Leander HOA Decides to Ticket...err Fine Speeders.

[HoustonHorn 1,062]

Royal Oaks does this. They even threatened the homeowner with collection if I didn't pay (I was a guest). I was doing 20 in a 15 and trying to find the street I was supposed to turn on. Had no idea I was going over the speed limit. $100. Rent a cop police force. My friend got a ticket for parking on the street. That's crazy shit and no way would I live somewhere like that. Yes, it is a little different since its a gated neighborhood, but still over the top.

Edited November 16, 2021 by HoustonHorn

[wildcat09 29,354]

1 hour ago, Goofyboy said:

I’m going off of what our HOA’s lawyer has told the board members. If you could help me prove them wrong, I would be much appreciative. I have it out for our board because they pick and choose what rules to enforce. If you bring up changing by-laws, their answer is it’s too hard and move on. I just want it consistent.

You want to convince an HOA board that they actually do have more power than they think they have?

[Judge Roybeanbag 11,819]

1 hour ago, Nivek said:

It's not the teenagers.  It is the typically 40-60 yr old women in SUVs that blast through my neighborhood while the kids are out playing.    If I could build a radar assisted spike strip, I would.   

City garbage/recycling trucks haul ass down our street when they aren't picking up.  Also Fedex and some other delivery trucks.  Let's see how fining the COA and Fedex works out.

[crash_davis 23,111]

You'll never meet anyone who publicly supports HOAs. But yet HOAs thrive. Something's amiss or there are a ton of closet HOA lovers.

Any semblance of "good" provided by HOA is far overshadowed by the dumbfuckery. They are evil entities run by assholes who are over zealous about being assholes.

[kevwun 15,785]

It's because it only take 3 or 4 assholes to make an HOA terrible.  Normal people don't want to deal with it, so only Karen's end up on their boards and they love nothing more than telling people what they can't do.  The kind of people who want positions like this are the least likely to do a good job.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,906]

Hire some homeless guy to take a picture of every board member's house every day.  Use a magnifying glass to go over the pictures and identify every violation.  Go to HOA meeting.  Spend the entire meeting going over every board member's violations.  Threaten to file suit for not enforcing the HOA rules uniformly.

 

Most of this shit is driven by the professional HOA management companies.  They do this shit to make money of the fines and fees.  My HOA hired one of these dipshit firms and we had a people's revolt.  Dipshit firm has been fired.  Almost had to sue the dipshit firm to get any records.  Neighborhood Karens are bad.  Dipshit for profit HOA management firms are evil incarnate. 

Edited November 16, 2021 by NeverMarryAStripper

[Pato del Muerto 52,494]

2 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

So, so glad that my tiny isolated cul-de-sac of 16 homes with no future expansion and no way to tie our single street into our surrounding HOA dominated subdivisions is HOA free.

 

 

 

 

All it takes is enough Karens or old cloud yellers to not like what someone has done on their property, and they’ll get together and form one so they can control “their” neighborhood. 

[Francisco 2.0 32,389]

36 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

All it takes is enough Karens or old cloud yellers to not like what someone has done on their property, and they’ll get together and form one so they can control “their” neighborhood. 

Nah.  We are the youngest home owners out of our 16 houses (I'm 54 and wife is 40).  Everyone has at least 3/4 acre yard, so any decorations or whatever is not that close to your neighbors house.  We are all pretty grateful when they began developing to the north and east; there are two locations they could have tied those developments into our single street and chose not to by squeezing a few extra homes in.  

Now, the HOA to the west of us?  Yeah, it's been pretty contentious the past couple of years.  We take our kids there on Halloween, and the uniformity of their Halloween decorations stood out to me this year.  I imagine the new sub going in east of us ("starter" homes from the mid $400's) will have some kind of assholish HOA from the very beginning.  Something about 3000+ sq foot homes on lots that are just over 9000 sq foot in size just breeds these stupid HOA's.

[High Plains Drifter 11,049]

1 hour ago, crash_davis said:

You'll never meet anyone who publicly supports HOAs. But yet HOAs thrive. Something's amiss or there are a ton of closet HOA lovers.

