Home Automation

[KBCraig]

As much as I despise HOAs, we're considering a neighborhood when we leave here. (This is the county and is unrestricted.)

You'd trade intimidation by thugs for the tyranny of the HOA? HOAs are the worst of both worlds: they have the power of government to fine you or even seize your home, but do not have their powers enumerated and restricted and kept in check by a "separation of powers"-style system.

But back to the topic of choosing neighborhoods: this is the only house I've ever bought, and I was terrified at the process. I had never seen the neighborhood before, but it was impressive at first glance. But first looks can be deceptive, so I came back in the evening, without the realtor, and talked to the people out for evening walks. That convinced me, and we made an offer.

[LedJedi]

As much as I despise HOAs, we're considering a neighborhood when we leave here. (This is the county and is unrestricted.)

-1 -1 -1 ... can i do a -50 ?

[govnor]

Yeah, definitely! One thing I didn't do was knock on neighbor's doors around here and ask. I did scope out the house a couple of times, but you really need to go sit there at all hours and see what's going on.

When we purchased our house nearly five years ago, we didn't realize that the people living in the nicest house would turn out to be the trashiest. They had only been in their house a few months when we moved in ours. Their house still looked nice. Since then, they've gotten a series of big dogs (one after another since they won't put up a fence & dogs keep getting hit or disappearing), they leave trash in the yards & driveway, they leave their projects (boats & ATVs) out in the driveway on blocks, etc. They have recently set up bird cages and have loud, squaking birds. They smoke a lot of weed, drink a lot of beer, and have questionable-looking characters hanging around.
Since just about everyone else on the street is elderly, they are a bit intimidated by this bunch. My elderly neighbors don't have the most glamourous and up-to-date homes, but they're quiet, clean, and neighborly. The old folks don't bring my property value down; the bunch next door do.
As much as I despise HOAs, we're considering a neighborhood when we leave here. (This is the county and is unrestricted.)

How much land are you on Venus? I'm curious because I'm hoping eventually I can surround myself with enough to keep the creeps away. Unfortunately, it would be county, so someone could live in a shack next door if they wanted to. But if next door is five acres away...I wonder if that's enough. Maybe that HOA is calling my name after all. I do want land though, so I can go outside and shoot my guns and drink my morning coffee