Frisco man says HOA won't let him park pickup on driveway

[WriteDown]

Source: Dallas Morning News

If there's one thing Texans are serious about, it's pickups.

But a Frisco man says his truck is being targeted simply because his homeowners association doesn't think it's classy enough.

Jim Greenwood said he never dreamed his HOA would have a problem with his new Ford F-150 pickup. Then he received the first of three notices threatening him with fines.

"Mr. Greenwood, you're violating a subdivision rule that prohibits pickup trucks in your driveway," the notice reads.....

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-friscopickups_17met.ART0.West.Edition1.4d8a269.html

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My hatred of HOA's grows.

[Cleita]

1. I would never live in a house that was under the jurisdiction of a HOA.

I have heard the most ridiculous crap that comes from them, like painting your mailbox the wrong shade of beige and other such nonsense. There still are properties out there that don't have these napoleonic institutions owning them.

[goddess40]

4. Too many people move into those areas to be hoity-toity

and they don't like it when it comes to them towing the line.

I also wouldn't be surprised to find that they are being lied to when they buy their homes, the agent down playing the strictness of the local HOA.

(In Wisconsin, thanks to stupid people that bought the ads put out by big business, we have a business friendly supreme court and they just ruled it's okay to lie to potential home owners about problems with a property)

[AngryAmish]

19. Toeing the line

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toe_the_line>

[timtom]

23. Thank you!!

I, too, am a language Nazi. I can't help it. It's like Apollonius of Tyana who was condemned to speak the truth.

[AngryAmish]

28. I feel like a dick, tho.

[timtom]

33. There's no escaping it.

We ARE dicks. This is my sorrow in life. And yours too. But we wear it so well, don't we?

[Warpy]

9. Around here, they mandate lawn grass instead of xeriscape

which is absolute insanity in a desert, especially a desert that has recently been through a once in 500 year drought.

I live in a part of town where people have cars on blocks (my next door neighbor, hubby was restoring it until he died) and van seats as porch furniture (a block away). There is also the exuberant Mexican color sense in evidence.

I prefer it to the dull sameness of the new gated areas that are governed by HOAs.

[WriteDown]

13. I live in the same type of neighborhood Warpy....

I am not as fond as transmissions and engine blocks being used as lawn decorations though. I think my #1 complaint is Christmas lights that are left up year round though.

[dysfunctional press]

24. SAME HERE!

we live in an older subdivision(1965) that's fairly rural- although the town is creeping up.
there are 70-some homes on lots of 1-3 acres, with private wells and septic systems. some fools have made mention of how they'd like to have a homeowner's association, but i doubt strongly it would ever happen.

[Liberal Veteran]

2. And you just know the people who get anal about stupid shit like parking your truck in the driveway

....tend to be the same republican assholes who get all bent out of shape when the evul gov'ment tells them they have to do something.

[monmouth]

3. Here in FL that's standard. Trucks are parked "out of sight"...Sooooo stupid...n/t

[1monster]

16. Not in my neighborhood. Next door, we have a tractor cab (big rig) parked out front

almost every weekend when the driver is home.

You know what? They are terrific neighbors. Their front yard is a paradise garden they work on every weekend I hate them for that! }( I planted a little garden just before they moved in. My sunflowers got about 12" high. There's got 12 feet high. And so it goes.

In revenge, I got a flock of pink flamingos (a classy wood sculted one, a tacky wire one that has pink lights and moves, pink flamingo patio lights, etc.).

They gave us a stuffed flamingo for Christmas.

The one time the voluntary Homeowner Association tried to, via a County Commission ordinance, set standared on how high plants in one's yard could (12" and under) be, the people in our subdivision protested so loudly and vehemently that the HOA and the county commission for the district showed up at the standing room only meeting regarding the ordinance and stated at the beginning of the meeting that the attempt was dead.

Here, our homes are our castles and we ain't going to allow any more restrictions than we already have. Even so, my other neighbor had to give up her pet rooster. :( I kind of liked that rooster crowing in the morning...and the rest of the day too. Other's in the neighborhood didn't.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. Living amidst control freaks

I've had that unfortunate experience. This is nothing compared to what they will eventually pull on this guy and anyone else who doesn't immediately conform.

