Why can't you paint your house any color in America?

[onethousandknives]

I've brought this up in another post, but I'd like to rant about this. I was talking to the girl from Vietnam I've been talking to a lot, and we were discussing paint colors. She said she would want to paint a room bright purple, and paint the outside of the house bright purple as well. I told her in USA this would be frowned upon as an adult, to paint your room such a bright color kind of purple, and that most people would choose a more "neutral" color. She was really surprised and didn't like this. Obviously, inside of the house, you can paint however you want, but outside you cannot in much of USA, due to home owner's associations, and sometimes even city ordinances. I find this the strangest thing, in the "land of the free." Like, it seems almost Stalinist or North Korean, that one cannot even paint their house whatever color they wish.

Looking at houses in Vietnam for example, people paint them however they want. All kinds of crazy bright neon colors. And I like this!



Look at those houses! Look how colorful they are! I really like this, and seeing the brightly colored houses make me happy.





Obviously, a few brightly colored houses in USA exist. But they're rare. http://mentalfloss.com/article/49301/10 ... ed-protest These houses here for example, why is this a "protest" when in Communist Vietnam, at least a few would be perfectly acceptable paint jobs?

My mother and sister spend a lot of time watching HGTV, and the design trend is "neutral colors." What makes a color neutral? Really, it's ability to not offend people. So now instead of choosing a color you like, you're choosing a color that will not offend others. Not offending others is the main psychological driving force behind choosing a color for your house or room? Do you know how screwy and North Korean type thinking this sounds? That you now have to literally tell people in America you cannot even paint your house whatever color you want on the outside? Quite literally, the "collective" has more rights (in supposedly, individualistic America) than the individual in the simple matter of what color you can paint your house.

But then on the flipside, what is weird, is that while you can't paint your house however you wish, you can walk around like this:

When talking to her, she thought "People of Walmart" was the strangest most hilarious thing ever. She said in Vietnam if just one "People of Walmart" was spotted, they'd be talked about for a week on social media there. But here it's a daily real occurrence. So why are people allowed to express themselves in much more outlandish ways that way, but you can't paint your house orange if you feel like it? An orange house won't scare a small child. A person looking like that just might.

I don't know, this is quite weird. As we hear spoken negatively of Asian countries, or other countries, the evils of collectivism, lack of self expression, etc. But then in America this is one very real, albeit somewhat minor way, that our collectivism stunts our self expression or creativity, without any real argument about it being unsafe, dangerous, hurtful, etc (things said to ban politically incorrect speech.)

Thoughts?

[Ghost]

.

[IraqVet2003]

I know the main reason why you can't just paint the OUTSIDE of your house any color in the U.S. is due HOMEOWNER'S ASSOCIATIONS. And the rules on what color you can paint your house can vary depending on which city, town, or neighborhood you live in. Not to mention the concern over PROPERTY VALUES in certain residential areas and the ability to resell or refinance a house in the real estate market could too be factors. After all property taxes are based on the value of your house you live which in turn helps to fund the local schools, roads, police and fire services, etc. and besides what is considered colorful and beautiful for one person may be considered an eyesore to someone else.
Personally, if I were to own a house I would prefer to have the outside of it painted both a light blue along with a shade of green ("cool colors") rather than a white, brown, or beige color which in my opinion looks bleak and bland. However, it seems to me that if you what the freedom to paint whatever color you want your house an individual either has to be wealthy or live out in the country.

[onethousandknives]

I know the main reason why you can't just paint the OUTSIDE of your house any color in the U.S. is due HOMEOWNER'S ASSOCIATIONS. And the rules on what color you can paint your house can vary depending on which city, town, or neighborhood you live in. Not to mention the concern over PROPERTY VALUES in certain residential areas and the ability to resell or refinance a house in the real estate market could too be factors. After all property taxes are based on the value of your house you live which in turn helps to fund the local schools, roads, police and fire services, etc. and besides what is considered colorful and beautiful for one person may be considered an eyesore to someone else.
Personally, if I were to own a house I would prefer to have the outside of it painted both a light blue along with a shade of green ("cool colors") rather than a white, brown, or beige color which in my opinion looks bleak and bland. However, it seems to me that if you what the freedom to paint whatever color you want your house an individual either has to be wealthy or live out in the country.

Give me liberty... or give me higher property values.

[Blue Murder]

Given that I align with the libertarian platform (the only one that makes sense now after the abysmal track record of the far-left and far-right), I find it silly that there is this "land of the free" and yet, peeling back the layers shows you it's anything but. Personally, I would like a terra cotta coloured house. Such a lovely colour, especially when surrounded by green. It gives off a very nature vibe. I'm not with all this black, grey, white prison house look. Like they live in The Giver or some shit.

[OutWest]

I know the main reason why you can't just paint the OUTSIDE of your house any color in the U.S. is due HOMEOWNER'S ASSOCIATIONS. And the rules on what color you can paint your house can vary depending on which city, town, or neighborhood you live in. Not to mention the concern over PROPERTY VALUES in certain residential areas and the ability to resell or refinance a house in the real estate market could too be factors. After all property taxes are based on the value of your house you live which in turn helps to fund the local schools, roads, police and fire services, etc. and besides what is considered colorful and beautiful for one person may be considered an eyesore to someone else.
Personally, if I were to own a house I would prefer to have the outside of it painted both a light blue along with a shade of green ("cool colors") rather than a white, brown, or beige color which in my opinion looks bleak and bland. However, it seems to me that if you what the freedom to paint whatever color you want your house an individual either has to be wealthy or live out in the country.

HOAs are voluntary associations. You can whimper and simper like most on this forum, or you can make the incredibly simple choice to not buy a house in an HOA neighborhood. There are plenty of houses that are NOT
Part of an HOA....

Oh wait...can't do that. I want to sit around and bitch about being a victim....

My home in the USA is in a quiet rural area. No one gives a shit about what color I paint my house, or anything else for that matter. People are just neighbors...they talk to each other...solve stuff that comes up.

[GoodLife]

The main reason for the creation of home owners associations was to keep middle class Americans (non immigrants) of a certain color from buying a house in certain neighborhoods. They would tell you who you could/could'nt rent or sell YOUR house to. A monster was born in the name of keeping neighborhoods caucasian. Now you fork over pay a monthly fee to have HOAs tell you what color you can paint your house and what you can have in your backyard. What you want is exactly what you get. Hopefully they jack up those HOA fees and become even more intrusive. Gotta keep em out.

[fschmidt]

People like GoodLife are the problem with America. They hate the idea of freedom of association.

[traveller]

I know the main reason why you can't just paint the OUTSIDE of your house any color in the U.S. is due HOMEOWNER'S ASSOCIATIONS.

It really ought to be called Serf's Associations. Homeownership is a complete, total myth in America. When you look at it, property taxes are not even taxes at all! They are property rents! Or most accurately, so-called "property taxes" are actually rents of land that are used for public purposes. Even decades after the mortgage is paid off, they continue. Fall behind on them, and the government comes and evicts you, and then they order a "tax sale" to get their money. All while you find yourself suddenly homeless, hungry, alienated, despaired, and even at high risk of arrest/imprisonment, as homelessness is illegal in the United States of America.

Clearly, there's no such thing as homeownership in America. We are all mere serfs living on the King's land, making the King rich by the sweat of our own brows, with homelessness only a drop in or loss of income away.