Question of the Day - 03 December 2019

and fought with a "busybody" type who tried to enforce rules that did not exist. The rule pertained to the height of weeds allowed to show in a yard since a lawnmower would reduce that height,  This busybody tried to apply that rule to the height of the grass.  I had been too busy working 12 hour, 7 day shifts to mow so my grass was tall.  It was a nasty fight, not from me but due to the power mongering of the busybody.  Luckily I was found acquitted of any wrong doing at an HOA meeting.  The busy body was furious that I was acquitted.  Some HOA's do become fascist organizations. 

That's funny, Deke. 

Hey, until you lose your HOA manager you don't fully appreciate either.  We had a good one, perfect personality to oversee without being a busybody; gently advise a HO when something needed attention; serve as a conduit to city directors for street, drainage, etc. issues.  Plus collect the HOA fee and pool fee (optional) from all the homes.  Wife died, he moved away and nobody has been willing to do the job (us either).  One guy and his wife announced they would do it, collected catch up money for the pool and other needs, planned a giant yard sale to generate more money (got rained out), then disappeared in the night.  I'm told the HOA still exists on paper, but without a manager not worth much.  

First noted in "Peanuts," meek and mild Charlie Brown becomes a school crossing guard and immediately becomes bossy and obnoxious.
My experience with an HOA is when I owned a house in Henderson, I bought an RV in Arizona and drove it home. I got back at 1 in the morning and parked it in front of my house. At 6:30 the same morning, it was gone--the HOA-hole had had it towed. He didn't knock on my door or anything--he just called the tow company. I had to pay $500 to get it back, at which point I seriously considered using it to crash through the front door of his house. 
Also, back in the boom years, I considered buying a condo at Turnberry Towers. That is, until I found out that the HOA fees were ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY DOLLARS PER MONTH. And for what??? "Common area maintenance" using gold-plated lawn mowers??
HOAs are just another scam made up by jerkwads in order to bleed people of money. In that sense, they're perfect for Vegas.

A few months back at a board meeting.  Some Homeowners were being negatively effected by wild hogs.  The dispute between one board member and the homeowners effected by the hogs was why should the HOA pay for a professional trapper to benefit a handful of members. We ended up hiring the trapper. He's caught over 2 dozen hogs. One neighbor jogs in a flesh colored speedo which has raised the ire of members. He responds he will put out bear traps to protect his commercial cannabis grow operation, at the same time he stops mowing his property. As it turns out, there is no cannabis operation. It is strongly suspected he cast nails in the in the only road leading in.  He mooned a few women driving by his house.  The HOA called the district attorney and wants to file an indecent exposure in front of a child charge.   

I was elected to my HOA (in a high rise) thinking it would be a minimal commitment and it’d be a way of giving back.   Turns out it’s a part-time, thankless job.  When we aren’t finding ways to save money, we are getting cornered in the elevator about the hot water not being hot enough.  When a loud night club opens up a block away, we get complaints, when in fact everyone was notified of the business in the city’s zoning mail outs.  And now I have neighbors who hate me because we fined them for their dogs using the balcony as a bathroom and it drips onto the lower balconies.  But in the end, next year we won’t have to raise the HOA dues because we properly managed spending the building’s money.   But we won’t get thanked for it... just yelled at because a baseboard needs a touch up.  I’d encourage anyone here to serve a term in their HOA before you criticize their work. 

Section 7 in "The Lakes" has the best HOA.  They have been able to maintain the dues at $$77.00/quarter for over 10 years.  In contract, Sun City Summerlin is the worst.  The board runs on not raising fees and then raises them every year.  It all goes to the golf courses which less than 20% of Homeowners use.  Little dictators.