John Oliver discusses homeowners associations, the surprising power they have, and how to tell if a tree is “tree-shaped.”
Conn
John Oliver discusses homeowners associations, the surprising power they have, and how to tell if a tree is “tree-shaped.”
Conn
The land of the free…free to f*** you over by rich.
ReplyUm…the day that baby is born sucks. The result is pretty great but the day is literally the worst ever. Of course puppy guy had a better day.
ReplyHOAs are mafias that can legally force you to pay “protection” money and constantly remind you “you got a nice house there, be a shame if something happened to it… Like a surprise foreclosure.”
ReplyThe USA really is the perfect example for privatising buls****.
ReplyFrom a European perspective (Germany) this is truly capitalistic neoliberal dystopia at its finest.
So HOAs are basically torture porn for Capitalists?
ReplyI am over 35, own a home (admittedly not in the US), and find the first minute about taking a bench from an old man so depressing that I go Chuck! Bye!
ReplyEvery libertarian should be staying in a HOA neighborhood. Cos HOA sounds just like what libertarians want for the whole country, no government regulations, just whatever the f they (the libertarians) want to do with you
ReplyBased on what I’ve seen in the last few years on LWT and watching documentaries about what is happening in the US, I shudder to think of living there. I’d have more actual freedom in Communist China, it seems. The concept of American Freedom extends only to what fast food brand or supermarket you’re allowed to shop at, or what car you buy. Otherwise your life is pretty much a controlled and monitored living hell if you don’t play your cards right or make a small mistake. This is freedom? This?? This is the dream? You buy your dream home just to get pounded on number two with no lube, while just trying to live a peaceful life and not really bothering anyone? Even Soviet Russia didn’t have crap like this. I live in Europe and after seeing this kind of stuff, I am happy to know that I have much more personal freedom than most people in the US. Free healthcare, free education, yes a lot of fucking taxes (but freedom to also move to another country and be tax exempt in my country which is something a regular American can not even have, even with money), but come on! I’ve grown up having a kind of admiration to the US and a fantasy view of how living there would be like living in heaven as it is so free and good, but now, you couldn’t pay me to move there, no way. I don’t want to live in a society like that, I’d feel oppressed in many ways. Turns out, I live in a land with more freedom than US, so I’ll stay where I am.
ReplySo HOA’s are basically just a mafia?
ReplyCyril, go back to to your desk!
Reply“it’s…ASININE!!!”
I have found my spirit animal XD
Reply80% of new houses are in an HOA. Why buy a new house? My wife & I bought an old house in an old neighborhood in Minneapolis – really low taxes, inexpensive, lots of retired neighbors with nothing better to do than snoop on the neighborhood and call the police if something looks funny (better than any hired security firm), and NO stupid rules about art or paint color or artificial grass. (We had to sell when we divorced.)
This all sounds like the price you pay for suburban flight – getting in such a hurry to leave the city that you stop paying attention to where the real crooks are hiding out. Good luck!
ReplyThey can kick a rock before I do anything they want no one will tell me what to do…..I will kick their ass on my property….and they will never bother me again
ReplyI kept thinking about Americans who rant about the authoritarian powers that the state has over you in socialist countries. Thank god in the US its only private entities, right?
ReplyWhere is your house, John?
Bet you don’t have section 8 renters in your gated community. If you love this scum so much, let them live Beverly Hills with you.
ReplyThis show gives me every week a new reason never to live or even visit the US.
ReplyFor me as a german, this is pure hell. There’s always the argument, that in Germany (or Europe in general) taxes are high in comparison to the US. But then you pay 200-300$ a month to a private body for maintaining the neighborhood. which is the definition of a tax. The HOAs are artificially formed monopolies, that you cant even get around and who can make up rules and collect fines? thats definetly not the land of the free!
In Germany, when you dont have the rules present when signing an contract, the are just not part of the contract. simple as that. I’m very glad i can pay a my taxes to a local government instead of private boards. The rules are clear and less intrusive the the examples in the video. the neighborhoods are maintained by the city or village. all is good.
I’m always baffled when the US is labeled as a country where freedom is embraced. yet you can not:
– decide how many trees you want in front of your house,
– drink a bottle of beer or a glass of wine in public, like a park oder beach,
– walk to a supermarket or other store without driving a car,
– go to the doctor without going into debt,
– go to college without going into debt.
Those are just some examples. Look into it. Leave the US!
ReplyI live in a condominium complex and I fucking despise our HOA. They take $430 a month from each of us owners and they can barely get landscapers that are worth a fuck.
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