Any semblance of "good" provided by HOA is far overshadowed by the dumbfuckery. They are evil entities run by assholes who are over zealous about being assholes.

 

I wish my POA more strongly enforced the covenants that we all agreed to when we bought our properties. Things like outside lighting at night, barking dogs at night or loose dogs, and yes, the speed limit.

I guess, in my case, I am a POA lover. And I"m not closeted about it. Because I would not have bought my crappy little 20 acres if there weren't covenants that prohibited my neighbors from having hog farms on their crappy 20 acres, or using their crappy 20 acres for a junkyard, or building an outdoor firing range, or installing spot lights (which some do anyway).

 

 

[drt 638]

5 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

Goodwin Management is the manager, and yes they are plotting this money grab in other Austin neighborhoods. Coming to your neighborhood soon.

 

As someone who lives in a different Goodwin managed HOA in Austin, this would make people flip shit here.  Apparently we've only recently hired them, and most of the older folks in the neighborhood are pretty pissed with the ticky-tacky shit and lack of communication already.

[StruggleBus 3,922]

Which is worse: HOA Karens or people that speed through neighborhoods?

I'll go with neighborhood speeders, barely

[Orange&White 5,527]

1 hour ago, Pato del Muerto said:

All it takes is enough Karens or old cloud yellers to not like what someone has done on their property, and they’ll get together and form one so they can control “their” neighborhood. 

In Circle C they'll just have APD come murder you for your grass being long.

[Pescado_Rojo 19,416]

2 hours ago, crash_davis said:

You'll never meet anyone who publicly supports HOAs. But yet HOAs thrive. Something's amiss or there are a ton of closet HOA lovers.

Any semblance of "good" provided by HOA is far overshadowed by the dumbfuckery. They are evil entities run by assholes who are over zealous about being assholes.

Most of them are "founded" by the builders when they start developing. The builders hold the majority of the seats via proxy as a way to protect their investment until the neighborhood is built out. They usually open up a few seats on the board as they build out, then open up the controlling interest as they're closing out the new builds. As others have said no one joins an HOA board to vote to get rid of the HOA, so that's how they thrive. 

[Goofyboy 3,292]

Our board just voted to increase our dues $25. Their reasoning: we don’t know what could happen and this seems like a good time to raise the rate.

[gyroprotagonist 2,592]

25 minutes ago, Goofyboy said:

Our board just voted to increase our dues $25. Their reasoning: we don’t know what could happen and this seems like a good time to raise the rate.

Old Glory robot insurance?  verrrrry prudent.

 

[TKthunder2 4,991]

My in-laws won’t live anywhere without an HOA, my wife liked the idea of the HOA until we had to put up with their bullshit (also Goodwin).  When we moved to a house without an HOA she bitched about some trailers, RVs, boats out in people’s driveways and wild/unkempt yards and I kept having to remind her how bad the HOA was.  I took some time but she finally has come around and enjoys not having to rush to mow the grass or being able to put out the trash a day early if we were leaving town/not pull it back immediately if we were gone for the weekend.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11,819]

4 hours ago, crash_davis said:

You'll never meet anyone who publicly supports HOAs. But yet HOAs thrive. Something's amiss or there are a ton of closet HOA lovers.

Any semblance of "good" provided by HOA is far overshadowed by the dumbfuckery. They are evil entities run by assholes who are over zealous about being assholes.

Not sure if you're married, but HOAs are like your wife. Anything that isn't their idea, or interferes with their idea of normalcy, causes an uproar.  When it is their idea, there should be a variance, goddamnit!  Neighbors park 3 cars on the street?  Violation!   I want an 8 foot fence in my backyard?  Variance!!    

That's pretty much how it works.

[atomheartbevo 89,659]

7 hours ago, HoustonHorn said:

Royal Oaks does this. They even threatened the homeowner with collection if I didn't pay (I was a guest). I was doing 20 in a 15 and trying to find the street I was supposed to turn on. Had no idea I was going over the speed limit. $100. Rent a cop police force. My friend got a ticket for parking on the street. That's crazy shit and no way would I live somewhere like that. Yes, it is a little different since its a gated neighborhood, but still over the top.

