$30G Fine for not cutting your lawn?

[Username Taken]

I went to list a house not long ago (not mine, an acquaintance) and we had to devalue it by $60k because of the crap neighbors that wouldn't take care of their place. We had one guy that had left a toilet in his yard for Months. And a sofa. The grass was over a foot long.

His neighbor, a dried up old hippie female decided she didn't want tto cut her grass anymore so she called it 'Xeriscaped' and put up little signs about how she was 'saving the bees' Same person that had a bunch of roof shingles blown off by Hurricane Charley and left it like that for over 3 years. She took the Insurance money and spent it on something else. Not her house.

BTW, his house would sell for $350k if it weren't for his trashy neighbors. A block over, the valuation was fine. Same house, same builder, similar Floor Plan, same sq footage, same amenities sold for $360k

We dropped it to $289k asking and it's still sitting. Didn't sell. I don't mess with that crap anymore. Let the women have it, they're more patient

None of you have butthead neighbors? None of you have ever had to listen to man & woman beer fights at 2:00AM every Friday night? Sometimes more? Ignorant stereos sending bass thrugh the ground (bass notes travel through the ground, as well as through the air)

None of you live near parents who refuse to actually be parents and won't supervise or discipline their children? Stuff's missing out of your car and you know who did it but yu can't prove it. ANd even if you have phtographic evidence -- The Cops could not care less because, 1) It's a property crime and Cops just don't care about those and, 2) It's a minor. Good luck with that. And even if you call the Cops, you're gonna end up with a brick tossed through your window at 4:00 AM.

Most of these houses that go to garbage are what I call 'legacy' houses. Where Mom and Pop buy a house to retire in Florida. Take care of it, landscape it. Love it, polite, courteous, nice people.

They die and the house goes to their totally and completely useless kids. One of whom decides to move in. And they're useless for a reason.

You people that said you don't want to live in Florida because of this? Good. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE stay away

When you live on 10+ acres of land, you can be a little lax about leaving trash aroud, you can let your grass grow a little bit. You can do pretty much what you want. You can leave your truck parked in the grass, you pee in the front yard..... It's one reason why I prefer that kind of living

But when you live in the 'burbs what you do affects others. If you're so selfish, so self-centered that all you can think about is yourself, stay where you are. PLEASE.

You don't wanna take a shower for a week? I couldn't care less. Unless you sit down next to me. Then I'm gonna tell you. And not politely, to GTF away from me.
When we're forced together for whatever reason, the rules have to change. You can be a scumbag or you can be civilized and realize that making others uncomfortable is not cool.
We get a LOT of the former down here. Really a lot. It's whay there are so many deed-restricted communities in Florida.

BTW, the guy in Dunedin got what he deserved. He needs to lose his home and go back to South Carolina and stay there

 

[Username Taken]

That would make sense, but it's not always the case since (depending on the HOA) the rules can be changed after you've already been living there.

So it can essentially end up being much like adding another layer of government. ....with all the problems inherent to government bodies, but with far less oversight or publicizing of the actions since it's unlikely to even make local news.

Which means it really depends on how it was set up, and what/how changes can be made ..... and how selective enforcement turns out to be.

All of which can change (drastically in some cases) if/when the personalities involved change....

The State of Florida is pretty tough on HOA rules. No way they allow Ex Post Facto rules. No way.

Sometimes the rules are really silly but they usually make sense. Especially when you're dealing with people who weren't born here, didn't always work here, who all come from somewhere else and they're all from different cultures with different standards different customs, different ideas different -- Everything.

We got Alabama fans living next door to Ohio State fans, Dullfans living next to Jets fans. I could go on for a long time, but the point is -- Everybody is from somwhere else and they all have different ways of living so we have to make up rules we can all live with

Unless you've been through it, you can't know

 

[jjp8182]

Have had to deal with quite a bit and personally I'll take the "trashy" place over the "trashy" people.

Ideally it'd be best not to have to deal with either, but even if/when such a fairy tale place exists it pretty quickly gets overrun by individuals who never seem to grasp they themselves may be the issue - either their irresponsible lifestyle or their desire to make emotion driven decisions (with expectation that others should have the same views) ...or even the expectation that everyone else should solve their "problems" for them.

As for property value, it always seems that people like a high property value whey they're selling, but when it comes to paying taxes....

 

[Username Taken]

Have had to deal with quite a bit and personally I'll take the "trashy" place over the "trashy" people.

Ideally it'd be best not to have to deal with either, but even if/when such a fairy tale place exists it pretty quickly gets overrun by individuals who never seem to grasp they themselves may be the issue - either their irresponsible lifestyle or their desire to make emotion driven decisions (with expectation that others should have the same views) ...or even the expectation that everyone else should solve their "problems" for them.

As for property value, it always seems that people like a high property value whey they're selling, but when it comes to paying taxes....

You have the God-Given right to live where you want to in this Country. So far.

But when you agree to keep your house and your yard in decent condition (is asking that you keep your lawn grass under ten inches high unreasonable??) and you don't want to for whatever reason..... You shouldn't cry like a little beach when you get smacked for it.

