Moving the Trailer this weekend to stop the Whining

[Dutch Star Don]

I live in a neighborhood that has no HOA. We purposefully bought here because we knew we would always have an RV. We're not a high end neighborhood, but the houses are worth around $650K. Our motor home is behind the front edge of the house and tastefully hidden as best we can. Our yard is always well maintained and the house kept nice and modern looking.

In our tract, about 90% of the homes in our neighborhood, of 100 houses, are reasonably kept, but some are just c**p holes. It's then when I wish we had a an HOA. Our newest neighbor is a hoarder with a flag lot and long driveway running up alongside our house. For three years, he's been promising to clean up his driveway and landscaping. Finally.....I asked him the other day.....if every house in the neighborhood looked like his does when he was shopping.....would he have bought here. He had to admit....no.

With all that said, even though your RV is new, if the association prohibits it, then you're really doing your neighbors wrong by violating the provisions. They bought property expecting no RV's allowed. Just because your is nice, what happens if the next guy brings home Cousin Eddy's RV, in Christmas Vacation.

[NLOVNIT]

I live in a community that has an association. You can belong to it by paying dues, but I don't. Maybe that's what the OP means by stating he lives in a community with one but isn't part of it.

I'm still bound by the rules that association sets forth for the development, though.

Lori-

[Rickho]

What I think happened is that I bought one of the original homes first built. It wasn’t until the $MM plus homes were built in the back that an association started. My deed and Owners policy is free and clear of restrictions. I have never paid dues either.
BTW, my home is worth $500k. A bit higher than the county standard but nothing like the back end homes. I live on the front end of the neighborhood which has one way in and one way out. When I bought my home I clarified the association did not apply or I would not have purchased it.
The president of the association has changed hands many times in my 13 years here and now all of the sudden everything is an issue.
My house and yard are very well maintained but there are those busy bodies that nose around.

Legally I believe I’m in a good place. But decided to move it to stop the whining.
I will say that some of the back homes that do belong to the association do not conform in other ways such as having elaborate stone columns in their entry driveways. Under no means are those allowed but there they are. But again, there are those who have and belong to the “I have money click” in the back and those who work hard for a living in the front. Those that belong have infractions that seem to be overlooked. It’s your classic have and have nots.
It’s just time to move along I think.

Personally I just want to be left alone. They don’t speak to those of us that live in homes under $1MM so I am annoyed that they would pick apart my property after all these years. My exact reason for making certain my home was clear of restrictions when I purchased.

I did trace my deed back to it’s original owner and I can verify that at least my home has never had any restrictions or covenants. But where it makes financial sense I do try and conform for the sake of peace.

[tcg]

I don't see the problem. If you're not bound by the rules and you are following city ordinances just keep it where it is.

If they had a leg to stand on they would have involved their lawyer by now.

If people are trespassing to leave notes in your mailbox I'd get the post office involve. I'd also get a camera and find out who it is.

I would use the situation to amuse myself. Maybe the backseat of a car on the lawn with a barbecue. The tackiest Christmas display I can find. Bring a freinds car over and do a brake job. Be creative.

I'm having trouble gathering up sympathy because people who own million dollar homes look down on the guy with a half million dollar home.

In my neck of the woods we have city ordinances and the city selectively enforces he rules based on who complains. Someone I know has been cited for blight because he keeps his new trailer in his yard as per the ordinance but other neighbors don't get cited.

He thinks it's time to get a lawyer and see about getting this resolved. Either cite everyone or remove the ordinance.

[EdInArk]

I tell people I'm lucky to live in a place where I can do pretty much any danged thing I want. I wanted to build a shop; I built one. I wanted to park my RV in the yard; it's there.

Not so lucky is the fact that my neighbors can do pretty much any danged thing they want too.

I agree with the people who say the rules apply to you as well as everyone else. If you agreed to rules that exclude RVs when you bought the place, you should move it. But if it's just neighbors griping with nothing to back them. I'd tell them to pound sand as well.

[Spdracr39]

Everyone buys their house and never looks at the association and rules for the neighborhood. The realtors rarely mention the neighborhood covenants but to me it should be one of the most important factors. There are a lot of common sense rules that usually align with city ordinances and codes but some are down right ridiculous. Forced HOA membership is a deal killer for me also. Why would I live under the thumb of a bunch of want to be rule enforcers and pay them to allow me to do it ? Good luck with your sale, Hope you get out of there quickly.

