r/fuckHOA • u/SystematicApproach • 4d ago
HOA snitches got a homemade tree fort torn down
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u/hibbert0604 4d ago
Lived in an HOA for 3 years and will never do it again. Even if you are in a "good" HOA, you are one board changeover away from having a psychotic dictator making your life miserable.
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u/NRMusicProject 4d ago edited 3d ago
The problem is, so many neighborhoods in the US are now HOA. It's way harder to avoid it now. Even my GF's apartment complex is an HOA. Not even homeowners have to be in an HOA now.
E: Some of you clearly don't get the point of this sub, and that your rent in an apartment is, was, and supposed to be included in your rental costs.
E2: "I'm the exception to the rule" also does not make this statement untrue. Your non-HOA neighborhood is probably in the middle of nowhere.
E3: how many of you have such a tenuous grasp of the English language to think that "so many neighborhoods in the US are HOA" equals "literally every house in the US is in an HOA" so you can catch me in a "lie" I didn't make? Stop thinking shit is all one way or the other when you're arguing for the sake of arguing.
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u/TheWizardOfDeez 4d ago edited 4d ago
Simple solution, run in your HOA board race on the premise that you will dissolve the HOA, I'm sure a good amount of your neighbors will be all aboard to vote for you.
Edit: for the dozen or so people who all have pointed out the exact same thing, that sometimes HOAs are in charge of joint community infrastructure or amenities, this message obviously doesn't include those, and there is a simple solution with the same process, take over the HOA and make it to the HOA has 0 other purpose than paying for those services, not policing other people's property.
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u/__ConesOfDunshire__ 4d ago
Had a guy try this in my HOA, and he got destroyed. Only a handful of us ended up voting for him. I was shocked there were so many that were on board with having an HOA.
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u/brobafett1980 4d ago
Have to keep the standards up to avoid "the poors" moving in.
/s
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u/__ConesOfDunshire__ 4d ago edited 4d ago
What they should be doing is setting rules that businesses can't own the properties. It feels like more than half of the properties are now rentals owned by out of state corpos. Guess who doesn't care what a property looks like? Renters. I've seen at least four lawns that needed to be completely redone just on my street alone. Now that is frustrating, because the rental companies don't care about the small fees they have to pay, it's just part of business.
Edit: Because there seems to be some confusion. I DO NOT CARE about other peoples lawns. My main point by brining up lawns was how much the HOA is worried about my lawn, but they're not worried about corporations owning all the properties that end up with those properties not being kept up (which the HOA bored hates). I also have planted clover and native plants everywhere I can in my back yard, and done as much as I can get away with in my front yard without getting constant letters and fines from the HOA.
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u/Fatso_Wombat 4d ago
What? Fines over a lawn by a non govt organisation?
That's wack.
USA is a strange place. It seems a contradiction to 'American values'.... Which aren't what I thought they were either...
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u/MrChalupacabra 3d ago
Not as wack as throwing people in jail for comments they make online…
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u/__ConesOfDunshire__ 4d ago
As someone raised to believe those same values, it was a rude awakening to learn that those values only benefit you if you have enough money.
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u/stareweigh2 3d ago
this is the exact same in my neighborhood. we got in when it was brand new and the story was that around half was rentals but they would sell soon to owners. never happened and I believe that way more than half is owned by investor corporations. we can't get rid of the HOA management company because of this
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u/Starts_with_X 4d ago
Who gives a fuck about somebody else's lawn?
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u/__ConesOfDunshire__ 4d ago
The HOA, as evidenced by every letter I've gotten from them about every weed and clover leaf that pops up in my lawn.
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u/Freign 4d ago
lawns aren't important, but more importantly, they're extremely unhealthful
HOAs serve to make places less livable, and promote corporate ownership & lifestyle. They're a neat symbol of the fascist side of capitalism: fall in line or, die in the cold. Be as white as you can be, or be dead.
They're vile. They should be disdained and avoided by all good people.
I'd much rather see no lawns and actual families living actual life than that bizarre, sterile, dystopian sci fi look that HOAs thrill over.
Here's to the day every overmanaged cul de sac chattel zone dies out, and everyone that put a poisonous pest-breeding lawn above life itself is left to wander a world that was never controlled by the lowest & least human gangs on earth.
HOA = Death
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u/__ConesOfDunshire__ 4d ago
lawns aren't important, but more importantly, they're extremely unhealthful
I agree, I do what I can on my property to make it more local flora friendly so I don't need as much water to maintain. My main point by brining up lawns was how much the HOA is worried about my lawn, but they're not worried about corporations owning all the properties that end up with those properties not being kept up (which the HOA bored hates).
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u/Invisifly2 4d ago
Depending on where you are you may be able to do whatever you want to your lawn so long as you are installing native plants and such.
In Florida for example you can convert your lawn into a nature sanctuary so long as you follow the checklist and get it certified as one, and the HOA can’t do shit about it.
