History Zoning -Any suggestions

You don't have to create an eyesore by being a car guy. Living in a neat and clean environment protects the investment you have in your home which is probably the biggest investment you will ever make. Nobody wants to live next to a junk yard. Show some consideration for your neighbors. Unfortunately thats not always the case and the reason there are HOA's.

 

Gman0046 got it right. HOAs are a necessary evil if you want to protect the value of the property you have in an area where zoning laws are real loose. I see it all the time down here. A beautiful home and piece of property and right next door a scrap trailer and junk piled up in the yard to eyeball level. People buy houses in HOA communities so they don't have to deal with that. I am a car guy through and through but when it comes time to sell my property I don't have to worry about the dipshit next door and the condition of his property ruining the value and sale of mine. And I have a ball buster of an HOA by the way. County seems to generally look the other way as there is still a lot of farm property here.

 

Before we purchased our current home, I insisted that I be granted exception (in writing) to certain elements of the HOA covenants. The realtor and the seller pressured the HOA to make that happen rather than lose the sale. Since we have moved in, I have joined the board of the HOA and have managed to get the worst of the covenants changed.

 

Nobody wants to live in a junk yard. I wouldn't say that. I certainly enjoy living in mine. And I suspect there are plenty of others who would enjoy the same. However they have a wife who will not let them.

 

I enjoy living in my junkyard too.We are zoned AG1 here and dont even have to have a building permit to build pole barns,sheds and such. I carefully researched the zoning regs before I bought this property in 1980.

 

I think my zoning rules say something about how far from the property line I have to keep my swine. Pretty much anything goes.

But I did clean up most of my junkyard over the past seven years. I'm down to a few no op vehicles which mostly won't fit inside, and a small scrap metal pile. And right now there are no cars in my shop, and only 5 in the 6 car garage.

Lots of neat stories and perspectives here. We made the move out to the country 24 years ago, after my wife got a horse. It's worked out pretty well.

 

Jim, no cars in the shop and only 5 in the 6 car garage. Man your slipping!

 

I'd rather live next to a junkyard, than busybody control freak nutcases. It's not even close. I'd rather live next door to a Logger, than Earth First! fragrant vagrants, etc etc. So long as you knew that going in, it's like living next to to an airport. What did you expect?

Thing is, the City is already supposed to be the HOA, most urban or semi-rural areas have all sorts of code requirements. That's what taxes are for.

 

Around me they are using drones. Kelsey Grammer (Cheers, Frasier) and has a house and property a few towns over, he is complaining to the town board about old cars on the land next to him.
The cars are in a gully and one would have to trespass to see them.

 

What a cunt

 

Used to get the stink eye from a few neighbors that weren't into cars. Some were tolerable but I felt like the neighborhood outcast. Some cars I stashed at other friends garages. The town wanted to see plates on the vehicles in my yard. I bought 3 sets of expired plates for a temporary fix but eventually they leaned hard on me. My wife and I finally went to the bank for an equity loan. Took me 10 years to pay it off but wish now I'd done it 30 years earlier. Best thing I ever did. 25 x 50, tall walls and room for a lift so I can stack a couple. Everything is inside now outta sight.

 

Caveat Emptor = Buyer Beware.
Three pages of rants for and against property restrictions but the complainers have nobody to blame but themselves. The bottom line is that you need to investigate before you invest. Don't move anywhere where your lifestyle doesn't fit the surroundings, because the neighborhood isn't gonna change to suit you. Lots of people assume property rights are absolute, but they're not in most places. If you want to move where there are no restrictions, then you can't complain when your new neighbors start a pig farm.

