Hoa horror. Would you bail or stay and fight?

[Cheryl R.]

Last year, I bought a house in the subdivision Grove Park in Durham, NC.  We got renters in the place and ended up asking them to leave because they could not follow the hoa guidelines and they were happy to go.  Got new renters in and I am realizing that the hoa difficulties are not valid issues.   We get about one letter per month for minor issues, but this one takes the cake.  I got a letter saying that the renters need to clean up a planter in the backyard because it is full of weeds.  First off, those weeds are rosemary, which were there when we bought the house, NOT weeds.  It has a layer of pine straw over the bare earth.  Second, it's in the BACK YARD, not visible from the street.  In order to see this planter, the hoa had to ride a golf cart down a greenway and use binoculars.   This is not cool.  I felt I was being targeted, but when looking on the neighborhoods social sight, I am learning that we are not being targeted, that this sort of thing happens all the time.  One person got told to remove their high grass from the mailbox.... it was daylillies.   Another got told to remove weeds from a planter and stated they are phylox, not weeds.   So would you stay and fight, or just sell this place and buy elsewhere, leaving the hoa nazi's to their game?   I would take a loss.  I replaced flooring and got a new water heater, etc.... thinking I'd keep this place at least 20 years .

[Keith N.]

Okay, I took time to read your whole post now. The HOA of grove park also sends me letters every few months to move trash cans, pick up leaves, paint my mailbox, etc. they’re pretty anal about things I agree. But the neighborhood looks really nice and the grounds are extremely well maintained. I’d prefer that they be annoying about little things rather than have the neighborhood look ******.... I’ve never actually received a fine for a violation. I think of the HOA as a free property manager for me.