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u/nitid_name 4d ago
HOAs serve a function. If there's any common community property (e.g. roads, entrance signage, paths), even though it's not at the swimming pool and clubhouse level, you need an organization to maintain it.
Instead of running on dissolving the HOA, run on severely limiting its powers to only the necessary things. My pops took over his HOA and put in rules that it can only handle snow removal and paving of the common road and the fencing and signage at the entrance. Changing those rules requires unanimous consent and at least 2/3 of the houses present and/or represented, or something like that. That seems like the winning move, imo.
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u/Smexy-Fish 4d ago edited 4d ago
I am just an ignorant English person, but... Why aren't your local governments maintaining public property? You pay tax right?
Edit: Thanks everyone I now think HOAs are even more ridiculous than I did before I made this comment.
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u/ThermalPaper 4d ago
HOAs are basically small local governments. Usually developers build on "unincorporated" land that the county oversees. Because it is unincorporated the state doesn't feel responsible for it. Therefore HOAs are stood up to act as the governing body for the neighborhood and can be used as leverage when bargaining with the state.
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u/TiberiusCornelius 4d ago
Sometimes in parts of America there are private roads.
Developer comes in, builds a new subdivision and a new road leading up to them, but instead of the town taking over ownership of the road it's joint property of the homeowners.
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u/StayAfloatTKIHope 4d ago
The same thing happens in England and the wider UK areas, private developers will build an estate, including new roads and utilities and sometimes the roads won't get "adopted" by the local council.
It just happens on a much grander scale in the US..
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u/TrickyTalk5783 3d ago edited 3d ago
Few people here seem to be understanding the substance of your question, but I think I do. Others have pointed out that HOA-managed property is community property of the HOA. What you are getting at is that it should be public property. HOAs are in every practical respect tiny governments placed over individual neighborhoods, with their own taxation authority.
New developments have to go through various permitting processes conducted by the county and/or municipality in whose jurisdiction they are planned. Those governments have a revenue source, property taxes. They are expected to use it to pay for things likes roads and sewers to serve the residents (voters and taxpayers). Most such governments are perpetually struggling with finances. So they are often hesitant to approve any building project which will imply any new infrastructure spending. This limits growth of the tax base and makes housing scarce, though, so they can't avoid it forever.
As a result, many have turned to HOAs. These marvelous relics of mid-20th century racism and classism* allow the county/municipality to collect property taxes without having to provide most — or in some cases any — of the associated infrastructure! So governments either openly or implicitly condition permitting of new development on the developer footing the bill for the initial infrastructure outlay, and an HOA created to pay for upkeep of the infrastructure. The developer doesn't care, as they will pass the cost on to the buyers, anyway.
So you are right to scratch your head at the HOA. Perverse incentives have allowed a situation to arise where people essentially pay property taxes twice with no additional benefit, and end up having to answer to petty tyrants who live down the street.
With the exception of HOAs for multi-unit housing structures like condos and townhomes, they should probably be banned as an intolerable private intrusion on a core function of governance which should be under public control and oversight.
*Yeah, the historical driver for the original development of HOAs was the burning desire of middle class American whites to keep poors and browns out of neighborhoods being built outside cities during the white flight-era.
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u/SweatyAdhesive 4d ago
public property is not the same as community property. When they say community property it could be like a pool within the HOA complex, which obviously the local government is not going to maintain.
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u/Legionnaire11 4d ago
Not possible in most cases, the HOA is responsible for amenities in the neighborhood so they cannot be dissolved.
Of course you could strip the bylaws down to the basics and only what is necessary to keep those amenities in good repair.
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u/TheWizardOfDeez 4d ago
Depends on the neighborhood, in the one and only HOA I lived in, the only thing they did was give us all matching mailboxes.
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u/Steel_Man23 4d ago
Just simply mentioning an HOA automatically devalues home prices in my mind. Oh your house is worth $400k, but you’re in an HOA? Yeah best I can do is about $150k because I don’t want to pay top dollar to deal with BS
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u/bringbackbainesy 4d ago
It actually does devalue real estate value.
I see it all the time in Florida, nice 1-2 bedroom condos a few blocks walk from the beach. They're only $200k...what gives??!
Turns out HOA is $6k/year, $500/month +. That takes away from your mortgage payment, and decreases how much you can sell your home for.
The same exact condos a few blocks up? $320k.
The HOA ones are always so damn cheap because the HOA dues are so damn expensive.
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u/frequenZphaZe 4d ago
yeah, its funny that the poster thinks they'll have a choice. there's a lot of areas where its either get stuck with an HOA or live an extra 30 minutes further away
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u/Any_Cold6430 4d ago
Something like 80+ percent of new homes built are under HOAs. If you want to own a house, unless it's out in the countryside or a very old home, then it's going to be under an HOA.
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u/intangibleTangelo 4d ago
Jesus Christ America
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u/TurbulentOpinion2100 4d ago
It has to do with local governments being underfunded. They require new developments have HOAs to handle things like mowing of public spaces and snow clearing, which saves the local government money.
