a good thing. They prevent your neighbor from painting his house purple, or parking a giant boat in his front yard.
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As one of those evil people who painted their house purple, I think HOA’s are for jerks who need a better hobby than getting their undies in a wad over decor differences. I’m all for keeping people from letting their property turn into a trash pile, but there’s a line that gets crossed when people start to nitpick over crap like basketball hoops in the front or house color. HOA’s are all too often run by conservative Nazi’s with nothing better to do than make sure their neighbors are following the “rules.”[/quote]
I never said anyone was evil. HOAs are useful for the jerks, like me, who DO appreciate a neighborhood that is kept aesthetically pleasing. Some neighborhoods are designed from the ground up with this in mind, and they look great the way they are. For those types of neighborhoods, one person painting their house purple would ruin the look that us jerks enjoy and even hurt resale values. For people who aren’t that into appearances, there are plenty of HOA-free neighborhoods to choose from. I live in one now, thankfully temporarily, where a brown house with a waist-high brown lawn is right next to a sky-blue house with a white picket fence, which is next to a yellow house with what looks like a tugboat in the driveway, and let’s not forget the house across the street, with the life-sized horse statue in the front yard. You might call it “character”, but tastes are subjective, and I think it looks like crap. Luckily there is enough variety that everyone can find a neighborhood they like.
Of course, HOAs do sometimes cross the line into Nazism, which is why it’s a good idea to know their rules before buying.
