Adventures in homeowners associations

It’s been an interesting week for  homeowners associations (HOA) around Austin. First, KXAN reported that one HOA was cracking down on children’s chalk drawings on sidewalks (“Chalk drawing draws citation from HOA“). Families were warned that if they didn’t remove those drawings they could be fined and have a lien placed on their home. Today KXAN reported that a local HOA used satellite images to catch a local veteran with a  metal shed in his backyard (“HOA used satellites to spot violations“). Apparently, the HOA was attempting to protect the beauty of the neighborhood from a shed that could only be seen by using Google Earth.

People may do not understand how many of their rights they sign away  when they join some HOAs. People must either not read those HOA agreements or assume that the HOA would not waste their time enforcing some of these petty little rules.

It’s little wonder that Americans are willing to surrender a little of their privacy in that name of national security. After all, they are signing away some of privacy to protect their neighborhood from backyard sheds and children drawing on the sidewalks.