Link: The "tiny house" movement. Anyone familiar with this?
- Thread starter Bamabuzzard
- Start date
there is also a thing referred to as livable space. this doesn't count closets.
There's a critical mass for any group of people. At some point, it will turn into a jr. high school. Cliques will form, gossip will flow, jealousies will emerge, slights (real or imagined) will fester and turn into outrage and attacks. Someone will need to be "taught a lesson" for the good of the group. It's inevitable.
this is what I tried to explain, calmly at first and then no so calmly to my current neighbors as they tried to force an HOA on us. Went to my first HOA meeting they spent 45 minutes trying to assure the few doubters in the room that "we are all good neighbors and good people, we'd never go after anyone or put liens on houses or force anyone who can't pay to do so, we've been a nice voluntary HOA to date there is no reason we would turn nasty" and then the last 45 minutes discussing how, if this all went through, the could finally get those people who never paid the voluntary dues to finally start pulling their weight and paying. Even discussed options for how to use the legal system to make it all work. They did all this without even the slightest realization of the huge disconnect between the 2 halves of the meeting. Myself and the other spearhead of the Anti-HOA group just sat there bewildered.
I served on our HOA for a total of 6 years and President as 2. With the wrong people in there, it can become an absolute power trip for some. We kicked out our management company and lawyer in my tenure and saved our neighbors thousands upon thousands in legal fees and unnecessary miscellaneous fees. I will tell you this, if you don't get involved, you can't gripe because you have no one but yourself to blame if things go bad.
I'm on the board - we basically just meet in order to meet the legal requirements. It's a good little neighborhood where people pretty much respect one another, no issues in 11+ years here.
We had issues with our management company charging us for sending out "nice yard" letters and crap like that. I made them reimburse us for that then we fired them. The lawyers who would "research" every month homeowners who were in arrears on their dues. We fired them, approached the homeowners who were having difficulty paying their annual assessments (due right after Christmas along with property taxes and insurance), and offered payment plans. They jumped on it. It guaranteed us for the most part, of collecting. It nearly eliminated all of our legal fees, freeing up money to upgrade our pool, tennis court and playground equipment and it created more harmony within the community of nearly 1,000 homes.
Common sense prevailed. And yes, no disrespect to Earle, but I really do hate lawyers because of my experience on the HOA. Those guys are snakes.
HOAs are the spawn of satin and only exists to make money for lawyers.
Our HOA was being sued by a resident because she felt that the money was being used inappropriately. One thing she didn't like was how people who had a fence along a public street would always get there fences replaced or repaired every few years at the HOAs expense, mean while others have fences laying on the ground and can't afford to get them fixed. It wasn't fair I completely agreed with her. During the 3 or 4 years this lawsuit was being fought, the HOA stopped sending out bills to pay your dues and the HOA pres. even quit so, the HOA basically didn't exist for 4 years.
When the suit was put to bed and the HOA decided to get going again I went to the first meeting they had, it was also my last. The big thing talked about at this meeting was why people had not been paying there dues. They just thought that everyone should have kept paying even though they weren't sending out notices. Some newer people to the neighborhood said they didn't even know there was an HOA so how could they pay. I told them that I do not pay bills unless I get a bill in the mail or online. Tried to explain how I know I have to pay my mortgage but, the bank still sends out a bill each month. I said I refuse to pay any back payments, that it wasn't my fault the HOA didn't have their crap together for 4 years and I wasn't going to pay for there mistake. Some 80 year old lady sitting next to me scream you have to pay because you chose to live here, I scream back "why are you old folks so willing to just throw your money away without questioning anything." No wonder phone scams work on the elderly so much.
To this day I've never been to another meeting, not even going to try and reason with folks who just love to throw money away. They also have never collected any back payments, I think they got a lot of push back from people like me who just didn't speak up at that first meeting. It's been a few years since then so I doubt they'll ever really try to collect. In fact, they haven't sent out a notice to pay dues this year and I'm not paying a dime until they do. Who knows maybe they are being sued again, wouldn't surprise me with how crappy it has been run.
Our HOA was being sued by a resident because she felt that the money was being used inappropriately. One thing she didn't like was how people who had a fence along a public street would always get there fences replaced or repaired every few years at the HOAs expense, mean while others have fences laying on the ground and can't afford to get them fixed. It wasn't fair I completely agreed with her. During the 3 or 4 years this lawsuit was being fought, the HOA stopped sending out bills to pay your dues and the HOA pres. even quit so, the HOA basically didn't exist for 4 years.
When the suit was put to bed and the HOA decided to get going again I went to the first meeting they had, it was also my last. The big thing talked about at this meeting was why people had not been paying there dues. They just thought that everyone should have kept paying even though they weren't sending out notices. Some newer people to the neighborhood said they didn't even know there was an HOA so how could they pay. I told them that I do not pay bills unless I get a bill in the mail or online. Tried to explain how I know I have to pay my mortgage but, the bank still sends out a bill each month. I said I refuse to pay any back payments, that it wasn't my fault the HOA didn't have their crap together for 4 years and I wasn't going to pay for there mistake. Some 80 year old lady sitting next to me scream you have to pay because you chose to live here, I scream back "why are you old folks so willing to just throw your money away without questioning anything." No wonder phone scams work on the elderly so much.
To this day I've never been to another meeting, not even going to try and reason with folks who just love to throw money away. They also have never collected any back payments, I think they got a lot of push back from people like me who just didn't speak up at that first meeting. It's been a few years since then so I doubt they'll ever really try to collect. In fact, they haven't sent out a notice to pay dues this year and I'm not paying a dime until they do. Who knows maybe they are being sued again, wouldn't surprise me with how crappy it has been run.
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I wouldn't mind having a luxury 450 sq. ft. home sitting on 40 acres. Why can't the federal government provide this for everyone? They should also give you a mule!
P. S. I'd probably be out on that 40 acres doing something and NOT in that house.
Growing up in Alabama we had a 50 square ft. location that we frequented occasionally. It was called a toilet, aka an outhouse. Just imagine what you could do with 400 more sq. ft.
P. S. I'd probably be out on that 40 acres doing something and NOT in that house.
Growing up in Alabama we had a 50 square ft. location that we frequented occasionally. It was called a toilet, aka an outhouse. Just imagine what you could do with 400 more sq. ft.
You know the more I think about it the more I think 92tide and others are right about this. These are people who don't want the social stigma of a living in a trailer so they've tried to make something as ridiculous as this "cool". I pass a company every morning who sells mobile homes that are dang near 2,000 or more for $50,000. Yet these people are spending roughly that for a 200-400 sq foot sardine can? Sumpin' ain't too wise about that.
LOL! I was standing in the check out line at the grocery store a few weeks ago and struck up a conversation with the gentlemen in front of me. As we talked I asked him what he did for a living. Immediately after he told me he was a lawyer he quickly started telling me what "kind" of lawyer he was. I chuckled a bit by his quickness to clarify what type lawyer he was. He said he had to do that because when you just simply tell people "I'm a lawyer" it normally draws un-welcomed body language. Tough job but somebody's got to do it.I'm not that kind of lawyer, anyway...
To some degree accountants get the same reaction. Especially auditors.
I find the vehemence against HOAs amusing, especially from those who seem to put their trust in the federal government. What is the federal government but a great big HOA of sorts?
Try saying you work for an insurance company and tell me the reaction you get.
We had a 3600 square foot home and my wife said we needed to downsize since the kids we almost all gone. Long story short we bought a 2000 square foot home and in the third year we added another 1000 because she said it was just too small. I do have to admit it is more usable space than the old house. It's a good thing I love the old girl like I do...
I've had one nightmare HOA experience. It was for a modest sized condo development, maybe 135 units in all. There was a palace coup and a group took over from the developer, who had originally dominated it. The more I heard about the guy who took it over, the less I liked the situation. It turned out that he was a semi-pro litigator. He had sued his former employer, Boeing, won, liked the feeling and kept on suing. Despite the fact that the development had severe foundation problems, only the president's buddies got any work done. Meanwhile, the president was figuring out new and better ways, mostly kickbacks, to milk the HOA. At one point, he called me and asked me to represent the HOA, that he'd decided the lawyer they had was incompetent (true). I begged off, saying that, since my partner had drawn up the declaration of condominium, the original HOA articles, and still represented the developer, it would be a conflict of interest. I moved out and bought a house and rented the unit for several years. I've never been happier than the day I sold it. I sold it "as is," and, best of all, the purchaser had lived in the development before and was familiar with all of the problems. She was just trying to get back closer to her boyfriend. Needless to say, after I declined representation, I couldn't even get rusting banisters sanded and painted...
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