Invisible Fencing?

[LauraKY]

Is the HOA run by the homeowners or the developer?

I’ve lived in two houses with HOA’s…you have to be careful not to let zealots run the show. I was the president of our current HOA for 5 years because they were going overboard. Now that I’ve found that they can’t legally enforce the restrictions, due to a filing mistake (which I’m keeping to myself), I don’t really care anymore.

If your HOA has the zealotry symptoms, OP, I would run away. You shouldn’t lose your deposit if you weren’t given a copy of the bylaws and restrictions before signing a contract.

[CrowneDragon]

[QUOTE=Houndhill;7524764]

I can’t imagine living somewhere that didn’t allow fencing![/QUOTE]

I can’t imaging willingly moving into an HOA.

OP, consider this problem to be a gift in the form of a warning to look elsewhere.

[2tempe]

I have an acre lot that has some complexities relative to real fencing. I use Invisible Fence here, and also did on my heavily wooded 2 acre property up north. I recently trained the fourth dog on it and so far have been quite successful. But I NEVER leave the dogs out when I’m away for many reasons, and I actually don’t leave them out for long periods when I’m otherwise occupied inside.

[Nezzy]

OMG get your money back if at all possible and TELL THEM WHY. good luck. i hope you find a place that fence is allowed.

[SugarCubes]

[QUOTE=LauraKY;7525896]
Is the HOA run by the homeowners or the developer?

I’ve lived in two houses with HOA’s…you have to be careful not to let zealots run the show. I was the president of our current HOA for 5 years because they were going overboard. Now that I’ve found that they can’t legally enforce the restrictions, due to a filing mistake (which I’m keeping to myself), I don’t really care anymore.

If your HOA has the zealotry symptoms, OP, I would run away. You shouldn’t lose your deposit if you weren’t given a copy of the bylaws and restrictions before signing a contract.[/QUOTE]

The HOA is run by the homeowners…and the current president has been the “president” for 20 years since the initial subdivision was built. There are only 8 new homes going into the subdivision…ours being one of them. Our realtor and the builder have been going back and forth with this guy and it is starting to look like he is on some sort of power trip…without getting into all of it, the bylaws state that any change to the existing bylaws will be approved so long as the change does not create a reduction in value to the existing homes, our biggest peeve is that the 8 new homes going in are worth more than the existing homes…so we are already increasing the value of the existing properties just by building in this subdivision, with or without a fence.

We can get our full deposit back and the builder is totally on our side. They have been fighting this guy on everything, apparently. It is just frustrating because we love the location and neighborhood, minus the extremely stubborn HOA president

[SugarCubes]

[QUOTE=CrowneDragon;7525979]
I can’t imaging willingly moving into an HOA.

OP, consider this problem to be a gift in the form of a warning to look elsewhere.[/QUOTE]

I am starting to see it this way, CD! The builder has another development about 10 minutes away that are all equestrian properties…obviously that has me intrigued We just need to see if those will work with our budget!

Thanks again for the help and advice, you all have given me a lot to think about

[Nicker]

[QUOTE=SugarCubes;7526217]
the bylaws state that any change to the existing bylaws will be approved so long as the change does not create a reduction in value to the existing homes, our biggest peeve is that the 8 new homes going in are worth more than the existing homes…so we are already increasing the value of the existing properties just by building in this subdivision, with or without a fence. [/QUOTE]

Sounds like the HOA president could end up causing a decrease in value to the neighborhood!

[moving_to_dc]

[QUOTE=SugarCubes;7526217]
The HOA is run by the homeowners…and the current president has been the “president” for 20 years since the initial subdivision was built. There are only 8 new homes going into the subdivision…ours being one of them. Our realtor and the builder have been going back and forth with this guy and it is starting to look like he is on some sort of power trip…without getting into all of it, the bylaws state that any change to the existing bylaws will be approved so long as the change does not create a reduction in value to the existing homes, our biggest peeve is that the 8 new homes going in are worth more than the existing homes…so we are already increasing the value of the existing properties just by building in this subdivision, with or without a fence.

We can get our full deposit back and the builder is totally on our side. They have been fighting this guy on everything, apparently. It is just frustrating because we love the location and neighborhood, minus the extremely stubborn HOA president :([/QUOTE]

If you still want to fight for that particular lot, check into your state - city - county laws regarding HOA’s. We were in a situation with our very lax HOA in Cleveland County, OK in 2010. We found out that the original HOA reg’s had become invalid/inactive/unable to be enforced because the HOA had gone too long without any correspondence between homeowners. IF the HOA was still “active” we could have made changes to it with a certain percentage of votes from the owners.

[JanM]

Get out of the deal. There is no way you can guarantee the safety of your animals, and all it will take for tragedy is for someone’s kid to wander on your property, claim they were bitten, and you’ll be sued (I know someone this happened to). There is no way you will be allowed to build a fence, and no fence = much smaller buying pool for resale. Your realtor should have given you copies of the CC&R’s for this place before you ever signed the contract, or the selling realtor should have. With HOA’s that are that strict, then I’m betting there are other rules you won’t like also.