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Grandpa’s Basement House

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91–100 of 275 posts

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#91

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…

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.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#92
post #84
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?

Depends how obvious it is .

Put a car repair sign up then yeah. Be more “quiet” about it and claim and you are fixing a friends car and it becomes less easy / an ordeal for the city or county to act. Unfortunately the car repair guy was not honest and that was an issue.

Party house was a bit of an ordeal.

HOAs tend to fill a lot of zoning gaps.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#93
post #28

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…

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…

HOAs effect the members living situation, so they have the potential to generate some real horror stories. But it just seems like a particularly dramatic version of "people with happy situation don't post about them online."

My neighborhood growing up had a HOA that just maintained a little shared beach. They had a couple rules for yards, but nothing too onerous (don't have someone stay in a camper in your front yard -- a rule we actually broke, but just for a weekend or so, family visit with not enough rooms in the house). Annoying neighbors will find a way to be annoying, reasonable ones will find a way to be reasonable, the HOA is just a medium for this sort of behavior.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#94
post #63

> to filter out the riffraff who can’t afford larger homes. When I was poor, I just wanted a home I could afford in a safe neighborhood. Now that I have money, I just want poor people to be homeless. /mockery

Residential zoning is just so wrong. It’s trendy on the left to say it’s “racist” and it is that, but it’s also classist and elitist and WASP supremacist (e.g. banning multigenerational families, which are common among both Hispanics and lower-tier whites). I live in a pre-zoning code suburb in Maryland. The current minimum lot size is 20,000 square feet. Our house and most of the neighboring houses are on 2,900 squa…

IIRC, we call it racist without the scare-quotes because of it's disproportional effect. That's how that word works.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#95
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The road example I get, but why do you care what other people do on their property? We bought our house in 2016, next to an old tear down house. (I’m talking about plants growing inside because the roof doesn’t keep the water out.) Recently someone bought the house, tore it down, and built a million dollar house in its place. The other day, he gets into a fight with my wife—over various things, but among them the fac…

Because other peoples property effects my my property, in value and enjoyment.

[deleted]

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#96
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The road example I get, but why do you care what other people do on their property? We bought our house in 2016, next to an old tear down house. (I’m talking about plants growing inside because the roof doesn’t keep the water out.) Recently someone bought the house, tore it down, and built a million dollar house in its place. The other day, he gets into a fight with my wife—over various things, but among them the fac…

Because other peoples property effects my my property, in value and enjoyment.

So what? Those other people aren't obligated to do things that lead to your enjoyment. Please.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#97
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Residential zoning is just so wrong. It’s trendy on the left to say it’s “racist” and it is that, but it’s also classist and elitist and WASP supremacist (e.g. banning multigenerational families, which are common among both Hispanics and lower-tier whites). I live in a pre-zoning code suburb in Maryland. The current minimum lot size is 20,000 square feet. Our house and most of the neighboring houses are on 2,900 squa…

IIRC, we call it racist without the scare-quotes because of it's disproportional effect. That's how that word works.

> That's how that word works.

Incorrect. In ordinary usage, “racism” means prejudice based on race. There are efforts by some to muddy its meaning, to encompass both racial prejudice and “disproportionate effect,” but that’s not the common usage.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#98
The farm my father bought in rural Ohio for his retirement had a house that started life as a basement house. It was built in the 50s, and the basement had a kitchen, full bath, a very nice fireplace, and a few other rooms. Plus the garage. The ground floor basically re-did it all. My father's theory was that they did the basement first, then built the rest of the house later. I hadn't realized such a thing was common.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#99
post #14

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…

The root issue here is that you frame it as you paying something for him. What is actually happening is that you demand that everyone else pay for your mortgage by subjecting themselves to your restrictions.

Re: Grandpa’s Basement House

#100
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The road example I get, but why do you care what other people do on their property? We bought our house in 2016, next to an old tear down house. (I’m talking about plants growing inside because the roof doesn’t keep the water out.) Recently someone bought the house, tore it down, and built a million dollar house in its place. The other day, he gets into a fight with my wife—over various things, but among them the fac…

Because other peoples property effects my my property, in value and enjoyment.

This is absurd. Other people don't have to live their life a certain way just because that makes you happy.
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