Next month they may get a new yard nazi who hassles you about your potted plants and who knows what else.If you can avoid ever having to deal with a HOA, that's my suggestion. 

We usually hang shower curtains, add throw rugs, hangers and gift bags with tissue paper, a plant and door mat at the front door and lots of air fresheners.

In fact the only parent who was really hesitant to cosign was the one whose kid eventually had pot plants in the closet and then stopped paying, so I use that as a red flag.

We have asked for a fence to be put up because their dog has gotten onto our property, urinates on our plants and has nearly killed one of our cats.

And they'll probably have to increase them even more.Then there was the plant nazi who harassed me about my tomato plants planted in pretty ceramic planters....OMG, I couldn't get out of there fast enough!

Well we went to plan B since I will be long dead in 50 years and are planting blueberries that will make a pretty nice return 1 million a year net. .

Add to that an over packed apartment, standing water, plants, furniture against the baseboard heat, keeping the air temp high and not opening the windows..chances are you are going to see mildew or mold.

Intel just dropped over 10 billion building their new fab plants that will take them into the next 25 years.. and will bring in 6k new employees, Nike has big expansion plans and a day does not go by were some other ancillary other tech company starts up..

That sounds like too much for me to spend right now.In addition, there is a clause in the tenant lease which states "Tenant shall conduct routine landscaping of the Premises, including regular mowing of the grass, removal of leaves and small fallen branches, regular removal of all weeds and grasses in landscaped areas and trimming of plantings, including shrubs, unless otherwise provided by the Owner or a third party such as a homeowners association."

It needs a lot of work, so I would of course ask for a discounted price, but I've been concerned it will offend her, or plant the idea to list publicly on the MLS and put us out of a place to live (since there's plenty of people who can overbid us these days).