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.
What exactly is your definition of a Nazi in this context? Someone who enforces a rule with which you personally disagree? If so, that term is just offensive.
An HOA is really not all that different from our American form of government. You have services, dues (taxes), rules (laws), enforcement, penalties and elected representatives. You have the right to see records, to petition for change and to run for office.
Do some people in government and on HOA boards overreach or even do blatant wrong? Certainly! Do some citizens and residents push limits constantly, blatantly violate laws/rules and shirk responsibility? Absolutely! Human beings do indeed have away of behaving selfishly and imperfectly, which in my book is a very good reason to have governments of various levels and yes, HOA's.
I ran for our a seat on our HOA (and won) in part to make sure that the HOA did not go overboard in regulating life in our neighborhood. At the same time, there are regulations that even if I personally don't agree with I have an obligation to uphold, it's not fair to use the *power* of being on the board to pick and choose which rules get enforced. Now looking at things from the "inside," most of the deed violations the board pursues really do benefit the community. Things like overgrown lawns, broken down cars on blocks in the driveway or lawn, etc., bring down property values and quality of life.
I ran for our a seat on our HOA (and won) in part to make sure that the HOA did not go overboard in regulating life in our neighborhood. At the same time, there are regulations that even if I personally don't agree with I have an obligation to uphold, it's not fair to use the *power* of being on the board to pick and choose which rules get enforced. Now looking at things from the "inside," most of the deed violations the board pursues really do benefit the community. Things like overgrown lawns, broken down cars on blocks in the driveway or lawn, etc., bring down property values and quality of life.
It's a huge responsibility to serve on an HOA board and it's a largely thankless task. But it is also a major learning experience! You learn about things like organizational accounting, reserve analysis and financial planning, property laws, collection laws, fiduciary responsibility, and about working with an incredibly varied group of people toward what are often widely disparate goals.
Mostly what you learn about though is human nature...and that a whole lot of people out there never make it past kindergarten, emotionally speaking.
"I'm tellin' on you!"
"Hey, so what if I broke the rule? She did it too!"
"You like him more than me!"
"You can't tell me what to do!"
"You can't make me!"
"I'm gonna kick and scream unless I get my way!"
"Lemme do it, all by myself, I can do it, I can do it!...<CRASH!!> ooops, um, look what happened!"
"Clean up my mess for me!"
"Can't we just have fun? I don't wanna do work!"
"Give it to me!"
"Whaddaya mean I have to pay for it? We should get it for FREE!"
The thing that totally gets my goat on this deal is:
IT'S VOLUNTARY.
IT'S VOLUNTARY.
IT'S VOLUNTARY.
Hey, did you get that? IT'S VOLUNTARY.
NOBODY holds a gun to your head and says, "Now listen, Mack, move into this HOA neighborhood or else!" You decide you want a house in a particular neighborhood, you buy it with your (mostly the bank's) money, you made the selection, and you decided to take it KNOWING (because it's disclosed to you either at closing or before) what the rules of the association are.
Why did you want that neighborhood? It was probably as much as you could afford (maybe more), was located in the best location you could manage, and (most important to the buy decision) had the "look" and "feel" you wanted. There are 100 neighborhoods in my price range in this general area of Houston; why did I pick THIS one? Because it looked the way I thought it should look.
While I gripe about the HOA sometimes, I DON'T want the neighbor's house painted a vibrant purple, I DON'T want a 1974 Chevy up on blocks in the driveway next door, I DO want everybody's yard to look nice, and I DO like the manicured boulevards leading into my home. The HOA does this.
My dues go toward maintenance of our (very nice) boulevards, pool, tennis courts, playground, and clubhouse (which I can use simply by reserving it), all of which enhance my resale value. My dues also pay for our twice-a-week garbage pickup (and we don't take our trash to the curb, they come up to the garage to get it), which is cheaper than what the City of Houston would charge for once-a-week. My dues also pay for our very own Constable; the Constables will let you Rent-A-Constable (you pay for the car, the equipment, and the officer's salary). Ours patrols our little co-op 24/7/365. Very reassuring. Response time? About 2 minutes. HPD response time? About 45 minutes. Our HOA also sponsors block parties and "Yard of the Month", along with "Christmas Decoration prizes" and other contests. Our kids' swim team is legendary (our kids can beat up your kids in swimming! ;-); we had to build them a new trophy case.
I got a copy of the deed restrictions and HOA agreement and read them carefully BEFORE I went to closing. That way I knew what I could and could not do.
There is just NO EXCUSE for idiots like this Marine, NONE. While I respect the service he gave to our country, I want to ask him a question: "Hey, Marine: when you were in the Corps, if you were given an order, did you follow it?" I know the answer to that one. It's the same thing: this is a contract YOU entered into, and now YOU think it doesn't apply to you. What if your CO had given you an order and you told him, "No, sir, I don't think I'll do that; KP doesn't apply to me." Yeah.
IT'S VOLUNTARY.
If you don't want to be bound by an HOA, go live in an area that doesn't have one. They're available all over Houston. Just don't be surprised if the neighbor puts up a metal carport, or paints his house sunshine yellow with bright blue trim, or puts a 74 Chevy up on blocks in his driveway, because he's using his property the way he wants (never mind what it does to your property value).