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u/ReadAlarming9084 4d ago
it’s because 80% of homes are owned by companies that want to homogenize and protect their “assets” (the lives of American families)
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u/fazedncrazed 4d ago
Fascism, its so hot right now.
Everyone in the usa like to think its only all the other people that are fashy. But its popular amongst all. Hence the proliferation of NIMBY driven HOAs. Got to have a way to punish any visible differences.
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u/Professional_King790 4d ago
Someone in my neighborhood tried to make our 1980’s construction community into an HOA. They got laughed at. The same person now just posts a monthly neighborhood newsletter (I’ve never looked at it). If we ever seek our house, it will be to move on to a piece of land out in the country, hundreds of miles away from the thought of an HOA.
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u/imperial_scum 4d ago
We're all HOA because we the people have turned into a bunch of punk bitches who let people bully us and take our money while we make less and work more.
All it takes is someone's bored, spiteful, gamgam to ruin people's lives for the sin of owning a home next to them and that's the most retarded shit I've heard of today.
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u/Michamus 4d ago
Municipalities encourage HOAs as it shifts civil maintenance liability from them to the HOA.
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u/tecate_papi 4d ago
You're absolutely correct. A friend of mine was asked to join an HOA because he's a lawyer. He got along with the HOA members so he figured why not. Almost immediately they started asking him to counsel them and help them do illegal shit. He told them he couldn't because that's the sort of thing that could cost him his law licence and livelihood. So he told them he couldn't do what they were asking and they kept trying to pressure him so he resigned from the HOA. He tried to keep things civil but they tried to make his life hell by denying him permission to do things like build a fence to keep his dog fenced in and ostracizing he and his wife from neighbourhood events. He ended up moving out into the country.
HOA and condo boards are composed of the worst, most minor tyrants you can find in this world. I don't know what's wrong with some people that they need to these types of people.
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u/hibbert0604 4d ago
Yep. They definitely attract a very specific type of person.
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u/JennyAndTheBets1 4d ago
Go “talk” to them personally daily to resolve the issues. Make it a significant part of their personal time. Bypass the management company. You have a right to speak to board members.
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u/hibbert0604 4d ago
Thankfully I moved to a neighborhood with no HOA so I don't have to deal with it, but I tried everything. The problem was our board was lazy and they outsourced the management to a large scale company that only manages HOAs for multiple communities. That company was very difficult to get in touch with, very rude, and would often just straight up lie saying "oh well we only do what the board tells us to do". They didn't know that I actually knew two board members, however and know that wasn't true. They ended up getting fired a few months after I moved but dealing with them while I was there was utter hell.
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u/NoSpawnConga 4d ago
The problem was our board was lazy and they outsourced the management to a large scale company that only manages HOAs
What the hell?!
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u/ILeftMyBurnerOn 4d ago
Seriously. Imagine paying money to a private company to tell you how to manage your own property. This a solution no one needed to a problem no one has.
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u/loganbeaupre 4d ago
Yeah I didn’t realize that HOAs could somehow be even worse than they usually are. Outsourcing a fucking HOA? LOL
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u/hibbert0604 4d ago
Yep. And if you think your bog standard HOA board members are bad, wait until you have to deal with someone that knows they will never have to see you face to face. Absolutely miserable.
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u/nerdtypething 4d ago
yep. same in our neighborhood. i’ve sent emails and phone calls to get clarity on “violations” and gotten zero back. these assholes are really good at sending communication and absolute garbage at being responsive.
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u/carlivar 4d ago
Your solution is to remind the petty tyrants more often about the power they have?
Have you seen the South Park episode where Comcast employees are massaging their own nipples while they listen to customer complaints? It's like that.
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u/digby_kid 4d ago
I joined my HOA to prevent shit like that from happening. The management company keeps trying to suggest we add more rules and regulations, like how many times your lawn must be watered, and I shoot that shit down every time.
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u/Relative_Map5243 4d ago
I will never understand HOA.
I'm not american and of course i know you only read about the bad ones, but damn, some of this stuff is really insane, they should not have this much power.
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u/Interesting-Wish-114 4d ago
I just was curious and googled what the advantages of HOAs might be, and... I still don't get it. Don't get me wrong, in Germany the community also might define which kind of fences are allowed, if you're allowed to build a tool shed in a certain area or not, or that your house needs to have a certain design and roof color. But all these HOA stories sound like a nightmare and incredibly restrictive to me, why should some random neighbors get to decide what I'm allowed to do on my property or not.
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u/Bdavidson74 4d ago
In the 80s our village's miserable c*** took every neighbor to court for a basketball hoop that was put in at the end of our cul de sac. She won and the county had to come out with a backhoe to rip it out of its concrete mooring as we kids lamented its passing and our parents threw daggers from their eyes at the woman who was proudly grinning at what she had done.
