Why do people put up with HOA's? (Charlottesville, Haymarket: homes, neighborhoods)

[Fairfax Mom]

We have swimming pools in our community - you only pay if you WANT to join - why should I pay for a pool if I am never going to use it? Our roads are very well maintained and clean - no one in my entire neighborhood has built any junk - we are all sophisticated people - not hillbillies. I just hate to throw money away on nothing.

We also have beautiful playgrounds, parkland, lakes, hiking trails, tennis courts, basketball courts, even an exercise course around our lake, and anything else you can ask for in my community.

We also have a civic orgainization so everyone can get together and plan things for the community. A HOA is not needed - in my opinion. I would rather put the money in my bank account - not the HOA'S

[HOF]

Originally Posted by VRE332

Answer this question, What do you want to do to your house?

Whatever I want, since I'm paying for it...but it will not be a purple door...

Originally Posted by newgatedenizen

As far as HOA’s architectural regimes – I’m all in favor of them. It’s amazing the crap that people will try to build or the garish stuff they try to put on their properties. If you don’t care if your next door neighbor builds a large eyesore shed from mismatched scrap wood recovered from a junkyard then by all means find a development without an HOA.

Well I think that in a Nation that speaks so much of freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and many other "freedoms" there should be freedom to live in your house the way you want(as long as you pay for it!!!) and ofcourse as long as you don't pose a threat to others (lives, NOT POCKETS)
Personally I don't care how the houses look around the ones I go look at, Its not my business!!! The only thing I DO look at are defects on the houses around (cracks, indentation on the ground, water traces, etc) cause that tells me what could happen to the house I might buy.

[vanyali]

I live in an older neighborhood in North Carolina (moving back north soon, which is why I'm on this board). My neighborhood was developed starting in the 1920's or 1930's, and my section was built in the early 1950's.

Needless to say, no HOA. BUT, what we DO have are DEED RESTRICTIONS. Boy, you think HOA's are fun? Try having to accept rules made over 50 years ago that are only enforceable by having your neighbors sue you.

What's better is that no one thinks to look for deed restrictions, so no one knows about these until after they buy, decide to expand their house, and the neighbors tell them they can't. My neighborhood was developed block by block, so it's only my block that's ruled by these deed restrictions. Some other nearby blocks have their own deed restrictions, but mostly the neighborhood is free of them. So most of the place is full of huge 2+ story houses. I'm on the ranch-house block.

More often than not, new owners on the block expand their house anyway, and either build something really strange to comply with the letter of the rules (upstairs no more than 60% of the heated square footage of your ground floor, no taller than 31', etc) or just build what they want and then pay off the neighbors who complain. There's a family blatantly violating the rules right now, and I think the neighbors are waiting for her to finish before they pounce and demand payoffs.

One homeowner found out about the rules after his architect was almost done with the plans, so the architect (being a lazy bum) just drew a new, funky triple-peaked roof line and increased the square footage of the first floor to comply with the rules instead of drawing something that was actually designed to comply. The house is freakish. And it's not the only one.

That said, I don't like HOA's either. I've known people who were told they couldn't park their particular vehicles (new pickup truck) on the street because they were too redneck -- have to hide your pickup truck in a garage, but your Lexis can park on the street no problem.

And my inlaws live in Lake Monticello outside of Charlottesville -- if you know anything about the place, you know that it is ugly as sin. It was all built in the 70's, with that particular woodsy "modern-ish" aesthetic that didn't age well (diagonal wood siding on odd-shaped houses, everything brown, etc). And the HOA there still enforces that aesthetic. The HOA keeps the place ugly. No one wants their neighbor fixing up his house to be prettier than theirs I suppose. My in-laws can't even put up one of those short, temporary, lacy black steel fences that you can get at Lowes (that just pound into the ground and look like nice wrought iron) because it's not brown wood.


I will never buy anything in a community with an HOA. And from now on I'll check for deed restrictions. I'd rather put up with my neighbors building dumb McMansions (seems to happen anyway no matter how many obstacles you put in their way) than deal with the petty jealousies that too-often crop up in HOAs.

[Moman1]

Originally Posted by HOF

Whatever I want, since I'm paying for it...but it will not be a purple door...




Well I think that in a Nation that speaks so much of freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and many other "freedoms" there should be freedom to live in your house the way you want(as long as you pay for it!!!) and ofcourse as long as you don't pose a threat to others (lives, NOT POCKETS)
Personally I don't care how the houses look around the ones I go look at, Its not my business!!! The only thing I DO look at are defects on the houses around (cracks, indentation on the ground, water traces, etc) cause that tells me what could happen to the house I might buy.

I agree with you. But not everyone feels the same way. I like "light" HOAs, and not the strict ones. We live in one right now that told us we had to cut our grass because it was too long. We just mowed it 4 days earlier and it wasn't too long. But the house next to ours keeps theirs like a putting surface making ours look long. The HOA said we have 10 days to cut it or it would be a $50 fine.

