The 2008 financial crisis hit homeowners hard. Estimates show that around 7.3 million families lost their homes to foreclosures during the most crushing 18-month span of the Great Recession.
This person's HOA was hit pretty hard too, it seems, since they began enacting some absurd violations and giving people fines for them. But one homeowner decided he wouldn't have any of this nonsense. So, he declared war on the red spray-painted curbs and lists of fake violations.
Bored Panda got in touch with the Redditor who posted this story, u/68Cadillac, and he kindly agreed to tell us more about the story and his current stance on HOAs. Read our chat with him below!
When this couple bought a home in an HOA-regulated community, they had no idea what a nuisance it'd become once they decided to sell
Image credits: freepik (not the actual photo)
The HOA came with all kinds of violations to put more money into their pockets, but the homeowner was one step ahead
Image credits: mikeygribbin / reddit (not the actual photo)
Image credits: EyeEm / freepik (not the actual photo)
Image credits: 68Cadillac
The Redditor says he wasn't worried about the HOA suing him; they simply wouldn't have the evidence
Image credits: freepik (not the actual photo)
When buying a house, many people weigh the pros and cons of owning a house that's within an HOA. While those kinds of properties can be more valuable (by 4%, according to some sources), there are plenty of stories online that might quickly persuade prospective homeowners not to sign up to live in an HOA.
For u/68Cadillac, there was no other choice that to buy a house in an HOA-regulated community. "In the city we lived in, almost every development came with HOA's rules," the Redditor tells Bored Panda.
"Somehow, someone thought 'less government' would be less intrusive, so, [they] wrote laws that allowed an HOA to take over traditional roles of Code Enforcement."
u/68Cadillac says he wasn't worried his plan to cancel the check might backfire; the HOA simply wouldn't have grounds for retaliation. "In court, the H.O.A. [would] have to reveal the reason for the money they said they were owed."
"At discovery, they'd be unable to produce original violation notifications. And because they never existed, they sure couldn't produce proof they'd mailed 'em," the netizen says. "Sure, the H.O.A. could just 'make up' and backdate notifications of violations, but every violation came with a picture of the offence,'' u/68Cadillac explains.
"New and ongoing violations need new or updated pictures every month. They'd have to photoshop a whole suite of 'dead tree,' 'bush missing,' 'hose uncoiled' shots from slightly different angles, and changing seasons."
"They committed fraud [by] making up those fines. I, allegedly, committed fraud [by] stopping payment on those fraudulent fines," the Redditor explains how he sees it.
The Redditor currently lives in an HOA-free neighborhood and enjoys the freedom of not having to get written permissions for landscaping
Image credits: ungvar / freepik (not the actual photo)
The consensus over whether HOAs do more harm than good hasn't been reached amongst homeowners, it seems. Although the majority of Americans (both those who live in an HOA-regulated neighborhood (68%) and those who don't (61%) say they'd prefer to live in a neighborhood without an HOA, those living under an HOA say they're happy (58%) with how it's governed.
"HOAs are great... until they're not," u/68Cadillac tells us his stance when we ask him what he thinks of the associations today. "It's really about who's on the board. It's a dice roll."
"[For] my last two homes, I asked the realtor to only show us homes in non-HOA communities," the Redditor admits. "Sure, I have to deal with a neighbor's less-than-pristine fence, a half-dozen junky cars, and someone who thinks pink is a good choice for exterior house color."
"But, I also don't need permission in writing to plant flowers, remove a bush, relocate a sapling, leave a hose uncoiled, or change the oil in my own car on my driveway. If something gets really bad I can just call Code Enforcement," the Redditor adds.
And many Americans agree with him. When it comes to landscaping, fences, pet ownership, exterior paint colors, home renovations, and holiday decorations, the majority of homeowners believe that an HOA shouldn't be able to have a say in it. They'd prefer if HOAs regulated noise levels, kept track of trash and recycling bins, and enforced parking.
"Suck it, HOA!" netizens thoroughly enjoyed another story of sticking it to an HOA
