Answer is - don’t live inside an HOA. Or if you do, follow their rules and you won’t have those problems.
That was not a HOA problem: that was a CITY inspector claiming that the front lawn did not comply with the city code. . .
Oh, and in many places, you cannot FIND a home that doesn’t come with an HOA.
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Hadn’t seen it was the city. In that case, they can take it to their city council-person.
And yes, you can too find homes outside HOA’s. If you can’t, it’s only because you insist on the pool and semi-private golf course with the gates keeping the riff-raff outside (or, inside, depending). That’s what you get in exchange for paying them every month to tell you what to plant and which color to paint your house.
Slightly off-topic: I spoke a while back with a friend who lives in Manitoba. They run on hydropower there. He told me that his total monthly electric bill, with fridge, A/C and all was about CDN $20.00. I believe I heard him right. I also believe Manitoba Hydro is publicly owned.
Just sayin’.
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Not true at all. What are your footnotes?
Here’s a good detailed study trying to estimate the total output of having solar panels on every roof. They estimate that total rooftop PV generated electricity energy would be about 1,400 TWh a year (not accounting for any possible improvements in solar panel efficiency). The total energy consumption by the US was 3,900 TWh in 2009.
So about 36%. Not everything, but a huge proportion of the total energy usage.
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’ ’ ’ montly electic for fridge and A/C in Manitoba is $20 ’ ’ ’
Ok, but … it’s Manitoba!! Check out the charts at WeatherSpark. You only need A/C about two months out of the year, and for a good chunk of the year, you could keep your food cold in a locked box on your porch. If your energy company does balanced billing, then they could be balancing a huge electrical load in July with “just keeping the lights on” in January.
Note that this also does not address his total energy footprint. If he is using gas for heating and cooking, then the $20 for electricity is terribly non-representative.
The core of most of these issues seems to revolve around that balancing of time and energy. I wonder how many homeowners would still be interested in photo voltaic solar if they faced a more standard industrial electricity contract, which specified that the price will vary according to other sources and overall load. If the current base load is covered by the nuclear plant (expensive and hard to throttle or slow down), or the hydro-electric plant (low operating costs, fully paid off) then you might find you get either zero, or – if you insist on delivering anyway – a negative price.
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Depends entirely on where you live. Here in DC Metro, ALL the subdivisions have HOAs.
And oddly enough, we have no pool or semi-private golf course, not even a playground. My HOA pays for street lights and snow plowing, and that’s pretty much it. . . No gates, either: we’ve been complaining about door-to-door salesmen who simply ignore the “no soliciting” sign at the entrances to the subdivision. . .
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I like the version a friend uses: “No solicitors over age 16”.
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More great evidence for why utility companies should be nationalized.
If it was true, perhaps. But as noted above, it ain’t, or at least not everywhere.
We have a sign on our door:
No Trespassers or Solicitors
THIS MEANS YOU !!!
No fund-raisers of any kind. We pay taxes for schools: you want activities, pay for them yourselves.
Any Missionary must be prepared to manifest their God or Gods on demand. . . .or be sacrificed to OURS.
No Surveys: if you’re still reading about this, it’s obvious you don’t care about our opinions anyway.
No Politicians: Show up at our door, GUARANTEE we vote for your OPPONENT
In other words. . .Leave Us Alone.
Unless, of course, you want to find out about how we feel about the Second Amendment. . . . .
Several weeks ago, the Jehovah’s Witnesses came a-callin’, and ignored the sign. As soon as they started their pitch, I interrupted: "OK, where’s your God ? You were REQUIRED to manifest him, and I don’t see anybody. (calling into the house: “Honey, start the sacrificial bonfire ! And from the looks of it, we’ll be getting some Virgin’s Blood out of it. . . .”).
They left so fast, there were skidmarks on the sidewalk. . .
I know, I’m bad. . .
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I recall thinking about compressed air… It’s not exactly efficient, but it is relatively simple and compact. It seems relatively easy to convert a 2-cycle generator engine to pneumatic power.
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Wow- that does not sound like fun atall! Most places, the city gets the bill for the street lights, at least.
I think they (can’t believe I’m saying this) did a better job with planned communities in So Cal. They have very minor HOA fees for upkeep of landscaping and such - but all the pools and stuff, minus the gates. Every street large has a bike lane, so that’s nice. but private homes are still like…private homes.
Still all those things have boards running them, and usually you have to serve to get anything done - if even then.
And if we were IN a city, they would. I live outside the city limits. As for fun, there’s a perfectly good County recreational park with ball fields, playgrounds, etc, less than a mile away.
Bike Lanes ? DEFINITELY a city thing.
And I’m well familiar with HOAs. . .just got elected to the board of mine a few weeks ago. Previous board wanted to bring in a management company, doubling our dues in the process.
It’s a tried and tested technology that might just be starting anew. Several projects on a larger scale are already launched or in the design phase.
Shouldn’t be too complicated adjusting the concept for home use as more or less everything you need is off-the-shelf stuff. For example coal mines did everything with compressed air including powering trains down in the mines before electrical gear could be reliably insulated.
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Good luck to you, then. I served on my board, as well. The majority of crooked investors (as opposed to homeowners in residence) trashed every effort we made. But I’m still glad I did it - because now I’ve got the goods on them, and they’re going down. Sometimes, a curse turns out to be a blessing (bwah-ha-Hah!)
Oh - re: bike lanes. Not so much, there. I was referring to Orange County. It has cities, but the lanned communities are entirely ‘burbs’.
We don’t have a lot of “investors” per se, we DO have a lot of Feds on overseas tours who are renting their homes out while deployed (neighborhood is heavy on Fed Law Enforcement and Intelligence types. . .)
We have a word here for bike lanes in DC Metro. They are jokingly referred to as the Roadkill Lane. Not so much for the bikers, as for the pedestrians who get hit by bikers who don’t appear to think that such things as traffic lights and stop signs apply to THEM. . .
Well, there’s an even worse downside to the communities of Orange County.
They’re in Orange County. I’m pretty much convinced that any place that boasts a ‘Housewives’ reality show - or maybe, any reality programming at all - is just a place you don’t want to live, lol.
Yeah, it will be a LONG time before they do the “Real Rednecks of the Shenandoah Valley” . . .
That is way TL;DR. You should just put out a sign that says “fuck you” and deliver the same message in way fewer characters.
I know, I’m bad…
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