My Wife and I leave here every year for the Summer, as do MILLIONS of other Floridians (except last year -- covid) and we check in with our neighbors, they have our ph#, we have a lawn guy and you know what else.......??? We actually forward our mail so that if we DO get something important, it goes to where we are up North. This is not unusual. Millions of people leave here temporarily every year. Millions.

They don't seem to have run-ins with Code Enforcement. Just a select few do. And we can live without them

So maybe you need to to re-examine what you consider 'trashy people'

 

[jjp8182]

The State of Florida is pretty tough on HOA rules. No way they allow Ex Post Facto rules. No way.

Sometimes the rules are really silly but they usually make sense. Especially when you're dealing with people who weren't born here, didn't always work here, who all come from somewhere else and they're all from different cultures with different standards different customs, different ideas different -- Everything.

We got Alabama fans living next door to Ohio State fans, Dullfans living next to Jets fans. I could go on for a long time, but the point is -- Everybody is from somwhere else and they all have different ways of living so we have to make up rules we can all live with

Unless you've been through it, you can't know

Northern Alabama (particularly around Huntsville/Madison) isn't much different .... except potentially more diverse. However, I don't think Alabama has had to get as strict on regulating HOA's as Florida has - as of yet so HOA's (depending on the governing document) can still add some changes to the clauses (potentially without grandfathering) if the change is approved according to the governing documents .... in other words exactly like city/county/state/federal ordinances though not civil law. Of course the variance in enforcement can also be extreme everything from weekly/daily checks to total non-enforcement.

However, the decline of taking personal responsibility hasn't yet hit critical mass yet either ...probably because most still view Alabama as an "undesirable" state to live in as a whole. ....so there's less of a party/"me me me" culture though that's starting to change.

 

[Username Taken]

Northern Alabama (particularly around Huntsville/Madison) isn't much different .... except potentially more diverse. However, I don't think Alabama has had to get as strict on regulating HOA's as Florida has - as of yet so HOA's (depending on the governing document) can still add some changes to the clauses (potentially without grandfathering) if the change is approved according to the governing documents .... in other words exactly like city/county/state/federal ordinances though not civil law. Of course the variance in enforcement can also be extreme everything from weekly/daily checks to total non-enforcement.

However, the decline of taking personal responsibility hasn't yet hit critical mass yet either ...probably because most still view Alabama as an "undesirable" state to live in as a whole. ....so there's less of a party/"me me me" culture though that's starting to change.

Northern Alabama is the best-kept secret in the Country. Beautiful, beautiful place. Super-nice, super cool people.

They'll find you. God Bless their black hearts, trust me. They'll find you and when they do, remember this conversation. Country people aren't nearly as bad as City people who have never owned or even lived in a free-standing house with a yard.

Plus, you can usually talk to Country people. City people are another story.

Had that guy lived next to me, I would have cut his grass with my rider for free...... Unless he was a butthead. You usually only gotta keep the front mowed and that would have taken me 10 minutes. Weed-eating would not happen but Code Enforcement dont care too much about that unless........

Code Enforcement usually doesn't pay a lot of attention unless they get calls. And I suspect this isn't the only time this guy's had Code Enforcement called on him.

Look the captioned photo on NewsBleat....... That guy isn't cuting a lawn, he's cutting a Golf Green. That machine is for Golf Greens not for lawns.

Shows you the dishonesty of the media. Like you didn't know already Even in the smallest things, they gotta run an angle, a scam, they gotta be dishonest.

My favorite lawn care people hard at work -- (New Look Lawn Care) Florida is so cool

 

[/pine]

Northern Alabama is the best-kept secret in the Country. Beautiful, beautiful place. Super-nice, super cool people.

They'll find you. God Bless their black hearts, trust me. They'll find you and when they do, remember this conversation. Country people aren't nearly as bad as City people who have never owned or even lived in a free-standing house with a yard.

Plus, you can usually talk to Country people. City people are another story.

Had that guy lived next to me, I would have cut his grass with my rider for free...... Unless he was a butthead. You usually only gotta keep the front mowed and that would have taken me 10 minutes. Weed-eating would not happen but Code Enforcement dont care too much about that unless........

Code Enforcement usually doesn't pay a lot of attention unless they get calls. And I suspect this isn't the only time this guy's had Code Enforcement called on him.

Look the captioned photo on NewsBleat....... That guy isn't cuting a lawn, he's cutting a Golf Green. That machine is for Golf Greens not for lawns.

Shows you the dishonesty of the media. Like you didn't know already Even in the smallest things, they gotta run an angle, a scam, they gotta be dishonest.

My favorite lawn care people hard at work -- (New Look Lawn Care) Florida is so cool

View attachment 697602

You should see the hot dog vendors...!

 

[jjp8182]

Northern Alabama is the best-kept secret in the Country. Beautiful, beautiful place. Super-nice, super cool people.

They'll find you. God Bless their black hearts, trust me. They'll find you and when they do, remember this conversation. Country people aren't nearly as bad as City people who have never owned or even lived in a free-standing house with a yard.

