Charlie Griefer wrote: > In this case, it's a bunch of senior citizens who (I believe) got pushed > around in life, and now that they've got some semblance of authority, they > exercise the hell out of it just... because... they can.
I haven't had any direct experience with a HOA, but the one in the neighborhood I grew up in went from ok, to bad, to worse, to OMG I can't believe we live here! in a matter of a few years. At the end they were to the point of putting liens on people's homes over stupid things like refusing to pay the "fines" they instituted (why the majority of the people in the community votes for that is still beyond me). This all went on until, one day, an attorney who lived in the neighborhood decided to sell his house. He then found out that there was a lien placed by the HOA over some unpaid fine that he didn't even know about. The HOA didn't stand a chance. It turns out that some of the things that the HOA was doing (and the community had voted for) were actually unlawful and/or unconstitutional in the State of Florida. Automatically all of those rules were overturned and the HOA was forced to lift the resulting liens and refund thousands of dollars to its members and also faced civil penalties. Then the real shit hit the fan when it was discovered that the HOA hadn't paid its own fees to the State one year several years earlier. It turns out that the HOA didn't even legally exist from that point forward, so the whole thing got zapped right then and there. Good riddance. HOAs can be good or bad, but from what most people have told me, they are usually setup to be democratic, and the types of people who have the time or desire to run them are usually the exact types of people who you *don't* want in charge. When I go to buy a house myself, whether or not there is a HAO present will weigh heavily into that decision. -Justin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:289185 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
