Gated communities--rules on type of vehicle you can drive?!!

[Oh Haha]

Watching "Property Virgins" tonight, the buyers in Florida were looking at building on an empty lot in a new sub. The homeowners association stipulated that you could not park an SUV in the driveway. Also, no bbq grills were allowed. No independant home inspector, either. Seriously?

Can they really get away with these rules?

[Rick Lee]

They can probably exclude anything that's not a protected class. Just don't buy there.

I was riding around Carefree, AZ today and there are a ton of gated communities there. I don't get this. Anyone can get in. Just get behind a car that has the gate code. Or go on the MLS, where most of the listings have the gate code. It may keep the proselytizers out, but anyone who really wants in will have no problem, especially on a motorcycle.

[id10t]

Only gated community w/ a HOA have 'em. Personally, I want enough property to justify a gate, long twisty driveway (and a straight one for the wife), and no hoa.

[Dantilla]

I looked at a nice view lot a few years ago in a nice subdivision.

I was really interested until I asked my realtor for the covenants. No way was I going to put up with rules similar to what was stated above. No HOA for me.

[HardDrive]

Not just no, but F no. I can not fathom why people put up with this intrusive schit. White people are kinda scary, ya know?

[wcc]

If it is private they can pretty much make any rules they want. Our subdivision isn't private but it had a bunch of rules like no sheds, fences, sat tv etc but no one enforces it. They even had to take the developer to court to get him to top coat (finish) the road. However, my neighbor got in trouble for having a boat in his driveway for to long. In this economy I wouldn't agree to any such terms for purchase and I'm sure most of those places would cave just for the sale..

[campbellcj]

That's just ludicrous. Maybe ultra-anal people congregate in such communities and like it that way for some reason the rest of us don't understand.

Technically we have CCR's here but they are minimal and benign plus the HOA is MIA. It doesn't even really exist from what I can tell but our neighbors are decent people who take care of their stuff and don't do stupid stuff all that often.

The funniest one is we're supposed to keep enough room clear in our garage to park at least 1 car inside (or maybe 2). You don't actually have to park inside, just keep it clean enough so you could park inside. I don't even remember the rest - just simple stuff like don't paint your house with purple polka dots without prior 'approval'.

[Rick V]

I have a customer who lives in one of those communities, I make damn good and sure to drive the very loud and beat to death (looking) rollback when ever I have to recover a car from there. They just love me. There is no way I could ever live in a place like that.

[Scuba Steve]

We have a gate and an HOA with some common sense, but nothing stupid like that. The rules are mostly things like no livestock or mining for gold in the back yard. In San Antonio a HOA is almost a must because city code compliance is essentially worthless. They don't enforce their own zoning regulations at all, and good luck actually getting in touch with one of the officers because they only have land lines and don't pick up. Whenever they work a case they're also limited to observing whatever they can see from a street. Someone I spoke with basically said that a person could have Noah's Ark in the back yard but if a giraffe isn't sticking its head up over the house or they don't hear a lion roar they can't do anything. Likewise for things they see in the house - the owner has to open the door and admit to what's going on before they can technically see anything through a window or glass door.

[jwasbury]

My mother lives near Hilton Head S.C., where these gated communities are all the rage...they call them "Plantations" around those parts, if you can believe that.

Once upon a time I visited when mum was living in Sea Pines Plantation...they do not allow motorcycles. I was on a cross country tour, and was towing a trailer with 3 bikes on it. I had to get through gestapo-style questioning to get past the gate, along with a promise that the motorcycles would remain on the trailer, and the trailer would be hidden from view in a garage.

That pissed me off so much, I had visions of buzzing by the guard station on my Ducati at redline.

[drcoastline]

They can do what ever they want until it's challenged. If it hold's up is another story.

[red-beard]

A Gated community will not keep a determined person out. They limit access, make it more difficult for outsiders to go though the neighborhood. Our HOA is pretty good, but you do get letters from the HOA if you have too many weeds or if you're not maintaining your property.

