All depends on how the HOA is ran. As long as you don't have a crazy person running it is a HOA is a great thing. The original concept behind a HOA was to keep out the crime and the Riff Raff. But of course a lot of crazy people took it and used it as a means to assert power over others
The HOA is not a good thing to have. It decreases the value of your property. Why in the hell would anyone want to buy an expensive home. Then pay a group of people who tell you what you can and cannot do with your own home??? My real estate agent told me that homes in a HOA take a lot longer to sell. Usually have to come way down in price to attract buyers. Also people who don't really know what a HOA is usually regret the purchase. They put the home up for sale within a few years. Kids to noisy? Fine Grass over an inch? Fine Parked in street? Fine Want to paint your home? You need our permission Want a garden? You need our permission Barbecue in front yard? Fine Music to loud? Fine Don't pay us our dues? We take your home
@@lesmounteer625 Socialism: the means of making, moving, and trading wealth should be owned or controlled by the workers. Fascism: centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
It's a position that seems to attract a certain kind of person. Kind of like how the BTK killer took a 13 year break from serial killing for a career as a code enforcement officer. Just another way of having power over someone.
@@jenem9618 HOA’s aren’t permanent. Check your city laws, they can be disbanded with the written petition of a certain percentage of the neighborhood once all the houses are finished being built.
@@jenem9618 the HOA can also be taken over by sensible homeowners. The HOA's own rules generally require them to hold an election every so often, probably annually. Anyone can stand, so all the people annoyed by the current Board can pick someone to stand for each open position and get everyone else to vote for them. The new, user-friendly Board can then roll back any ridiculous rules the previous Board implemented.
@@063317Art not necessarily, while I think a lot of them get wayyyy to power hungry and corrupt the reason they exist to begin with is to help maintain property value, if you own a home in a neighborhood you could have an amazing house but if your neighbors let their houses go, get messy, turn it into a disaster, it hurts the property around theirs not just their own. So they existed to police shitty home owners from hurting everyone’s property. I know I personally would not buy the best house in the worst neighborhood that’s important. But I do think in almost every modern case they have stepped well outside of their rights and initial positive intentions. So they are all pretty ridiculous to live in now.
Bruce Wayne the problem would be convincing a federal prosecutor to actually do it. It isn’t likely that you could convince them it would be worthwhile.
You are NOT TOO BRIGHT are you. There is no Federal Criminal Charges Applicable. Another You Tube Lawyer that has no clue. Good thing it is not criminal to be STUPID or you would be going to the chair.
Can't think of any good comebacks except turning mine around ??? You are just a clueless idiot that has NO Knowledge of the Bill of Rights and Federal Codes protecting those rights. You are just a burnt out bulb (Not Bright) on the Christmas Tree. An HOA is a PRIVATE ENTITY not a GOVERNMENT AGENCY. You can NOT sue or charge criminally with civil rights violations for infringing on your speech. You can sue the HOA to get them to not levy fines but THERE IS NO FEDERAL VIOLATION. Ever hear of Google ??
So, girl starts her own Facebook page, for the community, does the work to get people to join it, and the board, who has not contributed to the group, wants to tell her what to do with the Facebook group she started, grew, and maintains. Wow.
Halariously, a few people in this thread don't know that HOA'S are an outcropping of "white flight" when wealthy white people like my grandparents moved out of the cities, like Chicago and went to the suburbs in the 50's, then wanted to make rules so black people couldn't move to their neighborhoods. Stopped house sales, (black family, oh I'm sorry we have another buyer who just made a bid yesterday) had loans refused ( this is recent history readily available) now HOA'S are used by bored house wives and jerks to bother their neighbors because they are awful people. How HOA'S are legal at all is baffling to me.
I was a maintenance person for a HOA for a few years. Many of the board members during that time were quite full of themselves and truly believed that their authority was much broader than it really was. Hearing stories of other HOAs makes me believe that the majority of people who become board members are spoiled, or were picked on as children and are looking to avenge their unhappy childhood by being petty adults.
"When you cut out a man's tongue, you do not prove him a liar, you only tell the world you fear what he has to say." - George R. R. Martin Those board members are only proving why they should be replaced.
Petty tyrants. Unfortunately, that's the type often attracted to those positions, those with a desire to use their power to push people around and lord their privilege over others. History is full of these types.
HOAs are staffed by control freak crybaby narcissists who are also con artists that skillfully trick people into paying dues to maintain standards that would maintain property values. Then behind the scenes they come up with crazy rules and try to bust anyone with a stiff fine that would enrich the HOA's coffers so they can then justify even more arbitrary rules to target anyone doing anything they think can be fined.