Yeah, having experienced it for several years, and my wife having grown up in an HOA-controlled subdivision, I couldn't do it.

But we were both in Fort Bend County, and years ago I got to see this kind of fuckery up close and personal with First Colony.

And I also got to see the vaunted "WE'LL PRESERVE YOUR PROPERTY VALUES" bullshit go right into the gutter, as people discovered that the economy, traffic, and area employers are what keeps home values up, not some fucking Karen with her ruler measuring your lawn or comparing color swatches with your house.  I watched friends' parents' houses on the golf course in Missouri City go into the shitter price-wise as the area's economy shifted, traffic got so much worse, and younger people moved out towards Katy/Richmond/Rosenberg.  From what we've seen when visiting friends in the MC/QV area recently, things are recovering a bit, but not long ago said friends were able to buy what should have been a million-dollar home a few decades ago on the golf course for just over $300,000.  I think the city had to take over the golf course as well - I guess all the folks who built in the 70s either retired or died off, and weren't being replaced by people making the same income levels or something.

Now I laugh every time I drive near my old neighborhood on Highway 6 and see the Dollar Tree and other low-income stores.  And I especially get a chuckle out of the fact that the house my parents bought in the areas, along with all of the other houses in their subdivision have not appreciated all that much over the years, at least not what was promised when they were being built.  Who knew that having shitty traffic in the '80s and early '90s would only lead to shittier traffic 30 years later.

But I digress, and I just have a hatred for the shit I saw with our HOA and how neighbors were using it against each other.

[atomheartbevo 89,659]

6 hours ago, crash_davis said:

You'll never meet anyone who publicly supports HOAs. But yet HOAs thrive. Something's amiss or there are a ton of closet HOA lovers.

Any semblance of "good" provided by HOA is far overshadowed by the dumbfuckery. They are evil entities run by assholes who are over zealous about being assholes.

A lot of people who deal with these kinds of HOAs are probably tired when they get home during the week, and have better things to do with their time on the weekends, and they don't directly interact with the HOA until it starts hurting them financially.  

If the HOAs are competent, even if they are assholes, they will try to minimize the HOA membership anger to the point where they don't get fired, while still maximizing their profits. For instance, if they tried to squeeze some extra money out of the residents, and the management company found out that the line most residents would not tolerate being crossed was $100 extra a month, they would work on getting $99.50 extra a month.

The problem, and a lot of HOA members do not realize this, is that the management companies don't give a fuck about property values and the feelings of the residents - they only care about profits and see the HOAs as an ATM.  My brother-in-law is on the financial oversight committee for his HOA, and sees this shit constantly, to the point where they've went through a few management companies in the past four years.

[Dbeasy 15,049]

According to Fox 7 news, the HOA found a loophole in the state law regarding traffic cameras.  The HOA announced initially that would cover both public and private roads, but retrenched to private, because of uncertainty over whether they would be in violation of State law HB 1631 which prohibits cameras. These dipshits didn't even check laws before announcing this a few months ago.  

[atomheartbevo 89,659]

The property management racket is awesome though.  One of the companies my brother-in-law's HOA voted to dump consisted of three people - a lawyer, her husband, and her accountant brother.  From what my brother-in-law was able to ascertain, they simply acted as a clearing house for a one-man handyman company, a "lawn company" ( which was her and her husband's high-school sons), a cheap-ass pool management company, and a private security company that didn't seem to have any other clients, was a couple of 20-somethings with little training, and whose sole purpose seemed to be driving through the subdivision coming up with violations (lawn, house, parking, etc.) that the property management company could nail them on. The digging he did seemed to have these people all tied together in some way.  The company's website made it seem like all of this shit was in-house and that they had a large staff available 24/7, and that everything was professionally inspected, etc. and not high school kids driving around looking for a list of violations.  

The owner and her husband looked to be raking in the money for very little work.

[RDCanecutter 26,431]

HOAs are to property values, what a clip-on tie is to a defendant's respectability in a child support case.

