Where do you park?

I agree... Chance you are right. But please keep it in perspective. Water off your back I think would be better. So what you got a complaint, this is unreasonable but at least deserves a "sorry you feel that way" kind of response. If I understand correctly, the neighbor left you a note? Is that the official complaint?

Most reasonable people, in looking at this they way you have described, would aggree with your point. I would not let yourself get too concerned with this... if this is truly an example of why you would move... seems a little too much like the wrong thing to do...?

 

Chance,

You hit a valid point. You think the sex predator in the 'hood brings down the home values? I sure do!

 

I just think that the majority of our neighbors bought in this neighborhood for a reason - nice homes, good schools, etc - and are going to take care of their property in a responsible manner. When you spend what we have all spent on a house in this neighborhood every reasonable person is going to protect their investment. Convenants are in place to protect the look, feel and value of the neighborhood - I just think that some people take it too far.

 

Chance3,

Since you are legally parked on VDOT street ( not in front of fire lane / not in front of mailbox / not blocking any driveway ) , who / where did you get this compliant from ?? ( neighbor or HOA ) If your car is probably registered, what rule did you break ?? Confused ??!!?!!!

 

We did not break any rule. We live in a SFH and park legally in front of our house. The complaint we received was because we park one of our 3 cars on the street and other 2 in our driveway. We do not park any of our cars in our garage (explained why in a previous post). Our neighbor (unknown who) thinks that all cars belong in the driveway or garage and that cars parked on the street bring down property values. Mind you, this car is a 2006 model.

 

So the complaint came from some mystery neighbor ?? Not from HOA office. If that is the case, as T8erman wrote, just toss it.

 

Agreed. Any neighbor who is gutless enough to leave you an anonymous note rather than discuss their problem with you face-to-face doesn't deserve your consideration.

 

As others have said - just ignore it. My goodness, I could understand if it were a junker car with no tires and on blocks......sounds like your neighbor likes to complain about petty things.....

 

As a point of clarification from the HOA, if a car is properly licensed and parked legally on the street, the HOA will not get involved. We do get these complaints, but tell them that it's not an HOA issue.

 

Chance3,
I hope for your sake you and Kholbert don't end up on the same street if you move!

"And yes for the record we will probably be leaving this neighborhood due to some of these issues. "

Someone did say no matter where you move there is always one or two that will stir your ire. Did I just use "ire"?

These forums are great -
"No speeding a kid will get killed" -- "Your kid shouldn't be in the street to begin with so move your kid and he won't get killed"

"you have 3 cars, lose one of them" -- "stop parking on the street, I hate the color of your car" -- "don't pick on my car, pick on the neighbors trashcan being out before 7pm"

"Put in a skate park to keep our kids busy and out of trouble" -- "why don't you parent your kids and I hate skates"

"kill openband" -- "openband is the best"

"North Broadlands is better than South Broadlands" -- "South Broadlands is better than North Broadlands"

"Death to Voles" -- "Don't kill the voles, they have feelings"

"Why are people getting into the pools that are not residents of Broadlands?" -- "AH - don't invade my privacy by putting my face on my pool pass"

"The owner of the steakhouse won the VM house good for him" -- "It's a conspiracy - the steakhouse owner is in cohoots with VM and won the house"

"Cafe Panche is good and really caters to the customer" -- "I had the worst service at Cafe Panche"

These are just off the top of my head....I love it!

 

If only you would have mentioned the Clydes debate and smoking, that was a fun one as well

 

Don't forget the hospital and the blasting!

 

I understand the need and agree with the right of my neighbors to park their vehicles on the street. I have lived in various apartments, condos, homes where on street or parking lot was my only choice. I don’t understand why anyone would choose to park on the street when they could park their garage. My old house had a 1 car garage and I parked on the street all the time. One night a teenager ran into my next door neighbor’s car which was parked on the street (I had parked in the driveway that night). I hated having to scrape frost and snow off and getting wet from the rain and wasting gas preheating. When we moved here to a 2 car garage house I immediately installed off-the-ground bike storage and shelves to keep the garage clear for our cars.

I guess I just don't understand why anyone would choose to expose themselves and/or their vehicles to the elements. Why buy a 2-3 car garage home and not keep at least 1 vehicle inside? My wife enjoys the safety and convenience of enter and exiting her car indoors. Other neighbors have built/bought HOA approved sheds to store their occasionally used recreation and yard equipment. I know I have rarely used stuff in my garage that I could store in the basement or attic but it’s not a priority since I can fit two vehicles in our garage. I apologize if my perspective on garage use and question of HOA rules offends any of my neighbors. I will however, concede the issue of children safety since one could reasonably argue that drivers tend to drive slower on streets crowded by parked cars.

 

I'm looking out on DeMott right now. I do not ever see that many cars parked on both sides (except when they were paving) and it's rare to see "two way traffic."

The real safety issue isn't parked cars on streets. It's cars flying along DeMott and other roads way too fast.

But that's another topic, eh?!

 

Just an observation having lived in almost ten different cities. It must be the hectic nature of this place with the high salaries, high traffic volume and higher cost of living that drives people to be so picky.

It seems people here are so unhappy or frazzled that they get upset by the tiniest things. Someone from the outside reading these forums would probably be horrified at the things we complain about in our suburban utopia.

95% of those things are simply irrelevant, like this very post.

So relax and just let stuff go, uptight Broadlanders!

 

Personally, I do agree that as possible it is best to just park in your own garage or driveway and not on the street (or lawn!)

That said, I also am relatively new to this area and agree somewhat with "Silence..." that compared to the many other places we've lived, there are some folks really into nitpicking.

I like the HOA and I do like things to look nice but sometimes I think folks go overboard with tiny nitpicking. I really like this area and there is so much to offer here but more than anything I do wish it was a bit more relaxed and friendly.

Oh well, can't have everything.

 

I would bet that "we" nitpick no more or less than pretty much every other similar community in the US.

It is the anonimity of using an online forum that promotes peoples willingness to speak out. I would wager that most of us have verbalized "nitpicking" issues with neighbors at parties, gatherings or just chatting while getting the mail.

 

Could be true, T8erman, but this is an especially high strung area here. Even people visiting from other places say they can kind of feel the tension and anxiety here.

Personally, we are lucky because neither of us have to commute and we have carved out a simple life. But our clients, and especially their kids, are wayyyyyyyy stressed.

Maybe it's the high prices and hectic lifestyle that make everyone want life to be "perfect" here...a recipe for disappointment.