Some people describe the “American Dream” as home ownership.  After all, we all want a place to call our own, a place that reflects our personalities, provides shelter, a safe haven, a place completely and totally under our control.  Like almost everything else in association controlled housing the dream is a lie.  These days everything associated with a home seems to be based on deliberate misinformation that is repeated nonstop to the point where everyone believes it.  Why not?  They have heard the same lies for a couple of generations, it has to be true, right?

Not so fast.

Deborah Goonan joins us On The Commons.  Deborah is a prolific, analytical and detailed blogger.  Her blog,  Independent American Communities is a comprehensive study of what is going on in the world of association living.  Today we debunk some of the more often told lies surrounding HOAs.  Probably the biggest, and potentially most damaging whopper, is that HOAs protect property values.  Citing from a white paper referencing various studies conducted about HOA restrictions and property values we learn what common sense has always told us.  Having burdened your house with covenants, rules, regulations, “grass police” and all the other atrocities that are part and parcel of associations, we then turn to the physical structure of these houses made of “cardboard and scotch tape” and what we discover there is truly alarming.  We talk a little about vinyl siding and Low e windows and we urge you to ask yourself whether this can possibly be “The American Dream” or is it more like the American nightmare?

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