 

This is an interesting thread, a lot of good points and strong opinions. Fun to read.
I can see both sides to this one. Having grown up in a semi-rural central Texas neighborhood with literally no zoning or restrictions (or at least any that were enforced), and in which my parents still live, I have seen first hand what happens when you let people in a neighborhood treat their property as their own personal kingdom and everyone else be damned.
It's really bad and I would not be able to tolerate some of the messes, trash piles, and ramshackle houses on display. And it's only 6 streets in the whole neighborhood!
On the other hand, my wife and I bought a house smack in the middle of downtown Austin a little over five years ago and we have definitely employed code enforcement a few times, mostly over small things like unmowed grass at rent houses or similar--like the time our backyard neighbors had a guy living in a tent in their backyard for 2 months. And our direct, next door neighbor--houses separated by our 15 foot wide driveway and about 5 or 6 feet of grass--had (he's since moved) a backyard packed full of yard sale junk and a constantly rotating cast of old cars and trucks. Although he had multiple violations going at once, we never called on him because he was friendly and helpful and did all kinds of neighborly things for us. Those punk (talking music here, not adjectives) kids who live in the house behind us, different crew every year, and let their grass grow 3 feet high for months at a time? Not so neighborly, them. So I don't feel as bad for not being neighborly about the problem.
So I guess what I am trying to say is that this is probably not the area for absolutes. Can I see the usefulness of zoning, within a city and homes in close proximity? Yeah, my house is way more of an investment than my car and I am glad that someone is out there not letting my neighborhood go the way of my parents'. I would not choose to live in an HOA subdivision or neighborhood but those who chimed in about why they choose to do so and the benefits of it have valid points. But I think what it really comes down to is that if you are one of those who desires absolutely no restrictions on what you can do on your property, buy in a place with no restrictions. Seems obvious but also seems like it's pretty regular that someone is on here looking for help dealing with an HOA or zoning.


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In 1968 the township next to where I lived passed an ordinance that any vehicle parked on a property had to have a current license and inspection sticker or it was inoperable. There were a lot of guys in the service that had cars sitting that did not meet the operable standard. The township would come and tow the car off of your property and take it to the impound lot. The fine was $100.00 plus costs; $25.00 towing and the moment it went through the gate at impound it was $5.00 a day storage. You could only get the car back if you brought a current tag for it and paid all of the charges. I helped out some of the guys that I knew and towed there cars to my property. Got stopped by the cops they wanted to know where I was taking the cars. I guess I was depriving them of revenue. I told them that if I was taking them out of their township it was none of their business.

 

I've found that a privacy fence around the yard and another privacy fence around the vehicles works very well. If the neighbors can't see the cars, most of them don't care. If the tops of the cars are still visible, a brown tarp works better than bright blue or green. It blends into the privacy fence.

You can usually get a few pretty good fence pannels for free anywhere they are replacing them.

 

I intend to shift much of my hoard from this 3 acres. To 5 acres We own at the top of bowman hill south of Hardy. Before I move the first vehicle I intend to build a 6 ft chain link fence. The thing is The property borders the Qzark acres subdivision and they have plenty of restrictions. And a Church is located next to part of our land. I am going to osmossis the junk there over time. I already have a farm tractor and a flatbed trailer there. Will bring in some farm equipt and sawmill stuff next. Then the bulldozers. last will be vehicles and school buses. I checked and there is no zoning so theirs nothing anyone can legally do. I might put up some board or metal fence to hide some of it from view. Theres already a 2600 sq ft house on the place. and a 30x40 concrete slab that I can build a pole shed over. We bought the place at a tax forfet auction for $841.00. and at present my youngest son and his family are living there. My wife just got the deed for a tax forfet house she bought on 1/2 acre at Ash Flat Ark. Its a bigger better house. My son is going to move there. She bought the place for $400. I wouldn't live there if you paid me. Its in town restrictions and close neighbors ect.

 

Find out which of your neighbors hates what you are doing in "their" neighborhood and pay them a visit. Bring a plate of cookies.

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Ok the state has designated the two hwys at our corner to be Senic routes. And the state law requires a privacy fence. They actually cant do anything to me because I had complied my hoard long before the designated the Hwy's Senic. But I for meanness did put up a sort of privacy fence. old car hoods, tailgates shelving ect. wired to my existing fence. certainly not pretty. Any road perhaps some will enjoy the pictures.

