Tag Archives: HOAs

Can McMansions be made suitable for aging residents?

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As I have studied McMansions, I found numerous suggestions that aging residents may not want such homes given their current needs. This recent explanation sums up some of the possible issues older residents face:

Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

The McMansion purchased years ago with its acres of ground might now seem too much to handle. With younger family members gone, there may not seem to be so much motivation for larger space. Homes with high balconies and difficult to maneuver staircases present safety challenges. Communities that maintain the grounds can be attractive.

Do the issues older residents face necessarily preclude having a McMansion? In the paragraph above, here are the issues mentioned and the ways McMansions might actually help address these issues:

  1. Too much property. Could the McMansion be expanded to take up even more of the property? Or, convert that two-story McMansion into a more sprawling McMansion ranch. While McMansions are sometimes criticized for their size compared to their neighbors, having loss property to maintain could be a plus.
  2. Fewer family members in the house so less space is needed. But, Americans love buying more stuff and instead of paying for self-storage a McMansion owner can make use of the extra interior space. They can age in place with all of their stuff.
  3. High balconies and interesting staircases could pose problems. Yet, with the space inside a McMansion, could not all of these areas be addressed by renovations? Instead of a twisting staircase, make use of some of that grand foyer to build a straight staircase with a lift.
  4. How about more McMansion neighborhoods with HOAs? Millions of Americans already live with HOAs so why not put them to work here making sure grounds and housing exteriors are kept up as residents age?

Sure, smaller spaces might be attractive for seniors but it can be hard to give up space once one has lived with it. There may be plenty of opportunities for older Americans to remain in McMansions if they want to and there are models for how this can be done.

Better methods than fines for encouraging the shoveling of sidewalks

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Yesterday, I discussed how few local officials likely want to fine people for not shoveling their sidewalks. I’m not sure the answer to solving this problem involves regulations and fines. Instead, the best solution may involve encouraging community action and neighborliness. I wonder if shoveling sidewalks in neighborhoods and communities is a good proxy for communities working together and helping each other. In recent decades, social scientists have looked for ways to measure community spirit and activity. For example, Stanley Milgram’s lost letter experiment provided inspiration for Robert Sampson and his team to look at mailing rates across Chicago neighborhoods to understand collective efficacy. Are neighborhoods with more community spirit more likely to have more of the sidewalks shoveled? In contrast, neighborhoods where people know fewer of their neighbors, with fewer community organizations, and less collective activity might be less likely to clear their sidewalks. Instead of fines, neighbors could help each other out and/or take responsibility for their blocks or neighborhoods. This might mean that a few people end up tackling a lot of the problem but a web of relationships and a sense of doing good can go a long ways. Some residents may not be able to clear snow (health or mobility issues, out of town, etc.) and others step into the gap.

Two other options are possible. First, anger and public shaming is a possibility. Imagine a block where just one or two people do not clear the snow and everyone else does. Even without glances or words exchanged, this puts pressure on the people who do not participate. With conversation, gossip in local social networks, social media posts, and more, people who do not shovel may be motivated to act (or it could poison relationships). If people in many neighborhoods want to avoid direct confrontation or do not have deep relationships with each other, this may be the route taken.

Second, millions of Americans choose to pay people to remove their snow or live in communities where snow removal is taken care of. Want a third party to take care of the sidewalks rather than own a single-family home and have to take responsibility for all of your own exterior work? People now have a range of choices.

Fines are likely present because the three options above do not always work or are not possible. But, if fines are not terribly effective or popular, it is time to get at the deeper issue of building community bonds to consistently keep sideealks clear.

Do political signs in yards lower property values?

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Homeowner’s associations often have restrictions about signs and displays owners can have on their property. The supposed goal of all of this is to protect property values. Without such community organizations, someone might do something odd to their property (ranging from painting their door an unusual color to having stuff in the yard to hanging) that would affect selling prices nearby.

