New Year, New Town, New House, New Business License...

a-baird-photograph

Just moved to a great house in Mesa, AZ and with the new year, was going to apply for my new business license...until I read in my CCRs "No Businesses of Any Kind are allowed". The License PPW specifically asks if our CCRs allow it or not. Didn't hit me when we were buying, but does now.

I'm not even big enough to have a studio. I shoot people to get through, but my focus last year and planned this year is Architectural, Real Estate, and Corporate work, so clients don't come to the house, I'm on location. But I need to hang my shingle.

Anybody ran into this? Ideas to maneuver around it?

bbeck4x4

Is it possible to have your company at a mailboxes etc?

BradfordBenn

I did the mailboxes etc./UPS Store/FedEx Kinkos a few times in a past life. The other thing that you might want to consider is an office rental. A friend of mine used one fairly successfully as it looked much more "prestige" to have a meeting at the office rental than at his house. The one I hear all the time on XM/Sirius so much so that it sticks in my head... is Regus (http://www.regus.com/)

Sam

I would rather live in a box under a bridge than a place with an association telling me what I can and can't do. Sorry only one cat allowed. Sorry your dog can only weigh 36 Lbs and yours is 37 lbs. You can't fly the American flag. Etc, Etc.

That said maybe you actually have that mythical group of association members who have some common sense. Go to a meeting and explain you just need a location for your business license, mail and no retail business will be conducted with clients at your home.

I wouldn't try to hide it. That will just create stress. Alternatives are a mail drop, PO Box, rent a small office, use a friends address.

Sam

Photog4Christ

I agree with Sam. HOAs grant exceptions all the time. You should be straight forward and tell them all about it and let them make their decision. The main concerns of HOAs are usually increased commercial traffic (commercial trucks, such as "Bob's Photography" trucks) parked on the street. My parents live in a planned community and they do not allow commercial vehicles of any kind on streets owned by the community, so all the trucks are parked on the county road.

JayClark79

Look into it... but what they probally mean is they dont want commercial vehicles in the neighborhood.... be that landscaping trucks, dump trucks, or painting vans, or anything with a commercial advertisement on it...

They can not prevent you from having a home based business.

a-baird-photograph

Thanks all for the replies. Meeting next week. I'll give it a try.

This is our first community that we've been in with an HOA, and while the people are awesome (there's only 32 homes) the management company is "aggressive". Thanks!

Sam

a-baird-photograph wrote:

Thanks all for the replies. Meeting next week. I'll give it a try.

This is our first community that we've been in with an HOA, and while the people are awesome (there's only 32 homes) the management company is "aggressive". Thanks!

Who the heck is "The Management Company"? You the home owners are the association and can make the rules. That's both the good and the bad.

Sam

ian408

Sam wrote: »

Who the heck is "The Management Company"? You the home owners are the association and can make the rules. That's both the good and the bad.

The way HOA's typically work is they are run by a board of directors who hire a management firm to deal with taking care of common property, enforcing the bylaws/CC&R's and whatever else a resident might need from the association. 9 times out of 10, the board is made up of a bunch of people with nothing else better to do than decide that you cannot park your car in your driveway--if you don't want that type of oversight, don't buy property in one.

Regarding whether you can run your business from home, here is something worth a read.

Wachel

I was on a HOA board for a couple of years. They almost always mean that they don't want clients or employees showing up in the neighborhood.

Unless you are obvious about it then the HOA would never know unless you advertise with your address.

We had one house that was running some kind of business and had 5 employee cars a day parking out front. We had the city shut them down and fine them because they wouldn't respond to the HOA. There were other businesses that I know of that never had people showing up and no one cared.

You will be fine...just don't have people coming to your house.

r9jackson

Wow, bad CCR's

a-baird-photograph wrote: »

Just moved to a great house in Mesa, AZ and with the new year, was going to apply for my new business license...until I read in my CCRs "No Businesses of Any Kind are allowed". The License PPW specifically asks if our CCRs allow it or not. Didn't hit me when we were buying, but does now.

I'm not even big enough to have a studio. I shoot people to get through, but my focus last year and planned this year is Architectural, Real Estate, and Corporate work, so clients don't come to the house, I'm on location. But I need to hang my shingle.

Anybody ran into this? Ideas to maneuver around it?

That is really strange to be in CCR's. How can they prevent a home-based business? That doesn't seem lawful. The way you are saying it means a Mary Kay type business would not be allowed. I live in Surprise Arizona (about 30 miles Northwest of Mesa) and we encourage home based businesses and they have been a life saver in this tight economy. When people are out of work many of them start home based businesses to survive.

You are doing the right thing in applying for a business license. We need more pros like you in the photography business. You might want to talk to the City government legal people to find out if a CCR like that violates any public policy or city ordinance.

W.W. Webster

a-baird-photograph wrote: »

... clients don't come to the house, I'm on location. But I need to hang my shingle.

Art Scott

r9jackson wrote: »

That is really strange to be in CCR's. How can they prevent a home-based business? That doesn't seem lawful. The way you are saying it means a Mary Kay type business would not be allowed. I live in Surprise Arizona (about 30 miles Northwest of Mesa) and we encourage home based businesses and they have been a life saver in this tight economy. When people are out of work many of them start home based businesses to survive.

You are doing the right thing in applying for a business license. We need more pros like you in the photography business. You might want to talk to the City government legal people to find out if a CCR like that violates any public policy or city ordinance.

Actually it is not uncommon at least not here....not only do they not allow HBB's but they also tell you exactly how tall your grass can be.....Here ins ICT the city states you grass must be maintained below 12" tall.......there are a couple of covenant communities that have a code of no more than 4.25 inches and they pay people to measure every yard at a min 1 per week but some are measured twice weekly.....you get nasty phone calls for the daily paper lying on your drive way all day if it arrived after you leaving for work............

so it boils down to if it is not allowed in the covenant then it isn't allowed.