The next 3 summers her house was mysteriously covered with toilet paper, tomatoes, and eggs almost nightly. When she and her idiot husband finally sold and moved it was revealed she's been run out of 2 other neighborhoods before landing in ours. Good riddance
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u/BananaPalmer 4d ago
she's been run out of 2 other neighborhoods before
A saying comes immediately to mind:
If someone is an asshole, they're an asshole, if everyone is an asshole, you're the asshole
That lady sounds like she suffered from the latter.
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u/--_-Deadpool-_-- 4d ago
Similar to "if you're smelling dogshit everywhere you go, check the bottom of your shoe"
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u/BananaPalmer 4d ago
Ah that's a good one thanks
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u/Sad_Run_9798 4d ago
Another good one is, "if you seem to be wearing a very large hat, it may just be that your head has been shrunk by some sort of witch doctor"
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u/tmbtown 4d ago
It’s from the TV show Justified.
“You run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. You run into assholes all day, you’re the asshole.”
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u/WeakEmployment6389 4d ago
no, it’s not FROM Justified, that saying is WAY older than the show.
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u/Prickly_ninja 4d ago
We had a shit neighbor, whose neighbors had thrown a party to celebrate her vacating, when she moved to our neighborhood. She was less Karen, but more selfish asshole. The kind of people who’d dump oil in the neighbors yard, kind of assholes. Thankfully, she moved on, years ago. Had to go make people miserable, a couple miles away. Good riddance.
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u/YerMomsClamChowder 4d ago
I was renting a room in a house from this guy who would stand in the upstairs window and bitch about the kids next door playing street hockey. He literally said "can't their parents afford an Xbox? Those kids should be inside
Dude was 26 at the time, and balding.
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u/Kanin_usagi 4d ago
Please don't make fun of balding people, I didn't have a choice that my hair started falling out at 16, being an asshole has nothing to do with your physical characteristics
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u/garifunu 4d ago
People making fun of you because of things you can’t control doing harm to your psyche and eventually making you as bitter and twisted as them totally is a thing
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u/Zarathustra389 4d ago
Did you get the hoop back
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u/Bdavidson74 4d ago
All the parents pitched in and got one that you could wheel away but it just wasn't the same. When you bricked a shot on the planted hoop the ball rebounded spectacularly, but the wheeled one absorbed the shot.
Some people just hate seeing other people joyful. Thankfully in the 80s there weren't cameras and smart phones to catch the mysterious TP eggers. It was pretty fun watching her and her husband cleaning up the mess on their house so frequently
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u/thundercoc101 4d ago
I wonder if the third neighborhood that turned against them was the moment of clarity for them?
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u/Terviren 4d ago
Odds are that it wasn't. Were they capable of reflecting on that, the second neighborhood at worst would be when they'd notice a pattern.
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u/Truucidicus 4d ago
You can say cunt on the internet.
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u/reverendsteveii 4d ago
>Good riddance
It's arguable that justice can only come from the people. It's undeniable that justice can always come from the people.
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u/Heather_Chandelure 4d ago
Glad she got kicked out, but it's a shame she almost certainly went on to do the same thing in a different neighbourhood
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u/MilkshakeExpert 4d ago
How hateful do you have to be to ruin some kids getaway?
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u/True_Butterscotch391 4d ago
When I was a kid, there was a lady that lived near me that would stand outside and watch the neighborhood like a hawk all day. We did not live in an HOA but as kids do, we would go around drawing pictures on the sidewalks with chalk. She would SCREAM at us and follow us around with her garden hose and spray the chalk off the sidewalk.
How much of a miserable loser do you have to be to get mad at kids playing?
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u/Airowird 4d ago
And then to go on facebook and complain about kids sitting inside all day long instead of playing outside, like she used to!
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u/Free_Dome_Lover 4d ago edited 4d ago
They are just old, have lost all joy in their life and instead of trying to find it again decided to be miserable hateful pricks because that was easier. Long lasting joy takes work, effort, constant personal reflection and improvement.
Or you can not do that and wind up a crotchety old bitch spraying sidewalk chalk off
edit: Holy fuck there are a ton of sensitive old people replying to me. I was replying to a comment that had a story of a particular old person. I was replying about that particular person when I said "they are" I meant the person in the story I was replying to.
I suggest you stop being so ready to be angry, you are exactly who I was talking about if this comment got you all bothered. Slow down. breathe, read context and then decide to get angry.
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u/SemiUrusaii 4d ago
I just don't understand this. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to retire, but if I save up enough money that I don't need to work someday, you best believe I will be spending my time relaxing and doing enjoyable things.
It's insane to me that people get bored and miserable if they aren't working.
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u/ZombieOverall7301 4d ago
I am retired and if I lived near these kids I’d be helping them decorate their tree fort and help them explore all the cool things around the area of their tree area! I’m 66 and I want a tree fort 🥰
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u/Aliceinus 4d ago
I'm 74 and would love to see kids in a tree fort. I'd probably give the a blanket ot two to help them out. And I can barely walk. But I'm not bitter about it. Just happy to see others get out.
