the world as satisfying as standing in front of a picture window on a hot August day, air conditioning set to 68 degrees, cold drink in hand, and looking on as someone else sweats their posterior off in 110 degree heat, cutting grass, picking up debris, and trimming bushes.

Pro:

sweat over your lawn. Waking up the next morning after a blizzard, leaving for work, and finding your driveway or parking lot already cleared of snow (and sometimes even salted!) is pretty darn sweet.

Pro:

broken neck! Someone else will do it! (See aforementioned ice cold drink and air conditioning on hot August day.)

Pro:

by your elected board of directors and can vary depending on any number of different factors. How in need are the other buildings compared to yours? When was the last time yours was painted? When was your building built? How much is in the budget for painting this year? What phase of the painting program are you in, and is the program on schedule? Have the moons of Jupiter lined up with Uranus and started the great conjunction?

Con:

WHEN your building gets painted is not up to you. It is determined

at about 3:00AM. Or, the flip side… you walk out to your car in the morning to find that the plows haven’t come out yet, so you have to shovel yourself out of your spot or garage. You’re late for work, your pant cuffs and shoes are soaking wet, and you may have thrown your back out! Argh!!!

Con:

Someone else paints your house! Woo hoo! No more ladders, scaffolding, or risking a

Those snow plow trucks are usually scraping, bumping, and beeping

morning while you’re trying to sleep in. Con:

Someone else plows the snow. This comes in at a close second to watching someone else

That someone else may be mowing your lawn at 7am on a Saturday

Someone else mows the lawn. This is totally cool! No doubt. There are very few feelings in

siding! Someone else fixes the tuckpointing! Someone else cleans out that clogged gutter!

Pro: Cool beans!

always cut and edged, the bushes are trimmed, all the buildings are painted, the parking lots are sealed, all the doors match, etc.

Pro:

and fined if they don’t pick up after their dog or if they leave their junk outside, make loud noises, damage any property, or do anything else that impedes upon and tramples down the peace and tranquility that is your association-given right!

Pro:

forget a plastic baggie while you’re out walking Mitzi, and you return a little while later, bag in hand, only to discover that it’s too late! The violation was already being reported to the association even as you were bagging up little Mitzi’s care package! Leapin’ Lizards, if you forget to close your garage door one time! And Holy Flying French Fries, if you have a party that gets a little loud after 9:00PM on a Saturday. Or Holy H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks if you

ConS:  |

There are all these annoying rules! God forbid you

prohibited. So, any opportunity for personal expression or individual accents on the outside of your unit is typically quashed, forbidden, prohibited, and punishable by fines. What do you mean I can’t hang my White Sox Flag in my window? What do you mean I can’t have a blue front door? Is this a communist country, or a free country?

Con:

There are all these wonderful rules! Inconsiderate, loud, and messy people will get busted

Any changes to the fairly uniform exterior appearance are typically

Con:

… (thinking…) Yeah, I got nothing. No downside whatsoever.

The association or neighborhood has a well-kept, neat appearance. The grass is

Someone else fixes that pesky roof leak! Someone else replaces the loose piece of