[Doc Reeves 6,434]

11 hours ago, Bevo said:

He is an attorney and what he is stating is a matter of contract law. It isn't specific to HOAs but is a broad tenet of contract law. I'm not an attorney but I have slept with a few law students back in the day. One was at a wedding in South Texas but I can't remember if it was at a Holiday Inn. Hopefully, my expertise helps.

The best thing about fucking lawyers is that they are always on cocaine 

[atomheartbevo 89,659]

2 minutes ago, Doc Reeves said:

The best thing about fucking lawyers is that they are always on cocaine 

How many lawyers did you fuck to find out that little fact?

[Deej 76,773]

Sounds like some people need a lawyer of neighborhood.

[Pato del Muerto 52,494]

3 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Yeah, having experienced it for several years, and my wife having grown up in an HOA-controlled subdivision, I couldn't do it.

But we were both in Fort Bend County, and years ago I got to see this kind of fuckery up close and personal with First Colony.

And I also got to see the vaunted "WE'LL PRESERVE YOUR PROPERTY VALUES" bullshit go right into the gutter, as people discovered that the economy, traffic, and area employers are what keeps home values up, not some fucking Karen with her ruler measuring your lawn or comparing color swatches with your house.  I watched friends' parents' houses on the golf course in Missouri City go into the shitter price-wise as the area's economy shifted, traffic got so much worse, and younger people moved out towards Katy/Richmond/Rosenberg.  From what we've seen when visiting friends in the MC/QV area recently, things are recovering a bit, but not long ago said friends were able to buy what should have been a million-dollar home a few decades ago on the golf course for just over $300,000.  I think the city had to take over the golf course as well - I guess all the folks who built in the 70s either retired or died off, and weren't being replaced by people making the same income levels or something.

Now I laugh every time I drive near my old neighborhood on Highway 6 and see the Dollar Tree and other low-income stores.  And I especially get a chuckle out of the fact that the house my parents bought in the areas, along with all of the other houses in their subdivision have not appreciated all that much over the years, at least not what was promised when they were being built.  Who knew that having shitty traffic in the '80s and early '90s would only lead to shittier traffic 30 years later.

But I digress, and I just have a hatred for the shit I saw with our HOA and how neighbors were using it against each other.

Former sienna plantation resident here. 
not sure how common this is now but the SP bylaws state that if you sell your house there and aren’t buying another inside the neighborhood, there’s a 1% fee to be paid to the HOA at closing. 
 

First home we rented in Wyoming was a tiny neighborhood of 1 dead end street and like 10 duplexes on it.  Lady who turned out to be a lawyer and the HOA president walked down and told the contractor that I hired to install the satellite dish that he has to stop, before she ever met or talked to me.  A pretty quick google search later says that there’s a federal law saying you can place your dish wherever you get good reception. But I knew I’d have to take that bitch to court after court and cost myself time and money and it wasn’t worth it. I think that’s their greatest weapon- the complete inconvenience of fighting them. 

[conVINCEd 21,469]

3 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Former sienna plantation resident here. 
not sure how common this is now but the SP bylaws state that if you sell your house there and aren’t buying another inside the neighborhood, there’s a 1% fee to be paid to the HOA at closing. 
 

First home we rented in Wyoming was a tiny neighborhood of 1 dead end street and like 10 duplexes on it.  Lady who turned out to be a lawyer and the HOA president walked down and told the contractor that I hired to install the satellite dish that he has to stop, before she ever met or talked to me.  A pretty quick google search later says that there’s a federal law saying you can place your dish wherever you get good reception. But I knew I’d have to take that bitch to court after court and cost myself time and money and it wasn’t worth it. I think that’s their greatest weapon- the complete inconvenience of fighting them. 

I’m house hunting in Charleston right now and it’s .5% of the sales price in some neighborhoods there.

[Doc Reeves 6,434]

20 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

How many lawyers did you fuck to find out that little fact?

To lean it? One. To confirm my findings? Enough to never want to fuck another lawyer. 

[atomheartbevo 89,659]

39 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Former sienna plantation resident here. 
not sure how common this is now but the SP bylaws state that if you sell your house there and aren’t buying another inside the neighborhood, there’s a 1% fee to be paid to the HOA at closing. 

That's a nice racket.