Out-of-work Nazis, that's all they are, with far too much free time. They really need to be lined up and sent out to clean the edges of highways or wash the State Police cars or just happily sweep the streets in their development. Every day.

[Demeter]

17. I Know They Would Never Survive a Week In My Home Town of Detroit

You need manners and a strong sense of MYOB to live with people.

[KillCapitalism]

6. Oh, the horror...a pickup truck in the neighbor's driveway!

"Don't they know we have an image to uphold here! Smedley, chauffeur our neighbor to the nearest Mercedes dealer immediately!":sarcasm:

[rainbow4321]

18. My neighorhood HOA bitched about window A/C units at one house

Said it made the neighborhood look trashy, etc.

I think what got their panties in a collective wad was that some of the homes had been bought up and rented out to lower income families (some deal where the families were only paying a couple hundred a month to live there).
Well, the houses around here are 2000+ sq ft and the electric bills can be $300+/month. Plus the initial builders put in crappy systems to begin with and most of the houses are now 15+ years old, so more often than not you will see a/c repair trucks in the neighborood.
So given all that I could see where a family on a limited income would decide to start using window units instead of the central a/c system.
But the local snobs didn't see it that way, they just started trashing the families and saying it made the neighborhood look bad. NOTHING else was wrong with the exterior of the homes, the families who lived there were quiet/nice, never caused any problems whatsoever...LEAVE THEM BE, for God's sake!!

[kentauros]

40. If all it takes is a Mercedes,

then here's just the thing to replace that pickup:





:P

[BlooInBloo]

7. Uh... he signed the agreement, right?

[Javaman]

36. Stop bringing logic into the argument!! don't you see this is a

bitch session????

:rofl:

[SheilaT]

8. Omigod!

He bought a home in a neighborhood with an HOA and now he has to abide by the rules. What a tragedy!

Walks away, shaking her head sadly.

All ya gotta do is READ the effing HOA before you close on the house. And if you simple don't want to abide by rules, then don't like in a place with and HOA. Of course, it's not always HOAs, sometimes it's the local municipalities. Make you do things like cut your grass, trim back the weeds, can't have a refrigerator or couch on the front porch. Yeah, it's some sort of a violation of your civil rights, I suppose, but the neighbors are trying to keep their places need and tidy, and maybe you should too.

Okay, I do know a pickup in the driveway isn't quite the same as the refrigerator or couch on the porch, but reading the HOA before buying is such an obvious thing to do. Alternatively, he can get on the HOA board and work to change the rule about pickups in the driveway.

[bad_robbie]

21. HOAs act like governments . . .

. . . except without representation. Often the board membership is not known to those outside the "inner circle". Dates and places of elections are not always revealed. Rules and policies change without the consent of the governed. In short, the kind of government that can only be replaced by rebellion.

[Sentath]

29. Once upon a time a realtor lied to me

and told us many times that there was no HOA and no Covenant.

And, we found that there was no recourse.

[SheilaT]

31. I would have thought that

you'd have had some kind of recourse against the realtor. Something about full disclosure comes to mind.

But I am sincerely sorry you were lied to, especially if the HOA and covenants were not the kid you'd have been agreeable to live with ahead of time. Being lied to like that truly sucks.

[Gormy Cuss]

34. HOA rules can also change after purchase

and if you don't like the new rules, you're expected to conform or sell.
Lovely NIMBY organizations, those HOAs.

[bbernardini]

10. My neighborhood is planned, and has an HOA of sorts, but I've never heard of something like this.

Madness.

[napi21]

11. WOW! We lived in a subdivision in San Antonio that had a HOA,

but they weren't CRAZY! Any vehicle in your driveway had to be licensed. You had to keep your lawn mowed. You had to get any proposed fence approved, mainly to make sure it more or less went with the designs of the neighborhood. We lived there 6 years, and never had any problems.

I never heard of having to HIDE a truck! Especially if it was a NEW ONE!