@@junegloom1157 Cities and states often use that technique to enrich their coffers. Example: Gee, did that off ramp from the expressway take you onto a road with a 20 mph speed limit? And you were doing 40 when you passed the radar trap 100 yards down the road? OK, that's 20 mph over the speed limit and that's a $500 fine. Thank you.
@@jowoo45 It's actually liberal ideology and Democrats are to weak to stand against it fearing loss of voters...But so are Republicans, hence the world we reside in!
It's almost impossible now to get a non HOA house in Phoenix in a good area. If you do find a non HOA community in a good area it usually costs more. But it's more than worth it to get.
I was once the recipient of a fine from an HOA. After speaking about it at length at the next meeting I pulled the HOA president to the side and whispered in his ear "If I ever receive so much as a slip of paper from you ever again, I will beat the absolute hell out of anyone that's ever claimed to love you." After that, even the annual dues bill was sent a month later than usual.
When we were house hunting in Gilbert, a property came on the market for sale in Val Vista Lakes. I refused to even consider it because of this lawsuit. I find it absolutely disgusting that private homeowners should be left living in fear of having their free speech infringed on because they happen to live in an HOA. I wish the homeowners the best in getting this resolved. May God grant them favor in the courts.
I bought my moms house 3 days later someone was knocking on my door lol it was the HOA sayin I had to be part of the Association. Told him and her that’s never gonna happen slammed the door in their face. Won’t say what I said to them before closing the door never heard a nothing thing from them. My property does border up to the New neighborhood but being existing property with 2 acres of land still 12 years later still no word from them. Did tell them that I was here before the neighborhood was built. So it’s not going to happen here. I don’t need an Association telling me anything. Screw them all
@@REB4444 there should be a law that you only have to abide by the rules you agree to when buy. if the hoa makes a new rule and you don't like it you should be able to simply not sign onto it. they can enforce their new rule only on the homeowners that specifically agree.
@@genxray951, that is called "grandfathering", sadly it takes a vote to get that status. Usually the board refuses to approve any decisions allowing such action unless courts and judges step in.
Because they can tell your neighbors how to live. Without one your neighbors can trash their properties which can cost you a huge amount of money when you try to sell your house. The fees also go to road upkeep, landscaping, playgrounds, parks, pools, gyms, etc that further maintain and increase your property value and standard of living. Not all HOAs are crazy like the few examples you see in the media.
@@Nayr747, I wish that were true. There are numerous people who let their property go, weeds, tall grass, fences in extreme need of repairs, trashcans left out on the street, trashcans left visible from the street, trash cars, trash in the yard, houses falling apart, etc... it's all the same houses and have been for months if not years. Despite supposedly writing citations the same houses are in violation of HOA guidelines. We have received three notices about being in violation of guidelines. One was for tall grass, I own that as I was letting the grass grow in order for it to seed and spread in the yard, I mowed soon after the notice. Another was for the decorative shutters and window screens being damaged by a hail storm. It had only been a few days after the storm and due to the area affected by the storm insurance representatives were quite busy. It took about 2 weeks to get an adjuster to inspect the damage. That notice I ignored because I knew it would never hold up. The third was a notice was that we had an sign in out lawn advertising a business, which was actually in our neighbors yard, I ignored that one too. The point is, I know they give notices about violations but I can not say for cer5if they actually issue citations with a monetary penalty. I am left to wonder what it is that they actually do. Now I will say that in the past couple of years they have made great improvements to our common areas, the pool, the park, the playground and the basketball/tennis courts. However, that was only after there were a couple of drug arrests at and near the basketball courts and after my started posting pictures of the condition of the playground and all the trash/drug related trash.
more broadly, HOA board members are often covert narcissists and sociopaths who relish the thought of controlling others and targeting those they don't like to enhance their self image. A few have noble intentions but lack perspective that their job is to take care of the koi pond and cut the grass and not screw with people.
"How dare you say we've retaliated against members who've disparaged us! We're going to threaten legal action for saying that!" Damned near broke my irony meter.
Just watched another news video where HOA board members demanded homeowners turn over their personal security camera footage to them. Some of the homeowners had proof they were being targted for petty fines while others weren't. After went on air next mtg president resigned.
