".....and bankrupt the HOA."

Best four words in the article.

moothemagiccow: I found this while wondering wtf a window pane divider was

Large picture windows allow you to look outside without hindering your view. However, some people find them plain and boring. Window panes can add interest to your windows, but replacing them completely is not always practical, especially if you rent a home or apartment. The perfect solution is faux window panes made with invisible double-sided tape. Your windows will appear to be paned, but the trim will peel up fairly easily when you are ready to move on

I thought my first world problems were dumb. My window is BORING. WTF am I going to do?

Flint Ironstag: Why try to make every single house look the same as every other house?

There's no keeping up with the Joneses wheneverybody is mandated to have the same shiat.

moothemagiccow: I found this while wondering wtf a window pane divider was

Large picture windows allow you to look outside without hindering your view. However, some people find them plain and boring. Window panes can add interest to your windows, but replacing them completely is not always practical, especially if you rent a home or apartment. The perfect solution is faux window panes made with invisible double-sided tape. Your windows will appear to be paned, but the trim will peel up fairly easily when you are ready to move on

I thought my first world problems were dumb. My window is BORING. WTF am I going to do?

If you let people have slightly less aesthetic windows, you may as well have swingers parties in the common area.  Same thing really

I'm cheering the homeowners on this one.

HOA tries to go after homeowners for a temporary sign that's just a few inches too big.
Homeowners cut sign in half to follow rules, HOA still goes after them with a super secret meeting just to fark them over.
Homeowners try to de-escalate legal fight even while being harassed at own home.
HOA continues legal bullshiat and even raises fees and changes rules, before court finally slaps down the HOA.
HOA goes bankrupt because of legal fees.

imokaywiththis.jpg

Dinjiin: BunkyBrewman: Does the HOA management company set the rules, or does the HOA board?

In new neighborhoods, the management company typically comes in with a template set of rules that they enforce.  Once the majority of homes in the neighborhood are purchased and occupied, the management company will allow elections for a board.  The board then works to update the rules as needed, with the management company enforcing the rules.

So issues with an HOA can come either from the board or the management company.  I've lived in neighborhoods were the management companies were very lax, sometimes to the ire of the busybodies on the board.  Other times, you had a lax board with a management company eager to fine the crap out of everyone.

My current HOA is incredibly lax.  I have an older car with expired tabs in the driveway and they don't care.  A dude down the street still has Christmas lights on the front of their house and they don't care.  They'll send a nastygram if the weeds in your front yard get too high or if you put your car up on blocks in the driveway.  Mostly, they just focus on maintenance of the common green-spaces.

You're lucky then.

From the article:

It was four inches taller than the association's covenants allowed.  "Need I say more! This would lead to chaos," a neighbor fretted in an e-mail about the precedent that would be set if the sign wasn't removed. "Our property values would be put at risk."

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Sounds like the anal retentive douchebags that ran the HOA my parents lived in for awhile. They actually sent my parents a strongly worded letter for *gasp* letting my nieces draw on the sidewalks with coloured chalk (something not mentioned in any of the covenants btw) because it could "ruin their property values and was vandalism derka derrrr". One lady on the board, she had to be 70 something, would go for a walk at about 5 or 6 every morning with a ruler measuring the height of everyone's lawn. I wish I was kidding.

Poor HOA board members, how dare a home owner call there bluff and force them to pony up for the legal fees

//realy loved the Tid-bit on how this caused "Health Problems" for older members of the community because the board jack up the membership fees to cover there anti-Obama crusade

/why were they surprised?

If you live in an HOA-controlled 'hood, you get what you deserve.