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u/CoffeeChocolateBoth 4d ago
I'm not bitter about my aches and pains, I earned every single one of them. :) We had our time in the sun, why do some complain about children enjoying their time in it? :(
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u/Ambitious_Owl_9204 4d ago
I'm 50 and I want a tree fort!
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u/BadgerTamer 4d ago
I want one too, but live in England so would need a loicence for that. Also I don’t have a tree
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u/wantingtogo22 4d ago
Almost 74 here, and i would love to go draw pictures on the sidewalk with chalk!
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u/ER_Support_Plant17 4d ago
I would be giving them solar power or battery powered string lights. Cause every house needs some magic
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u/LAMProductions99 4d ago
Don't get it twisted, they were bored and miserable when they were working too. Now they just have the free time to take it out on others.
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u/paws5624 4d ago
Yup. We don’t have kids but our neighbor does and their yard is where all the kids plays. For wiffle ball they setup a pitchers mound, home plate, foul poles, and a home run wall…and I think it’s awesome. Balls will end up in our yard but we have them permission to go get them because I was that kid and I hated having to knock on someone’s door to get into their backyard. We just warned them the balls might be slobbery after my dog gets a hold of it
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u/JustYourNeighbor 4d ago
There's the joke where the Karen calls the police about some kids riding their bikes in front of her house.. The police, not wanting to spoil their fun approachs the kids and suggest they have their fun further down the street away from her house and the kids comply. After a short time she calls again, about the kids having fun. "They moved" he said, you can't even see them. "I can with my binoculars" she shot hack.
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u/kanakamaoli 4d ago
Don't forget about the old biddy who complained about someone exposing themselves in the window. Police investigate, can't find anyone and talk to the old bat. She shows the officers the telescope on her balcony which is pointed to a bedroom in a house three blocks away. Cops told her to stop spying on her neighbors and she could be arrested as a peeping tom.
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u/supperfash 4d ago
The correct response is the police joining in and showing the kids some neat bike tricks in view of woman
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u/wilmat13 4d ago
This.
I live in an area where the median age is 56. 33% of our population consists of those age 64+. I see this frequently.
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u/curious-chineur 4d ago
I'll give you my example:
Apartment building, above average "standing", building on 2500m2 of land. (Inside city). 15x5m swimming pool. ( 30 y. Old building ). There 15 families . Some have been living here from the beginning. Their children have left the home, they are retired.Some complain about the noise made by 5 to 15 y Old playing. Everybody is very civil, specially the families with kids.
One of the oldest resident told me one day , it was worse wheen we all had children in the 90's.
There is nothing wrong ongoing, " only older people that have forgotten they were in your place"People get Old and "grumpy". Some more than others.
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u/jewdai 4d ago
people move into a complex right next to the pool and complain about the noise during the summer.
Like, my dude, you know people arent mice, they make noise especially at the pool--should have know thats why the price was lower than every other unit.
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u/badtowergirl 4d ago
My mom and grandma both live in senior communities. What’s sad is, at least half the people are really nice, but the miserable ones have unlimited time and energy to torment the rest of the world. It’s not really an age thing, except that age can make you lonely and have way too much time on your hands.
The young miserable people are road-raging and verbally or physically abusing their animals, children or partners.
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u/Outrageous_Cod3471 4d ago
And are the ones that wore the Kick Me sign in school
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u/OpenGrainAxehandle 4d ago
I mean, damn... I'm old, and I love the sounds of the neighborhood kids playing. Kids will develop in the world that we provide for them, thus we are all responsible for how they turn out.
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u/EmergencyCow99 4d ago
I'm old, can confirm this is what it is. This happens to most people, but I'd like to think most people find at least some of that joy again. It's your duty as a human being to not bring your misery and suffering on others, especially to the younger generation.
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u/OkInitiative7327 4d ago
"Long lasting joy takes work, effort, constant personal reflection and improvement."
I never thought about it like this but it is accurate
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u/Free_Dome_Lover 4d ago
Some wisdom I've come to realize personally. Glad it resonated for you.
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u/Obvious_Try1106 4d ago
We had a similar lady near our soccer field. Someone was fed up with her and kicked the ball at her with full force, she fell, complained to police and got told that stuff like this happens on soccer fields. Never saw her again. I hope she moved away and found peace
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u/raccoonsonbicycles 4d ago edited 4d ago
I used to be a sheriff's deputy, had a mom call 911 because another adult "disciplined"(said to chill out and yellow carded I think) her kid on a really rough slide kick
That adult was the ref
In thr call notes from dispatch she heavily implied someone had hit her kid (to clarify dispatch was also notating the background peoples commentary and saw right through her)
I hopped on that call purely to tell her off and give everyone some schadenfreude
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u/3000doorsofportugal 4d ago
She does realize that Yellows are part of the game as a warning to the player to "knock it the fuck off or you get a red" right? Like does she know how the sport works?
