ignorance, judgment, neighbors

[Usmcsousa]

SO my wife and I bought our first MH finally!
But first lets rewind.
About a year and a half ago, we bought our first home, 2000 square ft absolutely beautiful in a quite dead end neighborhood.
I knew then i wanted two things, a flag pole to fly my usmc and american flag and a large enough driveway for a class a.
Our "wonderful " neighbors have been great up until recently.
A few months ago, i pulled our new used 34 foot gem up to our home and like with any new toy, began making it ours, wash wax rip out the old, put in the new ect.
Not even 4 hours into my endeavor, this 200+ year old lady from waaay down the road( not visible from our property ) walked up to my driveway to kindly explain to me that there are restrictive covenants in our neighborhood. Which my realtor neglected to inform us of.
She came back the next day with a print out, sure enough, no flag poles, no motorhomes, amongst 140 other ridiculous restrictions.
About a week later i moved my mh off of MY property and into storage. Even though. We have NO hoa and 3/4s of the neighborhood are not in compliance with the covenants.
I recently found a facebook page of our neighborhood where i read a lot of nasty comments from about 4 select neighbors of which I've never met, calling us trailer trash and scum, putting their childrens safety at risk ect.
I was shocked to say the least, not One of these folks actually spoke to us about their concerns, just blasted my character over the internet.
Am i crazy for wanting to sell my $200,000+ home to go live in my MH with the friendliest "trailer trash" people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting throughout our short RV'ing travels?

[SRT]

Executive wrote:
Maybe we should start a new thread about HOA enforcement...:W...nah! let's wait until winter settles in a bit....maybe February when we're itching to get back on the road...:B:B....Dennis

I'm ready right now, Dennis. We've had instant winter with over 3' of snow Mon. thru Wed. and below zero temps starting today. Damn cold for the beginning of December, but we'll have a white Christmas.....Merry Christmas :B

[Tubaronnie]

Don't get me started! Moved into a nice Ohio township. No restrictions, Nice 3/4 acre lot, cute little cape cod. Then, bright as a burned out bulb township leaders decided being annexed by neighboring city would be great! No new taxes (sound familiar?), and all kinds of free services!

Well, 10 years later-can't park MH on property without concrete pad; can't work on vehicles in driveway for more than 48 hrs; can't leave garage door open; can't park on grass, even when having driveway resurfaced; highest taxes in county-as high as wealthiest city in our area-they even tax income the state and feds exempt! Oh, and the free stuff? City is broke-can't fix roads, storm sewers, etc. We did send council members to Denmark to see how they operate small cities. So everything you say is totally believable. And the internet is the new drive-by if suburBia. Don't have to talk out problems, just mouth off on line. Can't wait to leave the brick and mortar world to live with wonderful"trailer trash! " 2 years to go!

[Usmcsousa]

Sorry for unanswered questions, we live in good ol Mississippi (migrated from boston 4 years ago)
I got a legal copy of the covenants put into effect in 2006 by the development builders
It says it is good for 25 years plus 5 if the community agrees at such time.
lays with the land so by purchasing my home i've "agreed" to the terms.
any of the other homeowners can enforce these covenants through civil court and if i lose i will be responsible for all court costs.
Entirely cheaper for me to store my MH and sell my home for under market value( we bought a short sale) and really bring the value of the neighborhood down through comps.
May just find me some acres out of city limits and live by my own rules.

[Mr_Mark1]

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[Daveinet]

wa8yxm wrote:
I would not purchase property if it came with a mandatory HOA.

But there is the precise crux of the problem. In the area where I live, you can not purchase a home without an HOA within 50 miles in any direction. It does not exist. To live outside of that area puts an unreasonable burden on the family, its where there is employment. For us, it was very difficult to find affordable housing that was not a major project house. In my case, I am very fortunate to have stumbled on a neighborhood of like minded individuals. Its probably the only one in the county. Our HOA only exists for community sake and has no desire to put restrictive covenants in place. The only legal action it has done was to protect us from zoning laws. There are several RV owners, motorcycle owners, and on any given Saturday, it is not uncommon to hear the whine of a blower over the rumble of a 60s muscle car slowly making its way down the road. (Yes there are several of those) But back to my point, and that is ones right to home ownership within the limitations of their income becomes trampled on by extreme HOA restrictions. My neighborhood is the only one for miles.

[wa8yxm]

So what you folks are saying is the old "Your millage may vary" and thus my advice to contact a professional, who knows the millage (Laws) in your community applies.

As I said (And the person who said "Why would I want to live in an area like that?" hit the reason for this on the head.

I think the seller should inform.. As some others have said the seller has to tell the buyer that an HOA exists.

I kind of suspect that did not happen in the O/P's case.

Question for the experts: What happens if you buy a house/property and subsequent to the purchase your neighbors form an HOA.

What happens if you live in a house for years, Flying the flag as the O/P has, and suddenly, years later, the HOA shows up when you have not heard of them before and did not even know they existed?

Question: HOW CAN HOA MEMBERSHIP BE MADE MANDATORY..

I would not purchase property if it came with a mandatory HOA.

[supermod38]

well i am a born trouble maker.!

if it was me i would park my MH in my yard and install a very tall flag pole. plus anything else that would irritate the neighbors. then let the idiots take me to court.............................

i love a good fight.!!!

[Passin_Thru]

Sue them! Wanna buy my place. 10 acres in VA with room for a pony, a swimming pool and a Mercedes Benz Motor Home and room to turn it around on.

[Mr_Mark1]

big boober wrote:
Years ago I build a 3200square ft house 7cargarage sprinkler.pretty nice hut.. a neighbor wanted me to join neighborhood association .if joined they wanted you to get permission from them to plant a tree a Bush mow the lawn paint etc.I told them I spent boo coo bucks and I didn't their approval to do a darn thing to my house to destroy mine or their value..they weren't to g.happy. I told them this was the land of freedom I fought for

Sometimes things are just hard to read.

MM.

[BobGed]

Countdown to this topic being closed.....5-4-3-2-

[big_boober]

Years ago I build a 3200square ft house 7cargarage sprinkler.pretty nice hut.. a neighbor wanted me to join neighborhood association .if joined they wanted you to get permission from them to plant a tree a Bush mow the lawn paint etc.I told them I spent boo coo bucks and I didn't their approval to do a darn thing to my house to destroy mine or their value..they weren't to g.happy. I told them this was the land of freedom I fought for

[Jean_S]

Usmcsousa: "stray cats ... no,no's"

Stray cats? Really? What the heck are you supposed to do about stray cats wandering in your yard? Or do you mean that you are supposed to keep your cats indoors?

[Jean_S]

First, make sure those covenants are even legally enforceable before you let them drive you out. We've got neighborhoods down here that formed covenants that are not legally enforceable, altho some of the residents try to do it by peer pressure and intimidation. You never know until you check it out.

[Francesca_Knowl]

2oldman wrote:
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X2! 😉

[2oldman]

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