High HOA fees in Roswell, GA (insurance, townhome, landscaping)

[placehopper]

Hi All,
We are interested in purchasing a townhome or a single family home in Roswell. Many communities we have checked out on Holcomb bridge road have high HOA's. One community has $210 per month HOA for pool, lawn maintenance (not much of a backyard), community gates. No other amenities.

Most of the other fall within that $175 to $250 per month range.

This is much higher compared to average $900 annual fees in many of the John Creek's communities.

Any thoughts??

Thanks.

[Mattie]

Does the HOA take care of outside maintenance? My friend lives in a townhome community, and pays a little bit more, in Crabapple. There is no pool, but her roof, little lawn, and outside painting is all covered.

[ecuresident]

Agree, depends on the services provided, as well as the size of the community. The smaller the community the higher the HOA as there is less people to split it with.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by placehopper

Hi All,
We are interested in purchasing a townhome or a single family home in Roswell. Many communities we have checked out on Holcomb bridge road have high HOA's. One community has $210 per month HOA for pool, lawn maintenance (not much of a backyard), community gates. No other amenities.

Most of the other fall within that $175 to $250 per month range.

This is much higher compared to average $900 annual fees in many of the John Creek's communities.

Any thoughts??

Thanks.

When you say "no other amenities", have you actually looked at what the HOA fees do cover? I live in a town home community in town, and at a glance, you'd say "Hey, this place has only a pool and a dog park! Why are their HOA fees $238?"

Then you realize it covers a 24/7 guarded gate and patrol; all landscaping (remember the common areas, too); the pool maintenance and cleanup; a dog park (we used to have a poo cleanup service...not sure what happened to it); trash pickup; all exterior maintenance including painting, gutter cleaning, siding repair, roofs; pest control, both interior and exterior; a full-time property manager; utilities for streetlights, phone for gate, etc; a master insurance policy which covers nearly everything except personal belongings; and lastly, major repairs to our community caused by a shoddy builder. And this is far from a fancy upscale place.

Without knowing what that $210 covers, it's hard to say whether its too much.

[cully]

samiwas1 provides a great list. Let me add some also cover the water bill. Some hoas are also realizing the error of the ways of hoas established in, say, the '80s who are having great problems arranging for upkeep now, charging special assessments, etc. because they never really planned for the future. So, hopefully, a portion is for reserves for future needs.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by cully

Some hoas are also realizing the error of the ways of hoas established in, say, the '80s who are having great problems arranging for upkeep now, charging special assessments, etc. because they never really planned for the future. So, hopefully, a portion is for reserves for future needs.

This is a good point, too. As part of a marketing stunt, our builder cut the HOA fees down to a very low level about two years into the building of the neighborhood. This, of course, was great on paper for a lot of people. But it didn't take long to realize that the amount was completely unsustainable, and before long, the HOA had nothing. So, the amount was raise back to just below the original level. Of course, the new people were screaming about how their HOA fees "were doubled" while many of us saw it just go back to a little less than it was previously.

Obviously, you want low HOA fees if you're going to live in an HOA neighborhood, but make sure that they can cover the necessary costs, or you will pay more later.

[placehopper]

Thanks for the responses.

I went back to find out what is covered in HOA. The community in question is not a town home community. These are single detached homes.

The HOA monthly covers common area maintenance, pool upkeep and external gates. Insurance, building external upkeep or none of the utilities are covered.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by placehopper

Thanks for the responses.

I went back to find out what is covered in HOA. The community in question is not a town home community. These are single detached homes.

The HOA monthly covers common area maintenance, pool upkeep and external gates. Insurance, building external upkeep or none of the utilities are covered.

Unless there s a substantial amount of common space, or it's one of those massive resort-style pools with a slide and fountains, $210 per month does seem high. That's just a little less than i pay, and my list is pretty comprehensive.

[LovelySummer]

The reason it is so high is bc of the gates - and the result of having a gated community being that the streets become private. Fulton County is responsible for nothing to do with the streets in these cases - the community must repair potholes etc. This is one of the aspects of living in a gated community. It becomes all the community's to deal with. That is probably why it is so high. Is the John's Creek community completed gated?

Originally Posted by placehopper

Thanks for the responses.

I went back to find out what is covered in HOA. The community in question is not a town home community. These are single detached homes.

The HOA monthly covers common area maintenance, pool upkeep and external gates. Insurance, building external upkeep or none of the utilities are covered.