imawino
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Post by imawino on May 9, 2012 15:02:45 GMT -5
you certainly get a say...you just don't have carte blanche.....which works for me - I don't want to live next to a lavendar house with lime green trim. Why not? I really don't care what color the neighbor's house is. I wouldn't want to have one of those militant micro-managing HOA's, but I'm not terribly opposed to ones that enforce basic common sense sorts of rules that would prevent my neighbors form doing shit that would lower my property value.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2012 15:03:15 GMT -5
so no couches on the front lawn?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2012 15:05:14 GMT -5
so no couches on the front lawn? no replacing the front lawn with concrete.....no putting 10 sheds in the back yard....no cars up on blocks.....
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imawino
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Post by imawino on May 9, 2012 15:07:30 GMT -5
so no couches on the front lawn? Or any of them fancy toilet planters!
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Waffle
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Post by Waffle on May 9, 2012 15:09:08 GMT -5
MJ - if I can handle a $1500 monthly payment on one salary, you can handle $2200 on two salaries. Don't anybody tell me that sentence was devoid of logic - I'm trying to be comforting, not logical.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on May 9, 2012 15:09:57 GMT -5
so no couches on the front lawn? Or any of them fancy toilet planters! But they're soo purty!!!
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ken a.k.a OMK
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They killed Kenny, the bastards.
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Post by ken a.k.a OMK on May 9, 2012 15:22:32 GMT -5
"Tina - i don't know how NJ is, but in PA, they don't re-assess yearly or anything, so your "snooty" development was probably built more recently, therefore it had a higher assessment. " Incorrect. In my county, there was a county wide reassessment just a few years ago (2008 I believe) raising the taxes of all houses in the county. Given that, my current tax bill is still half of what I used to pay because my current house is significantly cheaper. Here they automatically increase the assessment without looking at the property. Hell it could have burned down and your assessment would go up.
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shanendoah
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Post by shanendoah on May 9, 2012 17:09:47 GMT -5
My city has laws about cars up on blocks and outbuildings, etc.
I seriously dislike HOAs for two reasons 1) The city/county/state don't charge you less in taxes because you have an HOA and yet they stop maintaining your streets and sidewalks because the HOA is supposed to do that. 2) I've seen HOA rules used to harass and threaten people more than I've ever seen them put to a good cause. For example, in our first home, we had an HOA. Somebody in the neighborhood didn't like our next door neighbors. No idea who, but they had their cars and garage broken into and vandalized. One time when we parked a car in the space between our properties, our vehicle was vandalized. Once the neighbors installed a good security system, the harassment changed to complaints to the HOA- things like their front yard wasn't being maintained to HOA standards and they would be threatened with fines. Their yard in general looked better than mine. I told them that if the HOA tried to make them pay a fine, they should be able to request the supposed date of the infraction, who reported it, and if the HOA had actually verified that there was a problem. After that family moved, another family moved in and took terrible care of the front yard. Not a single complaint was registered. And I don't know the details, but there was another neighbor who ended up moving because of the campaign of harassment against her dogs (miniature Dachsunds that I NEVER saw running loose or behaving poorly) that had her afraid for their lives. (We also received a death threat against one of our dogs. I kept the note in case anything ever happened to him.)
Our renters at the MIL's condo had a series of complaints against them this summer, to the point that we actually contacted the property management company (the complaints all got sent to us as the owners) and asked if they could provide the name of the person making the complaints, as we were considering a harassment suit. My favorite of all the complaints (and really, the HOA should have caught this one) was that our renters had a satellite dish that was illegally mounted on their balcony with wires running around the chimney. Ours is a ground floor unit (no balcony) in a building that doesn't have fireplaces (no chimneys).
In addition to active harrassment, HOAs are used as power trips. Back in our first neighborhood, only one side of the street had a sidewalk. People wanted to pass an ordinance saying that you could not block the sidewalk for any reason. That cut the length of the driveway for people side of the street with the sidewalk to barely long enough to hold a compact car (our Saturn SL1 fit, but just barely). We did all have garages, however, the garages were not big enough to hold full size trucks (and we lived in a somewhat rural community). And you weren't allowed to park a vehicle on the street in front of your house for more than X nights in row. (An ordinance that was built in to the HOA from the beginning.) So basically that meant that only the people who lived on the side of the street without the sidewalk would have been able to own and park a full size truck in our neighborhood. To go along with that, if you wanted DISH or DirectTV, the satellite had to be mounted facing a specific way. Some people wanted to pass on ordinance that no satellites could be mounted on the side of your house facing the street. Again, the would have limited half the neighborhood's ability to choose to have sattelite television.
Oh, and the ordinances technically made it against HOA rules to hang Christmas lights- not that they had to come down by a certain point, but that you couldn't mount anything to the street facing side of your house. That one was ignored from the beginning, and therefor, per our lawyer, could not be legally enforced.
