CO: HOA Wants Kids Banned From Playing Outside

[Bang]

I would never buy in a HOA neighborhood.

I keep my stuff straight, and I won't have anyone else having a vote or a say in what I do with my property or my house.

F that. Once I am on my land, what you want me to do is something I'll consider, I'll be damned if anyone will force me, especially since it's been my experience that people tend to be unreasonable when given any authority or power.

for that matter, I'd never buy a townhome anyway. I like my neighbors, and I like them more when they're over there... not just thru the wall. Paying the kind of money we pay for housing, no way do I want anyone so close.

My closest neighbor's home is roughly 30 yards away from mine. That's close enough.

~Bang

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I like the community aspect that generally comes along with an HOA. In my area, you really can't replicate that in a non-HOA setting. We have very nicely maintained general areas, beautiful entryways, playgrounds/tennis courts/basketball courts/pools/recreation centers for the kids, etc.

Everyone is different, but most HOAs probably work just fine.

[Chicken Fried]

I played in the street as a kid all the time.

[authentic]

I live in an HOA neighborhood and the rules aren't excessive. I kind of understand where they are coming from, b/c (as another poster stated) unsupervised children can get out of hand. But just the concept of "Kids can't play out side" is beyond excessive. There should be some sort of compromise here. Perhaps, children under the age of 10 should be supervised by an adult.

[Monte51Coleman]

My mother used to make me play in the street.

I'd say- "But, Mom, there's a lot of traffic out there".

She'd tell me to stop being such a ***** and get out there.

[stevenaa]

Why can't the kids be aware of their surroundings? When we were kids we played in the street. We'd play football and when a car came you simply yelled "CAR!" and got out of the way. It shouldn't be that big of a deal. If it's a dead end cul-de-sac the cars shouldn't be going that fast anyway and should be able to easily avoid any kids.

They can. This has nothing to do with child safety. This is a select few not wanting to be annoyed by children in the street/parking lot. When they pull in, they could just practice a bit of patience while they kids move.

[HOF44]

Perhaps, children under the age of 10 should be supervised by an adult.

I think just the opposite. Kids 10 and under are fine, the ones over 10-17 need the adult supervision.

[authentic]

I think just the opposite. Kids 10 and under are fine, the ones over 10-17 need the adult supervision.

mmmmm, you might have a point.

[Stew]

I see people say stuff like all the time, and I just have to laugh. All HOAs aren't bad. Some give others a bad rep. HOAs actually do more good than bad. If you didn't have them, you would have idiots painting their shutters pink and parking dump trucks in their driveways and on the street. You would have grass a foot tall. You would have dogs constantly crapping on your lawn. Ok, the last one can happen anywhere. But at least having an HOA, you could put a quick in to the nonsense, usually without having to get the authorities involved.

Edit: And the most important thing is they help with your property value.

---------- Post added April-2nd-2011 at 09:06 AM ----------

---------- Post added April-2nd-2011 at 09:07 AM ----------

Funny, I don't live in an HOA neighborhood and no one paints their shutters funny, all my neighbors cut their grass weekly, and none of my neighbors even have dump trucks or construction equipment, or anything of that sort. So that debunks your blanket statement and stereotype right there. My neighborhood is very neat and clean, the county collects grass clippings and leaves themselves, without the aid of an HOA. My neighborhood is very good at keeping our yards clutter free, and we all communicate with each other (very close knit community) but we respect each others privacy. Hoa's also create an environment where neighbors don't speak to each other. If a neighbor doesn't like something, instead of talking to their each other about it, threatening letters get sent, pictures get taken and forwarded, and feelings get hurt, and a lot of times, all that needed to be done was a conversation between neighbors. Its just not for me. Sure some HOA's come with good benefits, just not enough to make me want to limit my freedom of choice, when it comes to my property.

[GSF]

LOL...sounds like an after school movie. Mean HOA lady wants to ban the kids from playing outside. Those kids need to ban together and egg her house!

[Stew]

I would never buy in a HOA neighborhood.

I keep my stuff straight, and I won't have anyone else having a vote or a say in what I do with my property or my house.

F that. Once I am on my land, what you want me to do is something I'll consider, I'll be damned if anyone will force me, especially since it's been my experience that people tend to be unreasonable when given any authority or power.

for that matter, I'd never buy a townhome anyway. I like my neighbors, and I like them more when they're over there... not just thru the wall. Paying the kind of money we pay for housing, no way do I want anyone so close.

My closest neighbor's home is roughly 30 yards away from mine. That's close enough.

~Bang

+1

I agree with everything you have said. My closest neighbor is about a hundred and fifty/two hundred yards away, but that is because we both have houses on opposite ends of our acre lots. I only have one neighbor because the other end of my property backs up to forest.

Eventhough he is a Dallas fan, we are friendly, and we try to cut our grass the same weekends, just to keep the cuts uniform. There are "neighbors " down the road a ways, but figure that everyone on my street has either one,two, or three and a half acre lots, and the houses are spaced out.

