http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/in-a-community-of-million-dollar-homes-a-fight-over-a-dollar500-mailbox-ends-in-court/ar-AAm9RCR
Nazi MFs !!! >:( :( >:(
"The association was trying to maintain uniform and harmonious standards in the community"
I ran that through Google Translation from Lawyerish to Ergophobian and it translates as: "The HOA was trying to crush creativity and squeeze every last drop of spontaneity and free thinking out of its residents in an attempt to complete assimilar by the Borg"
Why is this not in the "stupid" thread?
Having been an HOA Board member:
1. I'd rather have my face eaten by rats than do that again.
2. Everyone thinks the rules apply to everyone else but not to them.
3. You generally get a split between those that want vigorous enforcement of the rules and those that think you can't tell them what to do - ever.
4. The covenants and restrictions need to be crystal clear, otherwise everyone thinks they are a da** lawyer.
5. Everyone complains, nobody says a word when you do well. Those who complain the loudest never volunteer for anything.
6. It's probably easier to have an HOA in a POSH gated community full of millionaires rather than down in the cheap seats where I am: here if you suggest somebody paint their shed you would think you had just taken their inheritance away, kicked their puppy and robbed them of their baby's milk money.
7. It's best to enforce with a light hand, however there are always one or two that give them an inch and they will take a mile.
I bought my current home lot straight from the developer (before he'd even seen the plat [I knew the surveyor]). The HOA was created afterwards, but I had made a deal that we'd never be in it.
Some years later, the HOA wanted to build a clubhouse and pool but it would require that 100% of the owners in the subdivision be under the HOA. I called my friend on the board and told him that they were wasting their time even talking about it.