...full of busy-body kill-joys....

Fuck them all.

I live in HOA and like it a lot. Most live in one now. I think they are great. This situation while sad was known by the parents who should not have encouraged such a thing. What if the little girl gets better? Does the next door neighbor get to build one too because his little girl wants one too.

...that live on fining residents and ever-expanding the covenants and rules...

Petty, vindictive nasty little people that should just really learn to STFU and mind their own fucking business...

YMMV

I am sure a few in the country are run by Republicans since they make up a percentage of the population. I did my homework and went into a Democratic area.

Have you ever known anyone who went through radiation and chemotherapy? Much less a child?

Please rethink that heartless response.

I live in a HOA and I think a lot of the rules are silly and overreaching, and Ive spoken out when it's time to vote on them. In between, I have to put up with them. But I'd never justify this kind of decision.

Should be interesting and maybe even better for the entire neighborhood. Don't we get up set when the rich build an obscene house that takes away from the look of the neighborhood?

an ugly house here and still keep to the rules about paint colors, roofing materials, etc.

When our HOA rules were renewed, I had to fight for the right to have a solar installation on my roof -- which used to be banned. We still don't have one, but I wanted the right to have one when we're ready -- so we had to get the rules changed. Thirty years ago when the rules were written, no one anticipated solar energy here.

You might want to take a look at your rules sometime. You might be surprised what's in there.

I've never lived in an HOA, and don't plan to. But one of the things that make an HOA so desirable for the people who live in them is the rules that are in place designed to ensure those desirable characteristics are protected. Among those characteristics is a certain uniformity in the grounds. HOA members can't leave rusting junk autos on their front lawns. They can't erect ginormous flagpoles. They can't paint their houses in psychedelic colors. You want to do these things? Either don't live in an HOA, or if you do live in an HOA, get a variance ahead of time. It's not that complicated.

I said that I wore that color for 3 1/2 years years and there was no fucking way I was going to live in it.
I wanted to paint the house purple but Donna wouldn't let me so we settled on a bright turquoise.
Thank the gods that there is no HOA here-of course if there was,we never would have bought the house.

I don't need petty commissars telling me what I can and can't do in my yard in regards to parking my pickup in the driveway, what color I can paint my house, or similar crap.

Which is why I never plan to live in an HOA. But listening to people complain about HOAs so vociferously is like hearing someone say, "God, I can't tell you how much I hate that show 2½ Men! It double sucks! I can't stand it!!" Uh, so, like, maybe you could not watch it, Smedley?

of course you're right.

They are in existence to protect the homeowners property values. You have to take the bad with the good.

If they allow this little girl to build this house, there's no stopping other violations of the rules. It's setting a precedent, and it may be enough for bubba to pull a small camp trailer into his back yard.

You just want to say "think people".

so the choice may be to move to a different geography or put up with a HOA, and in the latter case hope that you can find housing you like with a HOA that pays attention only to the important stuff like funding community amenities rather than to the NIMBY crap like having a playhouse in the yard or planting vegetables rather than a lawn in the back of the house.

We repainted in shade that looks either blue or purple depending on how much light was on it. It's probably time to repaint, although we need to replace a few water damaged boards first. Turquoise sounds rather fun.

They could always tell the other girl that's the reason.

My neighbors and I get along great and help each other out multiple times a year, even though we have some extreme ideological differences. We keep our properties up just fine without an HOA to try to fine us over minutiae.

I live in an HOA subdivision, but ours is very easygoing...keep your yard up, don't build something without a permit, etc. Most of the fees go to trash & recycling collection, street plowing when necessary, and upkeep of common areas & paths.

Not a fan. I lived in one once and had no issues with them, but others in the neighborhood did.

Many rulings seemed arbitrary and exceptions made for folks that had a good friend in a decisionmaking role.

I know that when we were looking to buy, there were lots of HOAs, and they varied widely in how strict they were, what they cared about, etc.

If you do you agree to abide by the CC&R's
I was a treasurer on two HOA boards and yes people who think like you do are tough to deal with.

forms cliques to strip the HOA of its resources at the same time that they use their positions to stick the homeowners with assessment to maintain infra-structure that came about through even more dirty deals.

Small government's influence on private HOAs in Florida is pestilence in a can.

...

But HOA's always seem to attract "special" people to their boards.

She advocated successfully for a variety of pro-environmental measures. She and others on the board (most of whom are very active Democrats) also worked to maintain flexibility in the architectural review rules (which mostly require notice to neighbors before significant changes to property, but rarely if ever prevent those changes from being made).

