Just thought I'd share my new problem with my Association. As a little background, they have tagged me in the past for wet sanding a roll bar, oil spot on the drive way, and working on vehicles in my drive way.

Well it has been all of about one week since I explained to them that my hobby is working on my 4x4, and that I will no longer do that in my drive way. They seemed to be aware that I had a project going on in my garage, and I thought it OK to continue my work.

Well, I get a call today saying that they noticed me welding in my garage last night (the doors all closed!) and that is not allowed. In fact I can't even cut metal as it is a fire hazard. Seems they tried to call the fire department on me for the welding, but I guess the fire dept. told them there was no law against that. (None, that I know of!)

So now I have a half built vehicle, 1/2 a front suspension, no engine, tranny or t-case installed and no ability to finish it in my garage! :mad3: You have to be kidding me.

The good news is that I rent, and will probably end up breaking my lease and moving the hell away from these damn associations as this is just getting silly.

I wanted to share this little story as I actually have a club member that had to move just so he could work on his Toyotas. Think twice before you buy into this association bull shit. To me a house with no association is far more valuable.

I hope none of you run into this shit where you are. The funny thing is that I'm very friendly with all of my neighbors, and they like to cruise by and see how the project is going, and I help them out with tools and the such whenever I can.

I really don't know what America is coming to when you can't even work on your own vehicles in your own damn garage, let alone the drive way!:nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

You got a story along these lines, lets here it..

-Wayne
Samurai- Rotary engine, 4 speed auto, Toyota twins & axles

I can't believe that! :mad3:

I have had the same kind of thing going on at my apartment complex. I am a student and I have a 2 bedroom apartment one for me and one for the tools. I have been having trouble with my landlord because my jeep has been sitting outside and I work on it on occasion. none of my neibors care and they all come out to see what I am up to and how it is coming. I just did a 350 swap in the parking lot and I had to tow it to the shop to have the tranny installed because the owner said that he didnt want any vehicles on the premisis that didnt run. I told him that I pay almost 10000 a year for a 2 bedroom apartment and I am entitled to 2 spaces if I need them I also told him that my jeep would be parked there if it was running or if it was not. You cant tell that it is not running from just looking at it so I dont know what crawled up his ass. I guess I will really piss him off when I do a rockwell/coilover swap this summer huh!!!:flipoff2: :eek:

He can kiss my ass and if he gives me any problems I will drive over that ugly old work truck of his when he is not looking.

I could never live in a neighborhood like yours. I know some people who live in Scottsdale AZ and they are not allowed to store their ski boat at their million plus dollar house. They have to keep it at a storage place across town. I dont understand how these people can tell you what to do if your not breaking any laws. I would be pissed as hell if I spent a ton of money on a house and coudent do anything/store anything there.

My uncle has some of the same problems. There is a lady that doesn't even live on his street that has called him in a couple of times. He lives at the end of the street and there is only one house on the street. He has gotten around some of it though. He just works with the door closed. He even has a two post car lift in his garage. And everyone has got to notice the race car driving in and out of the garage because it only has numbers and sponsors all over it. Oh well, this is why I am going to buy a big piece of land and only let people who like to work on their cars to live there.

Erin

i have had similar experiences with neighbors. i would bet money that one of the people who dropps by to chat and see how the project is going is the SOB who runs the heat on you! i recently moved to a neighborhood where there is no association and i regularly work on my jeep in the driveway. my one neighbor complained that my headers to 2 chamber flowmasters were a bit load. i agreed and have switched to manifolds and 3 chamber flows. i know she was pissed when i bought a 25' long triple axle deck over trailer to haul my rig on and parked between our houses! oh well! she considers my jeep an eyesore but at least my yard is manicured and the trim on the house is fresh while her yard looks like shit and the red trim on her house has faded to pink. if my new exhaust isnt up to her expectations and she says anything to me about the trailer then i will threaten to start having by buddies and their drag cars come over regularly so we can try to diagnose that annoying miss he has around 7000 rpm while slamming buds and blasting guns and roses.:flipoff2: :flipoff2:

This very thing is a big part of the reason that I just bought 6 acres in BFE. My house is forsale and I will never live in a neighborhood like that again. I can handle the extra commute to work for a little peace and the ability to do whatever the hell I want. Not to mention the rock graden that I plan on building :D

I have lived in a apt. complex with rules that was similar. I got a complaint once that suggested that washing my truck in the drive way was,in the rulebook,forbidden (this was not a primo area to live in). I thought it a little extreme. I knew alot of people in the area and they would stand behind me, so I suggested a coupla' city/county offices to call on for inspection of the whole premises. Never heard of again........ :D
Yeah, fawk those associations. THEY are the pesky neighbor.:mad:

My experience with homeowners associations is they have a lot less power then they think they do. It is usually a bunch of NIMBYs who are only concerned about themselves. So what can they do? With all the convents I have read, there are a bunch of things they say you can't do, but there is no real punishment. Granted, you landlord might evict you, but that can take months. Also, check to see if the convents are recorded. This includes any rules they try to pass at their little meetings, after the homwowners have taken control from the developer. If they are not, I do not believe they are legal. At least this is the way it is in the small corner of Colorado I live in. I know California can be a little strange though :flipoff2:

FAWKIN HOAs :flipoff2:

:mad3: :mad3: :mad3:

Dammn, I love where I live. 7 acres, no emissions in the county we live in. Only 4 minutes from work... can have camp/bonfires if we like, no BS restrictions. I found out that at my grandmothers townhouse complex you aren't even allowed to OWN A TRUCK! Not, work on it, just plain own one. She doesn't have one, but that is soooooo BS.

My "neighborhood" is 3 houses/lots. The "neighborhood association" has 2 rules:

1. No pig farm
2. No mobile homes


I have no problem complying with either one :cool2:

Originally posted by DRM
My "neighborhood" is 3 houses/lots. The "neighborhood association" has 2 rules:

1. No pig farm
2. No mobile homes


I have no problem complying with either one :cool2:


And if you did, what would happen?

