55 and over communities

[mark056]

... The problem is that the rules/bylaws are fluid (just like the way our judges like to treat the US Constitution) and as a "living document" they feel free to change and enforce those changes whenever they see something that they don't like. So the rules when you buy in are very unlikely to be the rules when you decide that you've had enough and want out!!

Len,

I would have to respectfully disagree with you there. It all depends on the Covenant and how it is worded. The way our condo assn is set up it is virtually impossible for the BOD to make any significant changes without the vote of all the unit owners. This is why I caution everyone contemplating living in a condo to read the articles and bylaws very carefully before they buy.

With regard to condo fees, I pay 225.00 per month for all outside maintenance. I don't see that as excessive. The only assessment I ever got was for a new garage door and the old one was a POS. We are having the roofs replaced one unit at a time but that's being paid for out of a special fund. That was set up years ago. Part of the condo fee goes into the fund, also part of the condo fee goes for the salary of a part time secretary, full time property manager and maintenance and upkeep for the pool and tennis courts.

Now I don't like condo Nazis and the power trips that some people go on, but the reverse is that we have no neighbors from hell that many threads have described and which often little can be done. While it's true people are unjustly persecuted for breaking Draconian rules, more often than not the jerks, and trash (pick your color) are weeded out and dealt with. Condo bashing is a lot like cop bashing. There is good and bad.

A lot of what has been written in this thread is based on perceptions of infringement of personal freedom and is really more theoretical or heresay of the "I had a friend variety." Perhaps since I lived on military bases for a good part of my life a lot of condo stuff doesn't bother me. I do know that I absolutely hate and deplore yard work of any kind, despise shoveling snow and the prettiest flowers I am interested in, I'll buy at a florists, thank you very much. Once again it boils down to lifestyle and lifestyle choices. If spending Sunday weeding your yard or mowing your grass is fun for you, great, it's not my cup of tea.

It's absolutely essential that you read everything, talk to people who live there and do your homework. Nobody is forcing you to live there. Our association, our rules, just like any business. For a bunch of libertarian and conservative minded folks, it seems to me that condos embody some of the things you are always yapping about: a voluntary association of property owners who have decided on their own rules and criteria as far as who lives there and what the rules are. No government is telling you what to do, it's governance by the property owners who call the shots. Why do BODs turn to crap? Same reason as government: apathy, everybody bitches but nobody wants to take action or serve. Like the banned barrister says: "what you tolerate, you validate and what you validate, you deserve."

 

[Riverside]

I moved from my Hyde Park, MA single family home that I lived in for over 35 years to a Del Webb Community +55 Community within an easy commute to Charleston, SC. I read the HOA rules and found none that were severe enough to discourage me. I chose a gated community mostly because I was moving by myself and was looking for a little more sense of security than being alone in a neighborhood with families would offer. I do attend the Neighborhood meetings as I did while living in Boston. If the neighbors down here do not like suggested new rules, the proposals go no where. There are tons of activities for those who want to be active in an organized setting. We have two pools, both heated, one indoor and the other outdoors. There are miles of walking/bike trails and if one missing the sights and sounds of children, there are nearby communities where one can get their fill. I have not joined any clubs yet as most of them are too "quiet" for my tastes. I have met a couple of neighbors with whom I have common ground. One of them sponsored me at the Palmetto Gun Club where I have been an active member since last August. PGC reminds me of the Harvard Gun Club. I also joined a group called, "The Well Armed Woman"-we meet once a month and the group is a great social network for me. Most of my immediate neighbors have at least one gun or rifle, I don't recall how I obtained that information. Perhaps I'm just a good listener. I haven't found anyone who moved here intent on changing things to the way they were in the state they fled from. There are people living here who have moved here from all over the USA. There are many, many veterans living here. The HOA is growing and due to max out at 1021 homes. I have a nice lot, no neighbors one side and none behind me. I did just recently have to disengage from one neighbor, formerly of NY who is just too needy and the last straw was when my personal boundary in regard to my CWP was over-stepped. She got an earful and is banned from my front porch.
I am very happy here. I join what I want and go about my business independently. Most of my new friends are from outside the gates and involved with the two Firearms groups I have mentioned above.
I never thought I'd live in an HOA and have done so for just over one year.I suggest that anyone interested in moving to such a situation, do your due diligence. I think the geographic area you choose determines what type of persons you will encounter. You may be dead set against a HOA at this point in your life but as years pass, you may find as I did, that an HOA may offer you good choices.
Best regards.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

Two things to remember:

1. You need to know the limits of what rules the condo can vote in. Can they vote out your dog, or the right to get a dog? Only a good atty can tell you for sure.

