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My wife and I grew up in New Jersey and moved down to charlotte eight years ago. We live in a community with an HOA. If you are looking in Hundersville, Cornelius area I would suggest you move into a community with an HOA. I too grew up in a town without HOA's in Northern New Jersey, but unless you are looking at neighborhoods outside of downtown Charlotte, like, Dilworth, Plaza Midwood (high priced neighborhoods) the value of your home will increase in communities with HOA's over areas without HOA's especially outside of the Charlotte area. I lived in both a home with and without HOA and its better with.
I disagree and I think that the OP's original idea to move to a home WITHOUT an HOA is an excellent one.
Older homes are what you will find without HOAs. Newer homes are likely to be in an HOA.
My eyes have been crossing as of late with all the info i have read (most of it found on this site - so thanks to all who have unwittingly assisted so far) and while we have just really taken a liking to the Charlotte Regional area (i.e. Huntersville, Concord, Mount Holly to name a few areas we have done some home searches on), we are a wee bit concerned about all the HOA developments that exist.
Neither of us grew up in towns that have these types of developments (or maybe we did but back then - we are both in our early 40s - they just didn’t have HOAs) and are not really comfortable with the idea that a collective of people can take your home away from you for what we have read in some cases, to be minor violations. We also have a bit of a problem with the fact that there are rules such as how big your garden can be, what kind of items you can or cannot put in your yard, etc
I’d like to think not ALL HOAs are as terrifying as some of the extreme cases I have read about, but none the less, the facts seems to be consistent, if the HOA you live within has a gripe with you, they can make your existence fairly miserable (and in some case take your home or tell you when you can or cannot sell? UGH
Does anyone know if areas near where we have been looking: Huntersville, Concord, Mount Holly have homes that are NOT part of a HOA? We aren’t looking to lower our neighbors property value, or trash our home by any means (I’m actually kind of a neat freak and take a great deal of pride in my home) but honestly, some of the things I've read about HOAs make them sound beyond reasonable
Any info would be appreciated and if there are any other areas similar to Huntersville, Concord, and Mount Holly that we might be interested in, I would certainly love to hear about them
Thanks Everyone
Cheers
The HOA thing comes down to personal preference. I think you should visit and see what you like. I came from Westchester which is pretty similar to the island and never had to deal with HOAs either. At first, after reading some of the issues with some HOAs, I felt like you.
After visiting several times, I noticed a big difference between the developments with HOAs and those without. This may not be the case everywhere but it appears as if the neighborhoods with HOAs were generally cleaner and more pleasing to the eye. I ended up buying in a development with an HOA and have been very happy so far. Our neighborhood is beautiful, clean and comfortable. Honestly, I feel good knowing that if one of my neighbors decide to start raising cattle in his/her backyard, the HOA (not me) would handle that
The HOA thing comes down to personal preference. I think you should visit and see what you like. I came from Westchester which is pretty similar to the island and never had to deal with HOAs either. At first, after reading some of the issues with some HOAs, I felt like you.
After visiting several times, I noticed a big difference between the developments with HOAs and those without. This may not be the case everywhere but it appears as if the neighborhoods with HOAs were generally cleaner and more pleasing to the eye. I ended up buying in a development with an HOA and have been very happy so far. Our neighborhood is beautiful, clean and comfortable. Honestly, I feel good knowing that if one of my neighbors decide to start raising cattle in his/her backyard, the HOA (not me) would handle that
My neighborhood is over 30 years old and the HOA is one of the reasons it has retained its beauty and appreciated so well over the years
LI, we are here a year, and it was a easy transition for us. Like Levittown, we were in a neighborhood, but it was nothing like what we have now, We are in a HOA, and definitely feel more connected to our neighbors than we ever did.
Many neighborhoods here in the Charlotte area, more HOA but many non - HOA are one way in and out. I don't find people just cut through your street to save a minute on Hempstead parkway (KWIM), which is different, and to me a benefit
whats nice about a HOA, is that each homeowner has an interest in the homes and neighborhood, most that I;ve been through have a low speed limit and they don't tolerate speeders, which is great for people who do walk or bike on the street
Living first in Balitmore, and then here, both my houses have been in developments with an HOA. I have never experienced the issues in either place that some people have posted about in this forum.
Personally, I prefer having an HOA, but that's because I don't want to have the neighbor with the car up on blocks in the front yard, leaving out their Xmas decorations until March and such. Also, in our development in Ayrsley (and I found this to be the case in some other developments I looked at down here too) the HOA does the landscaping, so I don't have to worry about mowing a lawn and stuff like that.
I understand some people are turned off by the HOA concept in general, and that's cool too. I wouldn't pass on a neighborhood just because they have one. If you find a plce you like, just ask to look at the HOA rules / covenants and review them - if you don't like their rules, then obviously keep looking. But its not like they keep these a secret until after you buy.