[rayporsche]

Originally Posted by Oh Haha

Watching "Property Virgins" tonight, the buyers in Florida were looking at building on an empty lot in a new sub. The homeowners association stipulated that you could not park an SUV in the driveway. Also, no bbq grills were allowed. No independant home inspector, either. Seriously?

Can they really get away with these rules?

If you were living in Dallas, Texas where 80 % of the vehicles could be an SVU, pickup or truck of some sort, I bet you would appreciate the driveway part of the stipulation or maybe not. Everywhere you go at any given time in any parking 8 out 10 are usually SVUs and the like most of the time been driven by ladies using their iPhone...hahahaha....lol

[Oh Haha]

Thanks for the stories.

In the end, the HOA changed all of the questionable rules for the purchasers. I guess the developer needs the $$$$.

While I'm pretty anal about my house and property I couldn't live in a narea where I was forced to abide by certain, IMO, silly restrictions.

[HHI944]

Originally Posted by jwasbury

My mother lives near Hilton Head S.C., where these gated communities are all the rage...they call them "Plantations" around those parts, if you can believe that.

Once upon a time I visited when mum was living in Sea Pines Plantation...they do not allow motorcycles. I was on a cross country tour, and was towing a trailer with 3 bikes on it. I had to get through gestapo-style questioning to get past the gate, along with a promise that the motorcycles would remain on the trailer, and the trailer would be hidden from view in a garage.

That pissed me off so much, I had visions of buzzing by the guard station on my Ducati at redline.

I live on HHI, in Port Royal Plantation. Some of the rules are absurd and a lot of it is just a hassle, but we do allow residents and their guests to ride motorcycles. They gave me crap about my Rover for a while. It was always in the driveway, because with the hard top, it just doesn't fit in the garage. I finally had a showdown with one of the HOA reps and told him that the only way that Rover was leaving would be if someone wanted to pay me $25k for it.
On the bright side of things, they blocked some numnuts from putting up a chain link fence in their back yard recently. It's important to note that their yard is visible from 2 roads and the green of one hole and tee of another.

[rattlsnak]

I could NOT live in an area that did not have an HOA and rules/guidelines. (ok, normal rules, anyway) I do not want to see your boat, trailer, motorhome, purple house, overgrown grass etc.

Funny thing is, there is always someone on here posting about some kind of problem with a neighbor. With HOAs, those issues are greatly reduced...

That being said, if I could afford to live on 50+ acres, I wouldnt care about HOAs..

[nota]

it can get worse
coral gables a city next to miami
has a very old ban on pick up trucks and jeeps
in addition to alot of other stupid rules

[johnsjmc]

Around here these rules are called restrictive covenants and are set up when the subdivision is created. Where I used to live there was a rule preventing above ground swimming pools I had no problem with that because they cheapen the neighbourhood. There is also no overnight on street parking allowed during the winter months so snow can be plowed.These bylaws make sense .
My wife and I have a small house we bought near Tampa several years ago. Strangely the county (Pasco) has a bylaw preventing boats and RVs being parked in front of the house. Even if they are properly licensed ,roadworthy and on the paved portion of the driveway. Our neighbour across the street has moved her two adult children and their girlfriends in because of the economy.They all park on the lawn and it looks awful. Zoning will ticket my boat parked on my driveway if there more than 24 hours but ignore the 4 beater cars on the lawn because they have to park somewhere. And down the street there is a house with traffic coming and going all day and night long. They are obviously selling drugs . One of the neighbours who complained about my eyesore boat thought the drug dealing should be tolerated because they need to pay their mortgage somehow. Bizarre attitude or what.

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by johnsjmc

One of the neighbours who complained about my eyesore boat thought the drug dealing should be tolerated because they need to pay their mortgage somehow. Bizarre attitude or what.

Maybe he doesn't want to have find a new dealer?

[johnsjmc]

Maybe . Never thought about it that way.