Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

You're better off with your own well and septic, provided they are well designed and in good order. That way you are independent. Get a generator and you'll have water even in a power failure. Deep-well water is much better than the chlorinated swill that comes from the taps at the lake. And you would not believe the high price of that water/sewer service. Get a wood stove and you'll have heat then, too. Get some land with a hill and you can shoot in your backyard...

[quote="allingeneral"
If you get a place with a well, make sure it's Artesian (i.e. drilled several hundred feet deep). I have a shallow well on my property (~45 feet deep) and it has pissed me off more than once running out of water during the heat of summer and I'm afraid to drink it, so I have drinking water delivered to the house.[/quote]

What do you mean by "artesian"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artesian_aquifer

An artesian well is one that has water bubbling up to the surface without a pump.

Where we live the well is several hundred feet deep but a pump is needed to get it to the surface. I don't know, but I assume that the pump is at the bottom of the well since a pump can only "suck" about 33 feet whereas it can push about 2.3 feet for every pound of rated output pressure.

BTW - I worry about drinking water if the SHTF and we lose electrical power for a long period.

Yes, Alan, deep-well pumps are submerged at the bottom of the well . Up north I had a shallow well with the pump located in a shaft space under my basement. I was glad of that, as I had to replace the pump once, and it was an easy DIY job.

The second part of the paragraph in question gives hope that tenants and owners are exempt from this rule:
"No person, except Security Force Personnel
while on duty and public law enforcement officers, who is not an owner or a tenant,
may have firearms in his/her possession, on his/her person, or in his/her vehicle within
Lake Monticello at any time."

The handbook has been amended several times...the last was in March 2011. To be sure of the intent of the rule, I would contact the HOA for clarification in writing...it may be that their intent is, understandibly, misunderstood.

Remember that HOA's can change their rules as well. I am a gun owner and carry concealed sometimes. I am a former HOA board member and even did a few year stint as an HOA President. Yes, some people find HOA's to be the "soup Nazi's" But it is voluntary. You can go buy a house in a place with no HOA and no covenants on the land. HOA's are setup for a variety of reasons, and you have a choice. My neighborhood HOA is entirely reasonable, and made up of people that generally go by the rule of "live and let live". In my stint as HOA board member I had the rules changed to allow some things in the neighborhood that were previously forbidden. But I did so diplomatically and with a friendly demeanor, not as an asshat.

However, we also go after members of the community when they don't keep their landscaping up to par, and don't paint their home every few years, or if they leave garbage all over, or park immobile vehicles in their front yards. We will assess monetary fines and if they don't pay the fines we will sue to get our way.

The *overwhelming* majority of my HOA membership really appreciates the HOA. There are a few people (less than 10%) that are upset about HOA activities. I just tell them that they were given all the paperwork 3 days *BEFORE* they bought their home and had time to read the rules and covenants. They chose to belong to the club and signed paperwork acknowledging the rules and indicating that they would follow them.

If they are pissed because the other club members are following the rules and they aren't, well... they started it, not us. The club had published rules before they joined, and they were asked to sign paperwork before they were allowed to buy the home. They are free to leave the club if they want, just sell their home and go live somewhere else. Or, if they are polite about it and not a pain in the ass, they can suggest rule changes at the HOA membership meetings and see how the other club members feel about it.

How would you feel if someone violated the rules of the VGOF forum? Some VGOF members might support absolute free speech. But I am sure that this Forum's moderators and membership appreciate some rules. People who don't follow the rules are free to go buy their own web server and setup their own forum.

-Ben Russo.

UID0 wrote:Remember that HOA's can change their rules as well. I am a gun owner and carry concealed sometimes. I am a former HOA board member and even did a few year stint as an HOA President. Yes, some people find HOA's to be the "soup Nazi's" But it is voluntary. You can go buy a house in a place with no HOA and no covenants on the land. HOA's are setup for a variety of reasons, and you have a choice. My neighborhood HOA is entirely reasonable, and made up of people that generally go by the rule of "live and let live". In my stint as HOA board member I had the rules changed to allow some things in the neighborhood that were previously forbidden. But I did so diplomatically and with a friendly demeanor, not as an asshat.

However, we also go after members of the community when they don't keep their landscaping up to par, and don't paint their home every few years, or if they leave garbage all over, or park immobile vehicles in their front yards. We will assess monetary fines and if they don't pay the fines we will sue to get our way.