In other words, your experience may not define "always."

have "special" homeowners who are equally bad.

Gun range so he can go out and have fun shooting his gun. I could imagine the change in tone with some.

I think gunz and a play house are very different.

Ludicrous comparison.

"A lack of compassion can be as vulgar as an excess of tears." (spoken by the Dowager Countess).

happen to them they might as well not have any rules period. People love HOA's till they want to do something that is against the rules then they complain about how terrible they are. It sucks the littler girl can't have her play house but, maybe she could settle for a doll house in her room.

"they made exceptions for anyone who had something terrible happen to them they might as well not have any rules period..."

What specifically and relevantly leads you to that conclusion?

Do you believe no exceptions should ever be granted regardless of circumstance? Some exceptions? If the latter, what are the precise and objective qualifiers on which those exceptions are predicated?

where some people get what they want while others do not. If it's a bad rule you change it, you don't make an exception. The same holds true for laws.

decisions. They are made up of other homeowners not board members. They make suggestions to the board.

power or authority and they promptly misuse the little the position gives them.

Definitely not all, but enough.

because we don't have what are considered "normal" zoning laws here. They tried to make me keep the ugly assed tree rings around the oak tree out front. That's not in the deed, so I fought them. Now, I get reminders once a week. When I move, I'm going to drop the binder full of them off on the management desk on my way out.

Really, really wrong.

"What about Disney?" Maybe she would go for that. A lot of fun can be had at Disney.

You're right. I think the parents can deftly move her in another direction, away from disappointment.

...are one of the major symbols of why I like my horse better than I like most people.

So, I never lived in an area that had one. Tell me, do they have rules about things like old geezer cowboys playing their Frank Zappa collection at head-splitting volume?

I don't think I could live like that. If I want to paint the barn purple, that's my business.

What is it with humans wanting to run other peoples' lives? It's like a compulsion with this species...

a copy of the CC&R's before you close. If you don't want to live by them you don't buy the house. Nobody is forcing you to do anything. The reason for HOA's is so people like you don't get to lower other people's property values.

ROFLMAO! Hmm, I've made the big time! I'm now officially one of those "people like you" who are at the root of so many of the world's problems.

Well, if it eases the strain on your kidneys any, you're in no danger of me moving into your neighborhood and wrecking your property value. I'll be keeping my crazy ass out here in the sticks where I don't bother anyone.

Besides, I'm a disabled veteran and they won't let me drive anymore. It would just be too hard to move to where you are.

But if you're ever way out in the sticks and hear "Penguin In Bondage" blaring from someone's stereo, stop in for coffee!

? If you do and you live like you want to you lower property values. Get it?

Why is it so hard to understand that only people who can exactly plan their lives out, and know The Secret so nothing bad ever happens should buy into HOAs. If they don't know this, and live their crazy, hectic lives with totally random things happening because they're not smart enough, well, gosh, that's just their own dumb fault. Plan! Organize! Dream It! Live it! The HOA way! Losers and randos get out of the way!

...in my own defense, the house is very well insulated, so the music doesn't really leak out much. And the barn is a very tasteful shade of purple. Sort of a "merlot meets high voltage" kind of thing. So maybe my charming but eccentric ways would actually attract people to the neighborhood, thus raising property values. I don't think that we should just assume that I'd automatically be a disaster.

So, are monitor lizards on the "acceptable pets" list? He's not really all that big, but he is a little snappish. But he's litterbox and leash trained and I have a pooper-scooper.

Perhaps you could send me a brochure. It sounds like a nice neighborhood...

But, HOA's are like that.

I'd never live in a neighborhood with one. They bring out the worst in humans.

A compromise? Gee, how nice of them.

And refuses to obey HOA law regarding not having mobile home on your property unless you build a building to house it in. Two years later I try to sell my home and buyer pulls out because HOA tells him he has to build a building to house his mobile home. When I called the HOA, they tell me they are powerless to do anything about my neighbor. Apparently, the fines are accumulating, but as long as the neighbor pays her monthly HOA fees they can't do much about it.

Shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday, the Stonegate Homeowners Association announced they will allow the little girl battling cancer to have her wish come true and get the playhouse she wanted. The group reversed its previous decision to block the 6-year-old’s playhouse from being built.

Read the rest at: http://ktla.com/2015/03/06/girl-battling-cancer-to-get-playhouse-after-missouri-homeowners-association-reverses-its-decision/