The fact that the attorneys even played along and sent these notices, is asinine. They should know better. They should understand that what they're doing could be incredibly damaging to them and HOA
If I found my absolute all time forever favorite dream house, had cash money to buy it, and learned it was an HOA community, I'd take a picture of it, enlarge it, hang it over whatever fireplace in another choice, and dream on.
Just buy the house and have it moved. Once bought theres no law or HOA bylaw to keep you from moving the house. Houses with concrete slab floors can also be moved. its a little costly but it can be done..
When we started our house hunting some years ago, the #1 rule we gave our agent was "No HOA." She said that wasn't a problem, a lot of people ask for that.
Just so you know, a County or City is itself an HOA, they have all kinds of rules, for example, Sacramento County has a law does not allow you to change a transmission in your garage at your house, or use spray paint of any kind on a vehicle. And just watched a video where a county had a law against a bbq in the front yard, or having 'too many' people over for a party.
@@murraymadness4674I read somewhere there is a county, I think in Wisconsin (not sure but that general area). It's a land locked county with only medium/small lakes, and they have an ordinance preventing people from parking a SCHOONER in their front yard. This was quite some time ago (i'm 60 now and it was back in my early 20's when I heard about it). I honestly have no clue if that is true or not, but it WOULD be some crap a local government would do.
When I was a kid the hoa or condo association or whatever it was where we lived was taken over by old people and they started making all kinds of old people rules. When they passed a rule that the playground would close at 7pm even in summer because the squeaking from the swings bothered some old people, my parents decided to move.
I would like to bring to everyone’s attention that it is a common practice of attorneys to send “demand” letters on behalf of clients. They are fully aware that the demands in such letters may or may not be based on legalities, but can sometimes produce results because of the recipient’s fears. Oh, and they of course get a fee to send the letters regardless of whether or not their claims are based on law.
Lived in an HOA community where the board was all a bunch of old people. We had had a pot belly pig for years that we adopted when she was just a piglet. No one ever knew about her until one of the nosey board members looked over the fence & saw Lucy sunning herself on our diving board. Those olds made it their mission in life to have us evicted if we didn’t get rid of her. We ended up moving & took our pig with us.
VAL VISTA LAKES ...nice name. When I lived in BREAD CRUMB ROW in NY when we had a problem, we called Guido. He had associates that could handle problems.
Personally would feel safer sleeping out in the open desert with rattlesnakes, seeing as the HOA staff are even MORE COLD-BLOODED than the snakes! These HOA humans have no compassion, they are a parasitic entity sucking the life out of neighborhoods by enforcing arbitrary standards on others. Bunch of con artists and crybaby control freak narcissists, eventually people will see HOAs for the scam they are!
Board member 1: People on FB are claiming that we retaliate against critics. That's not cool. Board member 2: Well, let's call a lawyer and retaliate against them. That'll prove them wrong!
I was told young that, becoming a parent was the only "power" that most will ever have so they naturally will abuse it. I now believe that its actually being an HOA board member 🙄
I pray that the truth about this HOA board be revealed. Bullying needs to stop. This represents just another way of how our "rights" are being threatened.
I had a HOA start up in my neighborhood years ago. I'd been living there for years. They came around with their rules and I told them that I was here before them, and wouldn't follow anything they set. They just went away and didn't bother me again.
@Roger Woodruff If what you are trying to say is the FIRST AMENDMENT and that the Bill Of Rights only prohibits THE GOVERNMENT from infringing on those Rights then you would be correct.
@eddieisfiction They don't legally have power over your posts, however, only over your property. They can certainly enact a social media policy, but that policy would only be allowed to restrict what their officials can post, NOT what the members/public can post. Just like your employer can have a social media policy governing what its employees can post, but not what its customers can post.
It’s not a free speech issue, because they are not a government. If they were lies on the Facebook page they should’ve pursued those directly as libel or slander. They are still illegal even on the Internet.
@@neilkurzman4907 OTOH if they actually sued for criticism, and couldn't demonstrate reasonable belief that they were defamatory, or libelous, but just critical, would it be possible for them to run afoul of laws regarding Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) ? IANAL ofc
"I'm beginning to wonder if there's even a benefit to HOAs" When you live in a condo, you do need some sort of association to handle community issues, due to shared walls, communal roof, etc. In most other instances, it's rare when HOAs provide a legit benefit that you couldn't get through a good local government. When the local government handles things instead, your natural rights are more apt to be respected.
