HOA Removes Fallen Tree
Many of the homes in my community share a pleasant wooded area. It’s nice to look out back and see trees rather than more houses. Plus, there is a trail great for walking. But with all the recent rain and high winds a few trees have come down or are leaning very precariously. I began to wonder how much the HOA actually does to maintain that area. I was able to find out through a neighbor.
This neighbor lives a few houses down in another row of townhouses. She relayed that a tree recently fell and just missed her deck. Branches were strewn across her back yard and deck. She said it sounded like her roof had just caved in. Fortunately, nothing was really damaged. Soon after she contacted the HOA president and they are going to handle all of the clean up. Check out the pictures.
Jocie and I walk the trail fairly often. We’ve noticed a few large trees have been removed. My unconfirmed suspicion is that the HOA removed these trees before they fell over causing real problems. A major benefit for the homeowners living under these trees.
I thought I’d write this post to congratulate the HOA for all their efforts. It’s easy to grumble about dues or think that HOA’s are too strict. But they work hard to keep the neighborhood in good shape. Thanks HOA.
What do you think? Does your HOA work for you? Ever think about taking up a position in your HOA?
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:07 pm
First, just wanted to do a shout-out to Fred - thanks for visiting my blog and I loved your comment. You and I are most definitely of the same mind with regard to consumer debt and renovating/living within our means!
You guys got socked by the same storm we did (I’m just over the bridge in DE - you may have passed by my house if you ever go to Rehoboth/Lewes!). We were personally fortunate to not have any more than a bent flagpole, a bunch of small branches down, a leak in our garden shed’s roof leading to some damage there, and some flowers and tomato plant smashed. But in southern DE overall there were a lot of big trees and branches down, smashed cars, road flooding, etc.
We live in a small town so we don’t have a homeowners association, but I’ve been noticing how HOA’s and small towns can work in very much the same way. In a town this small, the folks who make and regulate the same types of rules and who plan for and carry out the same types of work as a HOA, are my neighbors. The folks on my town’s planning and zoning board are all town residents, and there’s no one who lives within town limits who isn’t within walking distance - in fact, one is a coworker and lives just a few doors down, and our mailman and neighbor just went from being on planning & zoning to being our mayor (still our mailman, though, considering that the position of mayor pays $750/year). As he was campaigning, I talked to him about a slow storm drain that caused our yard to flood in the last big storm we had, and a few days later it was fully cleared out.
So, yeah, I do sometimes grumble about some of the town’s laws (for example, if I lived just outside the town limits I could keep a couple of chickens which I really want but can’t have here) but overall they do a good job in making our little town a good place to live. And yes I have thought about getting involved after a few more years of being here, particularly on the historical society.