[NA]HA"Rules"[NA]

The way to bust a HOA is this...

- Document all rules infractions not enforced.
- Put up flagpole.
- HOA threatens, ignore them.
- Talk to neighbors about your flagpole not being that big a deal.
- HOA sues.
- Countersuit saying HOA isn't following it's own rules.
- HOA psychos start showing signs of public stress, often resulting in police coming to meetings and assault charges.
- HOA realizes they can't afford legal fees driven by psychos running the Board.
- Get press involved at this point. Property values fall because of HOA behavior.
- Psychos are tossed out by the busy, normally non-interested majority who've now been affected.
- Flagpole has now been up for four-five years. Apply politely to keep it.
 
Ghery said:
The covenant that bugs me when it is there is one prohibiting external antennas. Being an amateur radio operator, that's a show stopper for me. Where I am now the only two rules that could impact my antennas are the requirement to get permission for anything roof mounted and the need to protect views. No biggie, don't put anything on the roof. And, views? It's a good 60 feet UP to the next house, so I could (maybe) get away with a short tower. However, my wife thinks "stupidradio" is one works, so the HOA is the least of my worries. I've had my stealth antennas up for over 10 years and nobody has complained yet.
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I've heard that there are HOA "agreements" that don't even allow amateur radio operation with an indoor antenna. :sad:
 
Palmpilot said:
I've heard that there are HOA "agreements" that don't even allow amateur radio operation with an indoor antenna. :sad:
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I wonder how that works. Doesn't the FCC have jurisdiction? I remember back in the '60s putting up a 2 meter ham antenna on a NYC apartment building where the building owner found out he couldn't ban the thing, but could charge a little extra rent.
 
I think the ARRL had been trying for years to get the FCC to assert federal preemption over homeowners' associations, but I don't know if they ever made any progress.
 
Just get on the board!

We just had a guy erect an 8 foot transceiving sat dish on his front yard...a board member

Then they went after a guy because they didn't like his lamppost....non pilot....young guy......built a nicer home next door to a BOD member....

Strike 3!

Proud owner in Falmouth Airpark Homeowners Association

The Northeast's most arbitrary and capricious Fly In Community!
 
I'm impressed the guy can still hoist the colors at 90. Most of my relatives were too busy being dead at 90 to display any colors but those of decomposition.
 
He did die at 98. Great old guy. He used to drive by the home he was forced to sell by the HOA at the Falmouth Airpark when they threatened him with fines he couldn't afford.

I absolutly dispise the HOA and the people who run it.

I think....no I know.....that I can appreciate how the Norwegians, French, Belgians ect felt about the collaborators to the Nazis.....and what they did to those pigs when they were finally liberated.
 
LOL our HOA and the few issues I have seen in our community are like mild playground spats compared to what some of you guys/gals have said here!
 
Palmpilot said:
I think the ARRL had been trying for years to get the FCC to assert federal preemption over homeowners' associations, but I don't know if they ever made any progress.
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None, so far.

MikeRR said:
Just get on the board!
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I just did. I used to be the head of the architectural control committee until I got fired for following the covenants. At the annual meeting last week I was elected to a 3 year term on the board. What did I say? That I would work to see that the things the HOA was allowed to do were done to the best of our ability and to otherwise stay out of everyone's hair. We've had some past members of the board who were always trying to push into issued not covered by the covenants and bylaws and I'm every bit a strict constructionist in this area.

Update: HOA board meeting last night. Guess who got elected President? Keeping this bunch in line will be just that much easier. :D
 
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Sounds like you're doing God's work.
 
Palmpilot said:
I've heard that there are HOA "agreements" that don't even allow amateur radio operation with an indoor antenna. :sad:
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There was one that said they could inspect inside your house to see if they like how you keep it up.

I'd be homeless in no time.
 
Palmpilot said:
I think the ARRL had been trying for years to get the FCC to assert federal preemption over homeowners' associations, but I don't know if they ever made any progress.
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The FCC rules say even an apartment or condo can't ban a satellite dish, although they can keep you from permanently mounting it on the structure or putting it in a common area.
 
mikea said:
There was one that said they could inspect inside your house to see if they like how you keep it up.

I'd be homeless in no time.
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I'd be in court seeing how well the "make my day" law in our State held up. Oops. Sorry, I thought you were an intruder. ;)

Of course, the thread can not possibly continue any further without me giggling about how phrases like "how well you keep it up" are being mixed with "free-standing flag-pole".

