Hacker News Reader

Comment by corrral | Hacker News Reader

Gotta have a carve-out for the folks participating in an MLM scheme out of their house. They're quite popular.

Of course it also benefits remote tech workers who have an LLC or whatever. And handymen, et c.

There's also the angle of "we told you what kind of harmless businesses you can have, and automotive repair isn't on the list, so you can't do that even though the rules don't explicitly say so".

This is almost always exactly what it's for, and those with ears to hear can use it to their advantage.

The key is to fly under the radar and not cause problems.

The key is to never buy a house in an HOA, and write your lawmakers to pass laws to limit their power as much as possible.

I never really understood the idea of a HOA for single-family homes, or even duplexes. It makes sense if you have a condo building, even with a small number of units, since you'll invariably have shared space that needs to be cared for.

I've seen some large HOAs that cover lots of homes where they provide free or discounted community services, like a gym, pool, tennis courts, etc. But it seems silly to structure that as a HOA rather than some sort of voluntary community organization. Or just do it more traditionally and charge membership or use fees to use the amenities. If that's not financially feasible, then perhaps there aren't enough people who actually want them, and so maybe they shouldn't exist.

And I get that many homeowners want to control their neighbors in order to keep the neighborhood frozen in some particular state, but it's... pretty gross. I hear the line "protecting home values" trotted out all the time, but that just feels like an excuse for busybodies who want to control others' lives. Things like not allowing a garage-based business that produces lots of noise and pollution should just be covered by regular zoning laws.

And piano teachers

Reply on news.ycombinator.com