homeowners association blues

[pianistimo]

i always dread getting their nasty letters.  wondering 'what is it this time?'

ok.  there must be an innoculation for these people.  i am quoting verbatim this letter:
'this spring the association will start looking at replacing damaged sidewalks (but not paying for it) on the common areas throughout the association.  a contractor will be marking areas of sidewalk that are considered trip hazards and are in need of replacement.  HOMEOWNERS are responsible for maintaining and/or REPLACING damaged sidewalks in front of, next to, or behind their homes.  if a sidewalk on your property is marked as a trip hazard, you will be responsible for its replacement.'

is this legally binding in other states?  or even in the state of pennsylvania when - just last fall we had verizon come and completely mark up our entire property with orange spray paint indicating DSL lines (of which we did not ask for - but a few neighbors have the lines) and tore up the entire driveway on account of public accessability.

now - we are responsible for shenanigans that cause the sidewalk to split?  thankfully, i don't see any that are...but would be extremely distatefully inclined to bring the sidewalk pieces directly to the homeowners association for scrutiny - and dropping them on their feet. 

what happened to public works?  we live in a township.  is this why this are is so CHEAP.  i mean cheap in terms of what it pawns off on it's citizens as 'must be paid for by the resident/homeowner.'  next - we will be paying for our own tree removal in common areas and in fact, responsible for the wild animals.  perhaps we should now become part of the 'state' and quit fighting.  we are all 'units.'  george orwell was right.  there is no privacy.  no decency when these 'associations' go snooping where their nose does not belong.

does anyone understand me?

ps  when have public sidewalks ever been the responsibility of the homeowner? 

[elspeth]

If it were me, I'd be digging out my original mortgage contract and deeds and scrutinising the small print to see if there were a clause making me responsible for the pavement outside - and checking where the edges of my plot of land were. And if neither of them backed up the association's position, I should be considering taking all the paperwork to a solicitor and asking what they thought about it. Of course, if there is a clause in the contract that supports the association, or if the boundary has been drawn so that the pavement is actually part of your property you haven't a leg to stand on. The only thing you'd be able to argue is that if they do it without consulting you and it happens to be a month when you can't absorb the expense, and they get it done without sending you an estimate for the work so you can budget for it, that's rather unreasonable.

The flip side, of course, is that your taxes would go up if the state had to do it. One way or another you'd pay for it... and the city council are responsible for the pavements and roads where I live and the one I live on is horrendous but hasn't been touched by the council in over 20 years because they say they can't afford it, even though taxes are exorbitant. I don't know which situation is worse!

[ahinton]

If it were me, I'd be digging out my original mortgage contract and deeds and scrutinising the small print to see if there were a clause making me responsible for the pavement outside - and checking where the edges of my plot of land were. And if neither of them backed up the association's position, I should be considering taking all the paperwork to a solicitor and asking what they thought about it. Of course, if there is a clause in the contract that supports the association, or if the boundary has been drawn so that the pavement is actually part of your property you haven't a leg to stand on. The only thing you'd be able to argue is that if they do it without consulting you and it happens to be a month when you can't absorb the expense, and they get it done without sending you an estimate for the work so you can budget for it, that's rather unreasonable.

The flip side, of course, is that your taxes would go up if the state had to do it. One way or another you'd pay for it... and the city council are responsible for the pavements and roads where I live and the one I live on is horrendous but hasn't been touched by the council in over 20 years because they say they can't afford it, even though taxes are exorbitant. I don't know which situation is worse!

That's all good sound advice - apart, perhaps, from the unwitting reference to a circumstance in which Susan would not have a leg to stand on (since she has broken one of hers already)...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Hinton humour at its best.

Thal

[pianistimo]

elspeth,  you are so smart!  i will do exactly that.  and, also, check past history - in which i recall township public works taking care of this previously.  is this a new thing to attempt to change the status quo?  as you say - to save money?  otherwise taxes go up?  what did they do with the money we already paid them.  i have this feeling that too many people are just spending tax money on going out to eat and buying cars.  sorry it is that way on your side of the pond, too.

ahinton - rather - alistair - THEY will be the ones lucky to have a leg to stand on when i'm finished with them.  of course, they can always get mean and run around fining people when they don't like them for various assundry miscellaneous infringments of association bylaws (of which get changed every 45 minutes to make more and more money).  i think the best way to solve this is to have thal come and visit and just stand there when i talk to the lady about how i asked very politely last year if i could (on only several days) reinstall the air conditioner in my son's bedroom if the temperatures were in the high 80's to 90's.  of course, i haven't heard a reply.  they said they'd vote on it.  VOTE ON IT.  don't they have any authority - since they make other laws by WHIM.  these people drive me insane.  well, more insane according to thal.

[rc]

I know around here city workers are famous for having a 10 man team fixing the roads, with one rookie actually doing work and the rest watching.  Or, instead of having a sign that stands on its own they pay somebody $18/hr to hold it.  I ran into a friend who worked for the city one day, chatted with him for a while as he was pretending to clean the lawn in front of city hall (his words).

OTOH, they do manage to make the city look good most of the year, despite being very wasteful... and the federal government DOES pay for the treat of CBC radio, which is the best damn radio I've ever heard.

[pianistimo]

rc, you must have visited pa, too.  that is exactly what happens.  they pick the narrowest part of the already narrow roads and say - 'lets hold up traffic and see how patient these people will be'  or 'let's make a detour where people don't know where they are coming out.'  if you ask the sign holder 'how long is the wait'  they don't hesitate to say 'about an hour.' 

[ahinton]

elspeth,  you are so smart!  i will do exactly that.  and, also, check past history - in which i recall township public works taking care of this previously.  is this a new thing to attempt to change the status quo?  as you say - to save money?  otherwise taxes go up?  what did they do with the money we already paid them.  i have this feeling that too many people are just spending tax money on going out to eat and buying cars.  sorry it is that way on your side of the pond, too.

As I have indicated, I am not an especially political animal, but it does seem to me that what you may risk suffering from here is a surfeit of laws and regulations that interfere with yout life and the lives of those around you to the point at which the power to spend you own money is compromised beyond all reason and this is what I see as one major and sickening result of too much government. We have it here (not to say also "up to here" in UK, too...)

ahinton - rather - alistair

Thank you...

THEY will be the ones lucky to have a leg to stand on when i'm finished with them.  of course, they can always get mean and run around fining people when they don't like them for various assundry miscellaneous infringments of association bylaws (of which get changed every 45 minutes to make more and more money).  i think the best way to solve this is to have thal come and visit and just stand there when i talk to the lady about how i asked very politely last year if i could (on only several days) reinstall the air conditioner in my son's bedroom if the temperatures were in the high 80's to 90's.  of course, i haven't heard a reply.  they said they'd vote on it.  VOTE ON IT.  don't they have any authority - since they make other laws by WHIM.  these people drive me insane.  well, more insane according to thal.

There is another alternative - it's called "voting with your feet" - which in you case may mean moving away friom where you live to another area where this kind of thing is far less prevalent; however inconvenient this may be for you, your husband, your children's education, etc., it may yet be less so than staying put and tolerating this kind of burden in the obviously over-regulated and giverned area of Collegeville, PA...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

I feel a new song coming on.

"I got tha homeowners association blues"

Anyone got BB Kings number.

Thal

[rc]

I think he already wrote it

[thalbergmad]

Blast, it was gonna be a hit.

Thal

[ahinton]

Blast, it was gonna be a hit.

Thal

"Woke up this mornin'..."

No, over to you, Thal...

Best,

Alistair

[thalbergmad]

Woke up this mornin
Chipped the ice from the car
To cold for pole dancing
Freezin here in Pa

Brillo pad is an ice block
Kids are having a fit
Just trod on the sidewalk
Now my boots are covered in ......................

Chorus:

I got the homeowners
Homeowners association blues
Gotta find my Mortgage contract
Get a new pair of shoes


Sung to the tune of "Hoochie Coochie Man"

[cziffra]

haha, pianistimo is a homeowner

[ahinton]

Woke up this mornin
Chipped the ice from the car
To cold for pole dancing
Freezin here in Pa

Brillo pad is an ice block
Kids are having a fit
Just trod on the sidewalk
Now my boots are covered in ......................