 

My neighbors don't complain We have all known each other for many decades. Its the chicken houses that are causing me to want to move. Those things really smell. And the roads where not designed for the constant use of 80,000 pound trucks. The Highways are potholed and washboarded. and property taxes are rising. So I picked a area too rocky and steep to build chicken grower houses. We do have 10 acres that we own about three miles from here. Its a 1/4 mile from the river. however the front acre has flooded a few times. And any overflow and the county road floods. And that gravel road is dusty in the summer. We still have a pole barn shop there a 20 x28 cabin and a rotted down house trailer there. The best thing about it is it has a good well 9 gallons a minute . Its a drilled well 186 ft deep and has a 75 ft static water level. I can kill deer and squirril's there pretty easy. Its also not in the Pocahontas school district so the property taxes are lower. The flooding and dust is why we moved here to the paved road.

 

The HOA restrictions were created mostly to maintain the property values associated with the neighborhood. Who wants to lose value on their house investment? We lived in one neighborhood where people complained about a temporary kiddie portable inflatable pool set in a front driveway for a bit but that was to the extreme. This is why we looked for a house with a 3rd bay to tuck my truck away in as well away from the elements. There have been some discussions at work recently where HOA's have been considering putting liens on the properties until things are addressed. It can be a fine line. I am assuming you moved into the area for similar reasons as your neighbors. All of this needs to be taken into consideration when pursuing our hobby.


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Im not the least bit concerned about property values. And We own all our land free and clear. Bought & paid for and no debt. All of my neighbors borrowed to purchase and borrowed whenever they could. And since the 2008 housing bubble deflated they now owe more than their places would sell for. Want to know how much your neighbors owe. Its easy to find out. The liens are recorded in the county courthouse. And its public record. The have to let you look at them if you want.

 

i hear about h.o.a.s being a bad thing quite a bit. ours is a toothless dog--trustees have told me they really have no way to enforce regs. the only way to go after them is to let police handle it. we're not even allowed--technically--to have window a/c's, but after one neighbor was allowed to keep his unuseable pink ski boat parked in his drive for close to 10 years, i put a window a/c in the garage. every gearhead in the sub followed suit! (even a trustee's husband)

 

Window AC! is there any other kind?

 

Ive got 4 pigs all fattened up. Gonna make sausage and pork chops pretty soon.

 

It begs the question. A house is a place to live, first and foremost. A house falls apart, it is a depreciating asset. It needs a new roof, or a driveway, windows, appliances, carpeting, etc etc. Near as I can tell they go up in price due to monetary inflation, in which case it's largely a wash, and have to pay tax on the "appreciation", or a real estate bubble, driven by lenders, who basically blew up the monetary system in 2008 - because of the "investment" nature of homes and real estate, flippers, and the rest of it. I guess there are basically shacks in some states. that go for millions of dollars now.

They should have let the whole thing crash. At least couples starting out today, could afford to buy a house now. The whole thing is bug nuts crazy.

 

Be like this guy:
https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-da...cial&utm_campaign=Web+Social&utm_content=Tank

 

There is a special name for people who enforce their will on other people, under the color of law, or the threat of financial ruin, but we are not allowed to talk about politics here.

 

Had to go out and feed the wood stove. So I took a picture of the pigs. They are all littermates. one didn't grow a big as the others. they are potbelly cross with Hampshire.

 

Well a young couple buying a house is possible. If they can save 10% of whatever they earn. They can buy a distressed property that has no loan value because it doesn't meet the criteria to qualify for a government backed loan. In such instances cash is king because they don't have to compete with credit buyers. We actually do buy houses and land for cash in this manner. Two years ago we bought a 2600 sq ft house on 5 acres for the sum of $841 at a tax forfet auction. Just last week my wife got the Tax deed to a bigger better house on 1/2 acre in town at Ash flat Ar. she paid $400. And the owner was the bank. They had foreclosed on the place. But never paid the taxes. The taxes where 7 years delquent. She made the lower than what taxes where owed offer. Not really expecting to be successful. Thinking the Bank would redeem it. However for some reason the bank didn't redeem it. And now its hers free and clear. She must now wait 15 years for the title to ripen into a valid warranty deed. Or she could petition the court to quiet title. Then the place could qualify for loans & title insurance.

 

There are some neighbors from hell here...