• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Angry

Share this page

OK Doc, 20 lashes with a wet noodle.
 
I live in a non-gated community. Nice neighborhood, no HOA or silly rules. Neighbor next door has an older Jetta in his driveway that has not moved in a couple of years. Another neighbor decided to play the nosy card and called the code enforcement officer to have it moved. That was a year ago and it's still there (covered now).
 
Please don't get me wrong, I'm not coming down on anyone I just don't like people telling me what I can or can't do. I must say living in a gated community is something that has never had any appeal to me. My wife is enough police for me! She makes me keep it neat and tidy around here!!

Kurt.
 
Westfield_XI said:
If only it was like that..... I tried to give this car away free for months, advertised on Craigslist and on the Yahoo Spridget site. I was not aware of this site at the time, but would have put it on here too. So what am I supposed to do? Rent a garage for the next 20 years to avoid disrespecting the rest of the country? I will be damned if I will pay monthly fines to my HOA just to keep a junk car that I do not want and cannot even give away.....

If it makes you feel any better I did give the fiberglas hardtop and a couple of small parts to the only guy who bothered to respond to my ads. I also put the engine, axle, steering etc in my Westfield, but there was still a complete body with only a little surface rust, ribcase, seats, instruments and all the rest. Good bumpers, windshield and frame,hood and trunk too.

Lot's of people talk about parting out an old car, ever tried to actually do that in a gated neighborhood with strict CC&R's? Do you feel like setting up parts racks in your garage since you can't keep them in the driveway and the backyard is a garden not a junkyard (as my wife put it). How about spending your time off removing rusted bolts and parts and packing and shipping them. And all this at zero profit to you and the expense of your free time that you used to spend working on projects that you actually care about. Oh yes, and you can't start working on your kit car, since the garage is full of rusty Spridget and will be for months to come.

Been there, done that, and never going back there again. I have learned my lesson: a rusty old Spridget is worth less than zero dollars, since you have to pay to get rid of it. Talk is cheap, but despite what people will say on forums like this, nobody will put their money where their mouths are. Based upon my experience, that is a fact not speculation.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess sarcasm doesn't always come out well in print. That's OK. I don't mean to ruffle anybody, but it's just that I spend a whole lot of time fixing rust. It's hard work, but very enjoyable and satisfying. I don't mean that you <span style="font-style: italic">are</span> dis-respecting us. Hey, it's your car and you have to do what's best for yourself (and you must obey your wife).

I don't know what HOA or CC&R mean, but I'll bet it has something to do with another thing I have never really heard of; "Gated Community". I assume that's just a housing neighborhood where the roads are closed off for public access? No? Why would you have to pay fines? Why would you have to rent a garage when you have one?

I'm sorry, I just don't have any idea of the social or practical expectations in that part of the world.

As for me; Yes, I have parted out many cars. Yes, I have parts racks in my garages (I couldn't imagine keeping parts outside in view of others). Yes, I have paid the recycler (only here in Denmark) because metal sorting is more expensive than the metal.

One of my garages, though a bit older photo.

P1060502.jpg
 
Oh, I am impressed, what a lovely space with LBCs.

Wish I had a garage as large.
 
I live in the Myrtle beach area and I have seen a lot that makes me shake my head. my friend had to remove $400.00 worth of shrubs because they weren't one of the "approved " type. worked for me. looked great in my yard neighbors love them.
in reality the people live that way because that is what they want. they are scared that we might move in beside them.
 
Wow! I never expected the whole gated community thing to be such an issue. For those unfamiliar with the terminology, HOA is Home Owners Association, an association that uses the CC&R's, Covenants, Codes and Restrictions, to manage the development tract that we live in. Nearly every neighborhood where we live in CA has an HOA that was established by the property developer when the homes were first constructed. Some are essentially nonexistent and others are quite obtrusive, please note that these HOA's will probably not be gated communities, most are not.

In our case the HOA collects the yearly dues to maintain the streets, the gate, and the guards who man the gate. They also maintain the clubhouse, the pool and the tennis courts. A homeowner can be fined for violations of the CC&R's, which all homeowners have to sign on to as a condition of buying the house, but they cannot force you to pay. Should you refuse, and many do, the HOA puts a lien against your home and collects when you sell the home eventually.

So why would anyone want to live there? In our case, we like the fact that our neighbors CANNOT park RV's on the streets for months, that they (and we) cannot leave junky dead and dying cars in the driveway or on the street. Our neighborhood is the only one in our part of the hills that has sidewalks, the only one that has streetlights and the only one that has all utilities buried underground so there are no power poles. We are also the only neighborhood for miles around with absolutely no gang graffiti or tags anywhere. Perhaps this is why ours is the only neighbor hood that has not seen 50% price drops in the past few years. We also have NO vacant foreclosed homes either. As an example just down the street from our tract, someone renting a forclosed home from the bank has built a mini motocross track circling their house. Now there are ruts and berms everywhere and a constant blat from the unmuffled motors. They also went from 2 to 4 boats on trailers in the yard in one year.

As for the gate and the guard, I do not see any difference from living in an apartment building with a doorman. It is just a convenience. Now there is always an adult there to sign for UPS or Fed-Ex packages, even if we are out of town.
 
