Heaven or Hell: We Build, You Decide
Homeowner horror stories: Associations are heaven or hell
By Paul Bannister • Bankrate.com


To many people it's Shangri-La. Heaven. Paradise.

Everybody's lawn is manicured. No one's gone to an electric chartreuse and fuchsia color scheme. No one's got her granny panties -- or thongs, for that matter -- flapping on a clothesline. No junk cars in the side yard. No sofas on the front porch.

Everything looks wonderful.

To others, it's sheer hell. Hades. Purgatory.

Skip one Saturday mowing the lawn and the Gestapo comes down on you. Four hundred and some houses are the same boring shade of beige. You can't get that nice fresh-air fragrance in your unmentionables. That classic Corvette you were planning to restore got towed away, and your wife has been officially informed that the cute little swing near the front door is a violation punishable by death.

Depending on your perspective, your homeowner's association is either the best of all worlds ... or the worst

Read at Bankrate.com, and check the mortgage rates while you're at it.