First snow

[HandymanHerb]

I figure any house not on HOA is worth more than ones with the pains in the ass, the county takes care of the cars up on blocks, HOA tell you what color you can paint your house

[cbavier]

Guess I'm slow. It took me a while to figure out what an "HOA" was. I've never lived where there was a "HOA". I'm with the majority. I don't want someone telling me what I can or cannot do on my property. WE do have blight and junk car laws in the little village I live in however, and that is only reasonable to protect the safety and value of property for everyone. Pepsi

[mike]

Our old house HOA was $80 every three months (cheap for HOA fees around here) and it covered the common area maintenance and the park. We had to submit a request to paint our house, I couldnt have a portable basketball hoop in my driveway and could only leave my boat/rv in front of my house for 24 hours. That was the first and last house I will every buy in an HOA.

[mike]

Oh, and we are supposed to get snow by friday...

[GregF]

Our old house HOA was $80 every three months (cheap for HOA fees around here) and it covered the common area maintenance and the park. We had to submit a request to paint our house, I couldnt have a portable basketball hoop in my driveway and could only leave my boat/rv in front of my house for 24 hours. That was the first and last house I will every buy in an HOA.

I think we have the best of both worlds. Our HOA is voluntary but we get 85-90% participation. There are no real rules about painting your house and that crap but the county codes are restrictive enough to keep the junk cars out of the yards. The main thing the HOA does is to maintain a 5 acre common area park/pavilion, a boat ramp and two boat basins with 7 docks. Three in the main basin are rentals and the 4 near me are temporary docks use for free.
Our main enforcement method is the boat ramp key. Other than that it is just what we can negotiate by talking problems out like adults. We actually have very few problems. I am usually the negotiator since I bridge the gap between old fart and young redneck fairly well.

[playcat]

One HOA in our area has block captains that write tickets to other homeowners for the heinous crimes of not moving your trash can behind your house by 6pm on trash day, or having unapproved holiday decorations, or not having the same mailbox as the rest of the hood. These tickets have FINES with them and one homeowner LOST in court when the HOA foreclosed on his house for not paying his tickets!!!
NO WAY would I live in a hellhole like that!!!

[curtiscapk]

holiday decorations fuck that

[GregF]

We had 14 busy bodies who tried to get a mandatory HOA with deed restrictions and all that crap established here. They had all the papers drawn up and were going to try to ram it down our throats in an annual meeting where. typically, 20 people show up. I walked around and talked to every one of the residents here and the deed restriction deal went down on a vote of 66 to 14 in the biggest annual meeting in the history of the community. They also voted out all of the officers who were behind this.

The strange thing was they would have needed a unanimous vote to actually pass it but these people were so deluded, they thought most people would approve and that they could convince the rest to go along.
One of them was holding out hope that the Florida legislature would pass a bill only requiring 50%+1 (introduced by the lawyer who drew up the papers at our expense but I showed them they didn't even have that, by a long shot.

Needless to say, there are still 14 people here who hate my guts.

[OldePharte]

Second that on the "No HOA's" they have good points but also alot of bad. In our neighborhood when we first moved here in the covenants it stated that no tree over three inches in diameter couldn't be cut down without approval, then they changed it to no live trees, well this is not a native as the previous owner planted it when he had the house built, I am already get the look as if I should have left half the tree up, but being in the trade one of the worst trees you can plant close to a house is a Braddford Pear unless it is the Cleveland Select and even that is not much better. I guess the tree got me in a way as I had told it that as soon as the leaves were off it was coming down

Where we used to live, they planted Bradford Pears by the gross. And yes, every arborist told the developers, don't do it. Well, they went ahead and sure enough, every early snow fall (October) they darn things fell apart. And as an aside, we always used an arborist to trim/thin our trees.

Ray, jr - ya say that until a neighbor sells out and the new landowner wants to put in a large hog operation.

[Ray Jr.]

Second that on the "No HOA's" they have good points but also alot of bad. In our neighborhood when we first moved here in the covenants it stated that no tree over three inches in diameter couldn't be cut down without approval, then they changed it to no live trees, well this is not a native as the previous owner planted it when he had the house built, I am already get the look as if I should have left half the tree up, but being in the trade one of the worst trees you can plant close to a house is a Braddford Pear unless it is the Cleveland Select and even that is not much better. I guess the tree got me in a way as I had told it that as soon as the leaves were off it was coming down

Where we used to live, they planted Bradford Pears by the gross. And yes, every arborist told the developers, don't do it. Well, they went ahead and sure enough, every early snow fall (October) they darn things fell apart. And as an aside, we always used an arborist to trim/thin our trees.

Ray, jr - ya say that until a neighbor sells out and the new landowner wants to put in a large hog operation.

Actually the guy across the road has pigs and sheep, its his right to do as he wants with his land. and the machine shop I work in has a farm next door that uses the liquified waste for fertilizer so it stinks plenty, but again its their land thay can do as the want, I don't have a problem with it.

[tracker2]

If I were you I would check with your insurance 1st if u have full coverage I know my policy covers this type of stuff.

Pretty sure that it does but the cover is around 775.00 and I am pretty sure we have 1000.00 deductible

FYI Just purchased a universal from Sportsmans Guide on line. Only carry it in 96" width but the price was right. $165 to the front door. Came from Dallas Manf. in Tx.

[Nighthunter]

Speaking of cold weather, can anyone recommend a good brand of engine compartment heater so I don't have to winterize our new boat this winter? Lake Conroe is just North of Houston, Texas but it can get below freezing for a few nights each year and I just don't want to take the chance. Thanks for your advice i advance.... Oh yea, it's for a 23' Premier Elite with a volvo penta 4.3 gxi. Thanks again!

[Flanker]

Not the best solution but this will work in that environment or until you can get a block heater.

Hang a drop light in your engine compartment, down low near the block, be carefull not to let it touch any hoses or anything that will melt or burn. Use at least a 60 watt incandescant...do not use the new style bulbs, they don't put out enough heat. Check the hour rating on your bulb so that you know when it is time to change.

[GregF]

I suppose you should be thinking about a bilge explosion when you do this.
At least make sure it is well ventilated before you drop the light in there and unplug it before you approach the boat to pull it out.

These are rare but they do happen, that is why the USCG has so many regulations about flame arrestors and shielding on electrical equipment.

[Nighthunter]

After doing some research and making some phone calls, this has the highest recommendation:

http://www.theboatsafe.com/shop/