I spent hours in my little play house with my friends. We took our dolls, coloring books, Play-Doh, and molding clay in there and completely lost track of time. Every now and then my Mom would peek in the kid-sized door opening and deliver some lemonade or cherry Kool-Aid. It was located under a big tree so even on the hottest days of summer there was a cool breeze coming through the windows.
It makes me sad that with the introduction of Homeowners Associations little girls and boys cannot have play houses and tree houses. Nope. Kiss that idea good-bye. In many HOAs you can’t even have a basketball hoop. And not long ago we learned about the ban on anything with wheels for kids to enjoy.
And then we complain that kids are bored, spend all their time on video games, electronic devices, and their cell phones. Not to mention the incessant discussions in the media and politics about childhood obesity.
HOAs have not only robbed the enjoyment out of adult life and homeownership, we’ve robbed the kids, too!
One of the most articulate, knowledgeable Homeowners Rights advocates in America is Arizona’s George Staropoli. When he makes a prediction you can bet on it. In his current blog, linked below, he says the Community Associations Institute (CAI) is turning its massive lobbying arm into a lobbying effort specifically targeting the U.S. Congress.
CAI is an extremely deceptive organization that turns George Orwell’s Animal Farm on its head. Up is down and down is up, good is bad and bad is good, all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others. CAI is drowning Congressmen and Senators in the blatant lie that it represents the ‘collective’ rights and interests of all homeowners.
It’s so much fun to a see a prediction come true. For several years, now, I’ve been talking about the coming wave of inexpensive drones; flying machines equipped with incredibly clear spy cams. They’re light as a feather and designed to be astoundingly invasive. If you and your gal pal or boy toy use the backyard Jacuzzi at midnight, understand that your underwater antics are going to be displayed at the monthly HOA board meeting. From five hundred feet in the air you’ll be able to count the freckles on your lover’s shoulders. At night!
What a hoot! Impossible as it seems, there are still homeowners who believe that bit of nonsense. When you buy a home in an HOA or Condo Association, you’re essentially pooling your net worth and life savings with a bunch of strangers, people you wouldn’t dream of inviting to lunch. Just go to any annual meeting of any HOA and listen to the yelling, the sarcasm, the accusations.