There is none and don’t let anyone tell you different. HOAs were created to keep black people out of suburban neighborhoods, their origin is rooted in racism
We live in an hoa free community. Several years ago some residents tried to establish an hoa here and not only did the community shut them up, but we made sure that those residents knew they were no longer welcome to live amongst us. They were forced out and we are happy about it. If they want to live in an hoa community, they need to move to one and leave us anti-hoe people alone. We would never buy a home in an hoa community. Why risk it?
I’m going to do that. Thanks for the idea. I do need to bring people together and did not know how for years. I am literally going through foreclosure due to harassment by the board. I should create a Facebook page to bring people together
Besides the violation of Constitutional free speech rights, HOAs are also increasingly violating the Constitutional protection against excessive fines--as the Supreme Court found in similar circumstances in Timbs v. Indiana.
I lived in an HOA community and never again will ever considering moving back into one unless i make millions. I left a trash can out for a day past the day amd then i got a 100 fine. Had guest they got towed. You got nosy neighbors and a bunch of Karen's telling you what you can not do. Im not a trashy person kept up with the street and volunteered.
I have a friend who is in an HOA. With approval she turned her pool into a pond which is now green with fish and plants. One neighbor who can only see it from an upstairs bedroom complained about the color. Then the other neighbor complained because of the few bags of soil she had in her side yard. Again only viewed from an upstairs bedroom. I've heard too many issues with HOAs full of Karens. I'll never live in any area governed by this kind of group. An apartment is bad enough.
Sue and recall the board, get an auditing firm to go over the books and reimburse the HOA fund for the lawyer, audit and any illegal spending of funds, give the ex-Board members 30 days to sell their property and leave or they get fined $1000.00 a day if they can't sell in 30 days the new board will take possession of the property, sell it with the profits going into the HOA fund.
The Bill of Rights only protects you From the Government or one of its agents. An HOA is NOT a Governmental Agency although the Fines would not be enforceable.
@@HUBABUBA-il8fn Social media is by definition public. A case of "prior restraint" could be made here. www.hoamemberservices.com/hoa-freedom-speech-case/
@@toditron Social Media is controlled by the media itself. Google, Facebook and You Tube regularly censor material. The issue is the Bill of Rights only protects from the Government NOT a private entity. So there are NO Massive law suit wins for violation of Rights, or Federal Criminal Charges. That being said would a Court probably side with the Residents saying that it was an over reach of the Boards authority? Probably. However the Court may also rule against the page owner as far as her putting up a "private" page that purports to be representative of the Community without the HOA Permission. The Appellate Court was actually advising THE LOWER COURT a ( Governmental Agency) that it's orders were inconsistent with the First Amendment. The Initial Courts order was the violation of the First Amendment.
@@HUBABUBA-il8fn If anything, if they tried to sue over negative posts that were defamatory, I wonder if that would make the HOA (and/or their lawyers) run afoul of laws that deal with Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs)
The type of personality that wants to create or be on that HOA board tends to be the control freaks. They don't know how to do anything good with the power they acquire when they get on that board. It's always trouble.
Why anyone would buy a property with a HOA is beyond me. I am acquainted with people who live in these types of communities and I here nothing but horror stories about the people on the boards there and the kind of absurd rules they put in place.
They forced agreement, by forcing title changes...ars33-1228 ..how to steal 33% of units..?..lawyer vrs lawyer both at your expense...forever perpetuity...invalid..???!!!
Correct me if I am wrong but isn't censorship against the law? At no time did I hear that the HOA had any kind of agreement with in the contract stating no disparaging remarks were allowed, as it would probably void the entire contract. If you cannot put it in a contract you cannot enforce it later.
I would sue the HOA and the board for overstepping furthermore review the by laws and sue for miss representation of rules and regulations of membership. I give the HOA both barrel lawsuit and make an example of them
It’s really sad how much power HOAs are given and how they can absolutely destroy homeowners lives for the most erroneous reasons. The system needs to change
I don’t live in a HOA but my next door neighbor likes to pretend she’s the “boss” of the neighborhood. I laugh when she asks me to do anything to my property reminding her that I pay my mortgage for my property and we’re not in a HOA
I understand her frustration..its like they think they should not be questioned about anything when it comes to our monies and yet, we have the right to.
Why in gods name would anyone buy a house where your neighbours can tell you what you can or can’t do or what you must do or they will fine you. It’s insane.
If they are making factual claims, and those claims are true, then there can be no libel. Also, mere opinion is not actionable for libel, slander, or defamation. For example, if she posted something like, "I think the HOA board is a bunch of assholes", that's not actionable, because it is mere opinion.