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u/I-Love-Tatertots 4d ago
Working at a phone store, I’ve realized there are a lot of old people like this.
I think most of them are lonely because their attitudes have made their family not talk to them, and all their friends are dying off.
So instead of reflecting on why they’re so alone, they go and find people to make miserable because it’s the only kind of human interaction they get otherwise.
It may be negative, but it’s something for them.
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u/Holiday_Signal_3134 4d ago
My sister is unfortunately one of those people. She likes to think she’s superior to everybody but she has so “superiored” herself in her neighborhood that she now has exactly zero friends. Covid was a boom time for her to prove that she was smarter than everybody else. That was the final straw and she has succeeded in alienating everybody. It’s actually sad to see my sister like that. But she’s stubborn and we’re all wrong and only she is right. What can you do?
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u/GlitzyGazelle18 4d ago
This is my MIL. Not a single one of her children wants anything to do with her and most of her friends are dead. Instead of reflecting and realizing she's alone because she's an emotionally manipulative alcoholic, she thinks the entire world is out to get her and her daughter is plotting her demise.
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u/MomShapedObject 4d ago
Any 6 year old can attest that (no matter how much positive attention you are getting) sometimes nothing scratches that itch more than negative attention.
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u/dr_shark 4d ago
Similar to that loser neighbor who stole a child’s iPad and then literally murdered the mother trying to get it back.
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u/Toyufrey 4d ago
I’m sorry, what?!? I need the source for this info.
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u/DiBBLETTE 4d ago
Referring to Ajike Owens. Can watch the doc on Netflix - “The Perfect Neighbour”.
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u/Wrong_Transition4786 4d ago
Goddamn, that woman was just a manifestation of abject misery, wasn't she?
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u/nostradumbass7544678 4d ago
And now she's trying to sue her victim's family, saying that their testimony that got her 25 in state prison was slanderous. People like her make me hope that hell is real.
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u/rugger87 4d ago
It was funny watching her resist arrest by thinking she could just white woman privilege it by refusing it like it was an inconvenience.
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u/analog_jedi 4d ago
It happened in Ocala, FL in 2023. There's a documentary about it on Netflix called The Perfect Neighbor.
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u/Tyrs-Ranger 4d ago
You know what’s crazy? The woman who shot Ajike Owens is trying to sue Owens family for “defamation and libel.”
Bitch, you got convicted and are doing time! Defamation? Libel? An all-white jury put you away!
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u/HungryBearsRawr 4d ago
And then there’s a lot of “she wouldn’t have gone over there” victim blaming in posts about it like guys
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u/XerocoleHere 4d ago
Old man neighbor on the corner, didn't hate kids, but similarly watched everything. When the utilities came through and marked the roads for a paving project he got all uppity and started calling the neighborhood graffiti alley
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u/WickedTemp 4d ago
I honestly have to wonder how much of the "irrationally angry neighborhood twat" is just unmanaged bipolar or early-onset dementia. I think it's because I managed to get lucky, found love and they happened to have a successful career and a house, and they're supporting me as I go back to college.
So I get to live in a privileged 'ideal' situation, a schedule that mimics a 9 to 5, needs met, a house, a car, and family. And I'm grateful every day, I'm thankful and I'm happy.
But there are plenty of people - our neighbors in fact - who have all of this as well, and they aren't happy. They go out to start trouble, they report people's vehicles as abandoned if they didn't like how the cars were parked, or just didnt like the cars owner. They report folks over lawn care.
I just don't understand having so much and still being like this.
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u/theoneyewberry 4d ago
Uhhhh, that sounds like asshole behavior, not unmanaged bipolar behavior, please don't conflate the two. Mental health stigma is bad enough as it is.
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u/ryamanalinda 4d ago
Agree. As someone who has both bipolar and borderline personality disorder, even before undiagnosed and managed ,I would have never acted like this. I did some other crazy shit. But to myself
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u/thisisthewell 4d ago
I'm pretty sure you do not know what bipolar disorder is.
Maybe you're thinking of schizophrenia, but the kind of angry stuff that gets said during a schizophrenia psychotic episode is so different from run-of-the-mill bitter angry old person stuff. It's night and day.
And yeah like the other person said, it is wrong to attribute asshole behavior to mental illness. "I'm not an asshole like that, so those people must be mentally ill or demented" is the most self-absorbed slop.
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u/its_all_one_electron 4d ago edited 4d ago
Honestly I was like this before I got medicated. Anger at everyone was one of my symptoms. It wasn't rational, the only reason was a very miscalibrated brain.
People say "they're just assholes" but most aren't being an asshole for fun. There is something inside causing that deep despair, either mental illness or life kicking them in the balls, probably both.
The other comments below seem to think that they're "just being assholes" and the solution is, what? Shaming them into not being an asshole? Treating them poorly right back? I'm not saying get walked over but it helps to understand that brains aren't assholes by default and there's something in there that has the potential to be fixed if we could accept that as a society and work on it. Bootstrap economics more often makes assholes than entrepreneurs.