<New York Accent>"I got ya free-standing flagpole right here, bub!"</End NYA> also comes to mind when dealing with HOA idiots who think they're more important than they really are.
 
mikea said:
There was one that said they could inspect inside your house to see if they like how you keep it up.

I'd be homeless in no time.
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Anyone who tried that would be greeted at the door with a 12-gauge.

But, I just avoid the whole situation by not living in places where I have to deal with people and situations like that.
 
I lived in a HOA-controlled development in CA years ago were the "Gladys Kravitz" nosey neighbor would walk around the neighborhood peeking over fences to check up on everyone. Doing so would make the dogs bark, whereas the next door neighbor then received numerous citations for barking dog. We caught this on video, and they presented to the board and got the citations reversed, but only after long and heated arguments, including threatening trespass, disturbing the peace and anything else they could think of.
 
Another story: Friend of a friend lives in a house that is in a development next to a landfill. Hers is the house that is closest to the landfill.

She got warned, cited, fined, by the HOA because she hasn't been successful getting rid of the birds that perch on her roof.
 
gkainz said:
I lived in a HOA-controlled development in CA years ago were the "Gladys Kravitz" nosey neighbor would walk around the neighborhood peeking over fences to check up on everyone. Doing so would make the dogs bark, whereas the next door neighbor then received numerous citations for barking dog. We caught this on video, and they presented to the board and got the citations reversed, but only after long and heated arguments, including threatening trespass, disturbing the peace and anything else they could think of.
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Even without an HoA, you can have this. I've caught a few of my neighbors standing at the top of my driveway looking at my house, for seemingly no reason other than to be nosey and see what I'm doing. At one point, one neighbor of mine was routinely trespassing on my property. I made it clear to him that I had him on video and would press charges if he did it again. He then reverted to just peering over my driveway, and seems to have stopped doing that with the same regularity.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Even without an HoA, you can have this. I've caught a few of my neighbors standing at the top of my driveway looking at my house, for seemingly no reason other than to be nosey and see what I'm doing. ...
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You want peace? Spend $200 on a refurb laptop as a gift and show them the 'net. Or just buy a copy of The Sims. They can watch and control the lives forever.
 
mikea said:
You want peace? Spend $200 on a refurb laptop as a gift and show them the 'net. Or just buy a copy of The Sims. They can watch and control the lives forever.
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Sadly, they all have internet.

Some people don't know how to leave others alone.
 
The thing that bugs me is that it is apparently impossible to buy a new house without becoming subject to a homeowners association's rules.
 
Palmpilot said:
The thing that bugs me is that it is apparently impossible to buy a new house without becoming subject to a homeowners association's rules.
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Buy your own lot somewhere and build on it. You can find them in the city sometimes - otherwise just outside of town is always a good place to live.
 
Palmpilot said:
The thing that bugs me is that it is apparently impossible to buy a new house without becoming subject to a homeowners association's rules.
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Buy an old house. They're better built anyway. No HOA crap in my neighborhood.
 
jesse said:
Buy your own lot somewhere and build on it. You can find them in the city sometimes - otherwise just outside of town is always a good place to live.
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There is that option, but it sounds like a lot of hassle, and you are still limited on where you can live.
 
steingar said:
Buy an old house. They're better built anyway. No HOA crap in my neighborhood.
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That's what I have done, but it still bugs me that the only way to avoid the HOA straight jacket is to build my own house or buy an old one.
 
I just had to sue my HOA. I am doing it Pro Se because I couldn't in good conscience contribute to the lawyers relief act that the whole HOA mess has become.

The Falmouth Airpark Homeowners Association is trying to make me build a hangar on my home 17 years after I completed construction. MA law says you have 6 years to enforce a deed restriction among other laws that apply.
They (the HOA) are absolutely shameless in ignoring the law, governing documents and anything else that gets in the way of what they want.

Oh yea, I don't have a hangar because the HOA expressly authorized my house and 2 other homes to be built without one. That was how the ambiguous documents were interpreted then.

These guys just pretend that never happened, or the 6 years or so that the HOA was allowing this.

It all started when I went to a board meeting and told them it was wrong to be changing the governing documents without homeowners approval.

I am lucky there are no HOA gulags to be sent to, I'd be busting rocks there.
 
I remember when I lived in California - I worked in the Peoples' Republic of Irvine, where even the house you buy is on land you lease, but ended up buying a home in Fullerton, which had (1) responsive city government, (2) big (by CA standards) lots, (3) mature trees and (4) no HOA.