1. Bacon for breakfast for a year.
2. Saturday night bonfire.

i had the local town property inspecter call my landlord and tell him that unregistered uninsured vehicles are not allowed to be on the property. the fucked up part was everything i had on the property was still registered and insured, i told the landlord and he was fine with it and didnt care. im sure the town dude just wanted to bust my balls. then he told the landlord the shed had to be painted (landlords shed) so i painted it for him. it sucks living in a town. i made an offer on a house monday and am in the negotiating phase so i should have a house soon. its on 2 acres surrounded by farm and is considered argricultural.

I wouldnt stop working on it. It is illegal to spy on anyone doing whatever they want inside behind closed doors. I would even set a small camera up inconspicuosly under your eve to see if someone is coming on your property and peeking in the windows. If they warn you again I would call them on it and ask for a legal document stswing the violations you are committing and the penalty they ensue. I hate nosey f-cking neighbors. Dont stop your project just because of them. If you were a true fire hazard the F-D would have come out.
I had a next door neighbor lier that would call my landlord and tell him I was having drug parties and people were screaming and never would leave for days. The week he was reffering to was the strange car(my moms) sitting almost at the property line NEAR his house, and one day my aunts came by to see her and we had a bbq. Big DRUG PARTY huh.
Just check it all out before you move and put your project on the back burner to do so. I would try to get as much done as you could before you move. Good Luck.

Man all this talk of Home Owners Associations and bad neighbors make me think twice about moving! I weld, chop metal, and pertty much do what ever i want too all weekend long and only once had the cops called on me for making too much noise. That was when i was tuning my Chevy with open headers for 4 hours straight. Well good luck on finishing that project!!!

Bummer!

One reason to check out the neighborhood for how many RETIRED folks are aound. Ahem, buddy in AZ would get the complaints up the waazuu.... but loved Summers as all the snow birds would flock north again leaving him to his peace and quiet!

I got nailed for the non-op vehicle in the front (looked good, but was a neighbor who was pissed about his BOAT getting tagged and became a jerk... strange).

House hunting... spotted one place, not too bad. Seems odd it has been on the market for FOUR MONTHS! Stopped by to look at it, and the neighbor has 18 SAABS against the fence next to this property. DAMN, sounds good for me. Pam (g/f) freaked at all the cars next door, and wouldn't look at it! Darn it. I explained it would be simple to save $50K on the place, buy the cars for $5K and scrap them. <grin> (In reality, help the dude out by building a large storage barn to store parts, so he can keep the best of his collection).

Damn... before I can move, I need to "clean out" my backyard! Vehicle, and lots of parts around the shed. :(

Tom :usa:

Yep, I have an association also. They really suck.

I've been cited for parking my 68 Nova (now sold) on the street, so I moved it the cravel next to the driveway, then the cited me for that. When I called them, they told me I have to have 2 cars in my garage BEFORE I can park anything in the driveway. When I asked them what the fine was, they said there wasn't one figured yet, so I told them to save the stamps until there was one.

My neighbors (rednecks) had the infortunate experience of losing their 1 year old daughter (one of 7 kids) to pnuemonia. They had their wake at their house, and the association cited them for having people park on the street.

I have been cited for oil in the driveway (2x), parking violations (too many times to count), our trash can being visible to other neighbors (also too many times to count), weeds in the yard (3 or 4x), etc.

I try to be very considerate to my neighbors. I don't grind after 8:00pm, I try to do all of the noisy stuff at one time, to keep the noise down, and close the garage door whenever I am welding, grinding, etc. None of my neighbors seem to mind at all.

I understand WHY associations are in place, but I hate the fact that I can spend $125,000.00 for a house and be told where to put my trash can.

:mad3: :mad3: :mad3:

I'm lucky, I have four neighbors and two cops for the whole township, two work on cars, ones never there and the other person is my grandmother. Never had trouble with the neighbors yet and I dont think I will thank god for the country living.

Well I moved from an apt to a lease house so I could have a garage to work in. When I was reading the Std. lease it said you couldn't work on vehicles. So I called the owner up and said I won't move in unless thats waived. I made it clear upfront that I work on my own vehicles and do light welding / fab in the garage and if that was a problem I would keep looking. He didn't have a problem with that so I hand wrote in an adjustment in our lease just in case.

Feel your pain, bro. The apartment thing I can sort of understand. HOAs are a different animal. First, what power do they truly have? Sure, they can nag the shit out of you, but what else? Since you're a renter, the worst that can happen is the property owner can attempt to evict you.

I own a home with an Association. In nearly three years, I haven't had a problem (knock on wood). I do try to be respectful of my neighbors and do most of my grinding and whatnot inside the garage (not in the driveway) and at appropriate times when people aren't sleeping.
Dion

READ YOUR CC&R'S.

If they don't say anything about it then they can't do anything about it. If they do and you own the property they can fine you after two warnings and the fine goes up untill they put a lein on your home. They do have a lot of power but it is limited to the CC&R'S. You can work behind closed doors and they can't tell you what you can do in your own garage with the door closed. I am on the board of my association and have had similiar complaints. Get on the board and make nice with the association manager and they will tell you who complains about you. Bottom line, if you live there you got a copy of the rules. Follow them or move, it was your choice to move in and it is your responsibility to follow the rules.

That is why I told the realtor the criteria for the house I was looking for was:
1) NO HOA!
2) 2 car garage
3) Plenty of RV access
4) Oh, and while you're at it, it should have bedrooms, a living room, etc.

Just tell em what I told my neighbors :flipoff2:

wow, i sure am lucky, i'm only 18, so i still live with my parrents, and we live in a regular old house, no HOA, but neighbors everywhere. they dont seem to care about the cutting and grinding and welding, but i'm pretty polite about it, i try not to start till 8 and stop by dark. they're probably pretty cool because the one to the right is a contractor, and has been remodeling thier house for at least 6 months, we dont complain, and i can hear the skilsaw now. on the other side is a mom with a son my age, we're pretty good friends, and he races MX so we hear the 125 fire up every once in a while, no biggie, and she runs a day care, little kids running around screaming all the time, and while it pisses my mom off to know end, she doesnt say shit. only thing is, i cant have parties, ever, my parrents are going out of town for the weekend, can't have some friends over to drink some beer cause the neighbor (1/2 a block down the street) will tell my dad if anyone shows up besides me or my brother. but i shouldnt complain.
funny thing is, my buddie chris, has the oposite problem, he lives in a trailer park, nice ass trailer btw, he cant do the front brakes on his tacoma, in the carport, with out someone giving him shit, but no-one says shit if he has a little party, and there are like 5 extra trucks parked out front, as long as we park facing the right direction, go figure

that really sucks dude. I live in an association, but i'm lucky and they dont seem to mind the rig. Actually I used to paint over graffiti for them when i was 14 so the normal whiners seem to like me. I'm also friends with all the neighbors and help them out, so no one complains. hell i even did an SAS in the street, check the sig for pics. of course they do complain when we forget to mow the lawn, go figure.

