I live in a HOOD like wayward speaks of and its very frustrating. you finally get sick, and cant keep up like you always have and your neighbors start asking each other if you still live there. Yea, I still do but why make my self sick the be the only one on the block that follows the rules. Fatboy, I do know her neighborhood, have a couple of friends over there......Too many politics if you ask me. Then you get people like my daughter in Katy. Just deliberately works at breaking the rules and challenging the HOA, because its fun..........what a world we live in. and in her case, I do take the HOA side, NO neighborhood needs to have a street dance in the cul de sac

Man, just when I get the yearning to move back to my beloved H-town, I read something like this.

And I remember how lucky I am to own land out in the country and CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT.

I remember the days of neighbors from hell in areas with no HOA and days of "you can't do that" in neighborhoods with them.

I don't miss the nights worrying when my next-door neighbors are going to finally burn the neighborhood down, and when the motorcycle gang down the street (no joke, we lived two houses down) is going to decide they want the WHOLE neighborhood for themselves.

And on the flip side, I don't miss the stipulations, the regulations of living in a "certain" area. I don't like not having the freedom to do want I want. It seems it's danged if you do, danged if you don't in the city, and my little romantic mind tends to forget that from time to time.

Thanx for reminding me. I will paint my mailbox pink with purple polka dots if I damn well please, thank you very much. I shall put too many pumpkins on my porch this fall, and I also will go to fetch the paper in my pajamas, knowing there is no "did you see what she was wearing this morning" gossip across the fence - THERE IS NO FENCE, save the one keeping the cows in the other pasture. And I suspect the cows don't care about the pink mailbox.

Just kidding about the pink. I dislike that color. But RED? Maybe with a blue checkerboard design? Now you're talkin'. My point is, IT'S MY LAND.

I do abide by rules at work, all day every day. BUT DO NOT TELL ME WHAT TO DO ON MY LAND AND IN MY HOUSE. PERIOD.

Good luck, Ms. Herrmann. You're going to need it.

I agree with you that in SOME areas without an HOA there would be "Junk autos, trash laying in the yard, grass as high as the homes, drug dealers, out of control children. And really ugly homes."

People who want good neighbors, clean neighborhoods, etc. would go to the neighborhood BEFORE buying and see for themselves if they want to live there and vote with their feet and pocketbook. There is no HOA here where I live and you won't find a single purple garage door with yellow polka dots. The yards are well kept and the houses are in good repair. My wife and I have wonderful neighbors, for the most part. Even a Hitleresque homeowners association can't guarantee you'll have neighbors with whom you want to be neighborly.

If you didn't have HOA in some areas, you would have out of control owners. Junk autos, trash laying in the yard, grass as high as the homes, drug dealers, out of control children. And really ugly homes. So I do back most of what HOA do. If you don't like it, you can sell or move. I prefer to have good neighbors, instead of those that just don't care.
And HOA are not busy bodies, I know some and they have a really hard job keeping things together, and trying to please everybody all of the time. And you know that is impossible.
So get the rules and comply. Go to the meetings and get involved if you don't like how it is being run.

Homeowner associatiions are, by and large, run by busy-body control freaks. They forget -- more likely they don't care -- who pay the mortgages and taxes on the homes. They insist that everyone kowtow to them.

Ms. Pam,
Here is what I would do. SUE THEM! They will settle for your variation. HOA are prejudice. Dont let some quack whose profession is a doctor, plant worker or therapist read you some outdated print. I assume its Benchmark/Country Club Village.

Get a copy of the rules, regulations and bylaws. Also look at the budget, financial records and minutes from the board meetings. These will all help give you some indication as to how well run the association is, and if you can live with the rules that are already in place. If you can show exclusion/oppression of your own entity then ask a trail by jury and I hope I am on the jury. You won!

Can I request open records on your board??

http://propaccess.trueautomation.com/...