Christmas 2022

TastyReuben said:
We don't have an HOA here, but we do have "Neighborhood Bylaws," which my realtor explained at the time meant, "We'd like you to do these things, but we have no power whatsoever to make you do these things." - even that didn't mention Christmas lights, just things like "You can't build another house on your property," and "You can't raise pigs/goats/chickens," and "Your outbuildings have to be the same color as your house."

In the 17 years I've lived there, I've seen those three (and most of the others) violated...all by one neighbor! :laugh:
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That was my experience as HOA President. It was one or two homeowners who racked up all the violations. They would pitch a fit, and scream about their property rights and "this is communism," and I'd have to remind them that they signed a legal document when they closed on their home.

CD
 
caseydog said:
Our HOA board, when I was on it, was very reasonable. We generally didn't send notices to people, either. We would go visit a homeowner who was breaking rules, of behind on dues, and have a conversation. That just seemed to be more effective. We had one homeowner that was really falling behind on dues payments, and when we visited, we found out the the husband was undergoing cancer treatment, and money was tight. We waived late fees, and differed dues payments for a few months. They eventually got caught up. We would not have know about the cancer had we just sent a notice in the mail.

I can only remember one homeowner that was slow to take down seasonal decorations... for everything from Christmas to Halloween. I dreaded knocking on her door, but it was either that, or keep getting calls from other homeowners complaining about Christmas decorations well into March.

CD
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We had 3500+ homes so visiting wasn't really an option for several reasons.
 
caseydog said:
They would pitch a fit, and scream about their property rights and "this is communism," and I'd have to remind them that they signed a legal document when they closed on their home.
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That's exactly this guy, though the mantra now is "socialism" - everything he doesn't like (and he's very vocal about it) is "socialism."

Hey, your dog isn't contained and just tried to bite me.
Making me lock up my dog is socialism! This is America!

Hey, I just hit one of your chickens in the street, you know you're not supposed to have chickens.
Making me dependent on Big Meat is socialism! I got a right to feed myself!

Hey, that rusty top half of a grain silo you just put in your yard as "patio cover" is a real eyesore.
This is America, not Socialist Russia <huh?>! I got property rights!

:laugh:
 
That's very different from how things are in Portugal. Here in Portugal the local municipality governments have some responsibility over the houses on their municipality. Things like outside decorations, lights, etc are not things they care about but they oversee things like the color of the building or the color/style of the windows. For example the building where I live in is green and I doubt the municipality would let us paint it any other color. They're also responsible for keeping home owners accountable for keeping their houses in liveable conditions. For example if a neighbor has a leak that is impacting your house and the neighbor doesn't fix it, you can ask the municipality and they will send engineers ans/or architects over to assess the situation and if they determine the neighbor's leak is causing damage they can notify the neighbor to fix it and they have a certain period of time to do that. Actually they can notify anyone to fix stuff in their house if they think it can cause health and safety issues. I'm not sure how it goes if someone decides not to fix the issue but I imagine being a government body, they have different ways of making things happen.

Buildings also usually have a kind of home owners association, who oversees the general function of the building and things like cleaning, repairs, etc. Legally, these associations don't have much power but they usually do a good job with the overall maintenance the building.
 
LissaC said:
That's very different from how things are in Portugal.
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We have that for in-town - the town/city government can make you paint your house or mow your lawn, for example.

HOA’s are sort of the same, but generally much more restrictive, and are usually at the housing development level. They can get as specific as what your house number looks like, what mailbox you can have, that sort of thing. It encourages uniformity, but detractors say it stifles individuality.

I live semi-rurally, meaning it’s a housing development, but it’s out in middle of farmland, and pretty much anything goes. No burn restrictions, no noise restrictions, no nothing. I think most of my neighbors, their main pastime is firing off guns all day and half the night. :laugh:
 
We all have a different Christmas: some will get Into debt because they feel pressured into buying things for others, some because they feel the need to show off their alleged wealth, others stress and worry so don't enjoy, some eat and drink huge amounts then spend the rest of the year on a diet and fussing about their weight, others put their feet up and take a break from the monotony of 9-5.
Whatever Christmas you have please make time for yourselves, put your feet up and do what you want .
 
TastyReuben said:
That's exactly this guy, though the mantra now is "socialism" - everything he doesn't like (and he's very vocal about it) is "socialism."

Hey, your dog isn't contained and just tried to bite me.
Making me lock up my dog is socialism! This is America!

Hey, I just hit one of your chickens in the street, you know you're not supposed to have chickens.
Making me dependent on Big Meat is socialism! I got a right to feed myself!

Hey, that rusty top half of a grain silo you just put in your yard as "patio cover" is a real eyesore.
This is America, not Socialist Russia <huh?>! I got property rights!

:laugh:
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Yup, that is the new mantra for many in the in the US. Everything they don't like is Socialism.

Hey, there's a way to get out of giving Christmas gifts. Socialism... buy your own gifts!!!

CD
 
New Christmas cards:

92325


92326
 
Morning Glory said:
I was struck by the high price of these cards - that is much more expensive than cards are in the UK, even with the exchange rate (although, I expect there are super duper luxury Harrods cards which might cost that much).
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Ahhhh, that’s the sticker price. I didn’t pay that much. They follow the common retail practice of artificially marking a price way up, so they can then advertise them at, say, 30% off, and you think you’re getting a deal.

Two days after Christmas, they’ll likely be in the clearance area for $3 a box. :laugh:
 
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