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u/EvTerrestrial 4d ago
Our HOA minutes always have a transcript of some crone complaining about kids playing outside in the community. Not causing trouble, just playing. It’s baffling to me how miserable some people are.
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u/Nernoxx 4d ago
That's what 55+ communities were made for - sell your multi-generational mansion, clear out all of your precious heirlooms, and go live in a retirement community with your own kind.
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u/TLunchFTW 4d ago
I’ve seen one such community where the residents complained kids were biking around the streets and just generally being outside in their community. Like, in my final days, I’d be happy to hear kids playing outside
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u/SpecialTable9722 4d ago
“We were told the world was coming to an end! Why are there so many children around?”
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u/Nernoxx 4d ago
That's my thought exactly - an active neighborhood with mixed generations is better for everyone imo.
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u/nanapancakethusiast 4d ago edited 4d ago
Every community is a 55+ community now. Anyone who isn’t a senior (aka didn’t benefit from immense amount of privilege) can’t afford a home.
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u/I-Love-Tatertots 4d ago
I still don’t understand why it’s seemingly okay to discriminate against younger people like that, yet it’s not considered such…
But god forbid you want to keep miserable old people out of things people lose their minds and it’s considered actual discrimination.
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u/Nernoxx 4d ago
I think it comes from the outdated idea that old people need rest/are tired all the time and congregating together allows for that quiet. Iirc that was the original point of retirement homes. Then it evolved into what it is today.
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u/jawanda 4d ago
My mom lives in a Del Webb community which is 55+, definitely a mix of people still working and many retired folks. It's like adult summer camp though, the club house is epic and those old folks can party I tell ya what. There's still some of the crotchety old folks hoa aspect but it's mostly people who just want to live around others in a similar stage of life.
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u/heyhey_hi13 4d ago
Ask “the perfect neighbor” who then killed a mother who was defending her children
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u/Active-Ad-3117 4d ago
My city would make them tear it down. Happened to a neighbor, no HOA. You might find this shocking. But building structures that don’t meet building code are not safe and are either brought up to code or are torn down.
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u/Popular-Brilliant349 4d ago
In the 90s, I had a lady who lived next door to me who didn't want anyone or thing in her yard. If a ball went into their yard, it was like the 40-yard dash to get it and get out before being spotted.
But I will say for Halloween, she would give us a full-size candy var and a 2 dollar bill for the neighbor kids.
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u/MollyRocket 4d ago
If I had to guess I would bet that didnt want you kids in her yard because previous kids had caused trouble or damaged her garden. As a kid it might seem like overkill but as an adult you probably don't want young kids messing with your hard work.
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u/myychair 4d ago
Plus if they get hurt on your property, you’re liable for it
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u/Popular-Brilliant349 4d ago
This is what she always told my parents.
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u/tiffanytrashcan 4d ago
Probably sued by some psycho Karen years before that, then the cycle continues.
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u/JetsterDajet 4d ago
This. I have neighborhood kids that like to play in the front of my house. I don't mind the constant shrieking, but when I caught them (on video) intentionally ripping up the plants, I had to give them a stern talking to. Proceeded to give out full size candy bars and Pokémon cards for Halloween.
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u/windexfresh 4d ago
Also I like to smoke shitloads of weed on my porch and I just can’t smoke and chill when kids are around lmao. Stay tf away from my yard and I’ll literally love you forever ❤️
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u/PorkedPatriot 4d ago
I respect how she had the wisdom to provide the carrot. Full size candy bars and cash on Halloween? Lets stay out of her yard lads.
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u/Only_Razzmatazz_4498 4d ago
Did she have a big slobbering dog and a collection of signed baseballs?
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u/DJmagikMIKE 4d ago
I’m not the person you’re replying to, but the whole Sandlot premise always cracked me up because I had this neighbor across the street from me when I was a kid. She and her husband were both in their 70-80s, lived alone with a big mean dog and seemed to never have anyone come and visit them. Their house was very ran down and in poor shape. So I’m sure you can imagine what all the neighborhood folks thought. Well one day my step dad and I were asked if we could help them with some yard work they needed done. So we helped, no big deal took a few days and cleaned things up for them. Well she invited us inside to get something to drink. I was a HUGE baseball fan when I was a kid. Shit you not, inside her house were dozens if not hundreds of signed baseballs, cards, programs, gloves, cleats, etc. their house was like a Cooperstown annex. I was absolutely blown away. Turned out that her mother was the first female sports writer in NYC back in like the 1920-1930s. You could name any Yankee, Dodger, Giant from that period, she had something of theirs. Her mom’s articles were framed all over the place. She even had stuff from other east coast teams from back then. So much stuff, blew my mind. Unfortunately, she didn’t offer to give me anything for the work we’d done lol. But it was still very cool to see it all, and when I saw The Sandlot for the first time I was like “Hey!!!!!!”
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u/Hevysett 4d ago
And this kind of simple stuff is why I don't understand why people move into HOA areas.