Dallas

THe HOA in my neighborhood sent us a letter last fall (just after beginning my buildup), about excessive noise. I just insulated the garage door (for sound, and heat), and did the rest of the project with the garage door closed, and I never heard anything else about it. Of course, they did tow my trailer away, even though it was parked in the designated spot for parking shit.

Originally posted by Brawler
READ YOUR CC&R'S.

...they can fine you after two warnings and the fine goes up until they put a lein on your home.... You can work behind closed doors and they can't tell you what you can do in your own garage with the door closed. ... Bottom line, if you live there you got a copy of the rules. Follow them or move, it was your choice to move in and it is your responsibility to follow the rules.

First off, thanks for the responses. I enjoyed reading them, and look foward to not living with an Association. They just aren't car hobby friendly.

I'd like to respond to the above quote. Many of you asked what they can do to me, well there you go.. They go fine happy around here! I have been cited for a small oil spot (cleaned it up), wet sanding a roll bar (they thought that was toxic dumping), parking an unregistered vehicle in my driveway (even though I kept it clean and moved it every other day), and working on vehicles in my driveway. This might make me sound like a bad guy, but I'm really not. Do they care? Nope.

Can they tell me what I can do in my garage? Seems they can. They are saying the welding is in the CC&Rs. I'm waiting for a copy right now. If it is not in there, then i will continue, but will also continue looking for a new place to live. These guys just have it out for me. I can do no right it seems.

By the way, I always stop making noise at 8:30 pm or earlier. The most noise I make is my cut-off saw, and I avoid using it when possible. Hell, I have a full set of air tools and compressor that I don't even use because of the noise levels.

I just hope I keep one of you other 4x4 folks from falling into the same shit. Regardless of what you do, once you are on the radar screen, you are screwed, unless you want to be a friggen idiototic sheep and simply use your home for watching TV, shitting and sleeping.

I guess I should also mention that the last place I lived in was on a golf course with an association, and I was doing the same things there with my garage fully open, and had NO problems.

Here is something some of you will love.. What would you have to pay for all of this fun? Well I have a shitty 850 sq. ft. townhouse 2 bed/2bath with a single car garage in front of it, and these things are selling for about $250,000 right now. I rent for $1150/mo plus utils. Happy happy, joy joy.. The great part is that it is hard to buy or rent around here. My brother got into a bidding war on a house to rent. He finally offered to pay a full years rent in advance to get the place!

It just sucks around here..

-Wayne

Wayne, I feel your pain, too. I don't get along w/any of my neighbors except one who just ignores me (works for me!). The others next door moved in 2 years after me and then immediately started complaining about my parts cars. Uh, they were there when you looked at your property. They also hate the fact that I work on my truck so much and make noise w/grinders, etc. They can kiss my ass 'cause we live in the county, no covenants and no restrictions on junk cars so long as you're not operating a 'yard (then it would be considered commercial). They've "threatened" a privacy fence many times but won't do it 'cause then they couldn't spy on me (which is their only hobby).

But it still sucks to not get along w/your neighbors. My point: when you look for a new place, get plenty of land w/a house in the center so that none of your neighbors can even SEE what you do. No matter how nice they seem at first, trust me: someone will start complaining about something you do sooner rather than later if they can see or hear you do it.

"Here is something some of you will love.. What would you have to pay for all of this fun? Well I have a shitty 850 sq. ft. townhouse 2 bed/2bath with a single car garage in front of it, and these things are selling for about $250,000 right now. I rent for $1150/mo plus utils. Happy happy, joy joy.. The great part is that it is hard to buy or rent around here. My brother got into a bidding war on a house to rent. He finally offered to pay a full years rent in advance to get the place! "


This is the exact reason there are HOA's , to increase property value. They expect the old retired people to move in and purchase not the young wheelers and fabricators of america. good luck!

No HOA in my 'hood, but the neighbors have called the city for various reasons. Let's see, just a couple of examples of my experiences:
City stopped by & gave a written warning that they would tow my vehicles off my driveway. When I called the city guy to find out what was up he said he had looked underneath the jeep & saw there was not tranny or driveshafts, & the 'burb had no driveshafts. He told me it was city ordinance that all non-running or non-registered vehicles had to be stored behind a 6' fence or inside a garage. I had to put the jeep in the garage & had to prove the 'burb was in driveable condition by turning it around (he wanted to actually witness this, but "accepted" it being parked in opposite direction. He at least conceded that the 'burb would not fit in the garage.
The lady down the street takes water samples when people wash their car, then calls the fire department. The FD & some city inspector & O'side PD have actually shown up & inspected the premises for dangerous chemicals, etc. This was my next door wrench-head neighbor. He had the hood open & had simple greened inside. No citings other than a "cease & desist", & being told that he would be informed of any fines that he might be responsible for after the water had been tested.
We have both been warned that while welding itself is not illegal, it has to be done 50 ft from any flammable source (including grass or wood). We live in tract homes with landscaped yards, so basically welding is illegal. I just do it with the garage door mostly closed.
Welcome to the "enviro-age". It's not just HOA's, & it's only gonna get worse.
Matt B

Originally posted by hungryjpr

Welcome to the "enviro-age". It's not just HOA's, & it's only gonna get worse.
Matt B

The best advice I have gotten to make sure a local branch of the Hell's Angles moves in after I move out. :emb:

-Wayne (Currently looking for garage or shop space..)

wayne,i'm definitely into your projects(e-mail you a coupla times) but you did part out that rx-7 in there didn't you?:D shouldn't let the nosy peeps in:rolleyes: . i just parted out my wifes safari van in the garage and the neighbors didn't even notice:D . but i don't let many of them in either. be picky about who you choose to live next to. i scoped out my hood before i bought and found that the guy behind me has a pro street camaro,the guy next to me has a go-kart and a harley,guy across the street has a restored 67 camaro.down the street a guy has a roundy-round racer.all this convinced me to BUY:D . although the pro-street did scare me half to death the first time it fired up at 5 a.m. when my windows were open.lol good luck with the next place :roxy:

The vast majority of new homes in the Phoenix metro area have HOAs. It has become so you do NOT have a choice if you want to buy a new home unless you are way out in the boonies.