Was the best kept secret. ....but starting to change in all the worst ways as people flee major urban areas (or high regulation states) and buy up more property than they're capable/willing to handle at rates approaching those in the most expensive parts of the country. All of which means the suburban sprawl is growing at tremendous rate (much faster than the infrastructure can be expanded in some areas).

It's really changed drastically in the last 15 years from what I've witnessed (am a country transplant from Minnesota) and it's been an extreme change in the last 30 from what I've heard from others. Really suspect at this point the only thing slowing things down is the stigma of it still being Alabama.

Though thankfully it's still not a place known for it's night life or adult-focused industries/services (though there's been continual push for more of both as it continues to grow) - or creating a large tourist draw (though even then Florida beaches tend to draw a bit different crowd than space museums, and outdoor scenery).

Of course living where I currently do, I can also say other people having trash in their yards (or overgrown vegetation) bothers me far less than picking their trash out of my yard. It's taught me that if/when I move it won't be to another high traffic county road (especially not one directly connected to an interstate) given the amount of littering/dumping people do. During summer it's pretty routine (almost weekly occurrence) for me to pick a half-to-full shopping bag of litter from my yard (on less than 600ft of road frontage at an intersection).

...and it's not always small stuff either: at one point I helped the neighbors across the street load a couch from out of their yard into his truck since the couch had fallen off a passing vehicle, and the vehicle came back -- only to push the couch out of the road into the neighbors' yard (his wife saw the whole thing happen, but didn't manage to catch a plate number).

On the other hand some of the small stuff is far more disturbing; the liquor containers, and undergarments aside the most troublesome is the sealed but partially filled plastic bottles that were either used as spitters or just discarded partially full. Those plastic bottles can be particularly annoying/disturbing given the knowledge that road/litter clean-up crews have been harmed when such containers explosively burst due to a combination of the contents driving up pressure (from solar loading) and solar-degradation of the plastic. The seemingly full bottle of sulfuric acid drain cleaner found last week wasn't much of a joy either.

 

[Username Taken]

You should see the hot dog vendors...!

We had a problem with young women in thong bikinis running portable hot dog stands. I guess they caused a fender-bender here and there. I've seen them and I can certainly understand.

I don't what they ever did about it. Many times, it's 'exotic dancers' working the day shift. Either that or they're going through Bars during the day selling flowers. The Bartenders usually run them out. darn

 

[TBone]

I went to list a house not long ago (not mine, an acquaintance) and we had to devalue it by $60k because of the crap neighbors that wouldn't take care of their place. We had one guy that had left a toilet in his yard for Months. And a sofa. The grass was over a foot long.

His neighbor, a dried up old hippie female decided she didn't want tto cut her grass anymore so she called it 'Xeriscaped' and put up little signs about how she was 'saving the bees' Same person that had a bunch of roof shingles blown off by Hurricane Charley and left it like that for over 3 years. She took the Insurance money and spent it on something else. Not her house.

BTW, his house would sell for $350k if it weren't for his trashy neighbors. A block over, the valuation was fine. Same house, same builder, similar Floor Plan, same sq footage, same amenities sold for $360k

We dropped it to $289k asking and it's still sitting. Didn't sell. I don't mess with that crap anymore. Let the women have it, they're more patient

None of you have butthead neighbors? None of you have ever had to listen to man & woman beer fights at 2:00AM every Friday night? Sometimes more? Ignorant stereos sending bass thrugh the ground (bass notes travel through the ground, as well as through the air)

None of you live near parents who refuse to actually be parents and won't supervise or discipline their children? Stuff's missing out of your car and you know who did it but yu can't prove it. ANd even if you have phtographic evidence -- The Cops could not care less because, 1) It's a property crime and Cops just don't care about those and, 2) It's a minor. Good luck with that. And even if you call the Cops, you're gonna end up with a brick tossed through your window at 4:00 AM.

Most of these houses that go to garbage are what I call 'legacy' houses. Where Mom and Pop buy a house to retire in Florida. Take care of it, landscape it. Love it, polite, courteous, nice people.

They die and the house goes to their totally and completely useless kids. One of whom decides to move in. And they're useless for a reason.

You people that said you don't want to live in Florida because of this? Good. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE stay away

When you live on 10+ acres of land, you can be a little lax about leaving trash aroud, you can let your grass grow a little bit. You can do pretty much what you want. You can leave your truck parked in the grass, you pee in the front yard..... It's one reason why I prefer that kind of living

But when you live in the 'burbs what you do affects others. If you're so selfish, so self-centered that all you can think about is yourself, stay where you are. PLEASE.

You don't wanna take a shower for a week? I couldn't care less. Unless you sit down next to me. Then I'm gonna tell you. And not politely, to GTF away from me.
When we're forced together for whatever reason, the rules have to change. You can be a scumbag or you can be civilized and realize that making others uncomfortable is not cool.
We get a LOT of the former down here. Really a lot. It's whay there are so many deed-restricted communities in Florida.

BTW, the guy in Dunedin got what he deserved. He needs to lose his home and go back to South Carolina and stay there

Having lived beside trashy people a couple of times I AGREE with everything you said.