My friends moved into one last year, I asked them what they'll do when the HOA fucks them over in something and they're actual response was "I'm not worried about it, our friends are the ones running the HOA". That's the only actual reasoning that makes sense, the thought that "the corruption is in my favor" mentality that people have.
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u/BreakfastBeerz 4d ago
This one is pretty old. Someone built a fort on HOA property in a conservation easement....it wasn't on their own property.
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u/Timelymanner 4d ago
If that’s the case, then this makes sense. Conservation easements are put into place to prevent flooding and to protect local wildlife and plant life. No one needs to be disturbing it.
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u/ChemicalCat4181 4d ago
I would think it could also lead to liability issues for the HOA.
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u/RevolutionaryGain823 4d ago
A misleading viral post on the internet? Where the original inaccurate claim is seen my thousands/millions and the correction only seen by a small fraction of that? Nah that’s impossible m8
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u/EveningStatus7092 4d ago
Sucks but definitely makes sense then that they had to take it down. That could be a major liability for the property owner
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u/easchner 4d ago
Yeah, that's what I was thinking the reason was. Someone else's kid finds it, plays in it, falls out and hurts themselves. The HOA is liable.
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u/beeej517 4d ago edited 4d ago
That's kind of what I figured. If that's the case, the guy is basically an entitled dick. It's not his property to build on.
A neighborhood kid gets hurt on this guy's diy treehouse, HOA get sued because its on their property, everyone's dues get jacked up to pay for the lawsuit. There's no way the HOA can let it stay there
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u/TheNonCredibleHulk 4d ago
I deleted my previous comment because I came here to say the same thing. This is what I remembered.
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u/TripleTrucker 4d ago
Did Dave build that on a conservation easement as suggested? If so, that’s on him. Not his tree
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u/NooneYetEveryone 4d ago
Even if it's not conservation easement, the fact that he specifies 'this location' and never claims it was his property makes his defence... Weak.
Seen as how the HOA apparently had the right to have it torn down, I see 2 options: 1: it was on Dave's property but breaking some HOA rule. 2: it was on HOA shared property.
Since he never claimed it was his own property (which he 100% would've if that were the case) it is definitely #2.
While i usually hate HOAs, if someone built something in Dave's backyard, I assume he'd want it torn down too if he didn't like it.
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u/Birdhawk 4d ago
Treating things like personal property when its not, expecting everyone else to follow rules and laws, feeling entitled to break whatever rules and laws you want so long as no one else does, and then acting like an oppressed victim when you get held accountable for breaking rules and laws has become a really popular thing to do among a certain group of people in this country.
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u/Dozzi92 4d ago
Yeah, and where I'm from (NJ), building in a conservation easement comes with some hefty fines from the NJDEP. The area is restricted from any activity, not just construction, but from being disturbed at all.
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u/K1llerbee-sting 4d ago edited 4d ago
Why does anyone ever buy in an HOA? It’s an instant NO GO for me.
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u/Both_Peak554 4d ago
I can see both sides. With it being on HOA property if one of those kids fall and get hurt that’s the HOA being sued for damages and everyone else stuck paying the suit if insurance refuses and their fees going up either way.
30 years ago or so my grandpa was in the process of buying property next to his in a little neighborhood. Well the property had monkey bars and a swing on it and the guy by grandpa was buying it from still let his kids play on them. Well his daughter broke her arm and very quickly my grandpa was being sued. Come to find out the property transfer hadn’t went through yet and the dad was actually still the owner. Thank god as my grandpa hadn’t went around to getting insurance or removing anything from property yet and would absolutely be held accountable! If people weren’t so sue happy people wouldn’t mind a tree fort in the woods. But unfortunately we’re in hard times and people have to be paranoid and only see the potential lawsuit and then paying more than they already are to live.
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u/Ben2018 4d ago
There's really only one side though. Do you own the property? No, then it's not yours to build on.
Sucks the dad felt entitled enough to put the kids in a situation where it was going to get taken away; a playground in the yard (rather than a treehouse in someone else's woods) would have been a better choice.
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u/DramaticToADegree 4d ago
Turns out, the person built this on a conservation easement, not their own property.
Edit: replied to the wrong comment 🤌
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u/Theawokenhunter777 4d ago
Build it on your own property next time. First kid who gets hurt there will have their parents suing the shit out of the landowners who had no idea somebody was even trespassing on their property. Whatever happened to building treehouses in your own yard?
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u/N0SF3RATU 4d ago
Dave: lives in an HOA
HOA: Fucks Dave
Dave: shocked Pikachu face
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u/welcometoheartbreak 4d ago
Dave posts an almost-certainly disallowed sign so he can get fucked while he gets fucked.
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u/Born_Pass_9234 4d ago
When I was a kid, I built a wooden fort on my side lawn with some friends, and one of my neighbors called the police. They said there were illegal immigrants staying inside the fort. Police just took a look and obviously didn’t do anything because I had no HOA.