The *overwhelming* majority of my HOA membership really appreciates the HOA. There are a few people (less than 10%) that are upset about HOA activities. I just tell them that they were given all the paperwork 3 days *BEFORE* they bought their home and had time to read the rules and covenants. They chose to belong to the club and signed paperwork acknowledging the rules and indicating that they would follow them.

If they are pissed because the other club members are following the rules and they aren't, well... they started it, not us. The club had published rules before they joined, and they were asked to sign paperwork before they were allowed to buy the home. They are free to leave the club if they want, just sell their home and go live somewhere else. Or, if they are polite about it and not a pain in the ass, they can suggest rule changes at the HOA membership meetings and see how the other club members feel about it.

How would you feel if someone violated the rules of the VGOF forum? Some VGOF members might support absolute free speech. But I am sure that this Forum's moderators and membership appreciate some rules. People who don't follow the rules are free to go buy their own web server and setup their own forum.

-Ben Russo.

I don't have a problem with HOAs in general. I am going to read their rules and regs very carefully before I buy, though.

What is the "3 days" you mention? I vaguely recall a conversation with a realtor in VA - and I forget which community - we asked to see the HOA rules, and she said "You can't see them until you make an offer." But it looks like I can get to all the rules and regs of Lake Monticello (and others, like Lake Louisa) online, right now. Or are there more regs to be seen?

I'm up here in PA, looking for a place to move to in VA, and there is no way I'm making an offer on a house without seeing everything. I'm planning my life based on this move, and I'm not going to let a surprise jot or tittle make me rearrange me and my family's life.

For example, I just called my realtor this morning, and took my house off the market. And it's because of this discovery about LM. We have to start at ground zero. I don't want to move twice.

"I vaguely recall a conversation with a realtor in VA - and I forget which community - we asked to see the HOA rules, and she said 'You can't see them until you make an offer.' "

And that is so it won't dissuade you from making an offer.

I avoid HOA's like the plague. I have Local, State, and Fed's telling me what I can, and cannot do, I don't need some d'bahg neighbors without any hobbies, or occupied time to try to boss me around either.

Personally? I think HOA's are not needed if the counties enforce their regulations.

I read my rules carefully, HOA just changed them in the middle of the night. Last HOA I ever live in.

Buy my house. Cumberland county, 4acres, deep well, great water, shoot in the backyard. Need I say more?

One thing I would like to see the state do? REGULATE HOA'S!

Put some rules, and regulations on what THEY can do! I don't mine the "keep your lawn trimmed", "Don't paint your house hot pink", kinda things, but telling me what I cannot carry, own, or drive?

Yeah, you're getting into Orwellian/Nazi areas.

allingeneral wrote:
If you get a place with a well, make sure it's Artesian (i.e. drilled several hundred feet deep). I have a shallow well on my property (~45 feet deep) and it has pissed me off more than once running out of water during the heat of summer and I'm afraid to drink it, so I have drinking water delivered to the house.

I feel your pain. My well was originally dug to a depth of 250'. The quality of the water was fantastic. The flow rate was pathetic. Would routinely run out of water, especially in the summer months. Nothing worse than being without water. Last spring, I had some drillers come out & take the same well down to 400'.... wow. Couldn't be happier. It was risky... as it could've screwed up the well altogether but, in my case... I got lucky. Got increased flow, much more capacity, & the quality remained consistent. Plus.. it was MUCH less expensive than drilling another well.

Man, no way would I live there, with all those restrictions.

Reverenddel wrote:I would have to chime in that I have met MANY "Transplants" who have adapted to the culture, and accepted it as nature, and love firearms.

Especially the NYPD... Those people just ADORE walking into a gunshop, and walking out with AR's, and AK's as CIVYS! HAHAHAH

You'd be happy too if you had the contacts in the NYCPD to resell them there for triple what you paid for them in VA.

Kreutz wrote:

Reverenddel wrote:I would have to chime in that I have met MANY "Transplants" who have adapted to the culture, and accepted it as nature, and love firearms.

Especially the NYPD... Those people just ADORE walking into a gunshop, and walking out with AR's, and AK's as CIVYS! HAHAHAH

You'd be happy too if you had the contacts in the NYCPD to resell them there for triple what you paid for them in VA.

GASP!!!!
Are you suggesting that they would do that WITHOUT going through a NYC FFL?????
Heaven forfend!!!!