We all answer to a higher power, but the more that we can pretend we don't and have some control and agency over our own lives, the happier we tend to be. Whether it's the plain old government authority boss, coach, parents, or that pesky HOA having or at least feeling like you have some control over your own life, the better you're going to feel about it.

With progress comes expansion, and with expansion comes development… the bounds of society creeping beyond where they once were, bringing with them change. We'd like to think that this change is always good, but the reality is that it's not always for the better. Opportunists will be right there waiting to strike when the shifting sands of time and change bring them the chance to take advantage. When this couple bought their dream piece of land out in the middle of nowhere, they completed the p…

There's nothing better than being in your own home and experiencing what it feels like to be utterly and completely alone, with no one around to perceive you, judge you, or otherwise consider your existence and what you might happen to be doing. Hanging out enjoying a peaceful afternoon doing some home maintenance outside, and suddenly your ears are bombarded by an infernal whirring outside as if 10,000 angry bees have suddenly descended upon the peace you were enjoying, and looking up, you see…

"I remind him, that I agreed to a three cut minimum and no where in any of the conversations did the company specific a restriction on when."

". . . despite it being in absolute black and white he refused to accept any fault or offer anything to make things right."

The things homeowners will do for a good tradesman!

Sometimes, it's better to just leave well enough alone. By making an issue about what you “do or don't” have when you're, well… wrong—you're more than likely to end up with less than you started with in the first place. Especially, as it turns out when you're disputing what you think is the boundary of your new property… Because, as in this story, the neighbor who has been there for longer probably knows a thing or two about why that “boundary” was established in the first place As at any point…

Why are HOAs so fixated on house color? Let people live!

When you snooze, you lose, HOA.

The house-buying process is stressful and difficult to navigate at any point—especially when it's your first, and you have no idea what you're doing or what to expect. The process will see results that can have drastic and possibly cataclysmic effects on your finances as well as on the rest of your life and its quality. It's exhausting. The process and paperwork involved are almost like a second job, with months upon months of weekends taken up by an endless stream of open homes. With possible…

When the HOA goes low, you go lower.

Never burn a bridge with your next door neighbor

You're not supposed to take things that aren't yours—this is something that is ingrained in us from a very young age (or at least it's supposed to have been.) We were all taught that taking Little Jonny's red ball out at recess without his permission wasn't ok. Although we might still hold a grudge against Jonny for being a tattle tale (we were going to give it back), it doesn't change the fact that some valuable lessons were learned. These lessons and new-found boundaries should have stayed wi…

Nothing is worse than living somewhere with arbitrary rules about your own property.

“I'm angry with myself for going against my gut and what I originally wanted to do because now we are priced out of that area…”

“Be an utterly unethical thorn in [the HOA's] side which can never be removed or retaliated against. I'm not locked in with them; they're locked in with me.”