Please be sure to read my other thread: Another HOA horror story. there are stories from myself and other poor souls that have been victims of this type of organization.
Oh, and Tober, yes, they DID keep my HOA a secret until after I signed the purchase documents. I had no idea what I was getting into!!!
Oh, and Tober, yes, they DID keep my HOA a secret until after I signed the purchase documents. I had no idea what I was getting into!!!
I saw that. I'm surprised your realtor did not mention that to you. As I think I also posted in that thread, I did find it surprising that, as a buyer, you do not, by NC law, have ample opportunity to review the HOA "rules". In MD, the law states that you have 72 hours after your contract is accepted to review the HOA covenants and, should you find anything you disagree with during that time, you can cancel your contract without penalty.
In North Carolina you do have an opportunity to review the Declaration of Restrictive Covenants, Bylaws, Articles of Incorporation as well as all documentation regarding the HOA, and in particular any items which may limit use, prior to signing the contract.
The Contact information for the HOA is part of the Contract for both parties (buyer and seller), within the forms Realtors use for the transaction. On the Sellers side it is in the contract, for the buyer the contract allows for receipt, review and attachment of the completed Owners Association Disclosure and Addendum prior to signing the contract. We also make a special note to advise the buyer to receive and review all documentation regarding the HOA prior to signing the Offer to Purchase and Contract.
I also tell my clients to walk around and talk to the neighbors if they are really concerned - they'll tell you everything ya want to know...won't we all.
My eyes have been crossing as of late with all the info i have read (most of it found on this site - so thanks to all who have unwittingly assisted so far) and while we have just really taken a liking to the Charlotte Regional area (i.e. Huntersville, Concord, Mount Holly to name a few areas we have done some home searches on), we are a wee bit concerned about all the HOA developments that exist.
Neither of us grew up in towns that have these types of developments (or maybe we did but back then - we are both in our early 40s - they just didn’t have HOAs) and are not really comfortable with the idea that a collective of people can take your home away from you for what we have read in some cases, to be minor violations. We also have a bit of a problem with the fact that there are rules such as how big your garden can be, what kind of items you can or cannot put in your yard, etc
I’d like to think not ALL HOAs are as terrifying as some of the extreme cases I have read about, but none the less, the facts seems to be consistent, if the HOA you live within has a gripe with you, they can make your existence fairly miserable (and in some case take your home or tell you when you can or cannot sell? UGH
Does anyone know if areas near where we have been looking: Huntersville, Concord, Mount Holly have homes that are NOT part of a HOA? We aren’t looking to lower our neighbors property value, or trash our home by any means (I’m actually kind of a neat freak and take a great deal of pride in my home) but honestly, some of the things I've read about HOAs make them sound beyond reasonable
Any info would be appreciated and if there are any other areas similar to Huntersville, Concord, and Mount Holly that we might be interested in, I would certainly love to hear about them
Thanks Everyone
Cheers
The due's we pay for HOA are high for what we get and if one thing is not right they will tell you. They will give you a time period to fix it though. The landscaping helps but to be honest the culture shock from long island is gonna be something ok. Serious!!! I have friends from Staten Island and other places in Long Island and through out the NY City area and while they like the less congested part of living n NC it is a lot slower, the drivers are worse than in NYC and yes The HOA ummm not so good. The perks of moving around here are that the price of housing and taxes are a lot less but if you don't move into a reputable neighborhood you are just not safe from the crime (like anywhere). Please do your research before moving into one place. the real estate agents are not allowed to comment on if a neighborhood is bad or not so really look and ask the police before moving or buying. i made the mistake of moving to Charlotte and I have a pretty home, in a pretty neighborhood. The mistake is that the crime statistics were not properly researched by me and now I live in a pretty neighborhood that has many burglaries and I have now been a victim of that as well. Good luck on your search I have heard wonderful things about the some of the out skirts of Charlotte.
I was born in Levittown and lived there until I got married. We just moved back to Long Island after a little over a year in NC..Lake Norman area of Mooresville. We did not live in a HOA and had the neighbors from hell to which the police would do nothing about. If we had lived in a sub-division with some rules..maybe, just maybe, the evil neighbor would not have been able to get away with what he did. We purposefully stayed away from HOA's, but after living thru what we did, I have to wonder if they are all that bad after all! After my neighbor stood in his garage that faced my house naked and touching himself and playing the playboy channel on his sirrius radio in his truck loud enough to be heard in my house..I had to wonder if we had a HOA, if this behavior would have gone on. After the police did nothing about it....I packed the house and kids up and moved back to NY...all in less then 10 days! I live on the east end of Long Island again! My dad still has his house in Leivttown! I went to Levittown Memorial!
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