But all that harassment is too high a price (for me) to keep my neighbors from having pink flamingos or garden gnomes or even campaign signs in their yard. (Even "For Sale" and "For Rent" signs were supposed to be approved by the HOA.)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2012 17:22:51 GMT -5
My city has laws about cars up on blocks and outbuildings, etc. I seriously dislike HOAs for two reasons 1) The city/county/state don't charge you less in taxes because you have an HOA and yet they stop maintaining your streets and sidewalks because the HOA is supposed to do that. All HOA's are different. Both my primary residence and rental property have city maintained streets and side walks
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constanz22
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Post by constanz22 on May 9, 2012 18:25:27 GMT -5
Message deleted by constanz22.
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constanz22
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Post by constanz22 on May 9, 2012 18:27:20 GMT -5
"I dunno about those taxes though................. " PA isn't much better with taxes, though. We were paying $8K on the house I just sold 2 years ago..freaking insane if you ask me. you shouldn't be paying anywhere near that for your area, Tina. But you know what? I work with a lot of people who live in NEPA because it's cheaper than living in NJ. Because of that, PA is slowly getting more expensive. I live in NE PA and my taxes are CHEAP, around 2k for property AND school taxes.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2012 18:36:09 GMT -5
Good luck Jenny.
And I know how you feel about the property taxes. My parents paid about $11,200 in West Orange NJ last year.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2012 18:40:04 GMT -5
MJ - if I can handle a $1500 monthly payment on one salary, you can handle $2200 on two salaries. Don't anybody tell me that sentence was devoid of logic - I'm trying to be comforting, not logical. Thanks for the comforting words. Caiwau - damn! We are south of the Oranges, but in central Jersey. West Orange is the good one, right?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2012 18:52:32 GMT -5
Yes West Orange is one of the good ones, next to Montclair and Verona. South Orange is the other good one and nice.
East Orange is where you want to stay away from and where we used to live when my mom just moved here. GHETTO!!!!
Same can be said for Orange, NJ, quickly becoming like East Orange.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2012 18:56:47 GMT -5
LOL, it's like the Brunswicks down here - there are four, two are crap and the other two are great!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 7:29:43 GMT -5
it's tomorrow! My stomach has been bothering me since Saturday night, and I'm feeling so run down. I don't know if I'm getting sick or it's the stress wearing me down. I went to the ING website, logged into my account, and withdrew all but $500 for my share of the closing costs.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 7:32:31 GMT -5
That feeling will be replaced by excitement when you put the key in the door.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 7:46:47 GMT -5
That feeling will be replaced by excitement when you put the key in the door. it better be, or I'm coming after you!!!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 7:49:05 GMT -5
<< calls Witness Protection Program >>
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 11:10:50 GMT -5
DH got a call from the realtor saying that the mortgage company won't have the final amount we need to bring to closing until tomorrow morning (closing is at 11am), so we're doing the walkthrough tonight.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 12:54:53 GMT -5
Good luck, hope everything goes smoothly!
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raeoflyte
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Post by raeoflyte on May 14, 2012 13:29:36 GMT -5
Congrats Jenny!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 13:34:02 GMT -5
Congrats Jenny!
Signing all those papers made me feel a little sick and I felt like I was signing my life away especially when I saw how much I'd really pay for my house over 30 years of payments. I got over it quickly and was pleased with myself. I have no regrets.
Hopefully the scary feelings will be shortlived and the excitement and good feelings will come quickly for you too!
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Peace Of Mind
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[font color="#8f2520"]~ Drinks Well With Others ~[/font]
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Post by Peace Of Mind on May 14, 2012 13:36:21 GMT -5
One more day and Jen will be a home owner!! Here is your first house warming gift:
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 13:38:22 GMT -5
One more day and Jen will be a home owner!! Here is your first house warming gift: LOL. DH had a friend in high school whose parents referred to their house as the bank's house. I'm thinking about doing that.
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on May 14, 2012 13:39:54 GMT -5
Good luck, hope everything goes smoothly! It is a nice feeling when you first walk in and realize it is all yours.
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taz157
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Post by taz157 on May 14, 2012 13:41:44 GMT -5
Good luck, hope everything goes smoothly! It is a nice feeling when you first walk in and realize it is all yours.
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TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on May 14, 2012 21:36:53 GMT -5
it's tomorrow! My stomach has been bothering me since Saturday night, and I'm feeling so run down. I don't know if I'm getting sick or it's the stress wearing me down. I went to the ING website, logged into my account, and withdrew all but $500 for my share of the closing costs. I've always had that feeling before I closed on a house. I have been thrilled once the closing was over and the house was mine. Good luck!!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2012 4:13:48 GMT -5
Yes, I'm up this early on my day off. I still need to get my workout in! Did the walkthrough last night. They did a good job of cleaning up. It allowed us to see what really needed to be done. The fridge was in better shape than I thought, so we'll probably end up keeping it as long as we can. They didn't install the shed, so it fell down leaving the concrete foundation with screws sticking out of it. So we'll probably have to completely start over with that. Ah, there's just so much to so before we move in. I'm starting to get excited. Less than 6 hours to go....
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Jaguar
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Post by Jaguar on May 15, 2012 4:39:52 GMT -5
Congratulations
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