4 ms·

I've never lived in a neighborhood where the houses must be in "perfect cookie cutter shape", nor would I ever want to. I want my neighborhood to be diverse and

I've never lived in a neighborhood where the houses must be in "perfect cookie cutter shape", nor would I ever want to. I want my neighborhood to be diverse and interesting. HOA neighborhoods sound soul-crushing to me.

chrisseaton 5y ago
'Perfect cookie cutter shape' can be charming and historically significant. I'm glade there is an association maintaining the character of a village I used to live in, and that people aren't free to remodel them on a whim, permanently damaging cultural property. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Sunlight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Sunlight
- domador 5y ago
  That could be an exception. However, when I hear "HOA", the kind of neighborhood that comes to mind is "insipid, yet pretentious suburb".
- howinteresting 5y ago
  When I hear "historically significant" I think of segregationist NIMBYs. The future is more important than the past.
  - chrisseaton 5y ago
    Actually part of the job the association does in the village I lived in was to own some of the houses and rent them out as registered social landlord (meaning you can rent to people using social security.) They also helped to maintain museums, cultural spaces, and green spaces, for everyone. Destroying cultural property to install a satellite dish is not making 'the future more important than the past'.
    - howinteresting 5y ago
      Historic preservation often involves rejecting things like solar panels on rooftops. That is 100% privileging the past over the future.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
        deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
chrisan 5y ago
I'm sure there are extremely strict HOAs out there with insane people on boards that horror stories originate from. We've always lived in HOA homes (in our 4th now) and they have all been very laid back. This kind of HOA I belong to is basically the "anti-hillbilly" HOA. You aren't allowed to own 50 cats and dogs free roaming and crapping everywhere, don't leave your rusted out broken down beater in the front lawn, don't let your lawn go to 4 foot weeds (but by all means grow some 6ft tomato plants), your backyard is not your personal firing range, you aren't allowed to have a personal dump of trash that you clear every 6 months, etc. Our HOA does are for snow/ice services, long term repairs on our private road, and the front entrance maintenance. Every house is very distinct, some I don't prefer the styling/color, but I enjoy the diversity way better than a cookie cutter subdivision. Soul crushing to me are people who don't take care of their property and enjoy living in neglect (which plenty of people out there manage just fine without an HOA, I just dont want to roll the dice)
- Hammershaft 5y ago
  > Soul crushing to me are people who don't take care of their property and enjoy living in neglect. Why is it soul crushing to you that others enjoy their lives without worrying about their property?
- hpoe 5y ago
  Here's the problem I fundementally have with HOA's even ones that are "laid back" is that at any point in time they can decide to not be "laid back" you get one bad idiot in charge of the HOA and then suddenly they start passing all sorts of rules. That is the problem they might be benign but when they fall into the wrong hands they become terrible quickly and in the process can destroy lives and livelihoods.
  - chrisan 5y ago
    It takes a vote by the community (the ones I live in) to enact new rules. If I had that many terrible neighbors I'd want to move regardless
  - shados 5y ago

chrisseaton 5y ago

'Perfect cookie cutter shape' can be charming and historically significant. I'm glade there is an association maintaining the character of a village I used to live in, and that people aren't free to remodel them on a whim, permanently damaging cultural property. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Sunlight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Sunlight

domador 5y ago
That could be an exception. However, when I hear "HOA", the kind of neighborhood that comes to mind is "insipid, yet pretentious suburb".
howinteresting 5y ago
When I hear "historically significant" I think of segregationist NIMBYs. The future is more important than the past.
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  Actually part of the job the association does in the village I lived in was to own some of the houses and rent them out as registered social landlord (meaning you can rent to people using social security.) They also helped to maintain museums, cultural spaces, and green spaces, for everyone. Destroying cultural property to install a satellite dish is not making 'the future more important than the past'.
  - howinteresting 5y ago
    Historic preservation often involves rejecting things like solar panels on rooftops. That is 100% privileging the past over the future.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]

chrisan 5y ago

I'm sure there are extremely strict HOAs out there with insane people on boards that horror stories originate from. We've always lived in HOA homes (in our 4th now) and they have all been very laid back. This kind of HOA I belong to is basically the "anti-hillbilly" HOA. You aren't allowed to own 50 cats and dogs free roaming and crapping everywhere, don't leave your rusted out broken down beater in the front lawn, don't let your lawn go to 4 foot weeds (but by all means grow some 6ft tomato plants), your backyard is not your personal firing range, you aren't allowed to have a personal dump of trash that you clear every 6 months, etc. Our HOA does are for snow/ice services, long term repairs on our private road, and the front entrance maintenance. Every house is very distinct, some I don't prefer the styling/color, but I enjoy the diversity way better than a cookie cutter subdivision. Soul crushing to me are people who don't take care of their property and enjoy living in neglect (which plenty of people out there manage just fine without an HOA, I just dont want to roll the dice)

Hammershaft 5y ago
> Soul crushing to me are people who don't take care of their property and enjoy living in neglect. Why is it soul crushing to you that others enjoy their lives without worrying about their property?
hpoe 5y ago
Here's the problem I fundementally have with HOA's even ones that are "laid back" is that at any point in time they can decide to not be "laid back" you get one bad idiot in charge of the HOA and then suddenly they start passing all sorts of rules. That is the problem they might be benign but when they fall into the wrong hands they become terrible quickly and in the process can destroy lives and livelihoods.
- chrisan 5y ago
  It takes a vote by the community (the ones I live in) to enact new rules. If I had that many terrible neighbors I'd want to move regardless
- shados 5y ago