Decisions, decisions.... This property looks awesome: It's an acre in north California and I can buy it for $2600. The problem is that there's a property owner's association (AKA Land Nazis.) I kind of glanced through the CCRs and I can't drop any tree over 4". Besides taxes, I'd have to pay an extra $85 a year association fee (At least that takes care of road maintenance supposedly.) It's a neat place, but I can't do whatever the hell I want there...like shoot guns, have a bon fire, camp, etc... I have no idea what I'd do with the place, but it reminds me of home and back home this property would be $50K +. It's tempting...
property owner’s associations can change their rules though. There’s a reason it’s that cheap. I’d avoid it at all costs, but it’s your money.
@bewildered I've been amazed with how fast the last 3 cars I've sold have gone. All over 200k miles, small problems but running decently. I listed all of them for the "average" KBB value for the condition and all of them were gone within 72 hours within $100 of the listing price. The last one was 240k miles, radio didn't work, check engine light indicated an emissions problem (needed a new oxygen sensor), pads/rotors/calipers needed to be replaced. No big deal for a person who was mechanically inclined to fix, but still several hundred bucks worth of parts at the very least. Average KBB value for the car was $2k. I listed it for $1900 expecting to negotiate down. I was on my 10th inquiry within an hour, and it was sold the next day for full price. Generally I think any car under $3k gets a ton of interest, and if it runs and is within any reasonable striking distance of KBB you should expect to sell it almost immediately.
@Binary that makes me feel a little better. I had a 2005 honda civic with around 200k miles that wasn't running and had very probable engine damage. I would say the body of it was in fair condition. I sold it for $500. The mechanic I had diagnose it said he would give me $150. Meh. We aren't talking big money but it was gone with an unexpected quickness.
Our property in the NC mountains is pretty restrictive. Square footage and height regs, roof slope, siding, they have rules about all that. You can do a modular, or even a used double wide if it is newer than 2004, though. We have tree rules, but you can drop a percentage of significant trees during house construction. I'd be surprised if the HOA you're speaking of wouldn't allow any trees to be removed ever, that just wouldn't make sense.. I'd never really live there because of it, but I'm searching for a cabin builder to put a vacation rental on it. It's gated, has a clubhouse and pool, and the lake access, I think it will at least pay for itself every year and be an important piece of financial security for us to leave our son. At $2,600, it might be a good investment. I know our piece is worth about 5 times what we have in it just because we bought it from the wife's grandfather for a steal.
I think a lot of people who are good with cars will snap up those sub-$1000 cars with a quickness and repair it themselves. Most of them are going to value their time at $0 or close to it, so however long it takes is okay as long as they end up with a car that's worth more than they paid for it. A buddy of mine took up a hobby flipping dead/problematic Craigslist cars when he was unemployed for a stint. He said the hardest part was the competition for the cars; you often had to be willing to have cash on hand the same day, but it was mostly a time competition: none of these guys were willing to overpay for the car. If it disappeared fast, it's true that you probably could have eeked a few more dollars out of it. On the other hand, time and sanity is worth something; I'd rather price my car 10-15% under market value and have it gone the next day with no haggling than deal with piles of inquiries, half of which ghost you and the other half of which lowball you. If you could have gotten another $100 by waiting a week and responding to 63 inquiries and going for 3 test drives, well, I guess it depends on how much you needed that $100. The Law of Craigslist Douchebags says that for every hour your item sits for sale, the stupidity of the inquiries go up exponentially. I love the ones who offer you a third of the listed price but say, "I'll pay in CASH!!" like the alternative was to get paid in magic beans.
My brother flips junk cars to scratch his mechanic's itch now that he doesn't turn a wrench for a living anymore. He once had a grown man ask (in person) if he'd take payments on a car he was asking $300 for.