We sold our home in an HOA after having several problems there. We never thought that they would actually try to enforce the rules which seemed to number in the hundreds. Boy were we wrong! They had people in golf carts riding around the neighborhood looking for infractions.

We had a neighbor who loved the association. He bought a 5th wheel travel trailer and knew he would have to park it off site. Problem is he didn't read the find print of our covenants and restrictions. He found out the hard way that 1 ton vehicles were prohibitied from being parked in your driveway. His 1 ton was a Chevy 3500 NON-DUALLY! I convinced him to change the badges to 2500 and he did.

Anyway, we were LUCKY enough to find a new home with no CC&Rs within the city on a decent size lot. It was "urban infill" the builder got all sorts of tax breaks for building within the city limits and not adding to Phoenix's sprawl. So he built 10 homes. What's really cool about this house is our neighbors across the street are 2 big ass cows! Our street is a cul-de-sac with 10 houses on one side and a ranchers grazing lot on the other. I would rather have those cows than more houses any day! Best part is the rancher has no intention of selling :D

Originally posted by rockedtj
My experience with homeowners associations is they have a lot less power then they think they do. It is usually a bunch of NIMBYs who are only concerned about themselves. So what can they do? With all the convents I have read, there are a bunch of things they say you can't do, but there is no real punishment.

A lot of CC&Rs state they can place a LIEN AGAINST YOUR HOME if you repeatedly violate their rules. For instance, some CC&Rs will tell you what colors your house can be painted. If you decide to move and the house is painted the wrong color... watch out. They can stop the sale until you comply.

Originally posted by Explorer


A lot of CC&Rs state they can place a LIEN AGAINST YOUR HOME if you repeatedly violate their rules. For instance, some CC&Rs will tell you what colors your house can be painted. If you decide to move and the house is painted the wrong color... watch out. They can stop the sale until you comply.


Rotozuk rents so he'll never have that problem.

I own my condo and I have the condo boards' up my ass for having my Xmas lights up too late. I've now left them up for 3 years in a row all year to piss them off. My yard is pristine and the exterrior of my home immaculate.

I've been asked to park my rig else where as it is an eyesore to them.
Bullshit! You judge.
http://members.shaw.ca/steevil/Images/favorite%20pics/ranger%20012.jpg
(my place on the left)

There is jack they can do and I will continue to ignore them. They don't even have the money for legal fees to issue a lien ($450 to file).

I've had several warnings about welding in the driveway (no garage) but I'm sure they can't find anything to cite me for it. The rules are specific..."no vehicles are to be left in a non-running state for an extended period of time" Fawk'em, my truck runs.

Meanwhile my neighbors yards look like shit and they have beaters parked in thier driveways spewing oil everywhere.

It just goes to show that the average joe idiot just dosen't understand owning a 4x4.
http://members.shaw.ca/steevil/Images/AG00547_(p).gif

Originally posted by steevil

I own my condo and I have the condo boards' up my ass for having my Xmas lights up too late.

Just be glad you don't live in Peoria, Arizona. They passed an oridinance saying your lights have to be down by a certain date. A family didn't get theirs down in time. They got cited. They sold their home and never thought about the citation again, thinking that since they sold the house they were clear of any responsibility.

How wrong they were! They were picked up by the cops in their new home and taken to jail for failure to appear. Since they couldn't bond themselves out they found themselves inmates at Sheriff Joe Arpaio's famous Tent City jail.

America, land of the free and home of the...

Dude that sucks!
Here in San Luis housing is so expensive right now. The neighborhood where I live either has 4 or 5 college students living in a house to split the cost or some old moron who's been there since 1960 somethin. Of course they don't like our parties so they all decided to ban together to start a parking district. City council basicly denied to listen to any of our agruments and now we can only park 2 cars on the street! I alone have 2 cars! WTF!!! The worst part though, 1 month later there were 5 homes for sale from those same old retired a--holes and all those houses now are rented to college kids!
My folks live up in oregon now. They bought land and built a house in one of those places that has cc&r's. They had to have there design not only approved by the city but also for the cc&r's. It had to "fit in" and be painted along certain guide lines. What a crock of shit!!!
I am starting to save for a house, and I will NEVER move somewhere that has a nazi hitler homeowners association or cc&r's. If I want to park my junk on my front lawn, then white trash or not I'm doin' it!

Kev

I live in a shithole appartment. I mean the apartment is nice, but the management said I cannot work on my bronco here. It sucks because I am always in need of fixing stuff on it.

I need to move some place where there is a garage and I can work on it daily :)

Having a garage built now so I don't have to deal with the PS. No windows but an industrial fan.

Nosey neighbor is a PITA but she has had more misfortune than I inconvienence.

Code guy from the town came by and said I had unlicenced and unregistered vehicles on my property, neighbor admitted to calling him. He made me get out of bed at 9am (I work second shift). Vehicles had plates and valid registrations. Too old for inspections. Had insurance and everything. Plus there is a 6 foot hedge between my property and the neighbors and they were in the back parking area. code guy was nice and I asked if there was any penalty for false reports he said no.

Well, after he left I promptly moved both my POS rovers and parked them on the street (no time limits :)) in front of my neighbors house.

I also narced her car out for an expired inspection. I let her know what I thought of her and did it in a really crazy way (I walked over holding a machette I was using to trim my trees). No issues since.

Fawk em. The only problem I have is that my neighborhood is going from working class to complete young upper class as it is one of the few places in the area you can get a house for less than 750,000 so i am building the garage before they tell me I can't build anything.

find out your rights, find out how much is a request v a requirement etc.

The sad thing is if she would have just told me I would have been happy to put the trucks out of site from her property.

