Simar situation due to the type of school district we wanted which almost always equals sub divisions. I have one kid that will likely need advanced classes and another with special needs and it's all in one public school with great ratings. I didn't want an HOA at all, but it was more flexible than other options.
The child in me hopes that you are going to antagonize the Karens with your new found freedom. Lived in HOAs twice when I was younger and couldn't really afford a house that wasn't in one. The people who run HOAs are pathological. We would get blast notices in red font, bold and all caps from the HOA board dictating how kids were and were not allowed to play outside. Glad I wasn't a parent at the time, just the thought of someone trying to police my children in my own back yard lights up my amygdala.
I've had both good and bad. Only one was bad enough for me to actively confront someone. Since she lived in the same cul-de-sac I was of course her favorite target. Let's just say once the war started it didn't take long for me to win. Her husband got tired of having me knock on the door so he eventually shut her down hard. Our current one is all voluntary as we had the same situtation as the OP where some hows were bound to it and some weren't We all agreed to disolve it and create a voluntary entity to maintain the common areas. We get about 80 to 90% participation on any given year. That's about as good as you could hope for from 40+ homes.
Where in La Jolla is that? Most of old school La Jolla that I know is all residential single family dwellings with no HOAs And that's a shame about the present being towed.
Biggest issue I had with my HOA in Wisconsin was that I couldn't put up a shed. Yet the neighbors could build a 20x10 playset that is 15 feet tall + flags on the top or put up a huge trampoline that looks way worse. I almost built a shed, I mean "playset with storage" with a slide on the roof and a swing attached to the side, but we moved before I got around to it. Plans had to be approved for those, so likely they would have caught on and not approved it anyway. Current HOA is 5 houses, and we exist solely to maintain the city mandated storm water runoff system. We can decide to do more, but that is not happening as we don't even meet. I can live with that and park my trailer on the side of the house (not the front, only the side or back), but that is city rules, not HOA rules. HOAs are really not a big deal here because what the city mandates is strict enough that no one bothers with more. Even then, the city only enforces stuff when someone complain about it. When we retire, we are probably going into a 55+ community and that will likely be a whole new HOA ballgame. As to the OP getting the money back, it could happen, but the most likely scenario is the lawyers on both sides would get most of the money and everyone that lives in the HOA would be really pissed off at the people that sued to give the lawyers the money, equaling a very unhappy neighborhood.
@ jedb...Soledad Mountain Rd, just south of Windermere gated community. Was developed about 25 years ago. The family were charged for towing and fined. They listed the house for sale and moved the fuck outta there. My brother's place in Palm Springs....his HOA is great. Very well maintained.
Mine bitched during Covid that the kids were playing trash can lacrosse on the tennis courts (they took down the nets and basketball hoops). Seems the board member in the area had a Pay to play pickle ball league running on the courts. The kids won - one of the moms is a major Karen and a high level trial lawyer who never sleeps and threatened to blow up worlds.
I'm compelled to confess to being the President of our small communty's HOA. I didn't and don't want the job, but neither do any of my neighbors. We're just 20 lots (15 homes presently) on the water in a rural but rapidly growing area. We have a private road to maintain, so we can get our mail delivered to our homes, and some grassy "public areas" that, unfortunately, need to be mowed periodically. That is where are annual $150 dues go. But road repairs need to be made and it won't be cheap. " Heavy is the head the wears the crown."
best thing I had a house once in one......will say don't get Involved!!! and only needed 1 time.... and well left and never happened since. find the woods find something..shite the amount they want and wanna complain??? seriously go look at their properties? trucks boat rv etc.. good for them not you... just saying
And when I said “they” took down the hoops and nets I meant the county and hoa. So no one would use the courts. the person who was running the pickle ball league is also pushing the county to tear up a brand new full length turf field that is less than 5 years old to. . . Put in pickle ball courts.
it’s a baseball (5 fields) and softball (4 fields) complex with a single football field. It had a mini golf setup (when that was huge) but the hippies turned that into a herb garden. The hippies won’t give up their space so, tear up the $1kk field for a fad.
Fastest growing rec sport in the country with two competing national sanctioning bodies. Every city around here is eyeballing their tennis courts for a change out. We are looking at a refit on one of our parks to make some of the tennis courts convertible. Leagues are willing to pay for space!
Fastest growing team youth sport in your area is. . . Come on, you can guess it. pickle ball is not a sport, it’s wiffel ball for fat old gen Xers who think they aren’t old. It’s put put tennis.
Actually, it's pretty damn fun. Our entire family plays tennis, all but me at a fairly high level. But we gave pickleball a go and had a blast. Our club currently has 5 clay courts, and the only people using them are us and the pro for lessons. That means 3 courts sit. We're working to get at least one of them switched to a pickleball court. Not put put tennis, but more stand up ping pong. If you do it right you can get a hell of a workout.