---------- Post added April-4th-2011 at 06:25 PM ----------

LOL...sounds like an after school movie. Mean HOA lady wants to ban the kids from playing outside. Those kids need to ban together and egg her house!

lol, bad lifetime movie.

I think that if an HOA was to go with a rule like this, then the HOA should have to pony up for some playing fields, and a playground if they don't already have them. if they already have them, then yeah, Id say that's where the kids should play...

[Bubble Screen]

^^ I love how you say I was stereotyping about HOAs and then you turned around and did the same thing with your neighborhood. You're 31, so I'm gonna assume that is probably your first house. I think its great that everything there runs smooth without an HOA. What you described is pretty much the one I'm in now (doesn't have an HOA either). However, the first neighborhood I lived in was a relatively new one, and it did have an HOA. It was one of those starter home-type neighborhoods. Ones like that most definitely need an HOA, because if they didn't, you'd most certainly find people doing the pink shutters, parking dump trucks on the street, boats in the driveway, etc. Hell, we even did have some idiot that occasionally parked a big ass dump truck out in the street (what a ****ing idiot). Anyway, I didn't really have many issues with the HOA, other than the one time I got a letter about my grass being too high. That pissed me off, because the grass wasn't really high, it only appeared high because my idiot neighbors on each side would ****ing scalp their damn yard everytime they cut their grass (cut the grass way too low). Yeah, I get a letter for my grass being what is usually a normal height, yet one of my idiot neighbors used to never weed eat his yard, so the grass on the side of his house grew several feet tall.:mad:

Edit: This reply was to Stew.

---------- Post added April-4th-2011 at 06:34 PM ----------

LOL...sounds like an after school movie. Mean HOA lady wants to ban the kids from playing outside. Those kids need to ban together and egg her house!

Or a better idea would be for all the residents with kids there to actually move to a house. Like I said, townhomes, apartments, condos, etc are no place to raise children.

[Stew]

^^ I love how you say I was stereotyping about HOAs and then you turned around and did the same thing with your neighborhood. You're 31, so I'm gonna assume that is probably your first house. I think its great that everything there runs smooth without an HOA. What you described is pretty much the one I'm in now (doesn't have an HOA either). However, the first neighborhood I lived in was a relatively new one, and it did have an HOA. It was one of those starter home-type neighborhoods. Ones like that most definitely need an HOA, because if they didn't, you'd most certainly find people doing the pink shutters, parking dump trucks on the street, boats in the driveway, etc. Hell, we even did have some idiot that occasionally parked a big ass dump truck out in the street (what a ****ing idiot). Anyway, I didn't really have many issues with the HOA, other than the one time I got a letter about my grass being too high. That pissed me off, because the grass wasn't really high, it only appeared high because my idiot neighbors on each side would ****ing scalp their damn yard everytime they cut their grass (cut the grass way too low). Yeah, I get a letter for my grass being what is usually a normal height, yet one of my idiot neighbors used to never weed eat his yard, so the grass on the side of his house grew several feet tall.:mad:

Edit: This reply was to Stew.

---------- Post added April-4th-2011 at 06:34 PM ----------

Or a better idea would be for all the residents with kids there to actually move to a house. Like I said, townhomes, apartments, condos, etc are no place to raise children.

If anything, what I was trying to do by describing my neighborhood was break the sterotype you gave a "non HOA" neighborhood. I mean, I know just how nice the manicured HOA neighborhood is, I pass by them all the time, and even shopped a few when I was looking. My point was just to clarify that my non HOA neighborhood isn't gutter trash or squaller bc there is no HOA. Yes, this is my first homeowning experience. However, my parents lived in an HOA all my adolescent/teenage life and my parents got railed on by the HOA. In all honesty, my parents are the type of people that you DO NOT want living in an HOA. Wealthy antique hoarders basically. Growing up like that made me OCD about clutter, I just cant have it in my house, around my house or near my house really. So that's why when I moved in, I would mow my yard whenever my neighbor did because it made the yards look uniform, and it also gave us a chance to meet at the fence line and talk, and formulate a gameplan to mow at the same time regularly. We keep our hedges and trees trimmed, keep our tools or any yard equipment in our sheds/garage, and neither of us do lawn orniments or anything like that. I cant say that the whole neighborhood is like that, but for the most part. Growing up with my parents made me a very clean, neat and orderly person because they were not.