Ron

heres one first saw it here a while back in the city of sacramento you can only change your oil, tire and filters, you may not work on a vehicle not registered to that address:flipoff2: and my wife wonders why i want a house thats zoned either ag preserve or commercial

Yep - I have been Simple Green-ing my engines, trannys, various parts when I have them off for one reason or another and rinsing them off in my driveway. No more! I have a friend who runs a mobile dog grooming business and she usually lets the wash water run into the street when grooming. She got a warning from the local code ocifers, they told her it's a $20,000 fine to let wash water run into the drains. I guess washing your car will be illegal soon.

Originally posted by Ghetto Fab.
Dude that sucks!
My folks live up in oregon now. They bought land and built a house in one of those places that has cc&r's. They had to have there design not only approved by the city but also for the cc&r's. It had to "fit in" and be painted along certain guide lines. What a crock of shit!!!

Kev

Ha, welcome to my world. I am a contractor. Everything we do anymore has to be approved using sample boards containing all the exterior products we plan to use on the outside of the home (stucco, sidding, shingles, ect). They usually require this before we can apply for a building permit. And this is on less expensive housing.

When we first bought our house there were covnenints (sp). But when the last house was sold the devolpers took the sign,(Vitality Estates) and no one wanted to keep the hoa going. Good thing. I have three non running vehicles and lots of parts in my back yard with a six foot fence, 2 jeeps in the garage, 1 non running. A 1 ton truck and camper, a utilty trailer and our 2 daily drivers. I weld and grind outside of the garage, had the camper covered with a tarp while I replaced the side. I do what ever I want. Now I am courteuos by not starting any obnoxius noize until after 8: am, and I am usually done by dark. I wash the vehicles in the street, but any engine washing, I go to the local splash and dash for that. I at least attemtp to keep the front yard looking good(its not very big)The back yard I have some work to go in the flower beds, and finish my patio. I guess for the time being I am lucky.
Tim

I've lived in HOAs and I hated every one of them. You always get little PACs (usually retired a-holes with nothing else to do) who push their own agenda. One place was a "family" community. Even had a little green area mini-park (West Palm, FL). However, a group of around 5-6 families from NY (apparently all friends, including a couple of lawyers) moved in and bought up the last few houses. They then set about to dominate the meetings and the HOA in general. They banded together with a handful of other retirees and started passing "amendments" to make things hard on the families with kids. Even took down the play area (said it was an insurance/liability/maintenance burden) and put in fancy landscaping with a "walk path" and "stay on the path" signs in what was the play area. That was the only "community" area where the kids could play other than at someone’s house. They also issued warnings (and in one case a fine) for children who were "disrupting the peace". The harassment tactics worked and, one by one, they managed to drive out families with children and converted it into a non-official retirement community. Boiled down to, if you didn't have kids, they were not too strict on enforcement. If you had kids, they looked for anything they could get you on. Nothing you could really prove, but it worked. I was only there for about 2 years, and I was renting, so I didn’t even have a say (or seat) at the meetings. Pretty sad, someone should have put that bunch of asses in the ground…

Anyway, like others have said, when I started looking for a house to buy in Phoenix, “NO HOA!!!” was in caps at the top of my list when I gave it to the agent with instructions not to even ask about houses with HOAs.

Here is a link about a redneck neighbor posted in the Toy forum. Its pretty funny, but I kept thinking the guy who wrote this is the nazi neighbor type we are complaining about :rolleyes:

http://www.knology.net/~carlos/redneck.htm

I read that one a while back, it was good.

You know.. It would almost be fun to put together a map and see where the most annoying HOA are located..

Think I have a line a garage to finish my project. To bad it 's 30 minutes away!

-Wayne

Originally posted by DRM
My "neighborhood" is 3 houses/lots. The "neighborhood association" has 2 rules:

1. No pig farm
2. No mobile homes


I have no problem complying with either one :cool2:



Do they give you shit about your:bender: :question:

Originally posted by rockedtj
My experience with homeowners associations is they have a lot less power then they think they do. It is usually a bunch of NIMBYs who are only concerned about themselves. So what can they do? With all the convents I have read, there are a bunch of things they say you can't do, but there is no real punishment.

FAWKIN HOAs :flipoff2:

Actually, a well established HOA has the authority to take your house... Even here in Texas where a bank can't even take your house (unless the bank owns the actual mortgage on the house).

A well established HOA has a LOT more power than you might think.

i told the realtor i want a huge shop, lots of room to park dead cars and it would be nice if it had a house on the property. she thought i was nuts. i am still looking. i hate HOAs :mad3: :mad3:

Originally posted by rotozuk
You know.. It would almost be fun to put together a map and see where the most annoying HOA are located..

Think I have a line a garage to finish my project. To bad it 's 30 minutes away!

-Wayne

Hey wayne, are you talkin about Aarons place? Did he ever get his zuk runnin? Damn beautiful machine that never runs.

Dallas

Ooops! someone else posted this already in this thread..:emb4: .oh well

http://www.knology.net/~carlos/redneck.htm

Although this doesn't have to do with vehicles, it does have to do with weird neighbors in subdivisions. This link is about a neighbor of some dude who does all these weird and annoying things. Pretty funny in some parts.

Burned the fence and the backyard (from a cigarette)
Burned down his deck (Hibachi fire)
Made a mailbox post out of eight chuncks of 2x4
etc
etc

"The harassment tactics worked "

This brought back some old memories from growing up, Short sotry is we lived in the city limits on a small dead end street, just turned 16 and had a new car everyother month, always wrenching etc... Numerious visits by police to talk to "the bad kids" we tried to be nice neighbors and deal with things, offers to make concessions only added fuel to this old ladys fight. In the end i had 6 noise violations and my brother 4 of the same. One of the only charges the cop coudl write for which there was little or no defeinse as it was "he judgment" as to what was loud in the area. We were kids and dad worked alot, we ended up moving anyway......

Moral of the story Dont take no shit, if you play bad neighbor with everything the small things dont seem all that bad to em... Eggs on stucco makes a mess, chlorieen(sp) on the grass looks nice, spud guns are cool to :-) you get the point

I lucked out buyng my place as me have a 2 page basic covanance (no pigs etc.) and no HOA. One prissy neighbor sent a letter requesting that we need to start one to protect our rights... The rest of us (all 15) on the street all laughed and said we self police each other..... ie "Ray why'd you mow your lawn now i have to mow mine".... works well....

