My wife and I have been looking at homes for a while because we plan on moving in about a year.  One thing I struggle with is the existence of home owners associations.  These associations are a real turn off to me because I do not want some third party telling me how to take care of my home.  The way I see it is that I am the one paying for my house and I really do not think a bunch of snooty people with their noses in the air should have any say whatsoever on how I maintain my home.  I mean, if I choose to sit a 1972 motor home in my front lawn on blocks with no wheels then it is no one else’s business.  I would not do this but I say it to illustrate the idiocy of these associations. 

I really believe that being forced to join a home owners association is a deal breaker for me.  I have had people tell me the virtues of such organizations like ensuring the value of the properties in the neighborhood.  My answer to that is to move out to the country if you are so concerned about what your neighbors are doing.  As if it is not bad enough having someone telling you how to live your life, they want to charge you for it.  There is something fundamentally wrong about this whole concept.  The notion of doing things for the good of the group is ‘hogwash’.  When the group begins to pay for my mortgage then they can tell me what to do on my own property.  For those of you that like these groups then all I can say is “I feel sorry for you”.

I believe that people need to be more concerned about what goes on at their own homes before worrying about mine.  Just in case my feelings were unclear, I would like to clarify that I think home owners associations are nothing more than a group of “busy bodies” sticking their noses in other people’s business.  People often tell me not to hold back on my feelings .  Thanks for checking in and sorry for the harshness if you are a home owners association advocate.  I just think we will have to agree to disagree on this topic.