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Where ever you live in the USA, you have to abide by four different sets of laws: Federal, State, County, and local (either city/town or township). With a condo association, you are adding a fifth set of laws that are completely third party and private (not part of the government). Some condo laws are deliberately written to be ambiguous, such as "you're not allowed to perform immoral acts in your unit" (that's completely real by the way), so they can basically come after you for anything. If you have a mortgage, this is where the condo association gets most of its power, as they can go to your bank and force force foreclosure for violating the contract you sign with them when you buy, saying you'll follow all of their rules. If you own 100%, they can put a lien on your property, sue you, etc. Do you REALLY want to live under those pretenses? In short, pick a decent neighborhood if you can, with NO condo or homeowners association telling you want you can and can't do on your own property, in addition to the four sets of laws already in place. If you don't want to mess with the outside, you can hire landscaping services (grass etc.) for the summer, and snow removal services for the winter, and you'll pretty much have the same thing as the condo, minus the third party rules, and it will probably cost you the same as the association fee does.
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Apr 9, 2022 03:27
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Bula Vinaka posted:Where ever you live in the USA, you have to abide by four different sets of laws: Federal, State, County, and local (either city/town or township). yes that's all well and true but what if you live somewhere without one and then someone PARKS A CAR ON THE STREET or HAS THEIR GRASS HIGHER THAN 1.4 INCHES???
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Apr 9, 2022 03:33
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you forgot about the laws of GOD
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Apr 9, 2022 03:42
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its all nice on rice posted:Three Olives owns a condo. You should buy a house. I moved in with my husband, he already owned a house, and sold the condo. I miss not having a view, a doorman, valet, security, porters, just general amenities. I have to park my own car and bring the groceries in now. 
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Apr 9, 2022 03:56
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Peggy Edson posted:You get all this from your property taxes too lmao Oh, so you pay high taxes, which you're equating to the same thing as an HOA. Got it.
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Apr 9, 2022 03:59
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When I wanted to buy a home, my first thought was getting out of the cost of living arms race. In my area I even looked into mobile homes, which were way cheaper than anything else. But the lot fee? $700 a month, which undid the lower buying cost on a monthly payment. Add to that the fact that you have zero control over lot fees, meaning capital can explode them and you can do nothing about it (Something that is already happening). Which goes to the biggest minus of condos/mobiles. If the powers that be want to raise lot/HOA fees on you, well not much you can do about it. I don't know how it is in other states, but here in commiefornia, raising property values don't increase your tax burden unless you are a new buyer. Prop 13 is controversial, but my mortgage payment being the same each year is nice not going to lie. I am up 130k in value since I bought, and my monthly bill is the same. If I bought a condo there would be extra HOA fees. Which would still be better than when I rented a 1 bd apartment that increased rent by 3 figures every year. Ad again to HOA bullshit rules that they can seize your home if you don't abide by whatever random tiny dictator has ruled as law (HOA rules). TLDR: Avoid HOAs or anything with a lot fee at all costs. They will jack up fees on a whim and you won't be able to do poo poo without insanely expensive court battles. Own your own poo poo. Let you front yard over grow and flip off the neighbors that bitch because you are lord of that tiny lot and no one can do poo poo about it. Plus it is way cheaper over time.
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Apr 9, 2022 04:10
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Three Olives posted:I moved in with my husband, he already owned a house, and sold the condo. woah what the hell do condos usually come with valet parking and doormen? do you live in NYC?
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Apr 9, 2022 04:23
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ellasmith posted:woah what the hell do condos usually come with valet parking and doormen? do you live in NYC? Any major city in the US? And smaller ones with real estate expensive enough to warrant highrises?
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Apr 9, 2022 04:33
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Three Olives posted:Any major city in the US? And smaller ones with real estate expensive enough to warrant highrises? oh yeah that explains it, i live in a shithole no one has ever heard of.
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Apr 9, 2022 04:40
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Rod Hoofhearted posted:
I doubt that’s an issue.
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Apr 9, 2022 04:44
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Live in your car and mine crypto out of the trunk. Steal WiFi from Starbucks and take big, pale, sloppy soylent dumps in them terlet.
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Apr 9, 2022 04:45
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I own 7 houses for the sole purpose of riding ever increasing property values
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Apr 9, 2022 04:46
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No such thing as a desperate condowife
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Apr 9, 2022 05:16
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Apartment life sucks too I got an email about all the cigarette buts that have appeared since I moved in last month. I haven't smoked in years.