When the trees fall down who do they call to pull em off the houses.....Plus my neighbors all come over for repairs and welding jobs when things breaks. And lastly I keep reminding them, Im from NY....

-yag

To answer an earlier post, the photos of the RX7 outside getting worked on, and when i drove the smashed up thing up and down the street, that was not my street! I would have ended up in jail. That was over by Disney Land at a friends house where there are no real rules..

They were giving him shit about parking his RV on the grass, so he stopped watering it. :flipoff2: You got to love that. Once I got that RX7 over to my place, it was straight into the garage, and did not come out until it was ready for the scrap metal yard. At most I'd roll it out of the single car garage to make room for pulling the engine out. And even then I'd have a car cover on it.

Anyhow, I thought I'd try gas welding as a stop gap cure, but it doesn't seem to work well for me. That and I think it is a fire hazard in my little garage! :( Just thought I might be able to get away with it without being detected. Now I really will have to locate another place to work.

-Wayne

This is what I have to say about the HOA
http://web2.airmail.net/aumshar/cracka.jpg

HOAs sound much like living in military housing units. When I was stationed in a little electronic detachment in Conrad, MT I had to live in base housing (noc choice) because there was a lot of surplus military units. They had some crappy rules and came around every Monday to enforce them. You couldn't have grass over like 2" (they checked with a ruler), couldn't have your trash cans outside, couldn't park my boat/trailer in the driveway (had to be in the storage area), couldn't have more than 1 pile of dog crap in the yard, couldn't have more than 2 pets, etc. It got pretty obnoxious sometimes and the housing inspector and I had some great arguments.

Ever since then I have refused to live in military housing. Luckily I haven't been stationed at another place where you had to live in the military housing units.

Right now I live in a house in BFE (bum phuck England). I have one neighbor next to me as these two houses used to be the farm hands houses for the farm I live on. Our closest other neighbors are a mile or so away in every direction. The wheat bugs get a little bad as these two houses are plop dead in a wheat field. Its not bad though, I got a two car garage (although I can't get the jeep in it) and its pretty quiet.

Two friends and I are looking at starting up a shop to fab some stuff up and to install lifts and whatnot on jeeps. The farmer I rent from has got this awesome insulated quansi hut that has heat, lights, concrete floor, 3 phase, lots of parking...unfortunately though he wants an arm and a leg for rent on the place (he recently turned down $600 a month offer).

Agricultural Use zoning is the way to go...at least here anyways.

They were picked up by the cops in their new home and taken to jail for failure to appear. Since they couldn't bond themselves out they found themselves inmates at Sheriff Joe Arpaio's famous Tent City jail.

Lets not get our panties in a knot, here.......

Thye must have seen Goat Humping. Thats not in the CC&rs. Not in Arizona ?

What a bunch of crap:mad: I'll never live in one. Like my freedom.
Cord

Damn Wayne, this thread reminds me of all the reasons I really wanted to get out of the city.

The wife and I ended up buying a 35 acre ranch out in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, its a 100 mile round trip to town, but we only have 3 neighbors, and if you want to see any of them, you have to walk about 15 minutes to get to their house. We pass 2 cattle ranches on the way out to our place, and its a good 2 miles of washboard dirt, so we dont get many visitors.

Its nice living out here. We have two rules (one of which I cant remember, but I think its "no commercial poultry") and "no pig farms". It kinda bothers me that my sammi is sitting out where everyone can see it, I have considered fencing off an area large enough to park 4 vehicles in and putting parts and parts vehicles in there.

Ah the joys of shooting skeet from the back porch :) Oh, and the Antelope are really hanging in close. Wish I had pulled a tag this year, I could get an animal without leaving the comfort of home.

Kevin

i have a HOA, and it is a double edged sword. when you plunk down a huge amount of money for a big, nice home, you want to protect your investment and keep people from turning the neighborhood into a shithole. the average home in my neighborhood is 3600 sq ft with a 3 car garage. i have had a house lose value in the past due to lack of restrictions compliance. on the other hand, you want to be able to do what you please. know what the rules are before you buy/rent. i asked and read all my HOA rules before i signed the contract. to not do that is naive. my HOA has all teh rules you are talking about - no auto work, no one tons, no cars in the street, etc. mine says that you cannot work on your vehicles in your driveway. i have been workgin on it so far with no problem but i think it becomes a judgement call. i think as long as i do stuff that gets wrapped up in one day, nobody will complain. they just do not want to see your truck on jackstands for 2 weeks. i think i will have to air way down to get it in the garage for the SAS, but i will have to do that. they cannot say jack shit about you welding in your garage with teh door closed. you do have plenty of ventilation though - right? worrying about you welding in your garage is like worrying about what you watch on TV.

so, i like the HOA to protect my investment, but sometimes they get a little carried away. i keep my yard looking better than 95% of the other homes. appearances go a long way.

i like the one ton with 3/4 ton badges. that is slick. i may need that one in the future.

Luckily I have no HOA and friendly, tolerant neighbors and a large parking lot. My family currently has 5 cars and a trailer on the parking lot plus one car in the garage.
I work on cars in the parking lot all the time, and I'm often revving the engine of my suzuki to the readline during the day. We have a compressor and often use air tools. I even replaced the head gasket in the Suzuki a month ago. I also did a burnout on the suzuki in the street a couple months ago with the thick black marks still showing. I've never had any complaints whatsoever. My dad has his Jeepster Commando parked in the parking lot all year, frequently working on it, spilling oil, gas, antifreeze and whatnot.
In my country there are no home owners associations except in the multi-appartment houses.

Originally posted by rockedtj
. Granted, you landlord might evict you, but that can take months
FAWKIN HOAs :flipoff2:




At least this way if they evict you you don't have to worry about braking the lease and paying extra money for doing so..

This was brought back up after sitting idle nearly a year? :rolleyes:

Haha, how does this thread resurface from way back. I started reading it and it sounded very familar as I had read it before. Then I looked at the date.

There are some downsides to not having an HOA.....

Someone must have pissed off one of the neighbors behind me.... because they painted their house... Pink (pink panther pink) and trimmed it in HOT pink .....

I thought it was a temporary thing.. but its been that way for several years now...

