Some neighbors say, "No Tanks!"

Video:

https://www.khou.com/news/local/hoa-fight-over-wwii-tank-/479844202

Texas Lawyer Says Neighbors Need To Stop Complaining About His Normandy Landing Tank

Wealthy homeowners in one tiny Fort Worth suburb say their neighbor’s decision to park a World War II-era tank in front of his multimillion-dollar home is making them nervous.

At least that’s what attorney Tony Buzbee, a history buff who purchased the WWII tank for $600,000 earlier this year, learned when his neighborhood homeowners’ association sent him a letter saying the tank “impedes traffic” and causes a “safety issue” and “serious concerns for neighbors."

Buzbee says he’s temporarily storing the tank at his River Oaks, Texas home before moving it out to his ranch in East Texas later this year. But even though he’s made it clear that the tank’s presence is temporary, his neighbors are pressing him to remove the tank as soon as possible, according to Houston’s KHOU television station.

Unfazed by his whiny neighbors, Buzbee is pushing back against what he described as NIMBYism run amok, telling local media outlets that his neighbors need to “lighten up” and that the tank isn’t going anywhere unless he decides to move it. Buzbee said the tank “took a year to get here, but now it’s on River Oaks Boulevard,” according to Fox. “This particular tank landed at Normandy. It liberated Paris, and ultimately went all the way to Berlin. There’s a lot of history here.”

"It's not violating any ordinance, but for some people it makes the homeowners association uncomfortable," said Buzbee.

They sent Buzbee a letter saying the tank "impedes traffic", causes a "safety issue" and is causing "serious concerns for neighbors".

"If you're offended just lighten up, my goodness it isn't hurting anyone," said Buzbee.

Buzbee says he's not losing too much sleep over that HOA letter. For now though, he's keeping his new tank right where it is.

"The problem is there is no action they can take," said Buzbee. "They can ticket it or they can try to tow it, but the truth is unless I decide to move it, it's not going anywhere."

Buzbee says the tank will within the next two weeks end up on his ranch in east Texas.

Should be cut and dried based on the HOA documents. Either there is an express prohibition against it, or it is a gray area requiring a hearing. If the latter, then it sounds like he'll have it moved before they could even get a trial date.

That's so Texas!
I almost miss it!

This is Houston, not Fort Worth per the article. Its pretty cool honestly, and like he says - what are they going to do? It takes a drop deck oversized load to move it and they certainly cant pick it up to load anyways. haha All the info I've seen about it is positive - neighbors like it, at least for a little while.

And there goes the property values. If it was moved there to begin with, it can be moved out.

Steven said:

And there goes the property values. If it was moved there to begin with, it can be moved out.

Click to expand...

It will be gone in 2 weeks. No lasting property value impact.

Steven said:

And there goes the property values. If it was moved there to begin with, it can be moved out.

Click to expand...

Of course it can, but not without more logistic efforts than a neighborhood will put forth.

Aaaaaand yet another reason to never ever move into a house with a HOA.

DAllen said:

Aaaaaand yet another reason to never ever move into a house with a HOA.

Click to expand...

What if the HOA agreement required at least one piece of artillery per house?

I enjoy HOA's as they're designed to keep this sort of thing out as well as preventing people from painting their house horrid colors and keeping the neighborhood in general looking good. It DOES keep property values up.

viciouspeanut said:

This is Houston, not Fort Worth per the article. Its pretty cool honestly, and like he says - what are they going to do? It takes a drop deck oversized load to move it and they certainly cant pick it up to load anyways. haha All the info I've seen about it is positive - neighbors like it, at least for a little while.

Click to expand...

That's exactly what he asked in the video, something like "What are they going to do, tow it?" He also said that he was confused by the complaints because all of the neighbors he's talked to liked it since it's only going to be there for two weeks at most and those slowly driving by and gawking at it apparently did also.

Probably just someone who has a beef with military anything, even hardware that helped to win WWII at great risk to the poor b*stards who had to operate that too-high-profile, insufficiently armored, undergunned moving target.

Dang, wish he was my neighbor! I would love to get inside that one.

My wife said, "When they outlaw tanks, only outlaws will have tanks".

At one time I had a lead on a demilled Nike Ajax on a trailer. I could not afford it then. If things had been different I wonder what the neighbors would think if I erected that in my Wife's flower bed in the front yard? They look at me a little odd now..,


Sent from my iPhone using Rocketry Forum

Steven said:

I enjoy HOA's as they're designed to keep this sort of thing out as well as preventing people from painting their house horrid colors and keeping the neighborhood in general looking good. It DOES keep property values up.

Click to expand...

I would much prefer to live in a place where the neighbors are so far from one another that no one gives a flying flip what color the other guy's house is.

djs said:

What if the HOA agreement required at least one piece of artillery per house?

Click to expand...

^^^ That's like one of those hidden clauses no one reads. Reminds me of the city park wifi provider that had people agreeing to 1000 hours community service when they accepted the terms and conditions.

Peartree said:

I would much prefer to live in a place where the neighbors are so far from one another that no one gives a flying flip what color the other guy's house is.

Click to expand...

And that's why I live in a gated community with an HOA where I DON'T need to care.

What if one of your neighbors found out you were into rocketry and stored rocket motors in your home. Then that neighbor went to the HOA board as a "concerned citizen" worried about your dangerous activity. Then what if that HOA used vaguely written rules that are allowed to change on a whim to fine and or strong-arm you into ceasing legal activities on your private property? Man, boy would that suck huh?

Steven said:

I enjoy HOA's as they're designed to keep this sort of thing out as well as preventing people from painting their house horrid colors and keeping the neighborhood in general looking good. It DOES keep property values up.

