Miss Cellania
Morning Cup of Links: Fighting the HOA
by Miss Cellania - September 1, 2010 - 5:08 AM
bloghead_Coffee-Links.gif

King Tut’s Family Secrets. DNA analysis reveals a lot of the missing details in his 3,300-year-old story.
*
If Websites Were Pets, we could select those that have personality traits which mesh with our own. Or we could just laugh at the similarities to our furry friends.
*
Piano Accompanist Needed. Proof of diplomatic immunity is a plus. (via Nag on the Lake)
*
Top 7 insane homeowners association rules and the fights that came up over them. However, if you have some imagination (and luck), you can fight unreasonable HOA rules. (via Boing Boing)
*
Dancing in the Movies. There are about 40 movies represented in this video; how many do you recognize?
*
What happens when you give a credit card to a panhandler? A reporter tried it and found the answer is: all kinds of different things. (via J-Walk Blog)
*
Competitive Rabbit Hopping is a legitimate sport in Denmark and a few other countries. What other race makes you go “awww” for every contestant, win or lose?
*
6 Little-Known Facts about The Dick Van Dyke Show. Beside the comedy, the show brought TV sitcoms closer to real life because it was based on real people.

« Previous Post   -   Next Post »
Click here to get a Risk-Free issue of mental_floss magazine
Comments (11)

  1. Is it my imagination, or did this Cup of Links show up earlier in the week, then mysteriously disappear?

    Also, regarding the Flock of Lawn Flamingos story… why would an anthropologist study lemurs? I know this is just a work of fiction (given that the 1st person protagonist has a different name than the author), but is this something real anthropologists do? Study monkeys?

    And if we assume the retired minister is Protestant (otherwise he’d be a retired priest), why would he display a statue of the Virgin Mary? Isn’t that a Catholic thing?

    posted by TBV on 9-1-2010 at 9:00 am

  2. I thought I was having a deja vu moment, too, TBV. At least, I remember the HOA post, the bunny hopping post, and the credit card to a panhandler one….

    posted by old hippy chick on 9-1-2010 at 9:15 am

  3. You early birds are right… Monday we had some problems with disappearing posts. They went down the rabbit hole, never to be seen again (until today).

    posted by Miss Cellania on 9-1-2010 at 9:40 am

  4. OH good! It’s not JUST me. Whew….I thought someone might have spiked my coffee or there’s a glitch in the Matrix. Wait, maybe THERE IS a glitch in the Matrix.

    posted by nihil on 9-1-2010 at 11:04 am

  5. Re: Piano Accompanist Needed

    I need a little help with the McSweeney’s site. I just don’t get it.

    I’m obviously missing the entertainment value of it, and well…I just can’t have that.

    Honestly. Could someone let me in please?

    posted by LakeLover on 9-1-2010 at 1:37 pm

  6. Here’s my thing about HOAs. As long as you are provided with the information before you make an offer on a house, you should have no reason to complain about any of the rules after you buy it. If you don’t like the rules then don’t buy the house. Simple. I will agree that some of those rules in the article were pretty ‘out there’, but they should be public knowledge. IMO, anybody who makes a stink about a rule after buying into the neighborhood is just looking to buck authority.

    posted by crocostimpy on 9-1-2010 at 1:40 pm

  7. I loved the story about fighting HOA rules, even if it is fiction (or half-fiction).

    posted by Lisa on 9-1-2010 at 2:17 pm

  8. Sigh…I wish I could dance like that.

    posted by Deb on 9-1-2010 at 2:40 pm

  9. These were from the weekend links.

    posted by Beki on 9-1-2010 at 4:39 pm

  10. My brother had a head-shaking issue with his former HOA. He was renting out his residence and the renter, without informing my brother, put up a satellite dish. A dish is allowed with HOA permission, but of course since no permission was given they started assessing fines. The renter nor my brother received notice of these fines (and the HOA could provide no proof of notice) so eventually the fines added up to nearly $10,000. The HOA went to court (without informing the renter or my brother) and obtained a lien. None of this came out until my brother notified them of his intent to sell the residence. Despite having all his updated contact information (and my brother having proof they had it far before the fines) the HOA claims they had no responsibility to inform him and the fines had to be paid. Finally, my brother’s mortgage company (the primary lien holder) threatened to sue the HOA for stopping the sale of the home and they caved, wiping the fines from the record.

    posted by Cor on 9-1-2010 at 9:55 pm

  11. Seems to me there should always be exceptions to HOA for hardship or handicaps. Basically they’re designed so that if you are any less than perfect at all times then you owe them money. Sure, the rules may seem simple when you buy a place, but they can change without notice and you may find yourself unable to keep up. It’s all for the sake of keeping up property values, which by no means are protected by any law. You could claim that having plastic lawn ornaments will decrease property values, if that’s extremely unrealistic, and they’ll have every right to send you to jail because they arbitrarily decided you owe them 100 grand.
    How the hell is that legal?

    posted by Sarah on 9-2-2010 at 2:15 am

Comment

commenting policy