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Apr 9, 2022 11:50
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BAGS FLY AT NOON posted:I just bought a bunch of clover seed mix to start the process of de-lawning the lawn. gently caress lawns  if you like the bees and butterflies that your clover will attract, cultivate your dandelions too - important early food source for pollinators, plus who doesn't like happy yellow flowers in spring after the dreary winter months? (HOAs apparently)
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Apr 9, 2022 12:14
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are lawns now yet another thing that I have to keep in mind goons have a weirdly specific hatred of, lest they get mentioned in an offhand way and start a page-long derail where people post things like "lmao at defending Lawns"
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Apr 9, 2022 12:21
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Hammerite posted:are lawns now yet another thing that I have to keep in mind goons have a weirdly specific hatred of, lest they get mentioned in an offhand way and start a page-long derail where people post things like "lmao at defending Lawns" My piece of poo poo Bahia lawn that gets no irrigation and no fertilizer is eco friendly and looks good during rainy season. Keeping that bitch green in winter would pretty much be a crime against nature.
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Apr 9, 2022 12:28
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Lawns, personal vehicles, not living in an apartment, having an income beyond what a retail job pays. All of these make you part of the soon to be guillotined class for perpetuating human civilization.
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Apr 9, 2022 12:28
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also I'm baffled at why anyone would have a bee in their bonnet about dandelions. Dandelions are great.
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Apr 9, 2022 12:29
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Hammerite posted:also I'm baffled at why anyone would have a bee in their bonnet about dandelions. Dandelions are great. but they're w-w-w-w-weeds!~
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Apr 9, 2022 13:20
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grass lawns aren’t bad if you actually use ‘em for more than just standing or walking around in. grass can be pretty resilient to abuse if you play sports/games in them compared to other ground covers. but in most areas grass needs regular irrigation and, worse, fertilization 2-4 times per year, which is going to end up polluting local waterways. big algae blooms followed by die-offs have become the norm everywhere suburban sprawl has encroached in the area i live, and fertilizer runoff is the primary cause. there are likely better looking (subjective i know) native ground covers you could plant that would need less mowing and little to no irrigation or fertilizer because native plants are actually adapted to the local climate, but the options will depend on your area (and if you have an HOA, forget it). i stopped watering and fertilizing my yard years ago and have replaced everything that died with native alternatives, including most grass. though a few patches did manage to hang on and have mixed in with the other ground covers, which actually looks kinda nice.
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Apr 9, 2022 13:59
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I knew a lady who worked at a nearby prairie preserve, and she decided to only put plants native to the area in her garden. The HOA dinged her for “weeds in the garden beds.” She moved to a house without an HOA.
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Apr 9, 2022 14:47
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Our backyard is nice in the spring.
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Apr 9, 2022 23:10
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Nothing wrong with lawns, but they so can be hugely expensive to maintain if you live in very droughty area which is why im glad i dont have much grass
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Apr 10, 2022 01:30
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I can tell you what I gleaned about the two options before giving up for now, because the market is insane and we’re pretty much trapped in or around the north side of Chicago due to career commute logistics. If you want an ok condo you will pay like $3-400k, 20% of it up front if you want to get around pmi. Plus another, like, 10k+ at signing for a billion bullshit fees. After that you are now looking after an apartment with a fancy name on behalf of a bank. To aid you in your quest are building staff. Be sure to research how they currently do (or don’t do) their jobs. Most of the places we looked at wanted something between $800-$1500 a month for building fees. For what you’re paying in loan+taxes+building fees you can get about a third more apartment than you’d get renting for the same amount a month. Just gotta be ready to put $80k+ down and make peace with buying into a building full of potential wild cards that you can’t easily get away from, like you could with a lease. The house costs more and has more bullshit fees due at signing, but you don’t have to pay ongoing building fees, so you get a lot more for the same monthly cost as a comparatively dinky condo. You might still need to pay HOA fees though, so be sure to research that. Also, pay people to come in and inspect the house to make sure it isn’t a mess before you buy it; the inspector may still miss something bad anyways. Your problem now. Actually, everything is your problem and you are going to pay for all of it, so you might (read, Will) end up paying way more for the house in the end, and will need to manage your investment more than you would when buying into a building with a staff who manage stuff for a fee. Then if you’re in the right part of your state everything is a third cheaper than what I’m looking at, but hope you don’t work in a city, or you like insane commutes. We looked at moving 40 miles south of the city to where the houses were cheaper, but it meant a 90 minute commute each way, and 50 of those minutes accounted for something like three of the miles, because getting in and out of the city at the same choke points as everyone else who moved south to save money is unavoidable.
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Apr 10, 2022 07:00
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