4 ms·

How does that differ meaningfully from home owners associations and the like?

mgerdts 5y ago
The one time I lived in a neighborhood with a HOA, i found it provided a private pool and and a way for neighbors to be more exclusive, not inclusive. For instance, one of the HOA rules was that you cannot have any vehicle with commercial signage or lettering (like a plumber's van) parked outside over night. If my parents were to stay the night, the rules said that their pickup with lettering advertising their small business was not welcome in my driveway. As I was writing this, the term "sundown law" came to mind.
- greggman3 5y ago
  I totally get how that sucks but, if I lived in such a neighborhood, for that particular problem, could I solve it by buying a car cover? Not that I should have to, just curious.
  - mgerdts 5y ago
    The solution, as described by a wealthy neighbor when discussing something different (placement of plants?), was to just ignore the HOA. The HOA has a shoestring budget and a $10k legal bill would bankrupt it. So, if you are wealthy enough to hire expensive lawyers, rules don't apply to you. That neighbor was a doctor that ran clinical trials. The discussion with him on HOAs and other topics left me disillusioned in so many ways. The entire point of my earlier message was to point out that HOAs of the form I've seen are not a means to encourage diversity or inclusion. Rather, they are about maximizing home values by ensuring conformity to the target market.
wolverine876 5y ago
One difference: Each coop member owns shares in the entire organization's assets, not in their specific unit (or they own the same fraction of their unit that they own of their neighbor's). For example, imagine the cooperative owns 10 buildings totally 50 units, worth $12 million total. Each of the 50 shareholders owns shares worth $12m/50 = $240,000. For simplicity, I'm omitting the issue of the members building equity over time.

The one time I lived in a neighborhood with a HOA, i found it provided a private pool and and a way for neighbors to be more exclusive, not inclusive. For instance, one of the HOA rules was that you cannot have any vehicle with commercial signage or lettering (like a plumber's van) parked outside over night. If my parents were to stay the night, the rules said that their pickup with lettering advertising their small business was not welcome in my driveway. As I was writing this, the term "sundown law" came to mind.

greggman3 5y ago
I totally get how that sucks but, if I lived in such a neighborhood, for that particular problem, could I solve it by buying a car cover? Not that I should have to, just curious.
- mgerdts 5y ago
  The solution, as described by a wealthy neighbor when discussing something different (placement of plants?), was to just ignore the HOA. The HOA has a shoestring budget and a $10k legal bill would bankrupt it. So, if you are wealthy enough to hire expensive lawyers, rules don't apply to you. That neighbor was a doctor that ran clinical trials. The discussion with him on HOAs and other topics left me disillusioned in so many ways. The entire point of my earlier message was to point out that HOAs of the form I've seen are not a means to encourage diversity or inclusion. Rather, they are about maximizing home values by ensuring conformity to the target market.

wolverine876 5y ago

One difference: Each coop member owns shares in the entire organization's assets, not in their specific unit (or they own the same fraction of their unit that they own of their neighbor's). For example, imagine the cooperative owns 10 buildings totally 50 units, worth $12 million total. Each of the 50 shareholders owns shares worth $12m/50 = $240,000. For simplicity, I'm omitting the issue of the members building equity over time.