Chance Gates' Blog

Published: September 21, 2010

http://members.houselogic.com/landing/hoa-fees-122011/?nicmp=rcrim&nichn=editorial&niseg=narwr&cid=WR12212011:37679&ed_rid=1698691

Get up to speed with the most outrageous laws and homeowners association rules.

Even celebrities such as Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson can be at odds with an HOA. Here are seven crazy examples of laws and HOA rules:

1. Can’t park your car in your own driveway.

In Odessa, Fla., a resident was fined by his board for parking his pickup truck in his own driveway because it wouldn’t fit in his garage. Not our problem, the HOA basically told him before slapping him with a lawsuit. After a protracted legal battle, he has since won the right to park his car, but only after two years and $200,000 in legal fees.

2. Don’t plant too many roses.

While foreclosure is an increasingly real threat to homeowners, few expect to lose their house based on gardening infractions. But that’s exactly what happened to a Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., resident who planted too many roses on his property. After $70,000 in fees, he lost his legal battle against the HOA and ultimately lost his home to the flower debacle.

3. Indoor drying only.

As seen in a Colbert Report expose, a Bend, Oregon, resident was shocked by her HOA’s rejection of her outdoor clothesline. Her natural drying method was dubbed a hazard, and they began levying fines that totaled nearly $1,000. She eventually took down the offending line, even after the Right 2 Dry movement got behind her.

4. No mothers-in-laws allowed.

If you’re a married man in Iowa, the government grants you a special privilege: you’re allowed to bar your mother-in-law from your home. While certainly useful to men trying to ditch their spouse’s mom, this law does not extend to women.

5. Only use sanctioned paint.

What appears to be an inoffensive pale blue house has caused a stir recently in one Georgia neighborhood. Unaware of his HOA’s rules, a homeowner painted his house before having the color officially approved by his board. And with a $25 per day fee levied every day his house bares the offending hue, he’s already racked up $6,800 in fines on top of legal fees.

6. No service dog for the hearing impaired.

A Fort Collins, Colo., HOA fined a hearing-impaired resident for keeping Pookee, her Pomeranian service dog. The HOA even threatened to put a lien on the property. All this despite the fact that Fair Housing Act requires condo and home owner associations to make reasonable accommodations in their procedures and rules to allow a person with disability to reside in a unit. This includes allowing service animals.

Have an issue related to service animal? Contact your local HUD office or local or state human rights agency.

7. Don’t use ‘inconsistent’ shingles.

As if it wasn’t tragedy enough when a plane fell out of the sky destroying a Sanford, Fla., man’s home, his HOA then challenged his rebuilding efforts. It threatened litigation because the shingles and elevation in his new house’s plans didn’t match his neighbors’.

Bending the rules

If you fight the law, you may lose. But there are ways to work with the restrictions of a HOA and still get your way. The first line of defense is to make sure you understand the HOA or condo association rules before you purchase the property.

If, after you move in, you’d like your home’s appearance to differ from that of your neighbors, you’ll need to submit a “variance” form of request. This request can be accepted or rejected at the board’s will, so it’s good to alert them early in your planning process. One tip to gain HOA support? Understand the challenges and perspective of HOAs, follow the rules to a tee, and offer to help them gain community support for their initiatives. Maybe even run for office. If you can’t beat ‘em, you might as well join ‘em.

What’s the strangest local government or HOA rule you’ve ever heard of?

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As a Reno/Sparks Nevada real estate professional and property manager, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.com http://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  To checkout some of  my property manager services goto http://chancegates.com/property-management-services/

If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable

If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

http://rismedia.com/lowes/8355/12119

RISMEDIA, January 13, 2011—Every New Year, millions of Americans resolve to improve their lives. Unfortunately, many of these New Year’s resolutions will fall by the wayside and by mid-month, they will have been forgotten. For those vowing to get their finances in order, Eleanor Blayney, CFP, consumer advocate for Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc., has a solution for making sure financial to-do lists get done in 2011: start over and keep it simple.

“The key to keeping financial New Year’s resolutions is to apply the principle of ‘little and often,’” said Blayney. “Grandiose goals need to be whittled down into goals with specific, actionable steps, and there must be a commitment to updating these new goals frequently.”

According to Blayney, the usual financial resolutions can be given new life as smaller and more attainable “Re-Solutions” for 2011. For example:

• Live within your means: Turn this goal into a reachable action by committing to avoid all overdraft and late fees in 2011. Keeping monthly tabs on current account balances and credit card payment dates is an easy, simple way to avoid these fees.

• Get out of debt: Breaking this goal into baby steps can change this resolution into a big financial stride forward. Start by paying off more than required on credit cards, auto loans and mortgage – even if it is only a few dollars. Use auto-pay systems to make regular extra payments, and increase the amount of the payments at regular intervals. Once the auto-transfers are set up, the goal will begin to take care of itself.

