hahnmeister's Blog

When you buy a house, you also buy the neighborhood--part of "buyer beware".

In GA, there are alot of Homeowners Associations. If someone did what you illustrate, the HOA would assess fines and could even get a lien on the property for continuing violations of covenants(or rules agreed to, to live in the community). For example, before you put up a fence, or painted the house, you needed to run it by the HOA first.

You can't legislate "taste".

I was just making the equal and opposite point to jgravelle's blog... I think he oversimplifies things and leaves alot of reason out of his 'anti-liberal-anything' posts. Scoffing at every law that was put in place for very good reason seems to be a conservative pass time, without looking at the whole picture. My point was that there are no nationwide laws regarding the painting of a house, and that if you did want a pink house, you could move somewhere that allows it. There is no 'tyranny of the majority', or people forcing you what to do... you moved/live there, so you have certain laws to abide by. If you dont like the rules, you can move.

'government specified' roads with 10' wide lanes and stoplights that have been tested and approved by a 'government'. And I will drink my tap water that has been processed for me, rather than containing 'who knows what' from a well.

In Mequon for instance, it is rather common, because you have the older areas and then the new mega-house subdivisions right next to each other. A decade or so ago, those homes were $200,000-$250,000, and the ones being put up now are 3x that usually, and right next door... and trust me, there are problems like what I mention. I have a buddy up there who bought a house, and when on business in China, bought a couple of granite carved lions that he wanted to put at the entrance to his driveway. It may not be a 'pink flamingo', but the bottom line is, money cant buy you class. His neighbors didnt like it, but, as it turns out, the law dictated that any entrance or part of a fence could be no more than 4' tall in that area, and his lions were over 8' tall... so he did have to take them down. Your attitude may be what it is based on where you live, but keep in mind that these situations do happen and those laws are made for a reason. Im also not saying that our lives should be run by anyone else than ourselves (if you want a say, you can participate in the 'condo association' meetings for instance), just that sometimes, having a common agreement on how things will be done is very important to all. OTOH, if you dont participate in the decision making process, you cant gripe when rules are made without your approval.

"as long as it isn't illegal or harming someone."

And there you have it: 'unless its harming someone'. Well, taking money out of someone else's pocket by undermining their investment would be harming someone, wouldnt it? If you have a house that depreciates due to another's actions, that is the harm.

How does this saying go?, I cant quite remember, but it goes something like this: Lets get all conservative and remove the warning labels from everything, and after some time, intelligence will prevail.

Although this particular illustration is fiction..........it has and does happen. I was at a HOA meeting and there was a number of folks there to complain about the yard decorations (flamingos), the house color, the outdoor furniture.

When I was selling a pop-up camper, I got a tice from the HOA that having it up in the front was a covenant violation and I to get it removed.

At times I thought the HOA was overbearing, but, it is preferred to more local laws. There already are alot of them on the books.

If I were in a neighboord like that, and no HOA, I would network with other neighbors and address the collective concern to the homeowner and proceed from there.

It is a really slipplery slope to get someone in legal trouble because they aren't taking care of their property the way I think they should.

You are right, the scope would be of great concern. Say you and your neighbor just don't get along...........that happens. With laws on the books addressing this illustration, it would be very, very easy to be use such laws in a purely vindictive manner.

As land tracts are designated/zoned for specific kinds of use, there are always a series of regulations that go along with that. Such issues are typically handled at the county level with zoning commissions. If there were to be any "regulations" that is were they would need to reside.

But, even in that case, the more subjective the rule is in its interpretation, the more potential there would be for abuses.

Real Estate is an investment for most, so I have a hard time seeing how someone wouldnt be 'harmed' by a drastic reduction in their investment's value, and yes, having a houst next to your own that is poorly maintained does lower 'curb value' at the least. In the worst case, a neighboring property could be condemned, in which case... your property value will drop like lead.

If someone owns land and wants to build a 100 family fortress, then it is up to the zoning and planning board of that community to approve it or not. Any time you have a large comdo or comlplex like that, you just raised population density, and the crime rate compared to say, building a single family home. I was suggesting a similarity to such complexes which end up as 'low income' housing, but really, if your plans increase the population density of an area, then crime is a byproduct of that.

Perhaps you are taking some things out of context though itsmerich. I am not suggesting that people just start coming up with these rules and such 'all of a sudden', more that HOA's and when you move into a subdivision is when you would accept these things. Many times, if you live at a place prior to some sort of new housing code being passed, you are grandfathered out anyways. For instance, if you have an older home that is not up to code in some things, you dont have to tear out everything right away. A recent example would be 'fire doors' being required on attached garages: chances are your home may be from before this code existed, and so unless you do some remodelling, or replace that door, you

I have been burned............BIG TIME...........in real estate. There is no doubt that a poorly maintained property can impact to some degree values in the neighborhood. But, there are plenty of other factors as well. The broader community......job outlook.........amount of renters.......and then of course broader market forces such as lending criterias.

I don't think it is necessary always a bad idea for their to be some sort of city/municipality rules. Where I live in Brookfield, I can't put up a fence around my backyard higher than 3 ft?! Don't really understand it, but, was aware of it when we bought so we will comply.

By philosophical principal, I usually defer to what I would call "the right of an individual" over the "rights of the collective".

As such, although I don't think there is never any place for appropriate regulation or standards, but, when in doubt I defer the right of an individual to do something they want to do........even if I don't like it.

By the way, HOA's will also fine you if the lawn isn't kept up........mowing and excessive weeds being the problems.