European Is Shocked To Learn How American Suburbs Work, Goes Online To Ask Some Accurate Questions

You really think you need a committee to tell you what colour to paint your mailbox or the whole neighbourhood will descend into anarchy? What happened to Americans being rugged individualists? Or is disdain for regulation just when it comes to buying guns?

My first house had an HOA. Bought the house because of the price. Hated the HOA. Next house, no HOA. And guess what all my neighbors keep neat lawns and do their maintenance without an HOA. HOAs are horrible. The people who run them are control freaks.

I've had the worst experience you couldn't even imagine with my HOA. Because of the board we had our property values decrease 20% overnight. It doesn't always work to keep values up. I'll never buy into a HOA again I'd rather rent for life than do that again

I could have fun with that

I feel sorry for you. That kind of overlord control should be illegal. HOAs should NOT be able to fine anyone as if they were the police. What's stopping them from going further? Americans, of all people, should understand the consequences of when we give up our rights to anyone.

Not only can you be fined by an HOA, they can force the sale of your home to pay the fines and/or HOA dues. At least in Virginia.

That's called a lien. Anyone you owe money to can sue you and if you don't pay the judge will force the sale of your home to pay what you owe. That's not an HOA-specific thing.

We had a condo homeowner not pay her dues for over 2 years with the the old homeowners board, they let the homeowner not pay and they ended up getting their unpaid dues up to $14,000 (they were fined for not paying after 150 days), while all the other 107 homeowners were paying their dues on time each month. The dues are to help maintain the overall esthetic of our complex: landscaping, asphalt resurfacing, repainting of strips and numbered/guest spots, gutter cleaning, etc.

A few bad apple always will ruin a good pie… that’s what happens when you live in a free-for-all neighborhood and there’s not a structured guideline to help homeowners the keep their homes kept up. It’s not taking the rights to freedom away, it’s keeping the neighborhood looking respectable and inviting to enter.

Many people move into landscape controlled hoas for the one reason that they hate doing yard work. I personally would love to never mow my yard again and thats why im in an hoa like this. But plenty of people like the outdoors and dont understand this mindset. Both ways are fine, the main problems arise from people who join an hoa sign the contract then try to ignore the legally binding rules they signed no matter how dumb they think they are. A signed contract is a signed contract.

Aunt Messy

Aunt Messy

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You can pay for lawn service without signing your life over so a bunch of curtain twitching Karens with nothing better to do than crawl up your bum looking for something they can use to blackmail you into bankrupting yourself.

Did you ignore the person who said your HOA board can be taken over by people who change the rules so what you signed up for when you bought the house, isn't what you end up living under? Why cede all your power to a bunch of people who don't live in your house?

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You'd think so, but we have heard far more about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard than the overturning of Roe v Wade.

Not necessarily, in many hoas not every rule can be changed even by a unanimous board ruling. For instance the lanscaping, security, solar panel, pool maintenance rules in our hoa requires a 98% for vote of every owner in the complex. We have 500 homes so any change to the basic tenants requires a full bosrd aproval and a yes votes from 490 of the 500 homes.

How nice of them...a book of ways to p**s off hoa bullies...saves me the time of thinkin up something on my own...lol

Mine started violating the CC&Rs for them, but if you do something fine

Yep, my relatives live some place like that. They can choose the front door wreath and that's about it. And keep the garage door closed.

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The irony is that these people decrying the result of these HOAs in suburbs are liberal urbanites. But an HOA is nothing more than a democratic government done at small scale. I'm not a fan of HOAs for the same reason I don't like an unnecessarily controlling government.

The irony is that you actually believe that tripe.

Baleygr, amazonqt sounds like she's/he's talking about a condo or townhouse community, rather than a single family home community

I'm interested, too. I watch alot of British tv and their suburban houses look alot like ours without the big yards.

I love where I live; there is an outdoor mall a ten minute walk from where I live in each direction. But I live in Texas and where I am it's gated communities with shopping centers on every corner. But in the city close by, it's gas stations and cvs's on every corner rather than a whole shopping center. So suburbs are different everywhere.

Walk.

nobody not where I live bikes very often

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Bikes are too dangerous, game teenagers play, Nick the bike. They tap the bike with their cars, no bike lanes

Times have changed since Model-T. They've got other companies nowadays. Cars didn't "do" anything. People wanted a convenience that was unimaginable, back then. Blame the donkeys or horses, for making people too lazy, back in the olden days. If people hadn't gotten a taste of getting over the hill and back in the same day, maybe we wouldn't have felt the need to get their faster. I blame the dinosaurs for dying and turning into oil. They started it.

Well… your avatar was chosen wisely, that much I can say about your comment. But the truth is that much was done specifically and purposely to undermine the existing mass transit system that existed at the time Ford's cars were being sold. The grants, tax credits, etc., that were provided to various elements of the auto industry to expand it while at the same time undermine everything else is only a part of it all. Whole books have been written and classes taught about this. It is all much more complex than you seem to want to think.

HOAs can be annoying, but they provide a set of rules that help ensure your house maintains value. I personally don't like them, but I can understand why other people do.

too bad simply looking at the positives won't make the negatives quietly go away, eh?

