For my entire married life (216 years) I have lived in a community where an association exists.
It's a love-hate relationship.
When I was growing up we lived on a nice street, without a homeowner's association, but we also had lots of neighbors with lots of teenagers and lots of run-down looking cars on the front lawn. We also had houses that needed to be painted, had grossly overgrown front yards, and out of control weeds.
Our house and street in Oceanside, California
Our first homeowner's association was in San Diego when we moved down there after getting married in 1991. The streets were always nice, the front lawns always nice, and the common areas (and pool) maintained and enjoyable.
However, with all that loveliness came plenty of stress, angst, and frustration.
We never received the Homeowner's Association Award For Good Behavior. In fact, we got so many letters I could have wallpapered the bathroom with them. We needed to mow our lawn more frequently, close our garage door, take down our Christmas lights, stop the dog from barking, lower our music, and paint our fence.
Oy.
One time we had one of the board members living across the street and we had a problem with a water leak so we had a general contractor (friend) over to find out where the problem was coming from. He couldn't figure it out and decided to break into the nook wall from the garage and see if that was where the problem began. Needless to say within the hour we were visited from a state inspector who said we had to stop what we were doing unless we obtained a permit (I guess the neighbor thought we were doing an addition illegally).
Good times.
When we first moved into the subdivision I decided I would put my writing skills to work and join the board.
Two words: Big. Mistake.
I was never so disgusted with a group of people that spent meeting time gossiping and complaining about a neighbor who left their sprinklers on for too long and at a time of day when listening to the (horrible) sounds of a water sprinkler drove her mad enough to complain endlessly. Come to think of it, there weren't many neighbors the board didn't complain about.
I should state here a small backstory about the couple who lived behind us. Our backyards butted up against each other and when we first moved in we found out quickly they hated us without even knowing us. They complained about our music, slammed their windows with such force I thought they would crack. Keep in mind this is southern California where our houses are so close I can hear their phone conversations and we could share sugar through our windows. One time we were entertaining my brother, sister-in-law, and cousins for dinner and sat in our nook/kitchen area (with our backyard sliding glass door open...this was San Diego, we always had our windows open) laughing about old times and old photos...and at 6pm they called (how did they even get our number? We didn't even know they knew our name and this was in the days before the Internet! Scary!) to say we were being too loud. In hindsight, I think they were obsessed with loud noises.
This is our postage stamp backyard and the reason we built the house in Idaho on 1/3 of an acre. (That is Harrison playing basketball.) The fence you see on the left of the photo is where our (nasty) neighbors lived (Meredith). The kitchen window looks out on our neighbors backyard (and the roof of their hot tub) and is located almost exactly where Harrison is standing in the other picture.
When I walked into the first board meeting and recognized the neighbor...we'll call her Meredith which IS her real name...I think I peed a little in my pants.
I ended up writing pieces for the newsletter and Meredith would edit them to the point that she completely changed my piece where it was unrecognizable as my work. Pissed me off. After a few months of this shit, I quit.
We spent 13 years in San Diego and we never once stepped foot in a homeowner's meeting after my awful stint on the board.
Just some pretty shots taken around our subdivision here in Idaho.
We moved to Idaho and we are in yet another homeowner's association. We have had a few run-ins, mainly them sending us letters that went to the wrong house like when we were told we left our garbage cans out for too long and we didn't or when they sent a letter about an RV parked on the side of our house that needed to be moved. Again, not us. Or, when they sent letters about a broken fence that wasn't on our property but they thought it was our responsibility to fix. I call and they apologize.
There is Harrison again...this time lounging at one of the pools in our subdivision. The other picture is such a pretty fall shot with the gorgeous mountains in the background.
But, despite the minor issues we've had with this association, they maintain somewhere around 50 acres of common land beautifully. We have a couple of pools, park areas, grassy areas, a little river, walking/biking trails, water features, and benches throughout the entire subdivision and they are all well maintained and it looks better today than it did when we moved here almost nine years ago.
