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Grandpa’s Basement House

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Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#71

Post by voakbasda »

cm2012 wrote: post #62
mattnewton wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the first two I just can't get that worked up over it, and for the last one it's the use of shared reasource (the street) that bothers me.

Yeah, I get people wanting HOAs to maintain property values (Though I am not one of them, I chose a neighborhood with no HOA on purpose). I don't get people who genuinely care for its own sake about their neighbors lawn having weeds. Or the house having an unusual paint color. Who cares??

Weed seeds blow across property lines and create problems for other people. It creates an undue burden on those that want to maintain a garden or other curated flora.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#72

Post by tomcam »

quesera wrote: post #19
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…

> 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.

I have literally seen that happen, although the house was electric blue and not purple. I did in fact put my money where my mouth is and moved to a farm without an HOA.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#73

Post by rayiner »

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.”

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#74

Post by gwbas1c »

tomcam wrote: post #14
gorgoiler wrote: post #3

The idea of HOAs having any kind of say feels so undemocratic, but not in a standard way. We should not tolerate purely popular democracies. We allow representative democracies, and part of that public contract is for our leaders to represent all those in their constituency, not just those who voted for them. That means those in the minority. The crazy guy growing gourds instead of a lawn. The loon with the purple ho…

> 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 personally spend about 2 hours a year trimming growth on the fire road because so many people walk on it.)

As far as saying that an HOA is to keep the loons out, we did have a hoarder live around the corner from the HOA. The people who lived across the street couldn't sell their home. (They had kids and wanted a larger house.) Could the HOA really do anything about the hoarder? I know the people who lived around the hoarder all put a lot of pressure on hee, the town condemned the house, and eventually it burnt to the ground. At least my with HOA, there isn't any good way to "evict" a loon who makes a mess.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#75

Post by jzb »

cm2012 wrote: post #62
mattnewton wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the first two I just can't get that worked up over it, and for the last one it's the use of shared reasource (the street) that bothers me.

Yeah, I get people wanting HOAs to maintain property values (Though I am not one of them, I chose a neighborhood with no HOA on purpose). I don't get people who genuinely care for its own sake about their neighbors lawn having weeds. Or the house having an unusual paint color. Who cares??

Depending on where you live and how bad a yard gets, it can be a real problem. Here, for example, it can be an invitation to snakes or other wildlife that aren’t confined to that property.

That said, I’m -1 on HOAs. I’ve heard far too many complaints and too few people happy with them to deal with one.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#76

Post by tomcam »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #17
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…

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

Which is why I no longer live in a place with an HOA

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#77

Post by tomcam »

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.

If there’s an HOA, they probably agreed not to.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#78

Post by tomcam »

netizen-936824 wrote: post #21
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

Maybe we shouldn't think about housing as an investment

Agree completely

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#79

Post by tomcam »

adventured wrote: post #34
netizen-936824 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe we shouldn't think about housing as an investment

Maybe we shouldn't try to control people, including what they think, in such an authoritarian manner.

There’s nothing authoritarian about entering a contractor voluntarily

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#80

Post by flomo »

rvba wrote: post #24
djvdq wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simple question - if you want to leave HOA and after that grow vegetables, can you do that? If not - it has nothing to do with freedom. It's only propaganda of having the most freedom when citizens of a lot of "non free" countries (by American standards) will laugh at your absurds. I'm not saying USA is not free country - of course you are free. I'm only saying that telling that you have the most freedom is at least…

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...…

You shouldn't take reddit creative writing seriously.
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