2. Enforcement favors the condo assn. They pay NOTHING to have a lien in a dispute - in fact, they have the lien by default. If there is a disagreement, it is you who must fund a court action to have the lien removed; the condo association pays nothing to encumber your unit.

 

[rivet_42]

There is another name for over 55 community,it's death row.

"God's waiting room", as my mother called it.

 

[rivet_42]

Guess which age group has the highest rate of STDs? That's a rhetorical question. Viagra+plenty of free time+lots of widowed people = Sin City. Plus of course, they aren't worried about getting pregnant.

And they mostly got married and stopped fooling around before STDs became a matter of life and death (i.e. before HIV), so they never got the memo on safer sex. Then their partner dies (or they get divorced after the kids move out of the house) and the field opens up again, and guess what happens.

 

[napoleon1815]

My MIL moved into a 55+ up in NH 7 or so years ago. It's OK...but she has the complaints that there are a bunch of bored busy bodies who like to point out problems. For example they have a "beautification committee" and the members walk the community and will approach you if you planted an unauthorized flower (color or height) or used any lawn decoration. There are also people who monitor cars coming and going and complain if people exceed the communities 15mph limit. A lot of the board members are ex business people who have nothing to do so they obsess over the committees.

 

[fencer]

Two things to remember:

1. You need to know the limits of what rules the condo can vote in. Can they vote out your dog, or the right to get a dog? Only a good atty can tell you for sure.

2. Enforcement favors the condo assn. They pay NOTHING to have a lien in a dispute - in fact, they have the lien by default. If there is a disagreement, it is you who must fund a court action to have the lien removed; the condo association pays nothing to encumber your unit.

Well, I will be gosh darned if after 55 years some one is going to encumber my unit.

 

[RHJJ]

Well, I will be gosh darned if after 55 years some one is going to encumber my unit.

Aw come on it could be fun.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

Well, I will be gosh darned if after 55 years some one is going to encumber my unit.

Yeah, I know the places you hang out charge extra for that.

 

[fencer]

Yeah, I know the places you hang out charge extra for that.

And they charge for it !! Well that explains the crazy condo fees.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

And they charge for it !! Well that explains the crazy condo fees.

Actually, some condo associations charge you for the "lien release" document (the "6D" form).

Condos never seem to be able to buy landscaping, snowplowing, etc. as cost effectively as the individual homeowner buyer.

 

[fencer]

Condos never seem to be able to buy landscaping, snowplowing, etc. as cost effectively as the individual homeowner buyer.

Can you blame them ? (The landscapers ) Instead of one crotchety old fuss budget to boss you around and get in your way, you have 562.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

Can you blame them ? (The landscapers ) Instead of one crotchety old fuss budget to boss you around and get in your way, you have 562.

I doubt the landscapers will take directions from individual unit owners.

 

[Spanz]

on the plus side, ever since the invention of Viagra, these 55 plus communities are more interesting on the weekends.....

 

[fencer]

I doubt the landscapers will take directions from individual unit owners.

Oh, I would beg to differ. And while it may not be direction per say, they can certainly create delays and interference. I have seen it literally hundreds of times.

I have worked with dozens of HOA and Condo Associations. The bigger complexes typically replace a portion of their wood fences every year. And even though residents are sent a series of notices, starting two months in advance, letting them know that the fence around their patio is going to be replaced, They make the installers lives miserable which typically results in doubling the estimated time for completion.

I have seen everything from the crazy old lady who has cut a hole in her patio fence to facilitate her feeding of feral cats, insisting that the installers cut a similar hole in the brand new fence, young folks who have a grow operation on their 10x10 patio, and my personal favorite, the Craigslist escort who offered her customer alfresco services in decent weather, on the fenced in patio, while her kids were inside playing video games. ( working mom )
And even the ones that are not batshit crazy, rarely remove all of the things they have attached or leaning up against the fence as they have been asked to do.
I have heard similar stories from roofers, landscapers and siding/ remodeling contractors.