Homeowner Associations (HOAs) from hell

[KevK]

Originally Posted by seashell55

Kudos for giving the documents to the agent and the new owner. However, as a former board member I'm sure you are aware that GA law only requires disclosure at closing, which is hardly the time to read and comprehend legal documents, often inches thick, thereby rendering any such "agreement" to an adhesion contract suspect.

You are probably also aware that rules can change, most especially from reasonable to unreasonable. You may be living in a well run HOA today, but that still leaves you only one election away from disaster. It's not easy to fix disasters when the fixes require super majorities, special meetings, proxies, consent of the board to hold the special meetings, etc.

As for choosing to move into an HOA, their prevalence often means that the "choice" is really a trade-off between between bad alternatives. HOA or a 3 hour commute? What is my neighbor doing versus how is my neighbor doing?

I am not especially interested in what my neighbours do as long as they keep up their property. Honestly we really did not have any trouble here until the "zero down" crap started. We started getting "owners" here that did not realize that being an owner is not "just like paying rent" as all the huckster mortgage outfits used to say. You have to keep the house up. We had one lady with her 2 kids that moved in down the street from us and, while they were nice folks, I kept noticing that her grass was not cut well or on a regular basis. It looked like the lawn from hell sometimes. When we finally approached her about it she said "well the payment and utilities are high and I just don't have enough to buy a mower so we cut it with a weed eater". I honestly did not know whether to laugh or cry and me and my son bought her a used mower for $100.
As for GA law, that might be required of the lawyers but since we have the right of first refusal, we know who the owner to be and the agent is well before closing and the HOA management company and board makes sure both get a copy of the CCRs here.

[LexingtonDad]

Originally Posted by moonhawk64

This is a free country. If I want to paint my house orange, that's my right as an American. Which is why I refuse to live anywhere that has a HOA: I refuse to pay someone to take my freedom of choice away. If you're not paying for the house, you have no right to say what color to paint it. (And if you want to be a robot living in a neighborhood with every house identical, that's your business. Me? I'd rather be a person with my own identity.)

People like you are a big reason I choose to live in communities with HOAs. My home is one of my largest investments and I choose to protect that investment by keeping it insured and belonging to a HOA. If the guy next door doesn't have the same concern he can negatively affect my investment with his actions and I would have no recourse. And thank God we live in America where we both can choose to follow our own paths.

[seashell55]

Originally Posted by KevK

We had one lady with her 2 kids that moved in down the street from us and, while they were nice folks, I kept noticing that her grass was not cut well or on a regular basis. It looked like the lawn from hell sometimes. When we finally approached her about it she said "well the payment and utilities are high and I just don't have enough to buy a mower so we cut it with a weed eater". I honestly did not know whether to laugh or cry and me and my son bought her a used mower for $100.
As for GA law, that might be required of the lawyers but since we have the right of first refusal, we know who the owner to be and the agent is well before closing and the HOA management company and board makes sure both get a copy of the CCRs here.

KevK - You sound like one of the nice guys. I don't mean to imply that all HOAs are not well run.

However, most are not like yours and therefore the first time a buyer will see the legal documents that govern an HOA is at the closing. To expect someone to absorb and understand the information in between the signing of each piece of paper is absurd.

Keep in mind that people believe they are making a housing choice, not a governance choice.

[rmsmith1977]

Originally Posted by Fritz99

Trust me code enforcement will not be in any hurry to cite the homeowners for these infractions. You better move in an established neighborhood where you can see that the homeowners care about the appearance of the property if you have no HOA. My neighborhood would be falling off a cliff by now if we did not send out strongly worded letters to remind homeowners to take the garbage cans off the curve, mow the grass, remove the basketball goals out of view when not in use, pressure wash the red clay off the house, not park the cars on the street, get rid of the inoperable vehicles,etc...on and on. You will be surprised that this is not all common sense to new homeowners. And more surprised at all of the excuses they have when they call you back to explain.

Hmm that's odd. So far there has been a junk car towed off of someones yard, my neighbor received a citation for having grass more than 6" high and told another house down the street that they couldn't have more than 2 cars parked in the driveway visible from the street.
So please spare us from your assumptions before you say code enforcement won't do anything.

[billl]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

It would be interesting to take a poll here of people who live in subdivisions or other entities with an HOA to see how common issues are.

We lived in an HOA community for 13 years and never had any trouble. The HOA did what it was supposed to do but was not overly intrusive. I've needed committee approval a few times for various things and it was always approved without question. It was a small hassle to put the paperwork together, but not what I would call onerous.

Are my "freedoms" limited? Yes I suppose so, but they are only limiting me from doing things that I wouldn't do anyway so I don't see that as a loss.

[Fritz99]

Originally Posted by rmsmith1977

Hmm that's odd. So far there has been a junk car towed off of someones yard, my neighbor received a citation for having grass more than 6" high and told another house down the street that they couldn't have more than 2 cars parked in the driveway visible from the street.
So please spare us from your assumptions before you say code enforcement won't do anything.

My comments are based on the county I live in. And apparently you get better service for your tax dollars where you live.