Hah. Yeah... like I'd take a check from a stranger. Cash is king, baby. Those are about my thoughts on the situation, too. I've sold quite a few plants and random small things through the marketplace and it is a balance between how long before it sells/dealing with communicationfrom randoms and getting the most money of it. When I sold plants it really was in my interest to move the items quickly so I didnt have to keep caring for them or risk losing them from neglect. With this car I didn't want to pay a tow fee to get it off the mechanic's property so selling it by the end of the weekend was a priority. Something I have learned. 100% of the time, if someone asks you to hold an item, they are going to flake. I've ''held'' items (didn't have another buyer at that moment so no skin off my back) and every. Single. Time. The person flaked out. Either some stupid excuse or just ghosted. I don't feel bad about saying no now, even if I don't have anyone else inquiring. If they still want it they can check back with me when they are in a position to take the item.
Selling vehicles is an enormous pain in the ass. My last vehicle (1999 Dodge Durango 4WD in good shape), I just gave away rather then go through the hassle of dealing with selling it. It now serves as an animal rescue's transport vehicle, which I find hilarious. It's a lifted 4x4 with an exhaust that dumps into dual glass packs with no cat, a cold air intake, and a 1200 watt stereo. I could've got a few grand out of it, but dealing with potential buyers probably would've taken a few years off my life. Much easier to just give it to a worthy cause.
I've kind of waffled/mulled it over most of the day, and honestly that HOA scares me. All HOAs scare me. Another thing that scares me about the property is if you look at the picture, the ground is littered with pine needles. That place is one flicked cigarette away from a major forest fire. And lately California has been rather prone to fires. So I'm kind of wondering if the HOA has implemented some sort of fire prevention policy and is requiring property owners to clean that shit up. A clean up I'd be on the hook for. It's a neat piece of property, but I really don't know what I'd do with it other then just say "I own that."
Went to a wedding party by surprise last night. My friend who had been dating his girlfriend for a decade eloped with her without telling any of us a few months ago. Despite her pushing him to invite people formally in advance for yesterday he just texted me at 6pm that she was having people over. No warning I thought it was just your typical friends get together with like 4-5 people. Id never been to her "place" and it turned out it was a full on party with her whole family there at her parent's house. Felt wweeeeeird. I was worried about the rona and all of her very unhealthy looking family members. Down to me and one other of my friend group that aren't married and also don't have kids, or kids on the way.....
Other property will come along. Property that doesn’t require you to be tied into a cult. The very concept of HOA’s just proves how tribal and desperate people are to join “groups”. You get to tell me how my house should look, and if I disagree you can FINE me for it? Gosh, where do I sign up. If I was under the thumb of a HOA I would have been jailed as a spree-killer ten years ago. Never, never, never.
And the people that want to be president of an HOA, I liken them with Commodus in gladiator. It should be a Maximus that is appointed, someone with no desire for that power.
I've been trying to understand, what's the actual benefit of purchasing a house in an HOA area? Other than lower cost due to said HOA?
when TiB crashes with real life: remember that video of the cart narc dude we all figured was gonna get shot at some point? Well a few months ago some dude from Texas (of course it's Texas) threatened to shoot him, then later shot someone on the train in what was allegedly self defense:
A lot of times HOAs exist to provide and maintain amenities and common areas. Pools and community buildings, mowing ditches and such that aren't owner maintained. In the case of condos and townhomes, they insure, maintain and manage the property not owned by individuals. If there are no amenities, then I guess you're paying the HOA to make sure you and neighbors don't have too much freedom.
Yeah, but somebody who doesn’t want to be in charge never takes the job. Instead you get the type of person who edits the comments section on their blog.
Some people, usually middle to upper-middle class types want to live in a “perfect” neighbourhood. By that, they want everyone they look at not be trash. They don’t want to look at tall uncut grass, neighbours who keep big stupid boats in their driveway all year, ugly holiday decorations, sprinklers that don’t pop out of the ground, etc. You know— REAL lowlife shit. So you move to one of these gated Stepford communities instead. Where 60% of the men there are named “Roger” and every household has at least one ambient prescription. And if you get out of order, well.... ...if that were me in that predicament, there would be fucking murders.
A product recommendation for y'all idiots. This stuff works. I canceled our pest control contract because whatever they were doing just wasn't working. This stuff took care of the ants almost immediately. I just sprayed the house up to the window sills and the ground surrounding the house. Our pest control company was a rip off. https://www.acehardware.com/departm...ys2Ab8g5aGMbBoH9Gb4aAqGUEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds