After seeing me in this humid climate, some would think this title is referencing my hair. But alas, I am speaking of my disdain for people telling me what to do. I've always had issues with people treating me like I'm inferior, commanding me to do things. I had a few rows with a few teachers in High School over this. Well, only one really. And I quite liked him, but we had our moments.
As most of you probably remember, 6 large sections of our fence blew down in a storm about a month ago. We fixed the majority of the fence to the best of our ability without a professional fence builder. It still looks like the wolf could take it out with a huff and a puff. But we really are trying. There are three damaged slats left for us to replace in the front, but we figured putting up the large sections of the fence should come first. On Friday I was thinking, "we should get last few slats up soon." And on Saturday we got our HOA Gestapo letter.
We are apparently violating X to the Y in our contract and must come in compliance immediately. And while we're at it, we have to edge our yard. You know, because mowing it isn't sufficient. How dare a little grass touch the sidewalk?! In all reality we've been planning on getting an edger, but we just don't have it in our budget yet. Hospital, ambulance, house payments, food, etc. come before weed whacker in my world. And a good half the houses in our neighborhood don't mow let alone edge their grass. I really don't think our house should be concidered an eyesore in this neighborhood.
I don't have a problem with people asking me nicely to do things. Had they said, "Hey, we noticed you had some fence problems with the last wind storm. Do you think you could get that taken care of as soon as you can? Thanks." I think I would have not been so annoyed. I just hate people commanding me like they're my superior, especially when I know they live two doors down from me.
When we were putting back up our fence I jokingly said to our neighbor, the HOA Nazi, "It might just be easier to tear the whole thing down." He replied in all seriousness, "Yeah, but then you'd have to bring your backyard up to compliance since it would be visible from the street."
Ok Mr. Man. We'll do it. Just don't gun me down please.
5 comments:
My brother (who recently bought a condo with his new wife) was just telling me the other day about their own HOA horror stories. Sounds miserable! Sorry you have to deal with it!
(And yes...I have to agree...a weed wacker, though a nice, handy machine, is not a high priority in my world.)
In reality, HOA's can be good. It helps keep the neighborhood looking nice. And I understand that. It's just the hard core, vigilant people that can make it a bit frustrating. I guess it's also frustrating that other yards are 10 x's worse than ours (and have been for months) but I guess they've probably received notes too.
Many HOA's in our area provide something in return for your yearly dues (like a community pool) besides just writing people "clean up your yard" notes. Too bad ours isn't one of them. I could have used a pool this summer with that heat wave.
I am terrified of ever living in an HOA neighborhood. My sister lives in a really strict one in Richardson and they get in trouble all the time for their kids leaving bikes on the front lawn and porch. But my sister has other things on her mind and doesn't pay them too much attention. It's amazing what a little power in the wrong hands can produce!
Good luck with your woes. Weed wacker? Honestly. Who cares!
I have always avoided buying a home in with a HOA. For me, it creates an advisary relationship with your neighbors that I don't have the patience to deal with. The last thing I want to have to handle is politics in the place that is my escape from the world.
When we sold dish network it was so frustrating to hit a neighborhood that had strict HOA rules about satellite dishes. Some places didn't allow them to be seen from the street. THat was frustrating because you have to put the dish in a location it can receive a signal. Some people were just plain out of luck and were stuck with cable, even if they wanted dish.
And my boss's HOA has signed a restriction clause so people in their neighborhood can't use AT&T. That means they're locked into the only other alternative if they want phone and internet. They were extremely frustrated because the alternative is not as reliable and is more expensive.
How is that even legal?
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