[Deej 76,773]

6 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

That's a nice racket.

I sold them the satellite dish and gave them the house.

[SquishMitten 10,405]

Maybe somebody already said this, but IMO it’s a stupid rule for one reason (assuming this neighborhood is like every other one I’ve lived in): most people speeding in neighborhoods aren’t the ones that live there. None of my neighbors drive too fast on our street, it’s just all the delivery people, pool cleaners, construction folks, etc. The rule doesn’t do much to solve the actual problem. But as far as bylaws go, with regard to private roads, you could probably justify it based on one of the vague clauses about prohibition of anything that’s dangerous. But I’m also in the school of thinking that street-parking restrictions could be enforceable on public roads if bylaws were written better.

[SquishMitten 10,405]

It’s on public land. The HOA has no jurisdiction on land that is not in the HOA. My neighborhood is a mix - HOA homes, HOA land, county roads and MUD areas. MUD land has its own rules that HOA rules do not apply. It’s the same reason an HOA can’t put in speed bumps on our streets - they are county streets.

The private roads are a totally different issue. I’m only speaking to the public roads.

Enforcing contractual rights is not even remotely the same as putting in speed bumps on a public road

[swraith 346]

1 hour ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Former sienna plantation resident here. 
not sure how common this is now but the SP bylaws state that if you sell your house there and aren’t buying another inside the neighborhood, there’s a 1% fee to be paid to the HOA at closing. 
 

First home we rented in Wyoming was a tiny neighborhood of 1 dead end street and like 10 duplexes on it.  Lady who turned out to be a lawyer and the HOA president walked down and told the contractor that I hired to install the satellite dish that he has to stop, before she ever met or talked to me.  A pretty quick google search later says that there’s a federal law saying you can place your dish wherever you get good reception. But I knew I’d have to take that bitch to court after court and cost myself time and money and it wasn’t worth it. I think that’s their greatest weapon- the complete inconvenience of fighting them. 

Paying a fee to HOA for the privelege of selling your house….is just absurd. So happy to live in a neighborhood with no HOA. 

[Huckleberry 32,859]

23 hours ago, Goofyboy said:

I’m going off of what our HOA’s lawyer has told the board members. If you could help me prove them wrong, I would be much appreciative. I have it out for our board because they pick and choose what rules to enforce. If you bring up changing by-laws, their answer is it’s too hard and move on. I just want it consistent.

Well first step would be to ask them to cite the court case where this was decided in Texas. Second step is to ask them about my example of whether a contract between two parties specifying an action not to be taken is valid even if the action is otherwise legal. Of course it is.

Also, while this falls in the highly do not recommend and is also expensive and a very asshole move, did you know it's legal in Texas for you to sue another HOA member for violating the deeds even if the HOA doesn't do anything about it? But this generally falls under the "don't be a dick" clause.

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.202.htm#202.004

Quote

(b)  A property owners' association or other representative designated by an owner of real property may initiate, defend, or intervene in litigation or an administrative proceeding affecting the enforcement of a restrictive covenant or the protection, preservation, or operation of the property covered by the dedicatory instrument.

Some of the above is correct by others on why HOAs suck and the management companies' role in that. However, the biggest problems in ours are from the homeowners. The last meeting was a bitchfest about people violating the covenants and why aren't they being enforced faster. Almost every meeting we explain to homeowners that we can't forcibly take money out of people's bank accounts, that they are fined and the fines stay on their account and the only way the HOA ever actually gets the money from the bad homeowners is if/when they sell their house. The reason I'm on the board is to stop the busybodies from trying to run everyone else's life.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10,234]

"Homeowners in the HOA caught speeding will be warned once and then fined up to $334 for going over the posted speed limits — even if someone else is behind the wheel of their car."

 

Boys... time to find out what car is the HOA Presidents.... we're going on a joyride.

[atomheartbevo 89,659]

3 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

"Homeowners in the HOA caught speeding will be warned once and then fined up to $334 for going over the posted speed limits — even if someone else is behind the wheel of their car."

Boys... time to find out what car is the HOA Presidents.... we're going on a joyride.