Click to expand...

Steven said:

And that's why I live in a gated community with an HOA where I DON'T need to care.

Click to expand...

Because I cannot imaging the horrors of living next to somebody who wanted to paint their private property with a color outside the pre-approved 3 shades of turd brown. It would be devastating wouldn't it?

Bring it on. I read the rules thoroughly before signing ANYTHING. It's the ones who don't who get screwed.

kclo4 said:

Because I cannot imaging the horrors of living next to somebody who wanted to paint their private property with a color outside the pre-approved 3 shades of turd brown. It would be devastating wouldn't it?

Click to expand...

Or purple and sky blue.

Except HOA rules can change at any time and many of the rules are so vague that can be used as weapons for anything.

The whole HOA thing is just the worst. As a youngish guy starting a new career who will be ready to buy a house within about 5 years, there is few things as terrifying as HOA's. In some areas it's not like you can just avoid them and still have any semblance of selection or reasonable commute.

People are so dumb they will beat the GOP drum all day long, be anti single payer healthcare, be anti public assistance, and then buy a house where they have no control of what they can do on their own private property. It's mind boggling. The government is controlling enough, you want a bunch of old pathetic retired board members grasping to the only semblance of power they have ever seen to decide your properties fate? Doesn't sound fun to me. Then again I would paint my house neon green and put tanks in the yard. How about the HOA's that make it a business of ceasing property from folks who miss a few HOA payments where the mortgage is otherwise paid? Life is too short for petty rules.

Steven said:

Bring it on. I read the rules thoroughly before signing ANYTHING. It's the ones who don't who get screwed.

Click to expand...

Winston said:

That's exactly what he asked in the video, something like "What are they going to do, tow it?" He also said that he was confused by the complaints because all of the neighbors he's talked to liked it since it's only going to be there for two weeks at most and those slowly driving by and gawking at it apparently did also.

Probably just someone who has a beef with military anything, even hardware that helped to win WWII at great risk to the poor b*stards who had to operate that too-high-profile, insufficiently armored, undergunned moving target.

Click to expand...

They can't tow it, but they can start levying fines if he's really breaking the HOA. In some states, the HOA can put a lien on the house for unpaid fines.

I doubt it's an anti-military person. It's much more likely a BMW driver* who's sick and tired of the gawkers holding him up on his way to kick his St. Bernard.

* I stereotype, but tell me it ain't true.

Fine by me. The bottom line is if you can't handle HOA's, then stay out of them. For the rest of us, our properties will maintain their value while the neon wonders with broken PU's in their yard won't.

I don't think there are any HOA neighborhoods in my area, but I have heard lots of horror stories.

It seems to me that it is almost like renting the exterior of your home - It is your house, but you don't get to decide what goes on outside of your front door.

Our nearest neighbor is across the road about 600' away, which is plenty close enough for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Rocketry Forum

I had lived in a neighborhood in Phoenix where one neighbor painted their house purple and a second one did there's sky blue. Needless to say they also had trashy vehicles sitting in the streets to boot. There are horror stories everywhere but I learned from this and never allowed it to happen to me again. Life is shorter still when one accepts compromise and second best. I enjoy standards.

Really? Purple and sky blue? That is literally one of the dumbest things I have ever heard somebody complain about in regards to neighbors. Why would it be "needless to say" that the color of ones house has anything to do with the quality of their cars? If only everybody could afford to keep all of their vehicles in tip top shape, but that doesn't seem like it's in Americas economic future.

Steven said:

I had lived in a neighborhood in Phoenix where one neighbor painted their house purple and a second one did there's sky blue. Needless to say they also had trashy vehicles sitting in the streets to boot. There are horror stories everywhere but I learned from this and never allowed it to happen to me again. Life is shorter still when one accepts compromise and second best. I enjoy standards.

Click to expand...

kclo4 said:

Really? Purple and sky blue? That is literally one of the dumbest things I have ever heard somebody complain about in regards to neighbors. Why would it be "needless to say" that the color of ones house has anything to do with the quality of their cars? If only everybody could afford to keep all of their vehicles in tip top shape, but that doesn't seem like it's in Americas economic future.

Click to expand...

Apparently you don't mind living in tacky neighborhoods which you're certainly welcome too, or perhaps you're simply color blind.

I for one prefer to live in a neighborhood where the HOA is present, but not overbearing. Yes, we have to have the same mailboxes, yes, we need to ask permission to change colors on the exterior or to do an addition or some such. And once in a while I get a letter if my coach light bulb burned out and I didn't notice it for too long (this hasn't happened since I switched to LEDs). But, the neighborhood look and feel is stable and I have no worries about it going downhill. I made my choice, and I'm happy with it. Sometimes they push a bit hard (someone went around with a ruler, and any sidewalk slabs that were mismatched by more than half an inch resulted in a letter about potential trip hazards with a request for them to be repaired. In my case, I had a 3/4" mismatch and got a letter.... I asked where it was documented in the city code or HOA that this standard was to be met. There was of course no such documentation and they informed me my participation was voluntary...

If I had a neighbor with a tank I would think he's a pretty cool guy.

I would never live in a HOA neighborhood. Members strike me as uptight busy-body Gestapo with nothing better to do than stomp all over liberty and enforce their own arbitrary personal rules. Tyranny of the majority.

I currently live within a quarter mile of four other houses, and this is still way too cozy for me. My next house will be at least a mile from another. Ten miles would be even better. My end game is to retire to a run-down ranch out west because I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion. The ability to obtain a 10,000 foot waiver on a minimum of 300 acres would be super.

And this is why I have one: https://missouritrailertrash.com/index.html