This guy should go buy a 1978 OLD CAR, get it licensed and park it in the driveway. Let's see if they like that better!

[WriteDown]

14. I've lived under super strict HOA's and more lax ones...

I think we are on the cusp of bringing one into my neighborhood in Dallas though as the area is starting to increase in value. My only opposition is the way these things spiral out of control such as in this article.

[DCKit]

12. In Texas? State of "My Other Pickup is a Duelie" bumper stickers?

You'd think they were being invaded by Yankees or something.

Who wouldn't want this in their driveway? (sorry about the image size):

http://images.truckinweb.com/wallpaper/high_resolution_images/0711tr_01+six_door_4x4+large.jpg

[mbperrin]

26. 'Course Frisco, The Colony, and the rest of the Metroplex

are hardly Texas anymore, are they? Little streets that you have to pull over to let someone pass, no alleys, zero lot lines, all the rest.

It's a big state out west still. 1/2 mile drive to our front door from the road, so it'd be tough to see what we have parked there. ;)

[Sodbuster]

15. I thought it was required to have a pickup in Texas....

although the proper place to park it is on the lawn

[BlueCollar]

32. You can get a waiver

but you have to buy an SUV...

[DURHAM D]

20. HOAs are representative democracies.

The solution is simple for the truck owner - get involved.

[bhikkhu]

22. 10 yrs ago in Atlanta I lived in a No-Pickup apartment complex

I thought it was kind of funny, as did most of the people I worked with. There was certainly an urban hoity-toityness involved, set against the masses of unwashed country-folk. A running joke in my office was that I was going to start raising chickens on the balcony in protest, as that was not specifically disallowed.

As it happened, that was the only time in my life that I drove a pickup (a little borrowed Nissan), and I had to park it three blocks away and hike to my apartment.

[dysfunctional press]

25. is it possible to force submission to a HOA if it wasn't in place when the home was purchased...?

as i've mentioned, we're in an older subdivision that doesn't have one- and we would NOT have bought if there had been one in place.
BUT- some people have talked of trying to start one...although they are few in number and it's doubtful it would get very far.

[ret5hd]

27. i believe it has to be a covenant in your title for you to be forced.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

30. I get to call and scream at them at least once a month.

I hate them all. And they will not leave us the hell alone until we sic our attorneys on them. They think they're all powerful. Then the partner at our attorney's offices get a hold of them and they shut up pretty fast.
Duckie

[Javaman]

35. don't even get me started on those evil control freak nazi fiefdom HOAs.

They are a blight on everything that is normal.

No clotheslines? No solar panels? No rain barrels? No gardens? fuck them!!!

There should be green HOA's that demand Panels, barrels, lines and gardens!!!

[Skittles]

39. anyone hear an update on this?

apparently they got slammed and the last I heard on my car radio, this HOA was going to "revisit" this issue

[powergirl]

37. And the neighborhood ain't that fancy

I live in Plano. It's another burb, like the rest of them. It's a fancy pickup - I cannot imagine why they have the time to care!

[Horse with no Name]

38. Ahhh and give up the country life?

we live in one of the most "elite" neighborhoods in our rural area...the neighbor to my left has an 18-wheeler...the neighbor across the street is currently residing in the state penitentiary....but has someone who tends to his horses and mow his lawn.
All of neighbors to my right are obsessively compulsed to mow their lawn every.single.day. Not an exageration.
My neighbor behind me owns a construction company and has, well, construction stuff all over the place.
No matter what, they are all friendly, good people. Some have more money than others, but overall, nobody complains about what the others do in their own little piece of heaven.
That's the way it should be.
Now...I guess I need to mow my lawn.:D

[dkhbrit]

41. Yup

I recently moved to the Metroplex (Allen to be precise)

I relocated with a bunch of other work colleagues from Connecticut. Believe it or not, these HOA's here are sometimes way more picky than in the North east. Where I live there is no HOA and the neighborhood looks just fine. So many people here own trucks it seems ridiculous to not expect to see one on a driveway. I wonder if some of these HOA things would actually hold up in a court of law.