What are your thoughts on HOAs? (Boulder, Longmont: rental, new home, landscaping)

[SQL]

Originally Posted by caverunner17

HOAs are necessary for multi-unit dwellings to cover the common areas and exterior maintenance. The issue most people have are with single family home developments having HOAs.

Those make sense in gated communities or golf neighborhoods. But in a lot of developments, they were set up by the developers to further control the look and feel of the development.

Personally, I don't see the point in HOA's. If you want to have a small HOA in a development that pays for the community park to be mowed and a yearly community cookout, I'm down. But a lot are crazy overbearing.

Examples from my parents HOA -

• Any housing additions must be approved
• No exterior tool sheds allowed, even in the back yard
• Trailers may not be stored on the property. Trailers may remain on property for a maximum of 24 hours
• Lawn must be watered during the summer to remain a certain shade of green
• Lawn must be under some specified height
• All fences must be of two styles that are pre-approved
• Mailboxes must conform to the standard black metal "U" design
• Exterior painting and colors must be approved by the HOA
• Car maintanence may not be done on the property

We actually had someone come over and report me for changing my oil in my car at my parents house once. Got a "warning" from the HOA.

It seems they are becoming more common, too, with all the McMansion developments (i.e. Stapleton, Lowry, and pretty much any new subdivision development anywhere along the Front Range). It's really unfortunate if you have a SFH and a yard and you don't have full control over it. That's a lot of money to spend on not having the freedom to do these things. Part of what makes neighborhoods like Baker appealing is that the houses are all pretty unique.

[Indigo Cardinal]

Both of the homes I owned were in HOAs (the first was a townhome, the current is a paired home), and there can be pros and cons.

Now, my old HOA was *horrible*--not only were they charging us quite a bit of money, but I wasn't seeing much signs of them doing anything to maintain the properties, plus, they had a real attitude about everything as well. I actually called them up once and told them that whoever was in charge of writing their official letters to the community needed to take a class in how to write professionally. Those letters were rude and condescending. One example that particularly stands out in my mind was a man broke into the pool (which was surrounded by a ten-foot high fence with a locked gate) and drowned (whether intentionally or by accident, I'm not certain.) A letter came out to all the residents saying, "We know somebody saw this," (yet, per the police report, the man drowned around 3 a.m. on a Wednesday--I remember that because of the Simon & Garfunkel song) and that, "You (meaning whoever supposedly saw this) better step forward," and that "Thanks to somebody not stopping this man, we'll have to drain and clean the pool and we probably can't afford to refill it for this late in the season, so thanks for nothing."

Well.....there was a huge backlash. Because, again, 3 in the morning on a worknight.....most people are in bed. Asleep. And because of the layout of the complex, only ten houses would have had a direct view of the pool even if somebody *had* been awake. Another five might possibly have *something* of a view, depending on the conditions, but not likely. My house was a street over from the pool, with a row of houses in between. I couldn't have seen the pool from my place if my life depended on it. And I'm not in the habit of roaming my neighborhood at 3 a.m. looking for errant folks looking to break into the community pool. So yeah....a LOT of outrage from the community over that one. And calling them to do anything usually resulted in an immediate "That's not our responsibility." They even tried to tell me that applied to painting the exterior of the house (which their own regulations/bylaws clearly stated was their responsibility.) Streets were never plowed--they claimed it was on the city of Aurora, Aurora said those were private streets, so therefore, it was on them. It was a mess. But if you were the slightest bit guilty of an infraction, they were quick to scream about how you better fix it within a week, or they'd fine you.

Now, my current place is in an HOA, but these folks are a *lot* better. Very helpful, their rules are very clear, along with the reasons why--for example, they advise that you can install solar paneling on your roof if you want, just make sure it doesn't cross over onto your neighbor's side of the roof, and no bigger than X by X so they don't get in the way of the maintenance men who have to go up on the roofs. (Fair enough.) And if you want to do something different, they seem to be pretty much, "Yeah, just send us the paperwork letting us know what you want to do, no problem." (I've observed a number of things that makes me think they're pretty easy to work with if you want to do something a little different.) They seem to be willing to work with any ideas/notions you might have, so long as it doesn't cause a structural problem/hazard/interference with your neighbor's property. And I'm told that while they will send out letters advising of issues (grass being too long, for example), they don't tend to be super-strict in the sense of, "Your grass can only be half an inch high, and yours is three-quarters of an inch!" I saw one house where the grass had gotten pretty noticeably long before the HOA told them, "You really need to cut that."

