Easements and HOA (HOA's) Home Onwers Assocaition's STAY AWAY!!

[MossRoad]

....
Had the Gladys Kravitz type busybodies ...

I made mention of Gladys Kravitz on here many years ago trying to make a point.... some wise member had to point out to me that Glasys Kravitz was right. So now I'm passing that along to you.

 

[joeyd]

To be fair, we don't know the extent of the HOA tied to the 15 acre Texas property in yesterday's thread that was deleted. The OP mentioned that it was organized to prevent a motocross track from being developed on one of the empty lots.

Perhaps HOA was minimal, and had a yearly $10 fee (that's why fees were stated as being paid up for 2 years in advance I believe) and perhaps had no restrictions on the color of your house, mailbox, or how many '83 Camaros you can have up on blocks in your yard that are in their 3 decade of being "restored".
Like with many things, there can be a balance of pros/cons, where a HOA protects the members. Like with most things, they can get out of balance and out of hand, abused. I wouldn't want one.

With easements, often the original owner was paid for that easement (or perhaps gifted it to a relative, etc...). My point being there was a monetary value assigned to that easement. When buying a property that has an easement for somebody else, the present day value of that easement should be subtracted from the property price. (Then the question becomes "What is that value? -To you the buyer.)

Looking at the real estate listing for this ad the yearly assessment was $450.00. It didn't break down what you got for your money.

 

[Diggin It]

It's a case of the ends not justifying the means.

Was she right that the Steven's were not your average family? Yes.

Was it any of her business to begin with? No.


This is why I live in a place where I can't see the neighbors' homes from mine and they can't see mine from theirs. It's why I grew hedges six feet tall along the road. I can do essentially whatever I want to in my yard without prying eyes.

 

[LouNY]

Mkay,
add ZONING to the list.
Dont buy a residentially zoned piece of property and then discover you cant have one little ole cow.

And, dont by an agriculturally zoned property and then whine because your neighbors cows smell bad or make noise during calf separation season.

And, keep a vigilant eye on your local supervisors - they may decide to change zoning designations.

The list goes on RE Zoning.

Zoning is bad enough but how about when the towns and countys get into the "PLANNING"
game and then go overboard in the passing and enforcing of regulations.
Elected officials wanting something and not having the hair on there a**es to do it, so lets
create a planning board and give them legislative authority without being elected, then when
people complain "we" can say sorry we didn't do and the planning board is "independent"

 

[k0ua]

As an amateur radio operator the phrase "HOA" is an actual curse-word.

 

[RickB]

When we searched for a new home there were 3 dealbreakers.
Private roads
HOAs
Easements.
I would not consider any, period.

 

[Sigarms]

As an amateur radio operator the phrase "HOA" is an actual curse-word.

Last year while visitng my cousin in Florida on vacation (retired who was a HAM enthusiast), I asked him what the one wire was running from his house that was "hidden" (I forgot what he had on it, like vines or plants of some sort) and he laughed and mentioned "that's for my radio, the home owners association doesn't like that".

 

[widefat]

edited for errors, will finish later

 

[Sigarms]

I would say as a rule, easements don't cause a problem. Without them you wouldn't have water, electricity, phone, gas etc. I would say shared driveways and that type of easement is the problem. Once again, often these aren't a problem, but they sure can be.

In my defense, I stated "I will tell you that YOU need to ensure that other than the government or state, NO ONE can or should tell you what you can or can't do with your property (less local ordinances which is a topic unto itself)." I view electric and gas as having the rights given to the utility company by the state, which EVERYONE has to deal with.

The issue is when you have to deal with John Smith who has to use your road to get to his house (or the other way araound) or when the HOA doesn't allow you to paint your house yellow.

 

[kenmac]

I own some property on a river. Some land behind me went up for sale. I made an offer for the land but the guy wouldn't bite.I thought I would wait a while since whom ever bought it would have to obtain a ROW through my property to get to it.

Several people called me and inquire about where I would give them an easement / ROW. across my property.
When I showed them the area I would allow an easement /ROW across my property, they all declined to purchase the property.

I'm now thinking maybe the owner will accept my offer. Again he says nope.

About a year goes by and another realtor calls. I'm thinking the guy is going to sell. The realtor wants to know if I can meet prospective buyers of the land behind me. I'm thinking, here we go again.
I meet them show them where I would provide access.

About a month later, this realtor calls me back and says they sold the land in spite of where I would provide access and wants to know if I can meet the buyer.

I meet the guy out there and we talk about the easement. He is going to have to put a lot of money in this easement for a road.
As we begin to talk, I said to him ''since you are going to have to put this much in a road and I would still own the property, why don't I just sell you that property instead of just providing you an easement''.
He agreed. Now, he owns the property instead of just having an easement that he has dumped a good amount of money in to.