Does your car meet our standards

[Ed Pawlowski]

That may have worked in 1958 but today, there are many pickups used for daily drivers. They are 20% of new vehicle sales.

[Scott Lurndal]

Which seems to go hand-in-hand with keeping the "undesirables" out.

[angelica...]

We've had this same discussion half a dozen times. Perhaps next time I'll know not to get involved in the first place. You are ineducable.

Cindy Hamilton

[micky]

The eligible voters are all the members but it doesn't require a unanimous vote. So things can still be shoved down the throat of those who disagree. The % vote here might vary depending on the sort of issue.

However here we have the opposite problem, and that is we have to change the covenants or by-laws to raise the dues and we can can never get enough votes, so as prices go up we can't afford to pay them. For lawn-mowing and gardening of the common areas, although there isn't much of that, if they are to come frequently it costs a bunch of money.

And snow-plowing varies a lot from year to year, but when it snows it costs a bunch of money.

And recently we had to replace 3 of the 4 fire hydrants, because the fire department checks them periodically and they seem to only last 30 or 40 years, and the FD insists they be replaced, and that was 10,000 or something for 100 families.

And we've had a few water main leaks, each costing several thousand, possibly because the original builder used the wrong pipe, not the somewhat flexible metal pipe under the roads and when a really truck comes by, it can break the pipe. Although the last leak was under a sidewalk. First time we've had a leak under a sidewalk. The plumber digs but we have to hire a cement guy to replace the sidewalk.

And the biggest expense is repaving the road, I think the last time it cost $150,000, and prices have probably gone up.

And repaving once and repairing once, each time raised the surface of the parking lot an inch, including in front of the main storm drain, at the bottom of the hill, two spots from where I park. The opening was 4 inches high and losing 2 inches meant it couldn't handle all the water from the top of the hill to the north and west. And it would pool and actually entered a neighbor's car. She claimed it ruined her car. I find that hard to believe. The same day it came to one inch of my doorway and while I don't think it would have ruined the car, it would have made a lot of work and some expense to clean it. That problem is solved but it wasn't easy.

We also pay electricity for the street lights but that's not much money, and we pay a management company to handle paperwork, and maybe we have some other expenses.

So we have all these expenses and we can't raise the dues. A little bit twice in 38 years.

[micky]

It's easy to move, isn't it? And doesn't cost any money.

Who knows? And if I understood the story, they only gave them a couple days to fix their cars!

I think a court would throw out the whole rule, but normally for an injunction you need a lawyer. I did it once myself and it took a lotttt of time, and once it got started, I didn't know what to do for the next step. I still forced new HOA elections, but it was not enough.

I believe the law in Maryland requires every group of houses, or condo or co-op apartment built since 1970 or 80 to have an HOA. There was a very good reason for the law but if one wants to avoid that he'd have to living in a place more than 50 years old, or a home built individually. Not too many of those around, and I think they are all very expensive.

[Tekkie©]

On Sun, 21 Mar 2021 20:43:02 -0400, Ed Pawlowski posted for all of us to digest...

Is it in their lease? Who judges the 'ugliness'?

[Tekkie©]

On Sun, 21 Mar 2021 21:56:09 -0600, rbowman posted for all of us to digest...

Heck we used to do that with the police cars. I mean what were rubber mats for?

[Tekkie©]

On Mon, 22 Mar 2021 07:43:54 -0400, Dan Espen posted for all of us to digest...

I thought the Element was ugly, but now wish I could get one. Supposedly easy to get in & out.

[micky]

My HOA had a clause from the start, I think, against parking commercial vehicles. Not against trucks afaic, but one guy had a panel truck (What do they call them now????) with the business name on the side, and that's what bothered people.

They argued about this at the HOA meeting for 10 minutes before I solved it for them.

Get a blank sheet of magnetic vinyl and put it over the writing on the door when he got home.

He was one of the few renters too, but why should we make his life difficult.

Aut what do they think? That people who do physical work for a living don't live here. How does it affect them if he drives a car with a name on the side or a truck to work?

I know of one n'hood, and it's probably not uncommon, where the garage door cannot face the street. That's probably a good idea, because you only have to do it once, when you build the house. And it does't take much extra space to put one 90^ turn in the driveway.

[Tekkie©]

On Mon, 22 Mar 2021 10:24:46 -0700 (PDT), [e-mail] posted for all of us to digest...

But this is an apartment complex.

[Wade Garrett]

Some years ago, I was on an out-of-town nine month high level consulting assignment and the client rented me an apartment in an upscale complex rather than pay for a hotel for all that time.

I had just bought me a top of the line fully tricked out 4WD Ford F-150 that cost more than most entry to mid-level luxury cars. The complex management told me I couldn't park it in front of my unit.

My client- who rented several units in the complex- called them and told them to back off. They did.

[gfretwell]

I have been in the Cape about 5 times in the last 20 years. I wouldn't put up with that crap.

[Clare Snyder]

I don't know - a Henry J was a pretty homely looking thing too - and some of the forties and early fifties (previous to 1955) Packards??? The Tucker wasn't winning any beauty contests either - or any of the Curtis cars before 1955 - or a crosley -or a Bobbi-car. Pre 50s Studs were nothing to write home about either - and the 73 Grand am???? or the 1957 "catfish" Packard Hawk?? Or an early "bathtub" Nash? Or some of the 50's Lincolns??? Any Edsel BUT the 1960 was actually pretty pleasing to the eye - but the '60???? UGGGLYYY!!!! The Gremmy looked a lot better than the later "Spirit" based on it - actually kinda Cure in it's own way.

[Clare Snyder]

I'll bet those who refuse to allow the fees to go up are the ones bitching the most about the "one-time levies" and the lack of maintenance.

[Clare Snyder]

Mnay cities have ordinances about unlicensed or undriveable vehicles being parked -

[gfretwell]

I would have never bought one myself but for free I took it. I was going to give it to my nephew but he never bought the insurance (our deal) so I couldn't. I had put a new clutch in it for him and I was driving around some in it to be sure it was OK. I just kept driving it. They are ugly but actually pretty functional and you can haul a lot of stuff in one. It is the car that made a fold down back seat mandatory in any other car I ever owned.

[gfretwell]

It is state by state and maybe even down to the local level somewhere but in Florida they can change the bylaws and possibly the covenants at the annual meeting and it does not have to be a unanimous vote. Other rules can be made and changed by the board in a simple up down vote. A lot depends on how the original documents were written. There are also differences between condos, Co-ops and HOAs. They have entire law firms here who do nothing but deal with the 3 statutes that define these operations. My wife is a Licensed CAM and she ran one of those nut houses (799 doors) for over a decade. (Master HOA, a few Single family HOAs and about 12 condos) She still hates people.

[gfretwell]

Most just want to live with people who think, look and act just like them and they get their lives into lock step. Conform or leave. There are still plenty of conflicts tho because that is not how human nature works.

[gfretwell]

Hey but what a date car. It had reclining seats.

[gfretwell]

If you live in a gated community, it better fit in your garage and they don't care how much it cost. I think most of the Cape has backed off on the truck thing but not if it has a ladder rack or a tool box in back. .