charper1 said:
AMEN!
or a car, a boat, a tent city, a garage business, a zoo/livestock, or any other crazy thing that these people want to do because "its their damn land" and then wonder why their neighborhood turns out like crap and their property values PLUMMET!
Everything is relative. On at least two different occasions in my life, when I've been looking for a place to live, someone (in the last case a real estate agent) told me that an area I was considering was a bad area - mind you, these people didn't know me from Adam but were telling me that I would not want to live in that area. In both cases they tried to make it sound really bad.
In both cases I ignored the unsolicited advice (in fact, their advice actually served as sort of an indicator to me that I should consider the area more closely). In both cases I have been very happy with my decision.
The area I live in now is an area that some people would hate. If you are big on neatly manicured lawns, homeowner association nazis and ordinences that regulate every aspect of your lives, you would not be happy here. I like to live in the woods, hate lawns and yard work, and don't mind if my neighbors choose to keep a car on blocks.
The other neat thing about this neighborhood is that it has somewhat of an anarchist bent, I think. For example, in my state any type of fireworks that explodes is illegal. In my neighborhood you'd think they were staging a reenactment the war of 1812 for about two weeks leading up to the fourth of July. Nobody reports those people because so many are doing it - you'd wind up reporting half the neighborhood. People like that are not going to give me a hassle about my dishes, either!
Despite all that, property values ARE going up (at least if the yearly assessments are to be believed).
Now, there are limits - as you say, there might be good reason to object if someone wants to start up a livestock business - but the minimal zoning we have wouldn't allow that anyway, and there's a big difference in something like that (which creates an odor that permeates your home) and the people who object because they don't like the color of someone's shingles or the fact that they have an older, possibly unlicensed car in the front yard.
Just a tip to those looking to put up your dishes without being hassled, and who can live with the idea that it's none of your damn business what your neighbor's yards look like - look into older, rural areas - the places where there are houses dating back to the 1950's and even (gasp) mobile homes. Look to see if the homes appear to be maintained (a high number of vacant homes, or homes in serious disrepair may indicate a drug problem). Note there is a difference between "maintained" and "aesthetically pleasing" - you're looking to see if the homes are abandoned or in disrepair, not whether you like their paint or shingle colors. What you're looking for is a fairly stable neighborhood with a good mix of older and younger people who may not necessarily have high incomes. Racially mixed is good too (be suspicious if EVERYONE is the same race, unless that's pretty much the way your entire county is).
If you can find a place like that, you're probably not going to get hassled about your dishes (especially if you see dishes in the neighborhood already). Bonus points if a real estate agent says, "You wouldn't want to live
there!!!"
But the above advice is definitely NOT for the people who think that a dish in the front yard is ugly, or who drive past a row of lookalike houses with neatly manicured lawns and think, "Oh, how nice, I wish my house and yard looked like that!" It takes all kinds to make a world, and there are definitely certain types of people who should not be living within ten miles of each other!