However, I also don't want my next door neighbor to have 20 people living in a 2300 sq ft house with 6 cars parked in the driveway and down the street in front of my house. Two of these cars don't even run and are on blocks. I don't understand why they aren't getting written up. Luckily, I'm only renting. But I'd be PO'd if I was the owner and these rednecks were bringing down my property value. Who would want to buy my house with that next door?

Some HOAs are great, others are just too strict. You have to find out the rules before you buy and agree to them. If you buy a house knowing what the rules are ahead of time, you have no room to complain.

[HOF]

Originally Posted by Moman1

...But I'd be PO'd if I was the owner and these rednecks were bringing down my property value. Who would want to buy my house with that next door?...

You see, thats maybe why I don't care, I don't care about "the value of the house being brought down..." to me when I buy our house It won't go "down" in value, its mine and it won't go down in value...

I don't understand why people say they are loosing money on their house... its impossible! its yours!! the money you pay is for YOUR house!!! not for a landlord... the money you put in to your house is an investment in your familly... most people here make it sound like a business.

[msjack]

Originally Posted by newgatedenizen

Allow me to speak in defense of HOA's. I would not live in a development without an HOA in an urban setting. Our HOA fee helps pay for basketball and tennis courts, swimming pool, multiple playgrounds and substantial common/open area maintenance in addition to the usual items like trash removal, snow removal and landscaping.

We have quite a few private streets that are not state/county maintained so someone has to pay for their upkeep – and I might add our private streets look a lot nicer than the connecting publicly maintained roads. Our HOA helps coordinate a lot of social activities as well.

As far as HOA’s architectural regimes – I’m all in favor of them. It’s amazing the crap that people will try to build or the garish stuff they try to put on their properties. If you don’t care if your next door neighbor builds a large eyesore shed from mismatched scrap wood recovered from a junkyard then by all means find a development without an HOA.

I agree with the quoted poster. I'd rather have a piece of mind, knowing that my neighborhood won't become trashed because people come in and ruin it.

For the above poster-that kind of thing does make you lose money by bringing property values down or just can't sell the house. It is just what you said-an INVESTMENT- and you should want to protect your investment. If somebody moves in next door and completely trashes it or not even that, puts out all kind of lawn ornaments, cars on blocks etc. people are not going to want to buy your house. And the more people who start slacking in home maintenance in that neighborhood will drive property values DOWN. (If anyone lives in Haymarket, VA they know the house right off of the exit on 66 on the right side with about a million things in the yard-including some santas and snowmen from christmas time! it's a perfect example of what can happen)
People are lucky if they live in a neighborhood with no HOA and everyone takes care of their house. I think that's a great thing, atleast you know everyone on your street has pride.

I'll go with the HOA. I just prefer piece of mind .

[arctichomesteader]

HOA's are perfect for control freaks who want to control others by forcing their own opinions of what is good and bad on others. People are so quick to throw out freedom in the name of toilet paper (fiat money that is). Don't like your neighbor, put up a good fence, or plant some quick growing trees, on the borders.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by msjack

People are lucky if they live in a neighborhood with no HOA and everyone takes care of their house. I think that's a great thing, atleast you know everyone on your street has pride.

I'll go with the HOA. I just prefer piece of mind .

I think it's going too far to say that they are "lucky". I would guess that a huge majority of property owners take care of their property.

[nixau27]

I'm moving to NOVA due to my husband's job. We looked at the Centex homes in Stephens City and the HOA's are like $90+ and there's a small pool and "club house". I don't see the point of paying the HOA's as well (are the HOA's tax deductible?). It's like money going down the drain, almost 1K a year and I could have spent that somewhere else. That's why i'm hesitant buying the Centex home (we're not into remodeling or renovating since we don't have time nor extra money) and will probably looking somewhere else since there's a lot of houses for sale right now. At the same time, I hope when i buy into a neighborhood w/o HOA's I won't have a neighbor who'll bring the property value down by not taking care of their property.

[tamitrail]

Originally Posted by nixau27

I'm moving to NOVA due to my husband's job. We looked at the Centex homes in Stephens City and the HOA's are like $90+ and there's a small pool and "club house". I don't see the point of paying the HOA's as well (are the HOA's tax deductible?). It's like money going down the drain, almost 1K a year and I could have spent that somewhere else. That's why i'm hesitant buying the Centex home (we're not into remodeling or renovating since we don't have time nor extra money) and will probably looking somewhere else since there's a lot of houses for sale right now. At the same time, I hope when i buy into a neighborhood w/o HOA's I won't have a neighbor who'll bring the property value down by not taking care of their property.

Most of the new subdivisions in Stephens City and Winchester are going to have HOA's. Can't get around it. I would be careful about where you move in Stephens City though. Check the police records first, please.