Hear hear. I just should have had a four car garage rather than a three. Oh well.
 
as for parting out cars, i purchased on ebay a 65 parts midget a few years back, took it apart, kept what i wanted, and sold the rest on ebay part by part, and i originally paid 425 for the car, and i kept about 1000 worth of parts for me, and sold the rest for 1250 bucks, took about 6 months to complete, i thought it was completely worth the time and effort... no hoa or gated community to deal with, but we are a historic neighborhood which means, i can't paint my house without permission, kinda sucks..........no kinda about it it does suck to have these types of rules unless you like them, lol
 
HOA's and gated communities vary greatly in the rules and regulations. I don't have a problem with people who live in the gated comunities.They are very happy living that way and is not affecting my life at all. Some of my friends live in them. I just am not going to give up my freedoms of living in my home which I have worked very hard for also.

I want my friends and neighbors to be able to drop in to see me anytime they wish with out an interview from the guard and ID check with insurance cards for my vehicle and the typical walkaround by sercurity that makes you feel like your trash. (sorry but that is how it feels)

I want to be able to drive my company van home when my car is in the shop and not get a letter from the HOA saying I am breaking covanate cause it has signage. so what do I do rent a car during my cars repairs?

I want my neighbors to be someone I trust, not watching my house for infractions

I want to be able to have any one visit my home at any time unannounced, I want to be able to go anywhere without worried someone from the neighborhood may see me with certain people.

And if that means I have a neighbor that has an old RV so be it. Atleast he will let me borrow it. With my neighbors if one of them does something unsightly we just ask them to move it to the back yard. Since we are friends they usually do it.

Like I said to each his own, I just quit visiting my friends that live in them and I have told them why. We are still friends
I want to basically have the freedom to do what I want at my house
 
That's cool. Just tonight I was down visiting my daughter in Faxe Ladeplads, and a friend called me saying he was at my house. I said I would be home in about an hour and he can take my spare key, go in and make himself some coffee. He drives a Peugeot 206 and his most fun in life is driving down to NĂĽrburgring and blasting around the circuit a few times on a weekend.

Yeah, there are signs on some vans on the street, occasionally a small trailer with stuff on it and the sidewalks aren't beautiful, but I try to be a good neighbor not bother the others with making noise at night.

I live here Knabstrupvej
 
Wow, actually yeah. My degree is Electrical and Computer Engineering! I graduated about a year and a half ago.
 
I suppose it all boils down to your neighbors and the sort of community you live in. The Carolinas or Denmark are very different from Los Angeles. Like so much of America, we have an enormous variation in income between the top and everyone else. In my case our neighborhood is less than 1 mile from territory claimed by several different gangs, in the San Fernando Valley where I live there are over 20,000 individually identified gang members with over 100,000 in Los Angeles county. Until they installed speed bumps in the street leading to our neighborhood they used it as a drag strip on Saturday nights.

I can put up with a little inconvenience in exchange for not having the Los Crazy Mofo's or the Nazi Lowriders cruising my neighborhood looking for something to do. And yes, I would not mind at all living elsewhere without such problems, but what can you do in today's market?
 
Westfield_XI said:
I can put up with a little inconvenience in exchange for not having the Los Crazy Mofo's or the Nazi Lowriders cruising my neighborhood looking for something to do. And yes, I would not mind at all living elsewhere without such problems, but what can you do in today's market?
Click to expand...

Wellllll! They are hiring in the North Dakota oil field's! I live 450 miles from there and they are blaming our labor shortage on the fact that everyone has gone to ND. Course the guys that showed up from down south figuring they could live in ther car till they find a job are getting a rude awakening right now! BRRRRRRRRR! Acute housing shortage up there from what I here.

Kurt.
 
nomad said:
Westfield_XI said:
I can put up with a little inconvenience in exchange for not having the Los Crazy Mofo's or the Nazi Lowriders cruising my neighborhood looking for something to do. And yes, I would not mind at all living elsewhere without such problems, but what can you do in today's market?
Click to expand...

Wellllll! They are hiring in the North Dakota oil field's! I live 450 miles from there and they are blaming our labor shortage on the fact that everyone has gone to ND. Course the guys that showed up from down south figuring they could live in ther car till they find a job are getting a rude awakening right now! BRRRRRRRRR! Acute housing shortage up there from what I here.

Kurt.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have a few buddies that work for the St. Paul electric union...I guess they are "encouraging" people to go to ND to shorten the waiting list down here...I guess it is a 5 year wait for journeymen!
 
Westfield_XI said:
I suppose it all boils down to your neighbors and the sort of community you live in. The Carolinas or Denmark are very different from Los Angeles. Like so much of America, we have an enormous variation in income between the top and everyone else. In my case our neighborhood is less than 1 mile from territory claimed by several different gangs, in the San Fernando Valley where I live there are over 20,000 individually identified gang members with over 100,000 in Los Angeles county. Until they installed speed bumps in the street leading to our neighborhood they used it as a drag strip on Saturday nights.

I can put up with a little inconvenience in exchange for not having the Los Crazy Mofo's or the Nazi Lowriders cruising my neighborhood looking for something to do. And yes, I would not mind at all living elsewhere without such problems, but what can you do in today's market?
Click to expand...

Westfield_XI, I know <span style="font-style: italic">exactly</span> where you're coming from, and you have my sympathies.

I grew up in Van Nuys.

:square:
 
Here we sit in a country full of men so castrated by political correctness that we can no longer even ensure safety and security in our own communities. We must resort to living behind guarded gates, but for how long will that be enough?

It's why I moved from Washington, D.C. , where I grew up, to Tulsa ,OK. Still enough men and women with strength and sense here to last perhaps one more generation. This place has allowed my children to grow up in the same America that I did.

Maybe we can still straighten it out, but it ain't looking good.
 
Back
Top