The picture of the kids were taken back in 2006 on the fourth of July at the pool; a street in our neighborhood a couple of years ago.
Yeah, we have a quarterly bill for this luxury but I think it is worth it to have the peace of mind that the subdivision will remain beautiful and our property values as high as possible.
It's a love-hate relationship.
When I was growing up we lived on a nice street, without a homeowner's association, but we also had lots of neighbors with lots of teenagers and lots of run-down looking cars on the front lawn. We also had houses that needed to be painted, had grossly overgrown front yards, and out of control weeds.
Our first homeowner's association was in San Diego when we moved down there after getting married in 1991. The streets were always nice, the front lawns always nice, and the common areas (and pool) maintained and enjoyable.
However, with all that loveliness came plenty of stress, angst, and frustration.
We never received the Homeowner's Association Award For Good Behavior. In fact, we got so many letters I could have wallpapered the bathroom with them. We needed to mow our lawn more frequently, close our garage door, take down our Christmas lights, stop the dog from barking, lower our music, and paint our fence.
Oy.
One time we had one of the board members living across the street and we had a problem with a water leak so we had a general contractor (friend) over to find out where the problem was coming from. He couldn't figure it out and decided to break into the nook wall from the garage and see if that was where the problem began. Needless to say within the hour we were visited from a state inspector who said we had to stop what we were doing unless we obtained a permit (I guess the neighbor thought we were doing an addition illegally).
Good times.
When we first moved into the subdivision I decided I would put my writing skills to work and join the board.
Two words: Big. Mistake.
I was never so disgusted with a group of people that spent meeting time gossiping and complaining about a neighbor who left their sprinklers on for too long and at a time of day when listening to the (horrible) sounds of a water sprinkler drove her mad enough to complain endlessly. Come to think of it, there weren't many neighbors the board didn't complain about.
I should state here a small backstory about the couple who lived behind us. Our backyards butted up against each other and when we first moved in we found out quickly they hated us without even knowing us. They complained about our music, slammed their windows with such force I thought they would crack. Keep in mind this is southern California where our houses are so close I can hear their phone conversations and we could share sugar through our windows. One time we were entertaining my brother, sister-in-law, and cousins for dinner and sat in our nook/kitchen area (with our backyard sliding glass door open...this was San Diego, we always had our windows open) laughing about old times and old photos...and at 6pm they called (how did they even get our number? We didn't even know they knew our name and this was in the days before the Internet! Scary!) to say we were being too loud. In hindsight, I think they were obsessed with loud noises.
When I walked into the first board meeting and recognized the neighbor...we'll call her Meredith which IS her real name...I think I peed a little in my pants.
I ended up writing pieces for the newsletter and Meredith would edit them to the point that she completely changed my piece where it was unrecognizable as my work. Pissed me off. After a few months of this shit, I quit.
We spent 13 years in San Diego and we never once stepped foot in a homeowner's meeting after my awful stint on the board.
We moved to Idaho and we are in yet another homeowner's association. We have had a few run-ins, mainly them sending us letters that went to the wrong house like when we were told we left our garbage cans out for too long and we didn't or when they sent a letter about an RV parked on the side of our house that needed to be moved. Again, not us. Or, when they sent letters about a broken fence that wasn't on our property but they thought it was our responsibility to fix. I call and they apologize.
But, despite the minor issues we've had with this association, they maintain somewhere around 50 acres of common land beautifully. We have a couple of pools, park areas, grassy areas, a little river, walking/biking trails, water features, and benches throughout the entire subdivision and they are all well maintained and it looks better today than it did when we moved here almost nine years ago.
Yeah, we have a quarterly bill for this luxury but I think it is worth it to have the peace of mind that the subdivision will remain beautiful and our property values as high as possible.
Plus you have the pleasure of living 4 doors away from your oldest brother. LOLOLOL
Posted by: Mike | Saturday, March 16, 2013 at 08:33 PM