I have had experience with several HOAs over the years and actually been on the board of a couple. In some cases, board members are so tired of their dull, and arid lives, that they actually get drunk with the itty-bitty amount of power they have and can hardly wait to use it against someone. I could probably write a book on the nutty actions of people like this.

I used to be vice president of a Homeowner's Association for a high end development in a liberal community in northern California. In general, HOA rules (which all buyers and renters agree to follow in order in order to live there) are very specific about what is and what is not permitted. Almost all of the time when we had a problem with a resident, the excuse was that "this is just not fair" or "this is too important an issue", or "I'm too important a person" to follow the rules. Of course there were sometimes varying interpretations, but generally it was black and white. It never failed to amaze me how many people would agree to something and then say they didn't understand it or didn't have time to read it, when their signature was on the document.

That said, many HOA's provide a place where cranky people go to fight with each other, which is why I finally resigned.

Lesson: When you knowingly give up your "rights" then don't complain when you have no "rights."

We do the accounting for a group of over 100 condos. The problems seem to ebb and flow with the elected leadership. Lately, with two controlling women at the helm, it is one tempest in a teapot after another. It is petty and ongoing. Many older people just want a peaceful existence. We have decided we NEVER will go to a condo.
Our rural subdivision, lots 1-5 acres, does have a homeowners association. It came in handy when developers for an adjacent parcel planned to tie into our sewage system for 80 new homes, and County Commissioners, in their ignorance were set to approve it. The Assoc. filled the chambers and fought it to its death. Had that not happened, the EPA would have shut down the system, and none of us would have had a place to live. However, another time, some liberal broad got on the board and was planning Paris street lights for the whole subdivision - most of the homes are rustic. That got put down as well, and she moved to Calif. where she fits right in. We do have other limitations, no horses (darn), no fenced in front yard, all garages must be attached (but they aren't). Mostly I like some rules, but loose ones.

When you purchase a piece of property which is governed by a HOA you are contractually agreeing to abide by the deeds covenants and restrictions. If the board has a lot of flexibility in interpreting those covenants, you are screwed if you don’t like what they do and you don’t take time to be on the board. Bottom line though...YOU AGREED TO IT! Quit whining. If you don’t like it get on the board and change things. Now some boards control the board membership and it can be difficult to get on and if you do get there you are but one voice...but you can make life miserable for the board if you are willing to take the time. Decide if it is a ""hill you want to die on" and fight them...or just put up with it, because again.....YOU AGREED TO IT, WHAT IS IT ABOUT A CONTRACT YOU DIDN’T UNDERSTAND. My HOA messed with me and I made their life a living hell, they elected to stop messing with me after that now 15 years later. There are still things I don’t like but I put up with them. Everything in life is a choice.

If you are young enough to still be building your nest egg, condos are probably not for you. This is because while you are at work the older, retired residents, are holding HOA meetings to write the rules that tell you how to live. Since you are at work and cannot attend these meetings, you have no say. You will live by the rules or be forced out.

Unless the group accepts a behavior, it cannot be done. Collectivism at its best. These homeowners associations are often the same type of idiots who vote for school levies. They are the kind of people who are the targets of people like Obama, and Clinton's UN driven organizatons for global centralization of authority. It starts in our neighborhoods with these HOA groups. I would never join one, and they wouldn't like me much. The whips make too much noise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNlIT1I1b...

There is a neighborhood near my house, but they can't do a damn thing about it. I've told them many, many, many times that if they don't like it, they can move.

That's the greatness of living in the area I reside in. The lots around my house were plotted by the owner where he resided in the house I live in. Mine is not plotted. When those around me found this out boy were they a little upset. I have a landing going into the lake right next to my property line. I was forced by one who took me to court and won to forget about using the landing. He also was trying to extend the wire fence to the corner of my garage where it would have blocked entrance into my drive. Being the house was built in 1960 it fell under the landmark law where he could not do as he wanted. Blocking me from using the landing to use the lake was his mistake. At the time I had been driving truck for about 20 years and I just built my own landing and told the gentleman that he could stop me from using the landing, but with my experience in driving I could my boats anywhere anytime on the lake from anyplace. Now the tables have turned and he is at war with his own family next to me and has been blocked from using the landing as he pleased. Want to know who he came to so he could get his pontoon in? I was not the first he came to I was the last, but how ironic what comes around usually comes back to bite you in the being nice, POSTERIOR. Should I gloat?

Dear oh dear. Too many people that pay too much attention to their neighbors and less about themselves. This is past ridiculous.
God help the person that ever tries to dictate what I have in my house. Hey are these morons Obooma friendly, he likes dictatorship, sure sounds as if these boobs do too.

Tyranny, tyranny, everywhere

My wife has been on our HOA board in the safest city in the nation (over 100,000 pop) for 14 years. The rules are the rules. Unfortunately, due to a few rogue boards adding rules, state law makes it nearly impossible to change the rules. Instead the board practices selective enforcement. Example: we have a rule against running a business out of the home. When someone complains about “suspicious” people in idling cars in front of their house, the board is FORCED to send the piano teacher a letter to cover their butt. Another complaint, another letter. Has the guy ever been fined? No. But if someone opened a car repair business in their garage they would fine him out of existence. This appears to be the case with Linda Karp. I imagine they have a rule against things visible from the street. Her sign may be inside but still visible. IF someone complains the board is FORCED to send her a letter. Then, she made a federal case out of it, before realizing the rules give the board the ability to fine the guy with a Nazi flag in the window (inside his house) but not actually fine her.

Yes, that is correct, but then sometimes the rules change - drastically. My mom's HOA wanted to hire a company to perform the HOA's functions, like survey and enforcement. It was going to raise the fee and possibly introduce an unaccountable bureaucracy. The community vote failed badly and the idea was scrapped - until one or two board members changed and they reintroduced it at a different time of year with a lot of strongarming. You can guess the results.

My mother lives in an "association neighborhood". Which by and large fits in with her needs and wants quite well. However, if you are not retired and financially well-off, it's not a very comfortable place even to visit.

When my father died in 2004, we put a Scottish flag on the garage so that family members would be able to find the house. Within 30 minutes, a very officious woman arrived at the door to inform my mother that the flag was in violation of "association rules". I informed her, without raising my voice, that if she would bend over, she could take the flag with her--pole and all. She did go away, however, my mother freaked out, my family joined in, and I wound up leaving shortly after.

About six months later, the woman was kicked out of the homeowners' association after a series of similar incidents. My family has kept me at a dstance since. Ah, the joys of being right too soon.

Civil Rights have progressively gone down the drain in the US, and this violation to private property and rights is proof of that. This "Big Brother" effect, catapulted with "The War On Terrorism" has very undiscretely stomped upon all, and privacy is now a luxury only the enforcers can uphold (which are a handfull only). Comunications and Information are registered everywhere and in all sorts of ways, and the excuse of "security" has permitted we be under control un everything. Credit Cards, Cell Phones, Car Alarms, Satellites, Internet, etc. are only some of the tools for this massive intelligence. Airport searches, random searches in rented appartments, hotels, and now even homes prove that we can be controlled by all, something the Catholic Church began doing with confessions back in the middle ages. To be free is to go off the grid, which sends us back to living in caves mainly. Only Galt could think of an optical device to block out the outside world from his Gulch. Me? I just don´t care, I´ve got nothing to hide.