Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
These days it seems harder and harder to find no HOA neighborhoods anywhere around the country, especially in newly built communities in the last ten years.
While Arizona generally have less government intervention than places like California does, it also has less checks on an HOA's power. Which makes HOAs an even more threatening power for homeowners. Not that California's laws on HOAs and rights of homeowners i.e David Sterilings Act, Civil Codes, Vehicle codes regarding private property(removal of vehicles), is that helpful in practice for homeowners as its time consuming to assert your rights on an arrogant HOA board or developer even if the law is on your side, and they are clearly belligerently disregarding it. Particularly when one need neighbors backing, as human nature dictates neighbors hardly ever work together to stand up for each other. Living in a bad or overzealous HOA would negate much benefits of moving out of California.
I was researching Movoto and Zillow and it seems to hard to find a non HOA neighborhood, even in places like around Lake Havasu City and Desert Hills. Though are there ways to find one. Preferably in an unincorporated town like Desert Hills? Or do one would need to buy their own land and build on it in order to avoid HOA?
There is nothing in an HOA that makes it worth it to be subject to such abusive nepotism no matter how good a pool, jacuzzi, ball courts, clubhouse, elevator, they may appear to have. Worse of all many HOAs these days have almost no community amenities except for the arrogant nepotism and attitude of do as I say not as I do.
All I can say is good luck to you. I've lived in AZ since I moved here in 2010 and every house I've been in has had an HOA and my family members have resided in houses (one in Lake Havasu) all over AZ and every single one in an HOA. Most new developments involve residing HOAs, your best chance is finding an older development without an HOA. Current house I'm in -- that I moved into in March of this year -- has an unbelievably overbearing HOA so I understand the reasoning to get out of it. Dues are also insane with 100s of dollars per quarter, and yet none of it is used towards what they promise to maintain.
Best of luck to you on finding either a lenient / less overbearing HOA, a development without an HOA, or just building your own home on your own land.
These days it seems harder and harder to find no HOA neighborhoods anywhere around the country, especially in newly built communities in the last ten years.
While Arizona generally have less government intervention than places like California does, it also has less checks on an HOA's power. Which makes HOAs an even more threatening power for homeowners. Not that California's laws on HOAs and rights of homeowners i.e David Sterilings Act, Civil Codes, Vehicle codes regarding private property(removal of vehicles), is that helpful in practice for homeowners as its time consuming to assert your rights on an arrogant HOA board or developer even if the law is on your side, and they are clearly belligerently disregarding it. Particularly when one need neighbors backing, as human nature dictates neighbors hardly ever work together to stand up for each other. Living in a bad or overzealous HOA would negate much benefits of moving out of California.
I was researching Movoto and Zillow and it seems to hard to find a non HOA neighborhood, even in places like around Lake Havasu City and Desert Hills. Though are there ways to find one. Preferably in an unincorporated town like Desert Hills? Or do one would need to buy their own land and build on it in order to avoid HOA?
There is nothing in an HOA that makes it worth it to be subject to such abusive nepotism no matter how good a pool, jacuzzi, ball courts, clubhouse, elevator, they may appear to have. Worse of all many HOAs these days have almost no community amenities except for the arrogant nepotism and attitude of do as I say not as I do.
Not my site, I don't get any compensation for mentioning it and I don't even know the people who put it up. It's just immensely useful if you want to avoid HOAs.
HOA neighborhood might be somewhat of a misnomer. Our no-HOA home has HOA homes across the street. I could be wrong, but I think HOA/no-HOA depends on the builder.
Also, not to complicate things too much but I should mention this... We found a wonderful home earlier this year, no-HOA but it had some pretty nasty deed restrictions that were just about as bad as an HOA. One was we couldn't have an RV anywhere on the property, even if it was out of sight from the street!
So my advice to you is to tell your agent you need to see deed restrictions, CC&Rs, whatever before you make an offer.
Not my site, I don't get any compensation for mentioning it and I don't even know the people who put it up. It's just immensely useful if you want to avoid HOAs.
HOA neighborhood might be somewhat of a misnomer. Our no-HOA home has HOA homes across the street. I could be wrong, but I think HOA/no-HOA depends on the builder.
Also, not to complicate things too much but I should mention this... We found a wonderful home earlier this year, no-HOA but it had some pretty nasty deed restrictions that were just about as bad as an HOA. One was we couldn't have an RV anywhere on the property, even if it was out of sight from the street!
So my advice to you is to tell your agent you need to see deed restrictions, CC&Rs, whatever before you make an offer.
Happy hunting!
Interesting, it seems Arizona is not as free as one thinks, despite miles and miles of open desert land I’d be curious how free AZ is compared to CA when one factor in these factors.
Though I am shocked that even no Hoa in Arizona can be as bad as HOA except one don’t need to pay HOA dues in terms of those pesky deed restrictions and even CC&Rs. That goes beyond the ordinances of a city or town the property is in.
"These days it seems harder and harder to find no HOA neighborhoods anywhere"....so are you limiting your search to homes/lots in existing neighborhoods only ? Are you willing to trade urban living for a non HOA, suburban/country environment ?
Even in rural areas you are going to face county regulations, designed to protect the environment and/or recognized societal abnormalities. For instance, even tho' I lived the rural Yuma County, and had no neighbors within 1/4 mile, I was prohibited from moving a shipping container onto my 1/2 acre property to use as a garage. In our current, small town home within the town limits, we allowed to have chickens....roosters, no. My next door neighbor (50 yards away ) has cattle and goats within the town limits....we are all respectful of the rights of others.
