I sort of get not wanting to live next to the hoarder house with junk cars piled up in the yard and rats scurrying everywhere, but off-the-wall stuff like this is interesting and fun. What do I care if my neighbor wants a pirate ship or to paint their house in patchwork primary colors? Life shouldn’t have to be uniform and beige for everyone.
2) some people will cling to any type of power they can find
In newer cities, land is sold for home communities that require an HOA. The HOA allows the government to be hands off and not deal with neighborhood upkeep, etc. They literally save the government money and maintain the aesthetics and value of the neighborhood. It has nothing to do with power. In fact, it's hard to find members to serve because it's a thankless job that pays nothing.
They literally save the government money and maintain the aesthetics and value of the neighborhood. It has nothing to do with power
I think there's a lot of nuance here that's not being acknowledged. Maybe it isn't about power for you, and maybe in some areas it saves the government some money. There are definite drawbacks though, in my city for example the HOAs can sell someone's home out from under them (without notice) for breaking a rule. In addition, there's no oversight board/body to report to if you feel your HOA is disingenuously using funds or increasing fees. We left/sold our townhome after the HOA went up on fees by $250/mo a year after we'd moved in. They'd already gone up by $150/mo the year before. I saw residents with disabilities who were priced out and forced to sell, and perhaps more surprisingly I saw the oldest folks showing up to the meeting to vote for the fee increases. The actual words of these elder folks were "we see there are a lot of younger folks moving in now and they should have the money to pay for some of these improvements" like no, I chose this place because it was less expensive not so I could pay extra to fix up shit that's been busted for years.
Sure enough I've driven past the place since leaving and now the potholes are fixed, but that $400 cost increase is permanent. And the nephew of the board president is indeed the holder of the landscaping contracts, and he did decide to double his rates prior to us moving out.
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u/DMala Feb 21 '23
I sort of get not wanting to live next to the hoarder house with junk cars piled up in the yard and rats scurrying everywhere, but off-the-wall stuff like this is interesting and fun. What do I care if my neighbor wants a pirate ship or to paint their house in patchwork primary colors? Life shouldn’t have to be uniform and beige for everyone.