[Rickho]

It’s the same old rule you see everywhere. Money can buy just about anything.
Thanks for the comments. I hope we sell quickly as well.

[tcg]

Originally Posted by Rickho

It’s the same old rule you see everywhere. Money can buy just about anything.
Thanks for the comments. I hope we sell quickly as well.

Money also can't buy everything.

We all end up in a box.

[TexasTom]

In Bedford Texas it is not legal to park anything longer than 26' on the road. Yep, you read that correctly. So you correctly ponder the question "what about a large moving truck loading or unloading"? Well if it's over 26' then you can't legally park it in front of your home.



Perhaps the laws have changed in the past 5 years, but back then one of our neighbors knew of the law, and every time we brought our MH to the house to load or unload (generally it was for a few hours each time) they would call the police.


The Bedford police generally are great folks, but they don't make the laws, so once the neighbor realized the police were only giving us warnings and not writing tickets, they started complaining to the city manager, etc.


So we sold, moved to a place with some acreage. And yep, you guessed it, the neighbors did not complain when the moving truck was loading......

[BirchyBoy]

Originally Posted by Rickho

What I think happened is that I bought one of the original homes first built. It wasn’t until the $MM plus homes were built in the back that an association started. My deed and Owners policy is free and clear of restrictions. I have never paid dues either.
......
I did trace my deed back to it’s original owner and I can verify that at least my home has never had any restrictions or covenants. But where it makes financial sense I do try and conform for the sake of peace.

Thanks for the clarification. If it were me, I’d keep doing what you’re doing, taking care of your property and parking the RV at home. I’d only move the RV if the town or county had some laws against it.

If the owners of the other homes have that big of a concern, tell them to pool their money, buy you out at market plus 10% and then they can turn your house into a gate house for their HOA.

[barmcd]

Originally Posted by spdracr39

Everyone buys their house and never looks at the association and rules for the neighborhood. The realtors rarely mention the neighborhood covenants but to me it should be one of the most important factors. There are a lot of common sense rules that usually align with city ordinances and codes but some are down right ridiculous. Forced HOA membership is a deal killer for me also. Why would I live under the thumb of a bunch of want to be rule enforcers and pay them to allow me to do it ? Good luck with your sale, Hope you get out of there quickly.

We were looking at a house on a short dead end road. The road curved back and forth over about 2 blocks and had 11-12 houses on it. It looked like a fairy tale village. Turns out it had a HOA for those 12 houses. We asked to see them and there were 26 pages of "rules". It was a deal killer for us. You couldn't do any maintenance on a vehicle in the drive way, it had to be done in the garage. You couldn't keep the garage open unless you were actively taking things in and out of the garage. All vehicles had to be parked in the garage at night. It was unbelievably detailed and restrictive. Turns out the guy that built the houses owned the last house on the street.

[ScoobyDoo]

It amazes me that people will buy a house without knowing what will affect them in the house. Buy uphill from the drag strip, witch about the noise. Or on the haul road to a quarry, and want trucks to go another way. A good laugh. Guy owns about half a section. For decades he has been farming most, but mining rock and reclaiming parts of it. Neighbor sold farm, city annexed, developer divided built bunch of McMansions, new owners begging city to something about noise, dust traffic... Farmer/miner let it be known that he would be at city council meeting to discuss the issues. Several of the witches came to the meeting. Newspaper quoted the statement. "I have all permits I need from state and feds to run my business. Next letter I get from the city will start the clock. Within a year of that date I will have 100 units of section 8 housing as a buffer zone.
Money can do what it wants.

[babock]

Originally Posted by BirchyBoy

Thanks for the clarification. If it were me, I’d keep doing what you’re doing, taking care of your property and parking the RV at home. I’d only move the RV if the town or county had some laws against it.

My thoughts as well.

[WorldCat25]

Originally Posted by spdracr39

The realtors rarely mention the neighborhood covenants but to me it should be one of the most important factors.

Just like RV sales people never discuss driver licensing requirements!