IMO....Without some form of regulation, society would be at the mercy of those in the minority who would take the lack of regulation to an extreme level to the detriment of the majority.....the same would apply to why HOA regulations exist.
"These days it seems harder and harder to find no HOA neighborhoods anywhere"....so are you limiting your search to homes/lots in existing neighborhoods only ? Are you willing to trade urban living for a non HOA, suburban/country environment ?
Even in rural areas you are going to face county regulations, designed to protect the environment and/or recognized societal abnormalities. For instance, even tho' I lived the rural Yuma County, and had no neighbors within 1/4 mile, I was prohibited from moving a shipping container onto my 1/2 acre property to use as a garage. In our current, small town home within the town limits, we allowed to have chickens....roosters, no. My next door neighbor (50 yards away ) has cattle and goats within the town limits....we are all respectful of the rights of others.
IMO....Without some form of regulation, society would be at the mercy of those in the minority who would take the lack of regulation to an extreme level to the detriment of the majority.....the same would apply to why HOA regulations exist.
Regards
Gemstone1
While I am not expecting a city or county to have no regulations whatsoever in which people can legally build a toxic waste plant on their backyard or drug factory or fire weapons indiscriminately for that matter. Though people should be able to make choices that are both legal, don't cause blight, or interfere with other's freedom. Having chickens when the neighbors are 5 acres away is should not be considered blight.
The issue is that Arizona has almost no laws regulating the accountability of HOAs in the state. So its difficulty to assert one's rights even if the HOA is clearly violating the rights of homeowners and running not in accordance of even their own CC&Rs/rules. Some HOAs have been known to illegally self help remove/or order removal items they think as "ugly" from a homeowner's property even if there is no clear written HOA rules that forbids the homeowners from having it. Or even try to ticket or tow vehicles legally parked on public streets based on exceptionally vague internal HOA provisions. So even if an HOA works right at the beginning there is no guarantee it would work properly in the future as they are very nepotistic organizations. And a HOA that had gone bad can also makes selling the property difficult. I am surprised these non accountable nepotistic governments is allowed to happen and be so widespread in a place like the US where citizens are otherwise big on due process, constitutional rights, and freedoms.
So the difficulty to find non HOA neighborhoods is a concern. There should be more laws that are enforced regarding these run away private governments to protect homeowner interests. Unfortunately the government often turns a blind eye and neglects the homeowners. It should be legislated in order for a developer to form a new HOA 2/3 of homeowners must vote to agree, and they must disclose all documents and terms and conditions for homeowners to sign in order to vote.
The question is how much power do Arizona give unincorporated counties, relative to municipalities? I know that in California counties are almost as powerful as charter cities in the state for its unincorporated areas as well as incorporated towns that decides to outsource a particular public function to the county ie waste management, fire protection, etc. There are counties in CA that ban stores in unincorporated areas from selling kids meals in California.
In some states counties and municipalities have much weaker power "Dillions Rule" where they must have permission from the state to enact a new ordinance. And there are states that gives municipalities more power than counties. Though I do wish state and local governments whether county focus more on the rights of homeowners rather than allow run away nepotianism to bully property owners.
Last edited by citizensadvocate; 11-24-2018 at 10:27 AM..
Be very aware that in many states HOAMCO is a contractor that controls most HOAs for a fee. In AZ they are the primary HOA contractor and are almost everywhere.
The charge you for everything you want to do including maintenance like painting your house. They will change the HOA rules to conform to standards that have been well tested in the courts. It will cost you typically $100 for permission to do most anything around your home.
My daughter used to work for them and I would never live in an HOA that has them.
I never liked HOAs anyway from the time I first ran into one in the early 1970s.
It appeared to me then that costs for external maintenance could vary highly (and have over the years) and that you were giving up entirely too many rights as a property owner.
Find a Realtor in the area you want to buy in and let them do the work of finding a no HOA property for you. They'll get paid by the seller if you buy, so this won't cost you anything.
Be very aware that in many states HOAMCO is a contractor that controls most HOAs for a fee. In AZ they are the primary HOA contractor and are almost everywhere.
The charge you for everything you want to do including maintenance like painting your house. They will change the HOA rules to conform to standards that have been well tested in the courts. It will cost you typically $100 for permission to do most anything around your home.
My daughter used to work for them and I would never live in an HOA that has them.
I never liked HOAs anyway from the time I first ran into one in the early 1970s.
It appeared to me then that costs for external maintenance could vary highly (and have over the years) and that you were giving up entirely too many rights as a property owner.
HUH? What the heck are you talking about? I am in HOAMCO and there is nothing like charges for painting your house or anything else. The HOA is very lenient and does not interfere with the homeowners at all. You do need to get dispensation before altering the outside of the house, which is normal. No one ever says "you have too many weeds" or "you must paint your house a certain color". The neighborhood is gorgeous and houses sell like hotcakes in here. I believe you are mistaken about putting all HOAMCOs in one category. I am pleased that the upkeep and environment in my community is regulated and it adds to my home price, should I sell sometime.
Be very aware that in many states HOAMCO is a contractor that controls most HOAs for a fee.
HOAMCO is a management company. They do not "control HOAs", they just do what the HOAs tell (and pay) them to do.
The people who are the loudest in their opposition to HOAs are the same ones who never bother to vote, let alone run for the Board. If an HOA is really that bad, there's a remedy at hand... talk to your neighbors, have a recall, and elect a new Board that's reasonable. "But that's too hard!" usually means nobody else thinks it's really that bad. And nobody wants the job of being on the Board except for the bored busybodies.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
