Welcome to the club, they are banging me not for my truck, but for my trailer.
The HOA have a lot of stuff shirts that don't have lives!!

What I am doing is taking pictures of other homeowners that are doing the same thing I am doing. Now, I know you are not the only one with a pickup in your development. Take some pictures.

Luck to ya,

 

I'll go along with several of the others here. You knew what you were getting into, live with it. You had the choice. (In our neighborhood, it takes a 75% vote of the homeowners to change the covenants or by-laws.)
I'm Pres. of our Association, and I get calls all the time from Closing lawyers and prospective buyers asking about our covenants and how we interpret them.
We are not highly restrictive, but a few restrictions have driven buyers away.

Do we take homeowner's in violation to court? Not so far, we send registered letters informing them of the violation and give them a stated time to correct the situation. We do have 5 homes that we have had to register a lien on the property because of various long standing problems. We just wait it out. The lien must be cleared before the house may be sold. We just cleared one last month that was in effect for 12 years. You should have seen the look on the guys face when the lawyer told him he couldn't sell his house until he paid the lien to the homeowner's association. Boy was he pissed, but who is going to be stupid enough to cancel a $525,000 contract because he didn't pay a $1200 restitution to the homeowner's association? The owner even tried to negotiate a payment plan. We said that's fine, but we don't sign off on the lien in the Clerk of Court's office till it's paid in full.

 

I always had the opinion that home owners associations were a result of arrogant people trying to enforce their ideas of "proper" behavior on others.

You just reinforced that opinion.

 

There have been times Id trade my truck for some nice neighbors! Look up "pesky neighbors" on the search engine on this forum and read about the one i have that actually Dumps his trash in his back yard and burns it! I in fact stopped in the drive way yesterday and loaded up a swivel chair that he seen fit to drag home from somewhere, and use it to sit in while watching the trash burn!

This is a neighbor that the surrounding neighbors have discussed buying out.

Oh yes, 3 junk mowers, old boat, broke down vanseats.. but buy god a brand new yamaha raptor and kodiak!!!!!!!!

Granted I live in small town and do have alot of freedoms, but we all have our issues on both ends of the spectrum.

 

I'll step up and buck the system here with you. I do anything and everything that I can come up with to **** off my HOA. I pay dues late, I stack **** up in my yard and leave there for days at a time (not being white trash or not because I have to, but because they irritate me and I like to irritate back) They recently started enforcing their little community laws and there were like 10 of us in the whole place (of like 600 homes) that had trailers. Mine was always in the garage, but the rest of the guys had them in the driveway, which didn't bother me. They all got letters to move it or face fines, so I took mine out of the garage and parked it in the front yard for two weeks.

They say not to work on cars, I do it late night. Ever heard a supercharged 5.4 with dual flowmasters and 3" pipe at 1am?

Bottom line, if you cause them more trouble than you're worth, they'll back off. I get warnings and letters all the time, but I never let it get to that next step, I always just change to something else to annoy them. They can tell me to cut my grass, but they can't tell me how high it can be cut!

Be a Rebel

 

My FIL died of cancer a couple of years ago, the neighborhood they live in had a covenant. During his last two weeks, his employees were visiting him on a regular basis, sometimes that meant one of his drivers would stop at the house in his semi, the HOA association decided it was important enough to bring it to the attention of my MIL, who promptly told them to shut up and had the company lawyers basically tell them to take her to court at which point she'd bankrupt them.

I also remember recently in Florida, a HOA refused to let a minister bring a family back from the hurricanes to live with him until they could get back on their feet. I think incidents like those pretty much sum up HOAs.

Here in Iowa we have a problem with rich people creating developents out in the country, and then banding together to try and drive out the farmers in the area. What kind of fool builds a house in the country and then complians about farmers?

 

Driving out farmers. That's funny. I have 2 stories here in the Omaha area. The first, a new division went up in northwest Omaha. There was a dirt track there that held races there every Sunday in the summer. Well, the people in the new development didn't like that, so they had it shut down, and it wasn't even on their property. Idiots.

2nd, I have a friend building a house in the sticks in a gated lake community. the owner of the land, set a 180hp limit on the size of boat motors. That's a 4. mercruiser basically. Well, The new mercruisers have 190hp. The current land owner had no problem with people and the new motor size. However, this land is slated to get turned over to the HOA soon, and, guess what. There are a few pompass, stuffed shirts thinking they know what's best, and are telling people to get rid of their boats because they are rated 10hp over what was stated in the covenant's. And we impose sanctions on Castro, he's just an old communist.

Banning trucks, you have got to be kidding me. I think a truck convoy sounds good right about now.....

 

Homeowners associations are good to keep above ground pools and childrens big toys out of peoples yards but no trucks is a little unrealistic.

I wouldnt move in to the neighborhood. This no trucks thing is only the beginning. Next thing, you wont be able to have a car parked in your driveway - it has to be in the garage.

 

You may be correct for all the wrong reasons.

But, that is precisely the point. WHY MOVE INTO A NEIGHBORHOOD WHEN YOU DON'T WANT TO PLAY BY THE STATED (printed) RULES!

You folks that talk about doing things just to irritate the HOA or the neighbors, what's that all about? You can't find a good confrontation elsewhere, so you have to start with some rules you knew about at the get-go!

My rule of thumb has always been, if you can't live with the neighbors you've got, sell and move elsewhere. They (HOA's) aren't changing the rules once you move in. It's obvious if you moved in, you planned to **** people off to begin with. What gives with that thought process?

I'll take ddellwo's statement a step further, put the wheels back on and roll on down to another neighborhood where you're appreciated and not persecuted.

Oh, and we have truck covenants too! Big trucks, and trailers and boats have restrictions. Boats and trailers behind the house or in the garage. Do you see them parked on the street sometimes? Yes, certainly! Someone could be visiting for a few days or a week or even a month. There are always circumstances where the rules are suspended. We are neighbors, and common sense rules most disputes. Communications solves the problems just about every time.

 

I would never move into a place that is run by a select group of "Do-Gooders." I have dealt with one of these communities and know that it is a restrictive and controlling mess. Yes, you have to know what you are getting into when you buy in. There is much more that goes on in these places that is absolutley ridiculous. I have seen people complain that

"their bush is touching my bush"
"their bird feeder is too colorful"
"their guest is parking in someone else's spot"
" they let their child play off their property"

I'd live in a tent before living under the rules and whims of these people.

 

It's a democracy. The homeowners meet and vote on these rules. You want the rules changed, go and vote. If you dont like the rules - move.

I moved out of my condo for this very reason.

Same thing applies to the US.

 

(I meant to delete this ! But you got it before I deleted!)

 

 

Our rules were written in 1985, the "Do-Gooders" you are mentioning have been elected every year by ALL the homeowners of our association. There are 9 of us "Do-Gooders" that volunteer our time to run for the board. We serve 3 year terms, that way every year 3 new "Do-Gooders" come onto the board. The By-Laws state that you can't serve continuous terms, meaning you are on for 3 years, then you must have at least a year off before running again. We have 175 homes in here, and there have only been 2 people to serve more than one term. Most associations are set up this way.

I think your comment of "I would never move into a place........" makes sense, it's your choice, that's what the others in this thread need to realize.
Don't condemn HOA's, just opt for the lifestyle you need.

 

Agreed