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Grandpa’s Basement House

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Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#131

Post by rdtwo »

yardie wrote: post #5
geoffeg wrote: post #2

> Growing vegetables on what should be a lawn is verboten in many locations, if not by the government than by private association bylaws. I'm aware that some HOAs limit (sometimes to what seems like an extreme) what can be done with the yard and lawn, but I wasn't aware of any governments that ban growing vegetables. Is that more common in water-restricted municipalities? (I live in midwestern US, where backyard gard…

I know in Florida because of orange canker if one orange tree has it basically all orange trees within a 1-mile radius have to be destroyed. This is state law because of the orange produce farms lobbying. It’s almost unheard of to see suburban or wild orange trees in south Florida anymore.

Idk we visited some folks that had oranges growing in their yard in a major urban area. Enforcement is probably not great

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#132

Post by rdtwo »

deltarholamda wrote: post #47
rvba wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking at the /r/fuckhoa subreddit it seems that those homeovner associations are on level of North Korea and Soviet Russia - someone can come to your property (didnt happen in Eastern Europe even during communism), spy on you, fine you for not parking your car at the garage, fine you 500 dollars for putting a motorcycle outside your house, fine you for having drapes of different color, fine you for having a dog...…

> it seems that those homeovner associations are on level of North Korea and Soviet Russia The HOA is an agreement that is designed to keep a neighborhood from going downhill by residents parking on the street, or turning their yard into a parking lot, or from painting their house some atrocious color. As normally designed, they are little more than a codification of "don't be a jerk." The problem comes when people g…

No post body was provided.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#133

Post by alistairSH »

next_xibalba wrote: post #9
djvdq wrote: post #6

> Growing vegetables on what should be a lawn is verboten in many locations, if not by the government than by private association bylaws. So again, USA is country with most freedom? Freedom™, but you can't grow vegetables on your own property. Or you will be punished for having too long grass. Lmao

What the author is describing are rules of homeowner's associations and other similar organizations. Individuals freely enter agreements with homeowner's associations which dictate land use. One is also free to choose to live in a place not governed by these rules. But, they are not the law of the land and they do not implicate a lack of freedom in the U.S. relative to other countries. Its quite silly to suggest as m…

Except for the part where nearly 70% of new development is within HOA-controlled subdivisions.

Sure, you can avoid them if you want to live in a rural area or buy an older home. But almost anything in the suburbs built since the 1970s is in an HOA.

HOAs can be good. But many of them are run by narrow minded petty despots. Or worse, outsourced to a corporate management company.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#134

Post by rdtwo »

sokoloff wrote: post #69
nsxwolf wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I specifically chose my neighborhood based on the HOA. I like that every yard has a lawn and that I don’t have to listen to neighbors chickens. I like knowing no one is allowed to paint giant murals on the siding or drill for oil on their front lawn. The only way to guarantee things like this don’t happen is with some sort of rules in place. If that means I hate freedom, oh well.

I think HOAs are an elegant way to segregate the population into "people who want to live under HOAs" and "people who would hate to live under HOAs". Nobody is likely to be happy when these two groups have to live next to each other, so it's an elegant solution to sort the population into more compatible subsets. Everybody wins.

No post body was provided.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#135

Post by rdtwo »

lupire wrote: post #84
duxup wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I had a neighbor who decided it was time to open his in home auto repair shop. Fortunately the HoA board didn’t look kindly on it for a variety of reasons/ issues. He eventually moved. I hope he found a good place with a big garage and fewer neighbors to do that thing. Same with the rental party house (before the days of air bnb(but same issues)).

Aren't those cases covered by zoning laws?

They are but enforcement can be lacking. The hoa can nickel and dime a person enough that they will take the 10% property value hit to move

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#136

Post by rdtwo »

gwbas1c wrote: post #74
tomcam wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Those kinds of folk need representation the most. An understandable sentiment. How much are you willing to pay for it? If you have a $1.5 million mortgage and that loon shows up next door and paints their house purple, your house might lose $300,000 in value. Same with the other neighbors, who also pay mortgages but aren’t as compassionate as you. What happens when your spouse gets a sudden offer to relocate and yo…

> that loon shows up next door and paints their house purple HOAs started as a way to handle common infrastructure, like drainage. They allow a few homes to share drainage, without sticking all of the costs of maintenance to the homeowner who happens to have the pipe on their property. In my case, my HOA carries property insurance for undeveloped land, maintains a grassy cul-de-sac, and maintains a fire road. (I pers…

Can’t you fine them to death then foreclosure for the ammount due when it’s not paid

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#137

Post by rdtwo »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #59
next_xibalba wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the author is describing are rules of homeowner's associations and other similar organizations. Individuals freely enter agreements with homeowner's associations which dictate land use. One is also free to choose to live in a place not governed by these rules. But, they are not the law of the land and they do not implicate a lack of freedom in the U.S. relative to other countries. Its quite silly to suggest as m…

There are some issues with the word "freely" because in many cities all new construction is HOA-encumbered. So you have the choice between new construction with an HOA and old (quite possibly run-down) and no HOA. That's not a free choice, it's Hobson's choice. It's about as free as entering into an arbitration agreement. You freely decide to get yourself a cellphone or credit card, and there aren't any on the market…

The HOA is used by the developer to retain control while they sell off all the new construction. They can milk it for fees because they have controlling interest

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#138

Post by ghaff »

rayiner wrote: post #73
kasey_junk wrote: post #7

“I asked why and was told that by the 1950s it was clear that the national economy had re-centered away from agriculture and small farm towns to a handful of big cities.” You were told wrong by more than 30 years. The US was officially more urban than rural by the 1920 census but the demographic trend had been going on for 50 years before that. By 1900 1 in 10 Americans lived in just 5 cities (NYC, Chicago, Philly, S…

Note that, the census considers many “small farm towns” to be “urban areas.” For example, Sibley, Iowa, where my wife grew up. It qualifies because it’s population is 3,000 people (over the 2,500 limit the census bureau uses). But it’s not what most people would consider to be an “urban area.”

I own a number of acres. One neighbor has an orchard and a horse pasture. Another has a Christmas tree farm. We're adjacent to a fairly large conservation property. We're urban according to the US Census. And we certainly have no practical way to shop by either walking or public transportation.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#139

Post by woah »

duxup wrote: post #81
mmh0000 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I bought my first house, I purposefully avoided any neighborhood with an HOA because of all the internet scare mongering I had heard over the years. After ten years of one neighbor parking cars on their lawn, another growing more weeds than blades of grass, and another with 8 vehicles parked along the street I was done. When I bought my second house I specifically wanted an HOA. After another 6 years, I couldn’t…

Yeah I had a neighbor who decided it was time to open his in home auto repair shop. Fortunately the HoA board didn’t look kindly on it for a variety of reasons/ issues. He eventually moved. I hope he found a good place with a big garage and fewer neighbors to do that thing. Same with the rental party house (before the days of air bnb(but same issues)).

What's wrong with a guy repairing cars?
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