Chorus:

I got the homeowners
Homeowners association blues
Gotta find my Mortgage contract
Get a new pair of shoes


Sung to the tune of "Hoochie Coochie Man"

There you are! I just knew that, given an inch of encouragement, you'd give a mile of imagination (not that I've ever quite mastered imperial measure per se, but you get my drift...)

Best,

Alistair

[ahinton]

haha, pianistimo is a homeowner

So what's funny (as in "haha") about that? - many of us are also homeowners (albeit some of us are also mortgaged to various degrees and, for the record, when my own mortgage accidentally slips in value below that of the Bolivian national debt, I'll crack open a bottle of Dom Pérignon...)

Best,

Alistair

[cziffra]

not a coincidence that most people on a piano board are homeowners

[ahinton]

not a coincidence that most people on a piano board are homeowners

I'm not seeking to argue with you for the sake of it (or even at all, for that matter), though I cannot help but be somewhat curious as to how and why you would conclude such a thing; perhaps you might care to enlighten us...

Best,

Alistair

[pianistimo]

there's no doubt it's much more difficult these days to own a home.  i married my hubby when he was 40.  we had no home of our own for 8 years.  that means we fully owned a home when he was almost 50.  that's the way it goes sometimes.  you just get stuck in your routine and don't have time to make the huge changes of moving and getting all the banking papers in order.  i really don't think we'd have even bothered if it weren't for the fact that a house we were RENTING - the payments suddenly went up and we thought - 'hey, this could be our own house payment!'

my suggestion to everyone here is to set it in your mind that you CAN own a house.  it's just a matter of timing and ingenuity.  also, to really really establish where you want to live- the quality of home - and schools - and to keep working hard at a job so you can show the bank your reliability in paying bills and your credit record.  credit record is what usually kills people on the interest rates. 

first thing - get your credit record in order
second - don't try to find a home without a realtor
third - don't simply look at price - and settle for a home that is nice in a bad neighborhood.  we almost moved to pomona (calif) because we found a beautiful home in the middle of 'you know what' - but the gang crime etc would have hurt our family's safety and the schools were not really worth it for the children.  we were, at the time, only thinking HOUSE.

thankfully, we prayed about the whole situation and were sorta guided to take a random drive the other direction (farther north) where homes were very much further apart from each other.  the children had full adequate sidewalks.  the crime was low.  the schools were better.  the houses were more recently built.  the taxes were moderate.  etc. etc.

it really pays to do your homework!  susan

ps and marry someone who is not a professional musician.  hahah.  just kidding.  i think some do very well!  but, you have to think about HEALTh insurance.  that one alone can kill you if social security taxes don't.  aren't they about 12%.

personally, if i knew what i do now - i would definately get a double major.  one in music and one in some other kind of profession.  between the two - it's more likely you will make th emoney you seek.  the piano lessons 1/2 time and the other job 1/2 time.

[pianistimo]

thal, if you don't mind - i'd rather write my own song.  it would be sung to 'you ain't nothin' but a hounddog'

'you ain't nothin but a rip-off -
  fining all the time
homeowner's is a rip-off
  and you ain't no friend of mine...

bet you ain't never caught a rabbit
  cause i'm a rabbit
bet you ain't never caught a rabbit
  and you ain't no friend of mine...

talk about the sidewalk
  whinin all the time
talk about the side walk
  and you ain't no friend a mine...

complain about it somewhere's else
  cause i ain't got the time
complain about the sidewalk
  and you ain't no friend a mine.

[thalbergmad]

personally, if i knew what i do now - i would definately get a double major.  one in music and one in some other kind of profession. 

Hmm, now let me think.

Thal

[cziffra]

HOMeOwnerS, all of you

[pianistimo]

what ?!  i don't think so.  homeowners do not equal homos.  but, i have to admit - it's rather funny - considering everything else has a shortened version.  next time i see HOMOS i will think homeowners.  now look what you've done.

[ahinton]

what ?!  i don't think so.  homeowners do not equal homos.  but, i have to admit - it's rather funny - considering everything else has a shortened version.

Or is divided by two, like those shoes, in order not to ascertain the length of anything...

next time i see HOMOS i will think homeowners.  now look what you've done.

Well, I guess that some people might consider that to be an attitude improvement...

Best,

Alistair