Guy in Irvine was arguing with me: "If you don't have a homeowners' association enforcing restrictive covenants, someone could buy a house, and paint it any color they wanted!"

Me: "Exactly!"

I'd rather live with the risk of a neighbor painting their home bizarre colors, than with the certainty of subjecting myself to that kind of meddlesome irritation.

But the real take-away message was, there's something right for every one, depending upon what their priorities may be. And that's OK.
 
It would be really nice if people could just get along in neighborhoods but sometimes they can't. So in order to have some semblance of a normal community they have to draw up rules becuase without them some poeple do things that are way outside the norms just because they can and feel they should be able to. So the answer is to draft a set of rules. The biggest problem is sometime the rules are worst then the problem they are trying to solve. Bottom line is if you can't deal with the rules don't buy there. I know it makes it hard to live in some places but that is they way it goes.
 
Here is my problem with the whole "Rules" thing.
The number one rule is that Americans are subordinate to and take the benefit of the protections of the Constitution of the US ;(see the first 10 amendments... the Bill of Rights) plenty of people have given their lives so that we can.

No 'rules' that require the surrendering of rule number one above, should ever be shoved down our throats simply because of where we choose....or in most cases are forced (most new construction is REQUURED to be HOA in the US) to own homes.

HOAs say, well we are private businesses and our governance is not subject to the constraints of the Constitution. Separation of powers, due process, independent judiciary, multi party political systems, sunshine laws, equal protection, and free press, on and on and on.....none of it exists in these places!

This whole bull**** paradigm is perpetuated by the lawyers and other service providers who are making a fortune off the 40 billion dollar cookie jar that is wide open to them!

Private deed restrictions are enforceable in court. For all the “cars on blocks” or “green house” fearing folks, there is remedy to these horrors.

But today, HOAs so control the remedy, that when they violate the law, governing documents, prior agreements, and all the other things that are happening on an epidemic scale, Homeowners have no place to go. The HOA attorney could care less about the law or principles of law. He is the German Sheppard that went after those kids in Birmingham, AL.

There are more people who are victimized by this third world governance in the US, than there are African Americans in the US today!
More than there are Hispanics in the US today!

I think HOAs and Condos are the biggest Civil Rights offenders in the history of this country.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Anyone who tried that would be greeted at the door with a 12-gauge.

But, I just avoid the whole situation by not living in places where I have to deal with people and situations like that.
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Even Without the HOA, your neigbors can't seem to stay out of your buisiness. Just imagine what it would be like if there were a HOA.

lol.
 
jtheune said:
It would be really nice if people could just get along in neighborhoods but sometimes they can't. So in order to have some semblance of a normal community they have to draw up rules becuase without them some poeple do things that are way outside the norms just because they can and feel they should be able to. So the answer is to draft a set of rules. The biggest problem is sometime the rules are worst then the problem they are trying to solve. Bottom line is if you can't deal with the rules don't buy there. I know it makes it hard to live in some places but that is they way it goes.
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Sorry, not my experience. Most of the houses in which I've lived have been no more than a few feet from the neighbors. We all get along. No, it isn't perfect. But it is a long, long way from chaos.
 
Some people seem to take pleasure in making others comply with rules. I think it is a character flaw, but it is rampant these days.
 
steingar said:
Sorry, not my experience. Most of the houses in which I've lived have been no more than a few feet from the neighbors. We all get along. No, it isn't perfect. But it is a long, long way from chaos.
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I've never lived in a HOA in my life and have had minimal issues with neighbors. I talked to the neighbors when I bought my house to make sure they weren't stuck up and were just good hard working people. There are some "higher class" neighborhoods that I would not be happy with. Too many people in each-others business - all trying to present an artificial image of themselves. Stereotype? Perhaps. But it's been my observation.
 
Funny, neither can most of my neighbors. One of the biggest jerks on the board of directors of the Falmouth Airpark HOA, just lost his house to the bank.
I went to the registry of deeds to research my other neighbors mortgages (something I would never do to a REAL neighbor).....and surprise!...most of them are in over their heads.
I used to love flying and assumed that everyone was like me, and just loved it.
What I have found is that a great many pilots just like to look down on other people.
And overall.....at least in my experience......suck as neighbors.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Anyone who tried that would be greeted at the door with a 12-gauge.

But, I just avoid the whole situation by not living in places where I have to deal with people and situations like that.
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Sounds like overkill to me.
 
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