Two questions:

  1. Do political signs and displays actually lower property values?
  2. Even if they do drive down property values, isn’t political expression worth it?

Regarding the first question, outside of legal opinions, I cannot quickly find scholarship with empirical evidence about this. I could see how such an argument could be made: certain political opinions or just the clutter of political signs or displays could detract from the particular aesthetic of a block or neighborhood. As realtors often suggest that the interiors of homes should be relatively depersonalized and uncluttered so that any prospective buyer could imagine themselves there, perhaps the same applies for the exterior. If political signs do indeed have a negative effect, I imagine it would be quite small. (Could signs have a positive effect? Perhaps it could indicate the political leanings of a neighborhood that some would find worth knowing. Or, it might suggest a level of political engagement that some could find attractive.)

But, even if political signs have a negative effect, how much are they worth regulating given that Americans typically like to have the right to political expression? Should HOAs have special regulations about signs or displays that go beyond what a municipality might have about size or noise or crowding? (See a recent example involving a large “Impeach Trump” sign in Elgin, Illinois that the owner reduced in size after the city said it violated their codes.) HOAs often go beyond municipal regulations to make sure that property owners are protected against possible threats to their property values.  Why not allow a little more politics in HOA developments rather than clamp down on matters that could be handled by someone else? (There is already a sorting process that goes on for homeowners at the municipal level before they even consider entering an HOA.)

Another argument to make in favor of more freedom for political signage in HOAs is thinking about the common good – theoretically what politics is about – rather than individual property owners. If more speech is better so that all sides have a chance to participate, why would we then allow HOAs to limit some political expressions just so owners can benefit?

Ultimately, homeowners voluntarily enter such communities; they do not have to purchase one of the millions of housing units governed by an HOA. At the same time, many Americans seem willing to enter HOAs to protect their property until they run into regulations they do not like. If higher property values are the ultimate goal of suburban life, perhaps these HOA dispute stories will simply continue because people cannot afford to not utilize them. On the other hand, if HOAs do not serve the common political good, perhaps they should be avoided.

 

HOAs, political signs, and elections

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What would a national election cycle be without stories of how politics and homeowner’s associations do (or do not) mix? The latest in reactions to political lawn art from Katy, Texas:

Shannon Bennett and her husband painted the tribute to O’Rourke in an effort to keep people from stealing the their political lawn sign, the Star-Telegram reported Thursday.

Bennett said she and her husband were immediately confronted by the the president of the Chesterfield Community Association, who she said was “very hostile” over the sign.

This sounds, in many ways, like a typical HOA conflict. The homeowner does something that may not be explicitly prohibited or at least is more difficult to find in the association’s regulations and conflict ensues. Painting your lawn for a political candidate is an unusual step and it is not surprising that the HOA had concerns. Add a contentious political battle and this is a Grade A HOA dust-up.

But, more details in the story suggest this is more than just an election year battle:

Bennett told the paper that she felt like there is a double standard in the neighborhood, noting that she lives near a house with a sign that reads “I stand for the anthem, and kneel for the cross.” According to Bennett, the neighbor’s sign should not be allowed under the HOA rules because it is not a political sign.

Bennett said she was forced to remove a sign that reads “kindness is everything” due to the same guideline.

And from the HOA company:

“This is not a violation for them placing a political sign; it’s the type of signage that they’ve actually placed on their property being an extremely large painting on the actual grass of their front yard,” Jordan told the Houston Chronicle. “It is a landscaping and signage violation. It has nothing to do with it being a political signage. Any type of signage of that nature would be in violation.”

Now this is not just about an election for a senate seat; now this is about which rules are enforced, which messages are deemed political, and what forms these messages can take. And in a state known for its conservatism, these disputes could fester. Neighbors are pitted against neighbors all in a quest to maintain property values.

Tomorrow: do political signs affect property values and if they do, isn’t the right to political expression worth it?