Now, I will say that in my old HOA, there was a lot more that was their responsibility, and in my new one, there's a lot more that's the tenant's responsibility, so that might make the difference in how the HOA's handle things.

No, I can't paint my house whatever color I want, but I also don't have to do the exterior maintenance on it. Since I'd rather not be climbing on roofs or spend hours repainting or residing, I can live with not having my favorite colors on the outside. I'm also not subjected to neighbors doing crazy things--in a non-HOA neighborhood right next to my old one, somebody had painted their house Big Bird Yellow. The whole thing. Then ran a bright blue neon light under the eaves of the entire front of the house. It was hideous and awful, and looked even worse when the yellow paint faded, because then it looked dingy and dirty. It was obvious that none of the other neighbors were happy, but nothing they could do.

[Vision67]

You buy a house with an HOA. You like rules. So do your neighbors. The HOA collects a fee and enforces those rules.

or

You hate HOAs because you don't want anyone telling you what to do. For example, park your RV or boat on your driveway, park your cars on the street or on your driveway, build a storage shed out back, let your lawn go brown, let your lawn get weedy, paint your house purple, etc. So you refuse to buy into an area with an HOA.

You choose.

[Corvette Ministries]

Originally Posted by Corvette Ministries

HOAs are here to stay, my friend.

Originally Posted by Vision67

... refuse to buy into an area with an HOA.

Most new construction these days in major metropolitan areas have HOAs.

Refuse to buy into an HOA? Good luck finding a home ten years old or newer.
.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Vision67

You buy a house with an HOA. You like rules. So do your neighbors. The HOA collects a fee and enforces those rules.

or

You hate HOAs because you don't want anyone telling you what to do. For example, park your RV or boat on your driveway, park your cars on the street or on your driveway, build a storage shed out back, let your lawn go brown, let your lawn get weedy, paint your house purple, etc. So you refuse to buy into an area with an HOA.

You choose.

I don't think it's all that cut and dried. We have no HOA in my neighborhood; there are a few RVs around, but not on the streets or in anyone's front yard. Cars can park in the streets. You can build a storage shed if you follow the city's regs, what's wrong with that? No one has let their yard go brown or weedy, and absolutely no one has painted their house purple (or pink which many HOA defenders use as an example).

My daughter lives in an HOA neighborhood and the rules are enforced in a rather, er, draconian and subjective manner. For example, they had only lived in the house a week or so when they were notified they had to replace their driveway and roof, problems that had been extant for a long time. Cars can be parked on the street there, too, that's not against the HOA rules.

[SQL]

I wonder why HOAs are so popular here? I feel like when I was living in the Midwest, I never heard about them, even in the newer developments.

[caverunner17]

Originally Posted by SQL

I wonder why HOAs are so popular here? I feel like when I was living in the Midwest, I never heard about them, even in the newer developments.

Depends where in the MW you were. They are all over in Chicago in most newer (less than 40 year old) developments.

[SkiDog]

Potential home buyers also need to know that Colorado is a “Super Lien” state. At the annual meeting of a large HOA development which I previously lived in, the HOA manager made that very clear to those attending. He said as a Super Lien state that he (meaning the HOA) has the right to foreclose on your property and have priority over all other lien holders, including your mortgage company. The kind of power that a HOA holds is one reason I sold my home and moved to a non-HOA neighborhood. And no, there are no cars up on blocks, pink houses, or unkempt lawns.

[Corvette Ministries]

Originally Posted by SkiDog

... the HOA) has the right to foreclose on your property and have priority over all other lien holders, including your mortgage company...

Add one hundred dollar a day fines for non-compliance to the mix, too.
.

[sammy87]

I dont like HOA's. I live in a sub division and the houses are packed together. The HOA has guidelines so my neighbor can't park a broken down car in his front lawn....I like that. I think I dont like living on a postage stamp size lot 10' away from my neighbor with a split rail fence so I know what all my neighbors are doing on the weekend. So I think they are a necessary evil and its fine for now.

Eventually I want property with no HOA and neighbors I can't really see.