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It always amuses me when people talk about "buying" a property under HOA control. You're not buying anything. You're agreeing to an indefinite lease with a majo
by caymanjim 5y ago
It always amuses me when people talk about "buying" a property under HOA control. You're not buying anything. You're agreeing to an indefinite lease with a majority share of profit upon transfer of the lease. If someone else can decide what color your house is, you don't own it.
- umanwizard 5y agoBy this argument nobody owns anything because there is always some level of state authority that can make rules about what you’re allowed to do with it. What’s the fundamental difference between an HOA and a small local government?
- the_local_host 5y agoNot the person you originally asked, but an HOA is an additional layer for a start. Moreover it tends to have more restrictions, of a kind that would seem ridiculous at the level of local government (e.g. what color your curtains can be, in the case of the condo I'm currently renting.)
- brailsafe 5y agoThat would piss me off even as a renter.
- sneak 5y ago> By this argument nobody owns anything because there is always some level of state authority that can make rules about what you’re allowed to do with it. You're right, and that's bad, too. If what you're doing isn't affecting anyone else, you should be free to do it.
- cartoonworld 5y agoThe color (and much more importantly the condition) of your house certainly does affect someone else.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- frankbreetz 5y agoThere rules with owning almost anything. HOAs are on the far end of the spectrum, but you get the appreciation if property values go up, which is one of the main reasons for owning property
- judge2020 5y agoYou also can't discharge a gun pointed at another human, or even in most public places, so do you really 'own' that gun?
- Rumudiez 5y agoDid you just compare homicide to painting your own house’s door blue? smh
- judge2020 5y agoI'm showing an extreme example of the OP's logic. There are laws and regulations around items and property that people ""own"" that prevent how they use their property yet it doesn't change that they do still own it.
- nzmsv 5y agoPeople also talk about buying stocks but you also can't control the direction of a company as a minority shareholder. People also buy non-physical things like music or software, and things that exist only for a moment in time, like experiences. It would seem that most people's definition of "buying" works for HOA-controlled properties. What's your definition?
- brailsafe 5y agoSoftware, music, stocks are things that you can do with what you please, but not if it's on a subscription basis. My definition of ownership really comes down to the inability for others to take away my control over it. In a sense, a mortgaged property is an acceptable risk in that the bank has limited financial control over your house as debt, but anything beyond that and nobody should really be able to tell me to not paint my house blue.
- pixl97 5y agoJust buy a house outside of an HOA or city historical restrictions. You'll have to shop around, and you wont get exactly what you want, but that is life.
- brailsafe 5y agoI'm not in the market for a house at all, that's just my definition of ownership. I clearly wouldn't buy in an HOA or a historically restricted property.
- throwaway98797 5y agoownership isnt black or white. its on a spectrum. property rights are given to us by the government with certain limitations. dont pay your taxes and your property goes away. HOAs is one additional restriction.