I do not live in an HOA, however I have a sister that lives in a relaxed HOA and another sister that lives in a strict HOA.
I will say our neighborhood some people do have trash around, broken cars, long weeds, and generally don't take very good care of their yards for the most part. We do have people that take excellent care, however there are always the outliers who have their broken down school bus collection, "art", and scrap metal.
My sister in a relaxed HOA has nice yards and houses, the HOA is basically there for sidewalk repair, common area issues. Not controlling homeowners, unless someone is completely out of hand (like people in my neighborhood). The sister in the strict HOA gets cited for her grass too long, got a paint color approved for her house, then after they painted it, the HOA decided they didn't like it and made them repaint it.
She gets cited for yard decor that they don't like, someone parked in their driveway and overlapped the sidewalk, and she got a strongly worded letter. They are constantly bombarded with letters from the HOA about dog poop, trash etiquette, flags, driving through the neighborhood... it's nuts. When the HOA ladies walk the neighborhood, she sweats. That's not homeownership. I'd rather live in my neighborhood where people do what they want with their yards, even if I don't agree with what they do.
As far as people in the HOA, I think absolute power corrupts absolutely. No matter which side of the aisle you are on.
My wife's coworker lives in an HOA. Her husband has MS I think, and their neighbors know this. They see what she has to go through to get him to the car, in and out of the car, etc., and yet, her next door neighbor is always giving her shit about her yard and whatnot. She's trying to get some things remodeled/repaired in her home, and occasionally, when she gets home from work, she has to park out on the street until the handymen are gone (their lots are small and her driveway is really short), and they give her shit about that. They go out of their way to make her life more difficult than it already is, when they could take a few minutes to stand in her shoes, and ask if there's anything they could do to help her.
There's no fucking way I'd ever live in an HOA. I honestly don't know what's going through people's minds when they think everything will be OK to live under one.
I do not live in an HOA, however I have a sister that lives in a relaxed HOA and another sister that lives in a strict HOA.
I will say our neighborhood some people do have trash around, broken cars, long weeds, and generally don't take very good care of their yards for the most part. We do have people that take excellent care, however there are always the outliers who have their broken down school bus collection, "art", and scrap metal.
My sister in a relaxed HOA has nice yards and houses, the HOA is basically there for sidewalk repair, common area issues. Not controlling homeowners, unless someone is completely out of hand (like people in my neighborhood). The sister in the strict HOA gets cited for her grass too long, got a paint color approved for her house, then after they painted it, the HOA decided they didn't like it and made them repaint it.
She gets cited for yard decor that they don't like, someone parked in their driveway and overlapped the sidewalk, and she got a strongly worded letter. They are constantly bombarded with letters from the HOA about dog poop, trash etiquette, flags, driving through the neighborhood... it's nuts. When the HOA ladies walk the neighborhood, she sweats. That's not homeownership. I'd rather live in my neighborhood where people do what they want with their yards, even if I don't agree with what they do. As far as people in the HOA, I think absolute power corrupts absolutely. No matter which side of the aisle you are on.
My wife's coworker lives in an HOA. Her husband has MS I think, and their neighbors know this. They see what she has to go through to get him to the car, in and out of the car, etc., and yet, her next door neighbor is always giving her shit about her yard and whatnot. She's trying to get some things remodeled/repaired in her home, and occasionally, when she gets home from work, she has to park out on the street until the handymen are gone (their lots are small and her driveway is really short), and they give her shit about that. They go out of their way to make her life more difficult than it already is, when they could take a few minutes to stand in her shoes, and ask if there's anything they could do to help her.
There's no fucking way I'd ever live in an HOA. I honestly don't know what's going through people's minds when they think everything will be OK to live under one.