Oh, to the OP: I think your question is well answered above, but here it is in a nutshell: the HOA is written into your deed restrictions. Once something is in a deed, it cannot be removed. You cannot "opt out" of an HOA. If you buy a deed restricted property, you are "in". If you do not wish to buy a deed restricted property, that is your right; ask your Realtor to find you a property that is NOT in a deed restricted (meaning, has HOA) neighborhood. They're out there. The HOA is made up of the individual residents (1 membership per unit owned; i.e., I own 1 unit (house), ergo I have 1 membership). Individual residents may attend all HOA board meetings (they're open to members), and all general meetings. Individual residents may run for the Board; may serve on committees; may serve on ad hoc committees; and are definitely heard. We had a group not long ago that wanted to assess the membership to fund massive improvements to the clubhouse, pool, and playground. The Board had to hold a public meeting (as per the Rules!) and were distressed when massive numbers of the membership of the HOA showed up. The assessment was soundly defeated (this one lady wanted to spend $100,000 upgrading the kitchen in the clubhouse. Geepers, lady, I want to upgrade MY kitchen, too! Another wanted to spend the same $100,000, but on complete makeover of the -perfectly serviceable- playground).
Bottom line: the HOA does more good than bad, in my opinion.
I do believe that last page (despite being over 4 years out of date) is a good guide on HOAs to avoid when purchasing a house.
Younger HOAs backed by national companies tend to be more tolerable and less crazy. Backing by a national company alone isn't itself an indicator of a more sane HOA, just look at Cinco Ranch, backed by Newland Communities. Though HOAs that don't have to answer to anyone seem to run amock based on feedback I've seen on these forums, that page and Google searches.
To the OP: when you buy your house, you're probably looking at taxes, school district and location. Also consider the HOA. For resale value alone, people will not want to move into an HOA ran by crazy people.
Also, like has been said before, the HOA is a form of government similar to many other forms of American government. If you don't like something - participate. Also, go to the annual HOA meeting, even if you think the business is boring and you have nothing to bring up, usually the gossip of what's going on around the community is downright entertaining.
As for foreclosures, HOAs will claim they can foreclose on you for anything. However, that's not entirely legal. There are things they cannot foreclose on you on, based on Texas and US law - so even foreclosures can be reasonably fought against. For example, they cannot legally foreclose on you for displaying a US flag or putting an antenna on your house. Though, HOAs often have guidelines on how to do these things tastefully and request an approval for things that go beyond these blanket guidelines (basically you talk to them, put your proposal in writing and you adhere to that proposal if it is approved).
The HOA I am in is mostly hands-off. They seem to view their existence as being caused by people not wanting to talk directly to their neighbors, and they will mediate such things, but they prefer that we just talk to our neighbors about issues so they don't need to get involved in every petty thing going on.
Voluntary and practical are two entirely different things.
Who said anything about practical? It's a voluntary (unlike the government---city, county, state, Federal) which is mandatory. It is a voluntary association entered into contractually by individual citizens with a legal purpose.
As to whether it is "practical" or not, that is in the eye of the beholder.
It's a voluntary (unlike the government---city, county, state, Federal) which is mandatory. It is a voluntary association entered into contractually by individual citizens with a legal purpose.
Okay, let's take this one step further. Everyone within the boundaries of a HOA are subject to the rules, including those who did not sign a contract. For example, children and visitors. Are children and visitors (e.g. solicitors) signing binding legal contracts or is a HOA a form of government?
We chose the area for my son's commute to work and the school my granddaughter and grandson would attend.
For this particular school, there was no area outside our HOA where she would have been able to go to this school. Since it is the only IB school in our suburb, we chose to buy our house in this neighborhood. The entire district was supposed to go IB, but that did not happen, so we made the right decision.
I got involved in the HOA elections eventually. I can't really serve on the board because of other things I have committed to do, but I help with several committees and hope to keep an eye on what is going on. The rules are not *awful* but I do find it restrictive to have to go through an architectural committee to change things in my own home. That said, we have never had any problem with getting approval.
Okay, let's take this one step further. Everyone within the boundaries of a HOA are subject to the rules, including those who did not sign a contract. For example, children and visitors. Are children and visitors (e.g. solicitors) signing binding legal contracts or is a HOA a form of government?
What kinds of rules does your HOA have that involve children and visitors? My HOA doesn't have rules that apply unless you are the one keeping up the home. I just looked at our deed restrictions and they apply to making changes to your home or yard - how would children or visitors be pertinent to that?
Deed restrictions apply to the property, not to people visiting the property as far as I know.
Are you talking about pool rules? Rules for the use of amenities like the tennis courts? I can't see how these have anything to do with *government.* Private facilities regulate use of these things all the time.
Okay, let's take this one step further. Everyone within the boundaries of a HOA are subject to the rules, including those who did not sign a contract. For example, children and visitors. Are children and visitors (e.g. solicitors) signing binding legal contracts or is a HOA a form of government?
It is NOT a form of government.
The agreement covers everyone in a household ("Member"), whether they signed the agreement or not. This is imputed to visitors to a household.
Now, if you want to take the term "government" to include any social structure, then yes, it's a form of government. For example, the company for which I work has a form of "government" (referred to as "corporate governance"); churches are governed by their "covenants" or "bylaws" or some such, and if you want to use that term to describe such activities, I guess you could.
But the way you're using it, you're talking about "The Government", meaning the civil government.
If you want to be anti-government, fine---but just remember, the roads are paved by "the government", the airspace regulated by "the government", and all those members of the US armed forces who keep us safe are, in fact, an arm of "the government."
I like the government. I'm glad we don't live in anarchy. I'm glad I live in a nice HOA neighborhood that won't let some kook put up a giant flagpole next door to my house.
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.