• Save more: Here is another resolution that is best accomplished a bit at a time. For working Americans, there is no excuse for not having money to save this year, thanks to a recent tax change. Starting with the first paychecks in 2011, the amount of employee contribution to Social Security will go down by 2%, giving most individuals a slight increase in their take-home pay (at $50,000 annual gross wages, paid every two weeks, it will amount to about $38 per paycheck). Have this money automatically put into a money market account. After a year, the account will have accumulated around $1,000, which can be invested or used as an emergency fund.

• Prepare a will: This is a perennial “must-do” for many New Year’s resolvers, but one that is rarely kept. There seem to be so many “what ifs” that people often feel overwhelmed. By applying the “little and often” rule, this important task can be broken down and completed. First, understand that estate planning is a not a one-time event, but a lifelong process. Wills, trusts and beneficiary designations will need to be reviewed and adjusted to changing life circumstances every few years. Second, when creating an estate plan, forget about the “what ifs,” and keep the focus narrow. The only question that needs to be answered is: “If I died today, how should my affairs be handled?”

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.com or  http://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable to request a modification.  If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney. For a free copy of my blog titled  “5 Steps For Reno/Sparks Homeowners To Prevent Foreclosures” go to my about page

I decided that it would be kind of fun remembering some of my fatherhood experience.  One of my many lessons I learned about with my first child goes like this.

As a new farther I found one of the easiest ways of giving my son a bath was to take him into the shower with me.  When I was done I would call to my wife who would come and dry him off, and get him ready for his day.

One morning the baby needed his diaper to be changed.  I figured I needed to shower anyway, I’ll just take him into the shower with me.  The first alarm was the wife telling me “I’m crazy just change the diaper then go shower”.  I was a young man and didn’t believe the wife knew what she was talking about.  The shower is started and set to the proper temperature, as I am taking the diaper off I noticed how the soiled diaper was really pasty.  This set off the second alarm that maybe this was not a good idea, but I’m still confident that this will work.  The third alarm goes off when, right before I climb into the shower, a clump of poop falls on my foot.  I figured I’ll wash my foot, when I’m in the shower no problem.  Notice how I didn’t listen to the third alarm either. Now the fourth alarm really should have stopped me, but I was a young man and could not bring myself to admit that the wife was right.  I was climbing into the shower, I placed my dirty foot into the water to triple check and make sure the water was not to hot.  After all I don’t want the baby to get burned.  When I did this I noticed the poop wasn’t coming off my foot.   I’m not confident now; I’m just hoping that by placing the baby’s bottom closer to the shower that the water pressure will be enough.    I placed the baby up with his behind getting a steady stream of water. OH NO!  It’s not coming off.

Meaningless to say after taking a shower, I got to clean the bathtub. Guys I hate to say it but every once in a while the wife is going to be right.  My new wife tries to tell me that she is right about 80% of the time.  I’m not a young man anymore and I have learned that about 95% of the time I need to apologize.  That is probably the biggest difference between the two marriages; one last less than two years and the other is still going strong after 12.

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional I encourage all questions and commnets about the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted here.  I can be reached by email at chance@ballard-company.com or http://www.myspace.com/chancegates

What a game, the kids are doing wonderful things.  Saturday’s game a couple of the defensive players(players who asked to play defense) impressed me on offense, one of the goalies was throwing the ball out of the goal with incredible accuracy.  Unfortantly due to a couple of 4th qaurter goals we lost 3-1. All seven players had to play the whole game and a few of them got tired in the fourth quarter. Two more players did get a shot on goal, that is 6 of the 8 this season. Three different players have scored.

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional I encourage all questions and comment on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any article posted.  I can be reached by email at chance@ballard-company.com or http://www.myspace.com/chancegates

Starting 8-1-09 is the kick off of AYSO710 soccer. After all the headaches last year, I was not going to coach again this year. Talked it over with the wife and she agreed, I don’t really have the time this year. That was my belief until registration day. As I was filling out the paperwork my youngest son changed his question (that he had been asking all week) from “are you” to will you please by my coach again. I looked at the wife and she just smiled and shook her head, she knew right there, I’m going to do it again.

Last year the bigger field made it tough to get everyone a shot at the goal. After a record with 1 win 2 losses and to many ties to count. The strategy this year will be more of attack instead of defend. Win or lose I want every player on my team to get at least one shot on goal. Let the ball go where it will, it is fun to watch every parents’ reaction when their son gets to try and score.

As a Reno/Sparks real estate professional I encourage all questions and comment on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any article posted.  I can be reached by email at chance@ballard-company.com or http://www.myspace.com/chancegates