Home Owner Associations and Other Micromanagement

[Gratefuled]

My wife bought a house here and when I arrived, I made some improvements. 

I wanted to plant some shrubs out in front but wife said small ones are ok but no trees. Ok, so not far from us are some homes with trees in front and still growing. Trash pickup is Tuesday and Friday but some neighbours choose to throw their trash in empty yards of homes not occupied. The streets have lots of holes, all sizes. Still people like to speed down the streets even if children are playing. I had a guy put in a "speed bump" in front of our place to slow the drivers down They didn't like it but kids have a chance to get out of the way now. 

So, just like everything. Rules are meant to be broken as long as no one enforces them.

[Mr-T]

When we first got here we were looking for places to buy and build in Manila Quezon City. Went to a sub division, looking around. Sub division rules posted. No dogs allowed. Well maybe not on premisis but what about outside the gate on the street. That was where they kept the dogs in a cage outside their gates.

[mogo51]

6 hours ago, Maxheadspace said:

My wife, not being native to the US, is having a hard time grasping the concept of our Home Owners Association (HOA) micromanaging the exterior of our home/yard here in Virginia.  She keeps building yard stuff and altering the landscape without notice or approval, which has me on edge fearing reprisals from the HOA.  We got a notice of violation from them yesterday telling us we had to clear out some of her stuff or install lattice screening to block the view under our deck.  So, to install $30 worth of lattice requires submitting for a permit to the County with blueprints and diagrams, along with a $100 permit fee.  HOAs are the bane of American living, but it's extremely difficult finding housing in urban or suburban areas that are not in Home Owner Associations.  By her actions, I gather there's nothing similar to HOAs in the Philippines.  Two years to retirement.  But then I guess the Islands probably have their own form of bureaucracy! 

The west is obsessed with this sort of rubbish.

[Snowy79]

46 minutes ago, mogo51 said:

The west is obsessed with this sort of rubbish.

I'm afraid with certain elements on society these things are needed. I've spend a lot of time searching for the ideal property only to find the next door neighbour loves karaoke, cockerels and fixing theirs and every other persons vehicle outside your house. Imagine trying to sell your house for a decent sum and every time you get viewers there's dogs, cockerels, karaoke and drunks fighting next door. I've viewed stunning properties that have been on sale for years with clean titles at a bargain price. It's only when you view you realise why it's not selling. 

[Maxheadspace]

10 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

In defense of the subdivision builder, they are trying to put a good front on their subdivision as they are still trying to sell units so they want all the existing owners to conform.  Once they are out, the incoming HOA will be more lenient and the place may turn into just another crappy subdivision where everyone does what they want.

A bunch of years ago I lived in Maryland,  USA.  The State regulations required that any land developer who erected four or more houses in a development must create a common usage area, a recreation area so to speak.  In order to create a common usage area, they were required to create a home owner's association to manage the common area.  Fair enough, because someone has to tend to the common area.  And of course to maintain property values, the HOAs also ended up managing the external appearance of everyone's properties.  I think that's standard across the States.  Pretty much all home development in the US now is in large tracts, dozens or even hundreds of homes built by one developer, so there is almost zero non-HOA homes out there except for those 50 or more years old.  My last two houses were HOA-free, but I was out of luck when searching for my current house.

Edited July 9, 2017 by Maxheadspace

[OnMyWay]

I still have a house in Florida and the HOAs are out of control there.  I have two:  One for the master development and one for the small neighborhood.  In principal they should be fine, to prevent those annoying things that nobody would want in their nicer neighborhood:  cars up on blocks in the yard, overgrown yards, rundown houses, etc.  I have gotten notices for a dark spot on the sidewalk.  I power washed frequently but there was a low spot in the sidewalk that would collect water and get mildew quickly in the hot humid climate.  Several notices for the empty trash cans being left out too long or the full ones be put out too soon!  I think a big part of the problem is that there are for-profit management companies involved and they spiral out of control.

[Queenie O.]

Being rather a free spirit I would not choose to live in a rather regimented or HOA neighborhood personally here or abroad. We built our house along the National Road, here in Cebu province, but chose to paint it with bright colors and our gates are bright red. You can be free out here to paint your house turquoise and apple green with a pink roof and everybody around likes it. I'm not sure if a Filipina could ever get used to regimented rules like that completely Max.

[Huggybearman]

It seems HOA's are a mixed blessing.

This is the first time I have encountered them, here in CDO. I have to say I have had a couple of occasions to involve them when a neighbourly 'quiet word' failed to redress the issues. Ours is a 'no bonfire' sub division and a couple of the neighbours started burning rubbish every evening. The acrid smell of burning plastic, which is highly toxic, became too much. Fortunately others also complained and the HOA stepped in and now we don't have such a problem.

The second was noisy dogs howling day and night. A couple of neighbours had moved in. Their dogs were locked up in tiny cages outside the house and were constantly barking and howling. Again, this was contrary to the HOA rules. The offending neighbours, who seemed quite oblivious to the annoyance their dogs were causing were told in no uncertain terms to comply with the rules. They were rental properties and both have since moved out.

Now, fortunately, peace and quiet has returned to the neighborhood. 

The sub-divisions rules are quite plain and are for the benefit of the majority. It was such rules that attracted us to that sub-division. As a result it's a pleasure to live in and is well run. If people don't wish to be restricted by such rules, then they can always find somewhere else to live. 

I have no experience of HOA's in other parts of the world, which may be overly petty and controlling, but so far my experience has been very positive.

Ken

[Dave Hounddriver]

I just noticed a new sign on the gate of my subdivision.  "Visitors and tradespeople:  No ID No Entry"  Is that common in other subdivisions?  I have a couple of friends who won't come visit because they don't like getting the 3rd degree from the guards and I have others that just drive by the guards and wave as if they live there.  They don't, but have not been shot or chased yet.

[AlwaysRt]

11 hours ago, Huggybearman said:

I have no experience of HOA's in other parts of the world, which may be overly petty and controlling, but so far my experience has been very positive.

The 2 typical problems people have is the HOA does not do anything to enforce the rules or care for the common areas, and when the HOA starts overstepping, creating new rules and enforcing like a police state. Oh, there is a third common problem, unequal enforcement. Some a held to the rules while others are allowed to consistently break them. They help when they act as they are supposed to but can get very messy when they lose the plot.