[RDCanecutter 26,431]

13 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

That's a nice racket.

Good incentive to drive people crazy so they want to move.

[crash_davis 23,111]

2 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

Good incentive to drive people crazy so they want to move.

HOA: Don't care, got and getting paid either way. Suckers are born everyday.

[Hanrahan 1,306]

I love my HOA.  I've lived in my house for about nine years and have never heard a peep from them.  I don't know what the neighborhood rules are, who is on the HOA board, when they meet or what exactly they do other than manage the trash pickup contract.  That's quality governance right there.

[Updawg 2,266]

Just got an email that the circle c hoa board is recruiting new members for any of you assholes that want to apply.

[HRSchenker 2,268]

On 11/15/2021 at 7:54 PM, utee94 said:

License plates are public record, and they cross-reference against HOA membership.

 

That's one of the reasons why my car is registered to an LLC lol. Fuck HOAs

[CooterBrown 18,010]

Just got an email that the circle c hoa board is recruiting new members for any of you assholes that want to apply.

You should join and then press forward with dissolving the HOA.

[atomheartbevo 89,659]

They are backing off for now.  Well, the fines part at least, they are going to still put the video/radar system into use for 90 days, but no fines.  I'm guessing they will cancel it.  Pissed off a lot of members, and didn't make the HOA look too good for potential buyers looking at the area.

https://www.kxan.com/investigations/leander-hoa-puts-brakes-on-controversial-speeding-ticket-plan-for-now/

Quote

The Crystal Falls Homeowners Association in Leander has put the brakes on a controversial plan to stop speeders, for now.

“I know we had good intentions, but we don’t want to cause problems for our community,” said HOA board member Eddie Green. “We don’t want this to be the number one thing we’re known for.”

Quote

Thursday’s board meeting, which was only able to be accessed by dialing into a phone line, saw the resignation of one HOA board member, who complained about receiving personal attacks on social media. In a vote of 3-2, the board decided to use its portable video camera and radar system, called a “Traffic Hawk,” to monitor speed on private roads only for 90 days. During that time, no fines will be issued.

Quote

During the 90-day trial period, the board will look at what percent of speeders are HOA residents, how many are “repeat offenders” and what percent of cars are going faster than 10 mph over the speed limit. After that, the board will decide whether more data is needed, whether fines should be implemented or whether the speed monitoring device should be scrapped altogether. 

Quote

Green said he could not find any other HOAs doing something similar to this in the state. He added it was not worth the “negative publicity,” citing KXAN’s reporting. The board, Green said, should consider “other ways to do traffic calming that are less controversial than this.” 

Green, who was the most outspoken against the plan, said this issue has generated the most amount of feedback and the community “does not like this.” In response, Heyer said the blowback is coming from an “extreme minority” of the more than 3,000 homeowners — the majority of whom, not speaking out, are either “fine” with it, “support” it, or are “indifferent” to the plan to fine speeders, she said. 

Quote

No survey has been taken to get resident opinion of the speed trap, and several homeowners complained to KXAN they didn’t find out until last month, when the board notified residents the Traffic Hawk would be installed this week.

Heyer, who did not respond to text messages and emails Thursday, told the board the decision to use the Traffic Hawk was “well thought out and researched” and warned by not using it, the board could be held liable in the future if anyone is hurt in a speeding accident, since members are aware there is a problem with speeding.

Quote

“It is all about safety,” a member said. 

[South Austin 52,496]

6 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

They are backing off for now.  Well, the fines part at least, they are going to still put the video/radar system into use for 90 days, but no fines.  I'm guessing they will cancel it.  Pissed off a lot of members, and didn't make the HOA look too good for potential buyers looking at the area.

https://www.kxan.com/investigations/leander-hoa-puts-brakes-on-controversial-speeding-ticket-plan-for-now/

I’ve had a couple matters involving the HOA’s attorney Connie Heyer. She’s built her career on being a supposed expert on HOA law, but I thought her competency in that area of Texas law, as well as others, hardly rose to the level of expertise. She seems to always take a stubborn “HOA’s can do no wrong” approach to cases. She is easy on the eyes, although it’s been several years since I’ve seen her.