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Grandpa’s Basement House

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Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#231

Post by OJFord »

thenoblesunfish wrote: post #226

Fascinating! In many parts of the world, the incremental approach seems alive and well. I'm sure many have had the experience of traveling in a developing country and wondering why it seems that all the buildings are unfinished. Rebar sticking out everywhere! It actually makes a lot of sense, when one does not have access to credit or even a safe place to save money. You build your house as you can afford each compon…

This is quite a tangent (it's a novel, not some non-fiction deep-dive) but A House for Mr Biswas (VS Naipaul) is a great book that I'd recommend, your comment just reminded me of it.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#232

Post by OJFord »

hamburglar wrote: post #147
quesera wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that some HOAs are cooperative organizations, and some are run by very damaged people. Also keep in mind that getting together to organize a set of common standards and restrictions is the basis for all exclusive communities. That's OK if you are on the casual compliance side of the rules, or if you get to write them to suit your preferences. But it is discriminatory. Similar covenants have been used to…

> An HOA can morph from tolerable into unconscionable. A friend of mine lived in an unconscionable one and managed to turn it tolerable by running for President on a platform of vowing not to enforce any rules. Stayed in “power” for quite a while.

I don't think it's quite what you're describing (sorry if it is) - but 'we [deliberately] have rules, we just don't enforce them' would probably be a pretty effective & pleasant one.

I suppose essentially that's just living in a society, i.e. as anywhere without a 'HOA', but codified.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#233

Post by OJFord »

walrus01 wrote: post #58
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…

While I agree with you for the most part, the problem comes when you have an HOA led by some Karen who decides to fine you and make your life miserable for doing something like having the audacity to fly a pride flag. You got lucky that the handful of things you want to do aren't a big deal, or your local HOA doesn't consist of any overly zealous busybodies with nothing better to do than become the neighborhood stasi…

> like having the audacity to fly a [doesn't matter] flag.

I don't live in the US, and at best the concept is very rare here, and I don't like the idea of it, but that sort of thing is exactly what I would like.

Flying a flag (why?!) has much more impact (probably negative) on your neighbours than it does (presumably positive) you.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#234

Post by whywhywhywhy »

sokoloff wrote: post #67
whywhywhywhy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shocking how quickly peoples opinions change on this stuff when an eccentric next door can lower the value of their own investments

Since they paid their money to buy the property, they can paint their house whatever color they damn well please, IMO.

I mean I don't think they should be any rules really, I'm just pointing out that a lot of people who would be very free thinking before hand become very "Not In My Back Yard" about it as soon as they have skin in the game.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#235

Post by tptacek »

spacemanmatt wrote: post #225
tptacek wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just so we're all clear, the racism of prohibitions on intergenerational housing --- which is what BLM is talking about when they talk about the "nuclear family" or whatever it is they said to spook the normies --- is racism, not disproportionate impact. Single family zoning was designed to keep specific ethnicities out of "white" neighborhoods. It's not an accident.

Do you think that there is a large gap between prejudice and disproportionate effect? I'm just curious how this break down for you.

I don't know, I'm just saying these policies were motivated directly, maybe exclusively by racial animus.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#236

Post by dr_spicy »

OJFord wrote: post #233
walrus01 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree with you for the most part, the problem comes when you have an HOA led by some Karen who decides to fine you and make your life miserable for doing something like having the audacity to fly a pride flag. You got lucky that the handful of things you want to do aren't a big deal, or your local HOA doesn't consist of any overly zealous busybodies with nothing better to do than become the neighborhood stasi…

> like having the audacity to fly a [doesn't matter] flag. I don't live in the US, and at best the concept is very rare here, and I don't like the idea of it, but that sort of thing is exactly what I would like. Flying a flag (why?!) has much more impact (probably negative) on your neighbours than it does (presumably positive) you.

I think flying [let's say current nation's] flag, can very a bunch depending on the country, I know in Denmark as well as the US it appears much more common than in other parts of the world. And personally, once I'm used to a flag being flown, I don't really care which

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#237

Post by deltarholamda »

yurtol wrote: post #50
deltarholamda wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

What's wrong with parking your own car on your own property?

Because one car becomes one car and a boat, and then it becomes one car, a boat, and a project car that is always being worked on. Then the brother-in-law moves it for a while, and it becomes two cars, a boat, a project car, and an assortment of quad-bikes.

Does it always go this way? No. Does it go this way often enough that people worry about it? Yes.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#238

Post by jessaustin »

samatman wrote: post #229
rayiner wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re his HOA, which is a different power relationship. It’s like bringing gifts to your boss at work.

Ah yes, my boss, whom I live next to, and vote for or against on a yearly basis. I guess you don't like your HOA and you're projecting.

Wow, meta-projection. 'rayiner has been very clear ITT that he isn't subject to any HOA.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#239

Post by harpersealtako »

gorgoiler wrote: post #190
guerrilla wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it undemocratic? They agreed to the terms of the HOA when they bought the place... They move to some place and then are upset when people don't like them doing certain things? This is a weirdly entitled view.

Is there a standards body for HOAs? Are they regulated? If they have equivalent legal status to a government or a police department, are there constitutional rights which they cannot violate? Can two competing HOAs exist in the same geographic area, and home owners are free to setup additional ones if the incumbents don’t meet their needs?

>Is there a standards body for HOAs? Are they regulated?

Each state generally sets its own standards for HOAs. There are legal frameworks, insurance laws, etc. which are fairly similar across the country.

>If they have equivalent legal status to a government or a police department, are there constitutional rights which they cannot violate?

They do not have equivalent legal status to a government or police department. HOAs are limited in their powers by federal, state, and municipal guidelines. Every state has its own laws in this regard. There are also federal laws prohibiting certain bylaws, e.g. the Fair Housing Act prevent HOAs from enforcing racially discriminatory covenants.

>Can two competing HOAs exist in the same geographic area, and home owners are free to setup additional ones if the incumbents don’t meet their needs?

I don't know exactly what you're referring to, but generally speaking, nobody is forced to buy in an HOA neighborhood unless they want to, there are generally a multitude of HOA-managed (and non-HOA-managed) neighborhoods to choose from within a single town/school district/etc. The only exception might be things like specific lakes/small island communities, where the entire geographic feature is managed under a single association (e.g. for lakes they generally pay for the maintenance of the lake itself, stocking fish, removing trash, etc.)

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#240

Post by harpersealtako »

JetSetWilly wrote: post #103
quesera wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> your house might lose $300,000 in value Dramatic license aside, I'd hate to live anywhere where property value (or residents' senses of well-being) was so fragile that it couldn't handle a purple house.

They would hate to live in Tobermory I suppose: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tobermory_Main_Stree...

If I lived in one of those houses, would I be able to paint it whatever color I wanted (e.g. pink and yellow stripes)? Or is there some sort of coordination to make sure they all look appealing as a set?
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