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There is nothing negetive about living in a suburb

Gosh, how I wish I could live in your State. I hear that in the State of Denial, they don't have to pay taxes either and that everything is free too! Like the infrastructure fairy keeps all the roads in good repair, and she pays the salaries and benefits of the po po, and the fire beaters too! Not to mention, those of the teachers, and keeps the schools, and libraries well cared for. Denial is just one of those ideal places where everyone seems to want to relocate to these days if they don't already live there like you do!

Very true. When run fairly and with fairness, HOA's are both necessary and beneficial. I think what partly lies behind some people's hatred of them is that they do not like rules, or being told what to do or not do. Unfortunately, without rules and guidelines, there are always going to be those who use the absence of them to take advantage of situations that cause problems for the rest of the community. This is like hating government, for government’s sake. This is an idiotic meme that has taken root in the conservative world, but it lacks serious thought. The idea is that people are good at self-policing themselves. Unfortunately, that isn't true, with far more instances to prove that than not. But facts are not an accepted concept when they go against those who want the freedom to do whatever they wish, regardless of how it affects those around them. In fact, they don't care, and that is at the root of the problem.

They would stop crying about it if idiots like you would stop voting to keep it below the rest of the civilized world.

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I've seen a lot of the world. You "idiots" can have it. Why should we vote to be like you. YTA and I don't envy the people around you.

Everything on Bored Panda is negative towards America. It gets really old.

It really does. I mind my own business, every man in my family are combat veterans, my brother was a volunteer firefighter and I was a volunteer emt. Why does the rest of the world make us out to be monsters? I watch the news, I know what goes on in the rest of the world. People forget how huge our country really is and it's under ONE government. We aren't multiple small countries under separate governments. It's hard enough to keep track of all the c**p that happens here. P.S. I vote, in every election, even the midterms.

As of early 2022, the WHO announced the results of its current population longevity ratings. Those in the EU, Singapore, and other nation's life-spans have increased to the low 80s. As for us, here in America? Our average life-spans have decreased, dropping below the 70s to the high 60s. This has nothing to do with the pandemic as the EU and other countries were hit just as hard if not more so and still their longevity has increased. So, despite not liking to self-reflect and criticize issues we're deficient in, those issues exist anyway and in increasingly more depressing ways with each passing year. Pretending that America is and will always be #1 in all things is an unfortunate denial. It is that denial that is partially contributing to our decline, another is greed. Unfortunately, it is denial that seems to be in the majority, which does not bode well for us at all.

Actually, the average American lifespan is 78. It has been for a long time. Plenty of people are living even longer, into their 80s and 90s. But, being 80 is a tough life. My husband works in a retirement facility. Medications, constant doctor appointments, caretakers. Your license gets taken away, as it should.

We live in the country - and the noise from town is the cars. When we have an ice event or during COVID - everything was so quiet. Same with early mornings on the front porch. I'd love to live in a place where walking and biking were the norm and cars were the exception. Even quiet cars like EVs make alot of noise with their tires at 40+ mph. We love cars - and own several - including antiques but we see a big need to change how American cities function...

Change begins at home. Having multiple vehicles while stating you wish America could make big changes to the contrary is somewhat incongruent. Also, living far out away from those things that are typical of and what make properly functioning cities work such as efficient and effective mass transportation is another issue. We say it doesn't work, because we don't want it to work. We elect politicians who systematically under fund it and other programs so as to set them up to fail. Then, when they do, they can run straight to the media screaming to one and all “See we told you! Government can't do anything!” And then we believe it our self-fulfilling prophecies, of which we have many.

That is why I would never wish to live there, or anywhere like it. To think that there are enough people living in such a place that they allow that to be is astonishing. It isn't as if they can't change it if they truly wished to. The fact that they don't, says everything one needs to know about those who live there.

If you are having a heart attack (or stroke) you only have five minutes to re-establish blood flow to keep your heart muscle (or neurons) alive. 15 minutes is likely a death sentence; severe disability at a minimum.

I wouldn't be driving myself to that hospital. The fire department is just up the road. They have ambulances.

The more "regular people" ride mass transit - the less percentage of weirdos are there to shape the experience. Ride mass transit in another country. More regular folks going to school or work or shopping. They sort of set a standard. Also, countries help their addicts and homeless - not leaving these people to struggle along day to day.

One of the major reason reasons all them weirdos are out and about these past three plus decades is because Reagan and his conservative congress began defunding and thus closing down all the state hospitals. That along with continued underfunding and cutting of already seriously lacking social programs for decades has made matters not only worse, but at this point so systemic that it is doubtful anything can be done to solve these problems. But no one wants to pay taxes-- for anything, let alone social services, teachers, roads, fire and safety, etc. So we get what we deserve. There is a reason why other countries “help their addicts and homeless”, and that is done through the taxes they pay. It is something they choose and accept because they understand the benefits to their community. But we're too selfish to understand that, thinking only of our desires. What we don't understand, we disparage ridiculously.

No, they just mock out s**t hole country for being slaves to corporations and putting the beauty of houses before our own people. As they should.

If you can't see the irony in your comment there's no hope for you.

Now this sounds like an answer, thank you. (The advantage of living in the countryside in Europe over the American suburb is still though that you can survive even without a car. It's not much great but it's possible. And we are allowed to grow damn plants on soil we own...(there probably isn't a place where this wouldn't be possible, I mean.))

Why is this downvoted? I agree.

Thanks for reminding me, soaker hose. I don't want to live near stupid people either.