Buying or selling a house is a pretty stressful experience, there's a lot on the line and a whole lot of things need to line up for everything to fall into place. Plus, there's plenty of opportunities for someone to screw you over from the realtor to the seller/buyer themselves, so it's pretty easy to be on edge and understandable, at least, to want to control every aspect of the situation. Still, as with anything in life and especially in stressful situations and negotiations, approaching thin…

Assigned and paid for parking spaces are one of those things that will drive even the most sane and level headed among us to the brink—and we're not claiming to be even the most sane and level headed. The fierce competition that emerges for the limited parking spaces—with high costs associated—is intense driving tenants to extraordinary lengths. This exacerbated by the fact that apartment complexes with inbuilt garages never have enough spaces for each unit in the building often meaning that th…

Packed with sass and asking for a manager

There are two kinds of neighbors: the sane ones and the ones who will take any opportunity to boss other neighbors around. That's where HOAs come in. This HOA president went out of his way to try to fine the new neighbor for the ways in which he set up his backyard despite numerous attempts on the neighbor's part to explain that his house was not technically within the HOA. However, it seems like the stubborn nature of this guy clouded his better judgment, so he wound up using the HOA resources…

There are few first-world problems that will drive you as intensely mad as low water pressure. For those of us longing for a hot shower after a long day, there's nothing worse than stepping into the steam-filled room and being met with the pitiful trickle of water that isn't even sufficiently powered to blast the shampoo out of your hair. You've probably encountered this at accommodation while traveling. There's nothing like splashing out for a BnB or hotel suite only to realize that the shower…

Your property is, well, yours—and that's kind of the whole point of owning it. Invite as many or as few people over as you like—heck, put up barbed wire fencing around the entire thing (HOA permitting) and never speak to anyone again if that's your thing. You can say and do as you please with it, within legal bounds… just don't go doing any mining under your suburban house without knowing what you're doing or the proper permits. But, as it turns out, your property—and specifically your backyard…

Karens can be moms too…

It's not a given by any stretch that you'll get along with your neighbor; after all, there's no basis for selection other than that you lived or were interested in living in the same area—and happened to buy property adjacent to each other. Then you spend every day next to that person, sometimes keenly and overly aware of their comings and goings. So, it's no surprise when personalities clash between neighbors who share nothing in common other than the adjacent boundary of their properties. Som…

The HOA patrols are back out in force, ready to protect your neighborhood from things like trucks parked in driveways, or trash cans left outside on trash day. These heroic homeowners associations are always ready to save the day by… doling out large fines designed to stress families out. They're doing things like helping the victims of house fires. Wait, scratch that: they actually had the nerve to fine a family who had a house fire because they thought the place looked unsightly. Wow, it's al…

This homeowner has found themself in an infuriating predicament. They're being bothered by an HOA . Not their HOA. Just an HOA that keeps sticking its nose in this homeowner's business! There are a lot of people who feel that HOA-run neighborhoods are a complete no-go for them. When buying a home, they won't even consider living in a neighborhood that's run by the organization. Homeowner's Associations have gained a reputation for being money-hungry busybodies. Maybe you're thinking that that's…

If you're crafty enough, you'd never let something like a boot on your car's tire stop you. You'll have to have a devil-may-care attitude, plus access to some pretty powerful tools. This person knows that all too well, as they shared in a story to the r/AmItheA****** subreddit. Putting a boot on someone's car is no laughing matter. Instead of writing a ticket or even snapping a photo of the license plate to report to officials, this HOA decided to stop this dude from driving ! Now he wouldn't b…

When you're looking to buy property you're classically given advice by your older relatives that you should go around the neighborhood knocking on doors and asking people who live there what they think of the area. While sound advice it comes from an era long past where community was a staple part of everyday life. Nowadays you can go years without ever meeting the people living across the street so you probably don't care what they think of the area and, besides, who is honestly going to tell…

Watch out, folks! The Park Karens have reemerged for the summer season. This park employee worked for a small HOA management company and was tasked with cleaning up the local park so that it meets community standards. During his latest shift, he was collecting trash and leaving it for morning trash pickup, a process he was accustomed to as it followed said community guidelines. Well, this Karen was on her morning walk when she noticed the pile of trash and immediately accused the park worker of…

One HOA member apparently had nothing better to do with her time than police her neighbors constantly. Having a bad neighbor can be a giant pain. Some of them play loud music 24/7. Others love to leave for long weekend trips while their dogs bark and howl for hours. Some people are just inconsiderate of the others around them, and will park on the sidewalk or put up bright floodlights that keep the neighbors awake. But this person wasn't doing anything wrong when their HOA neighbor confronted t…

Why pay nothing to do whatever you want with your property when you can pay $70 a month to be told what you can and cannot do with your property?

Some people refuse to buy any property that's on an HOA-owned territory for reasons just like this. A Florida condo owner is wondering what to do after their terrible HOA decided it would nearly double the monthly dues! It's tough out here for a lot of Americans. You can work multiple jobs and still be barely scraping by. This person, u/BearlyGerry, is doing just that: working a full-time gig plus a part-time job on the side just to make ends meet. But their HOA ( homeowners association ) has d…