Originally posted by Woola39
Haha, how does this thread resurface from way back. I started reading it and it sounded very familar as I had read it before. Then I looked at the date.


I read the 4th post and then looked @ the date.

Someone must be really bored....

OK, but now that the thread´s back anyway, Wayne, how ´bout an update?!?!?

Originally posted by tators
There are some downsides to not having an HOA.....

Someone must have pissed off one of the neighbors behind me.... because they painted their house... Pink (pink panther pink) and trimmed it in HOT pink .....

I thought it was a temporary thing.. but its been that way for several years now...


Bahahah, maybe you should paint your house bright blue with yellow trim:D

Roto,

Check into the HOA.
Is it a large one?
We have 66 properties in ours.
But to be a legal entity it has to be incorporated and they have to meet at least once a year I think.

Ours has not met or collected dues in two years, so it is non-operational. Even if it was, the HOA pres would need to file any papers and have cash in the accounts, get the lawyers, all very PITA stuff for anyone.

Oy yeah, cover your garage windows.

I Have always refused to live in any HOA . A year and a half ago bought a house in an unregulated farming area just to avoid these kinds of problems -- I have almost seven acres, with a lot of it being hidden by woods. Nobody can see, and therefore, will not complain about the 4 parts trucks parked out there, or the target hooting we do. I don't need a friggin permit to build anything and to top it off, it was cheaper than what most people pay for houses around here on 1/2 acre lot in an HOA neighborhood!

I must be real lucky my off road truck wont fit in my garage accept with som low profile tires on stock wheels so it sits out side most of the time I have a huge enclosed trailer that has been in front of my house for about 2 weeks while building a sink and shower in it and my old fsj sits in front of the garage unfinished no one has ever said anything just some weird looks once in a while im amazed how good I have it they dont even complain about my straight piped cummins diesel in the morning

Damn HOAs suck but they do make for some interesting reading. I think I just killed an hour. I lucked out with my setup, I don't ever have to do any work at the house but when I do it's cool because the only neighbors are too far away to hear anything. I got a shop anyways though, it's a two bay shop on about 10 acres of undeveloped land housed in a 60,000sq ft warehouse. I can and do work there at all hours with no problems whatsoever. I can't imagine what I would do if I had to work on my junk during "normal" hours. It seems like the only time I get anything done is really late at night.

We don't have an HOA here, but the law is that you can't park an un registered vehicle in the drive. When I bought my Toy, I stopped one of the cops one day (there is only 4 in the whole town) and asked him about having the truck in the drive. it is trail-only. He told me to just face the windshield towards the house, that way if someone wants to look at the inspection/ registration stickers, they have to trespass to do it!;) I have it parked on the grass beside the house now, hanging over the property line by two feet. Neighbor said he didn't care. So now every time I mow, I mow his front yard for the favor. It's good to have decent neighbors

Welcome to my world....And I own my house..

That is why I have a shop now......It is more of an expense to have, but I can work on what ever I want, when ever I want and nobody complains:D

Not even if we run the 7" grinder:D

Yeah, I say screw the whole "development" / "neighboorhood" scene in general. I like being self sufficient - I don't need anyone to plow the snow on my street, cut the grass for me, clean out the sewer line, sweep the street, or any of that crap.
I understand that people want to persue thier hobbies I won't hold that against them - but I think it's nuts to have stuff that you can't support - like swapping engines in an apartment complex parking lot. Find a buddy with a shop, or stick to plain street vehicles.
You'll always have minor stuff happen - end up patchin' up your junk in a parking lot somewhere, I don't have a problem with that. I just think doing major work that takes a serious amount of planning and money should be done somewhere that fits the type of work.

Then there's another thing, if you can't park your immobilised car at home when you're fixing it you'll have to park it inside somewhere. You can't park vehicles outdoors in industrial/commercial zones, not because it's illegal but because they get stolen, broken into and vandalised.

It doesn't matter if you live in a platted subdivision or not. Most cities have some form of zoning enforcement and ordinances restricting one's activities. If the city doesn't, the county or state usually does.

These same cities also usually have similar restricitions against residing in an area zoned for such activities.

As it is in so many things, it is all in how you present yourself and maintaining a low profile.

it's all still BS.

a man ought to be able to do what he pleases on his property as long as it doesn't harm anyone else.

PTS is right - keep a low profile - that's why I bought the property that I did - woods around the sides and clear areas that can't be seen - I can walk out my back door naked and pee in the yard if I wanted too and nobody would even know.
When I did live in subdivisions, I always kept my work to a minimum - like someone else said - do the work in a few hours, nothing ever left up on jack stands for the neighbors to see.
The other part that bothers me about HOA restricted areas is that no matter how well they enforce the rules, you will always have some things about your neighbors that will get on your nerves. Like the teengers that cruise through with thier boom-cars when you are trying to sleep, or a dog that won't shut up, neighborhood brats that cut through your yard (not a problem if they stay on the grass, but I had one little turd walk across the hood of my wifes car, one that kicked in a section of my wooden fence, and some that took to the corner of my yard to drink the beers they stole from thier dad and left the cans behind). I don't have any of those problems any more.

we're not talking about a "home owner" here folks. He rents. Basically, I am sure that there are clauses in the lease that refer to the "owners" assoctiation agreement.

Sorry to be the wet blanket, but as a renter, you are probably screwed there.

j

Originally posted by DRM
My "neighborhood" is 3 houses/lots. The "neighborhood association" has 2 rules:

1. No pig farm
2. No mobile homes

I have no problem complying with either one :cool2:

No mobile homes is good . . . Everyone knows they attract tornadoes!

if you plan on buying/renting get a copy of the rules. if you don't like em or can't/won't follow them, then save everyone a bunch of aggravation and find a place that suits you. sorry, no sympathy here.

Originally posted by jdrocks
if you plan on buying/renting get a copy of the rules. if you don't like em or can't/won't follow them, then save everyone a bunch of aggravation and find a place that suits you. sorry, no sympathy here.

This makes 100% sence! I read on the 1st page of this how the guy with a million $ home in Scottsdale AV has to park his boat at a storage lot across town, and the poster says how pissed he would be if that happened to him. Well if I spent 1mil on a house and was STUPID enough not to read the rules, ya I would be pissed! AT MYSELF:flipoff2: Alot of you people need to wake up and take some personal RESPONSABILITY......if you move into a place, find out if there are HOA's....This doesn't aply to everyone, just most. Sac has a stupid ass law I read about, but then again, don't live there if ya want to wrench:(

You can always move into this guys hood, must have the best neighbors in the freakin world....

