Quote:
Originally Posted by tankdriver
You might not be aware of this, but for the most part even prior to HOAs, neighborhoods were not mansions next to shacks. Neighborhoods were, as they are today, mainly by price point. If one could afford a house in the area, one usually fit the same mold as the other people who lived in the area. When I was a kid, we lived in a couple houses built before HOAs. Even though there was no rule stopping them, no one on our street stored old fridges or cars on blocks in their yards. They mowed their lawns. It is true that they had whatever color mailbox they wanted, but no one seemed to mind.
Once, we were on vacation for a month, and the person my dad asked to cut our lawn didn't do it. When we came back, someone had cut a strip in the lawn. No retarded HOA overreaction was necessary for the neighborhood to manage itself.
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But way back then, people were a different breed too. Take my house for instance. According to HOA rules, no attached buildings. They never gave me grief for my decent looking shed. OTOH, someone put up a tin plated shed that made a lot of noise in the wind. HOA told them to remove it within a certain time. Mine is not only against the covenant but it is against city rules that stated you have to be 3 feet away from the main building. HOA never gave me grief. After an owner's boat "floated" away from his yard into his neighbor's, they told him to move it. They were about to do something when it rolled into the street and got destroyed. All because he put it in an unsafe manner.