Growing up, the HOA my parents lived in would rail against them for everything. They sent around a pamphlet of color schemes that they were allowed to paint their house, and they refused to let my parents put up large box hedges in front of their house that "may" eventually obstruct the view FROM the street. Now, its only fair to state that my parents gave them plenty of reason to get on them. My dad collects antique farm and landscape equipment, and would keep it close to the house under a tarp (even I hated this, it looks so trashy) in an HOA neighborhood. Not only did the rusted out farm equipment look out of place, it looked like an eye sore, and the tarp thinly hiding it made it look worse. But the HOA would never give them grief for this. It was like the HOA would pick and choose what to enforce and what not to enforce. "No ceder shingles, however the 67 Ford Econoline that hasn't moved in two years is fine"... it always boggled my mind. Now my parents are getting old and my dad doesn't do the home repairs and maint like he used to, (makes me sad, he used to be so full of life) and the HOA is getting on them again. Im trying to convince them to just move. I say that, but moving them out of their house is going to be an undertaking all its own. They have filled an 1100 sq foot basement and a two car garage with antiques (hoarders), some nice stuff, but some antique stuff that they "planned" on refurbishing and renewing that they never got around to.

I hear ya, and what I take away is that there are possibly some really great HOA's out there that MAY be worth the money. Im starting to think that my experience with a crappy HOA and a sub-par HOA resident (my parents) have given me a slightly jaded outlook on them in general. I still just cant get over having to ask them for permission to do anything really, that's probably my biggest dislike for them. However, I will say, that just because the neighborhood doesn't have an HOA, doesn't mean its a trashy or low income, or redneck neighborhood.

[Teller]

These are the same people who support increased healthcare costs for obese people I bet.

Idiots.

[Bubble Screen]

Stew, That's funny you said you and your neighbor form a gameplan to cut your yards at the same time. I'm the complete opposite. In fact, I purposely cut my yard during the week when everyone's at work to avoid dealing with my neighbors. Don't get me wrong, I'm not antisocial or anything. I'll chat with them, or wave to them and all that. But I keep to myself. I wouldn't have it any other way. The less people know about you the better, imo.

[DieselPwr44]

Looks like it's time for the neighborhood kids to leave some flaming bags of dog crap at a doorstep or two.

Maybe even tp a lawn or three.

At least that's what used to happened years ago......

And that was just for getting crappy candy at Halloween.

[Thiebear]

Some people on here say the kids need supervision as they just dent the cars out there.

Those are their parents cars..? those accidents have a way of working out to having a grounded child watch their friends play.

You are also saying the Mom can't see her children and the other children in a culdesac because you can't see Mom.

Do something and see how fast 3 come out their doors with a word for you.

My kids and the neighbors play so often we put above ground pool steps over the fence. (HOA's just feinted) but it is great.

[Stew]

Stew, That's funny you said you and your neighbor form a gameplan to cut your yards at the same time. I'm the complete opposite. In fact, I purposely cut my yard during the week when everyone's at work to avoid dealing with my neighbors. Don't get me wrong, I'm not antisocial or anything. I'll chat with them, or wave to them and all that. But I keep to myself. I wouldn't have it any other way. The less people know about you the better, imo.

Thats actually a really good point. Dispite being a Dallas fan, he is pretty cool. We are the two young guys in the neighborhood who coincidently live next door to one another. Turns out we have lots in common besides keeping our lawns "high and tight" like a haircut from the PX. Im usually more to myself as well, but i can say im glad I befriended my neighbor.

I try to keep to myself for the most part, and i never stick my nose where it hasnt been requested. If anything, most people recognize me as the guy running after that redbone hound that just hopped its owners fence.

---------- Post added April-4th-2011 at 10:01 PM ----------

Some people on here say the kids need supervision as they just dent the cars out there.

Those are their parents cars..? those accidents have a way of working out to having a grounded child watch their friends play.

You are also saying the Mom can't see her children and the other children in a culdesac because you can't see Mom.

Do something and see how fast 3 come out their doors with a word for you.

My kids and the neighbors play so often we put above ground pool steps over the fence. (HOA's just feinted) but it is great.

True story... Moms are evrywhere, and hear everything.

[TheLongshot]

There's a civic association that's just getting started in my community. That's as much as I can handle. They don't really have any power, but they have a habit of calling the police to deal with really minor things, like when my tags expired and I went to the DMV to renew them a day later, only to find a ticket on my windshield. These guys have been doing it all over the neighborhood, and it's really annoying. One of the head guys is an old navy vet who lives two doors down from me. He clearly has nothing better to do than to call the police on people and make sure the damn Mexicans move out, whether they are here legally or illegally.

Be lucky that's all you got. My wife's tags were expired for 2 weeks, and the HOA towed her car. I was upset that there was no warning.

Personally, I've been getting more and more upset as they have selectively enforcing the rules lately. On the other side, maintence of the common areas and improvements have been going downhill.

[Skin'Em84]

Looks like it's time for the neighborhood kids to leave some flaming bags of dog crap at a doorstep or two.

Maybe even tp a lawn or three.

At least that's what used to happened years ago......

And that was just for getting crappy candy at Halloween.

Hand out the little poppers next halloween...

I guarantee you'll have the neighborhood teens eating out of the palm of your hand...the parents may hate you though..