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=122731

Originally posted by scrout
You can always move into this guys hood, must have the best neighbors in the freakin world....

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=122731
lol, That guys a :clown: he lives in a circus:D

Home owners associations can suck a fat one:flipoff2: they tryed to fawk with me for shooting a 22 at this ranch I rented with 600 acres. They said it was to loud and was freaking there horses out down the way, I thought well my 22 is not that loud but if I am freaking out there horses I will respect them and stop. Let me also tell you that these people lived a mile away and were the closest people to me in the association made up of 27 people spread out over 15,000 acres. A deep canyon seperated us even though there house was in eyes view. Well one thing leads to another and I find out that they dont even own livestock WTF??? These people are fawking dicks. not to mention the road into the ranchs is a one lane gravel road on a steep drop off and every time Id see them in their brand new bmw they wouldnt give me an inch. They thougt they owned the road.


It turns out that discharging firearms within the association was prohibited. We called our land lord and asked him why he told us we could hunt his land if we cant even shoot, He says well heres the deal 200+ or so of those acres arnt within boundries of the association and we could shoot all day long if we want. We were stoked so we proceded to target shoot the next day. About an hour of small caliber shooting went by when then a quad comes ripping up and the guy jumps off and starts talking crazy. we calmed him down and explained to him that we were no longer in the association acres and we will go ahead and do what ever the FAWK WE WANTED ON PRIVATE PROPERTY and for him to leave immediatly because he was trespassing. He then rips outa there allmost rolling his quad and said we will be sorry. So to piss this guy off in his own little preppy world I did this. For the next month allmost every day I would walk right down to the cannon and rapid fire a 75 round drum off out of a very loud long rifle letting the sound ripple off right torwards his house. This guy must off had a mental breakdown or commited suicide we never heard from him again in the last couple months we lived there. I would have continued to do this to but I decided to move because I was an hour away from any type of stores or public services. All I know is I will never ever move into an anal association ever again. And get this there is a association near were I live now that homes arnt even touched for under $750,000 and you cant even park your car in the driveway:confused: :flipoff2:

Originally posted by Bartcore
Home owners associations can suck a fat one:flipoff2: they tryed to fawk with me for shooting a 22 at this ranch I rented with 600 acres. They said it was to loud and was freaking there horses out down the way, I thought well my 22 is not that loud but if I am freaking out there horses I will respect them and stop. Let me also tell you that these people lived a mile away and were the closest people to me in the association made up of 27 people spread out over 15,000 acres. A deep canyon seperated us even though there house was in eyes view. Well one thing leads to another and I find out that they dont even own livestock WTF??? These people are fawking dicks. not to mention the road into the ranchs is a one lane gravel road on a steep drop off and every time Id see them in their brand new bmw they wouldnt give me an inch. They thougt they owned the road.


It turns out that discharging firearms within the association was prohibited. We called our land lord and asked him why he told us we could hunt his land if we cant even shoot, He says well heres the deal 200+ or so of those acres arnt within boundries of the association and we could shoot all day long if we want. We were stoked so we proceded to target shoot the next day. About an hour of small caliber shooting went by when then a quad comes ripping up and the guy jumps off and starts talking crazy. we calmed him down and explained to him that we were no longer in the association acres and we will go ahead and do what ever the FAWK WE WANTED ON PRIVATE PROPERTY and for him to leave immediatly because he was trespassing. He then rips outa there allmost rolling his quad and said we will be sorry. So to piss this guy off in his own little preppy world I did this. For the next month allmost every day I would walk right down to the cannon and rapid fire a 75 round drum off out of a very loud long rifle letting the sound ripple off right torwards his house. This guy must off had a mental breakdown or commited suicide we never heard from him again in the last couple months we lived there. I would have continued to do this to but I decided to move because I was an hour away from any type of stores or public services. All I know is I will never ever move into an anal association ever again. And get this there is a association near were I live now that homes arnt even touched for under $750,000 and you cant even park your car in the driveway:confused: :flipoff2:

there ya go, it's a choice weather to live where there are stupid ruls or not, seems simple:) Cool story;)

Do what we do in Alaska. Tell them to fuck off and ask them if they want to fight....Get yourself a big ass dog and feed it nothin but Gunpowder and Hotsauce. Stake that thing on a run that takes up the entire front of your property.

I hate it when people get in my business like that. Now if I was outside grinding at 10 pm on a weekday you got a right to come kick my ass. But welding with the door shut....come on.

Had a few run ins with neighbors but fortunately its not been a HOA controlled situation. Couple of the "work arounds" Ive used in rentals.This does assume that working on the house is OK and you do a good job on it.

Problems with welding light in the garage.

-Heavy black cloth and velcroed it to the window frames. Installed seals on garage door.
-Fan installed that pushs the fumes out at roof level.

Problems with grease on drive from cleaning.
- Inflatable kiddie pool under the cleaning area. Pitch it in the trash after the waters evaporated.

Problems with noise.
-R-11 in the walls and on the garage doors. Also makes fer a nice place to work when the snow flies.

D.

They are trying to start one in my neighborhood. They even asked me if i would be the association president. One of my neighbors actually got everyone in an uproar because he has an assload of junk. I basically told them all that it was none of their F#$%ing business what this guy or anyone else has on the property that HE/SHE pays for. I dont think i will be invited to any picnics anytime soon.

Originally posted by SeaBass44


Alot of you people need to wake up and take some personal RESPONSABILITY......if you move into a place, find out if there are HOA's....This doesn't aply to everyone, just most. Sac has a stupid ass law I read about, but then again, don't live there if ya want to wrench:( We have a winner!
Everyone knows that HOAs suck, but I have never been in one that will let you build a vehicle in your driveway. I like my HOA, it keeps my property value up. If you dont like yours, sell your house and move. Its not like you got moved in and 6 months later someone said "Oh yeah, we have an HOA here". Everyone that lives in an HOA knew before hand, if not your realitor did a crap job and you should get your money back.:flipoff2: