You have to understand that if you own a home that is in an area covered by a homeowners’ association, the homeowners’ association has a strong amount of convincing power. In other words, their power of persuasion can ago a long way because the homeowners that are part of the association voluntarily joined the association.
By simply buying your home in an area that is covered by a homeowners’ association, you have to abide by the rules set by such an association. Pretty straightforward. There’s really no mystery to it. In fact, when homeowners complain about all the rules that a homeowners’ association expects them to follow, they get a very common response. This response is repeated over and over again. It goes along the lines of, since you knew that the house that you are buying is covered by a homeowners’ association, the fact that you went ahead and bought the house
anyway is an indication that you want it to be covered by the rules of the homeowners’ association.
I need to remind you of this because a lot of people think that door peephole cameras, as useful as they may be for security purposes, is a voluntary security addition. Put simply, homeowners should be in the position of really choosing whether they want these security devices on their front door or not. No harm no foul right?
Well, if your home is not covered by a homeowners’ association or anything similar, then you are definitely well within your rights to not buy door peephole cameras. If you don’t have the budget for it or if you don’t feel that it is necessary, then you don’t have to install it. Now, if you are covered by your homeowners’ association or a condo association, there is no discussion. If the board of those organizations says that you have to get the best peephole camera, then you need to get these security devices.
There is a strong argument to be made as to why these should be mandatory. Now, when people hear that word “mandatory,” a lot of people get scared. At the very least, they worry about the extra cost. Also, a lot of people worry about the fact that there is this board that is essentially dictating to you how you should behave within the community.
Again, if you are worried about the fact that there are too many rules being “dictated” to you by your neighbors, then you should not have bought your home in that location in the first place. You knew coming in that there is a homeowners’ association. I don’t mean to keep coming back to this point because there is quite a bit of resistance when it comes to security enhancements to be undertaken by individual homeowners requested by the condominium association or larger governing body.
There is always going to be resistance. There is always going to be friction. This is not actually going to go away anytime soon. Still, there’s a lot to recommend the idea that door peephole cameras should be mandatory in any area covered by a homeowners’ association. Here are just some of the reasons.
They spread the risk
The great thing about being a part of an association, whether it’s a condo association or an association for homeowners is the fact that you share the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living. If you go to any gated community, you start seeing the difference between gateless communities and gated communities. The trash is regularly taken care of. The roads are maintained.
In many cases, the roads tend to be wider. You’ll also notice that the amenities are top notch. There are just so many benefits that you can get by simply choosing to live in a gated community anywhere in the United States. Of course, this comes at a cost. You not only have to pay homeowners dues based on your square footage, but you also have to abide by their rules. If you don’t like it tough, you can always move out. You can always sell your place and move to a home that isn’t covered by such an association.
The reason why gated communities tend to have better amenities and better roads and other extras is the fact that they split the cost. Make no mistake about it, if you’re just going to rely on the county or city government to maintain your roads or ensure that sidewalks are properly maintained, you’re probably going to have a tough time.
Most municipalities in the United States have very tight budgets. In fact, the budgets are so tight they come close to breaking, and it’s not uncommon to see really run down public infrastructure. Considering this cost sharing arrangement, most homeowners wouldn’t put up a fight when it comes to asking all other homeowners to chip in to enhance overall security.
If everybody installs door peephole cameras, then a camera network is created that adds a nice little overlay or nice little addition to the network of close circuit TV cameras that are already providing security for that particular community. Do you see how this works? By everybody being forced to chip in, the collective security of the community is taken to a whole higher level.