HOA fees for homes in South Orange County (Irvine, Highland: condo, houses)

[russlancea]

My husband and I have expanded our home purchasing option to South OC. Many of the single family residences I see have small HOA fees from $50 to $90/month.

What do these fees cover and what are the association rules for some of these neighborhoods? I remember reading on this site that some homes in Irvine won't allow you to have your garage door up for more than a second (exaggeration --is this what some of the restrictions are? Will I not be allowed to paint my house Pepto Bismal Pink?

Do you live in a neighborhood with these fees? No, not for condo owners, single family homes. Are you part of the board? Do you attend meetings? Do some of these associations misuse funds or are poorly managed like some condo associations?

I've never come across HOA fees for houses, so this is all new to me. I don't mind these associations if the rules are reasonable and keep the neighborhood safe, clean and pretty.

Thanks.

[Charles]

I created a thread almost identical to yours.

Orange County Subdivisions HOA, Mello Roos, Amenities

(perhaps the moderator should consider folding this thread into mine)


The small HOA fees (and $50-$90 is small) may be for Wagon Wheel. No real amenities like pools. Most HOA in South OC with amenities are closer to $150-$200. The best tool to view all this is www.redfin.com

Here's another very useful thread I created (very specific to south OC too)

Useful Househunting Tools

[KaraG]

Yes, some of the HOA's in south OC have very restrictive rules - not flying flags, not parking a pick up truck in your driveway, no home-based businesses, what colors you paint your home, etc. Realtors may tell you, "oh, it doesn't really mean that" and then you get a letter from the HOA.

Our rule is to never live in a neighborhood with an HOA again.

[Fontucky]

Keep in mind, there are plenty of nice neighborhoods in South OC that are traditional neighborhoods, i.e. free from the tyranny of the HOA. If you're interested, I'll post a short list.

[russlancea]

Thanks for offering the list, Fontucky, but thanks to Charles (I think it's you, Charles, who touts redfin), I've switched over to redfin for my MLS/house search. I was using another site, in addition to Redfin to get more info on listings when I just decided to switch over completely. Redfin does list HOA fees, Mello Roo fees, etc, so I can use that.

From Charles' other thread, it seems some HOAs aren't that bad; they just maintain slopes, etc. I don't mind that.

Besides, I'm afraid your list may not have anything that this selective buyer is looking for: 4 bedrms with good schools nearby for the youngins, not next to a fwy, not haunted, no animal stench reeking walls and flooring, not a former meth lab--all this for 350k.

No, wish a 4 bedrm SFR was down at 350k, but hubby and I have had to increase the amt we're willing to spend.

One great thing about Redfin is it lets you know if a property had a price change. A number of homes have lowered their prices, so maybe things are starting to get back to realistic levels.

Okay, I'm beat. Tired of looking at homes and this crazy market. I just want my own place already!

***end of venting***

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by russlancea

Besides, I'm afraid your list may not have anything that this selective buyer is looking for: 4 bedrms with good schools nearby for the youngins, not next to a fwy, not haunted, no animal stench reeking walls and flooring, not a former meth lab--all this for 350k.

You're right, my list wouldn't have helped you. You'd have to add at least 100k to your minimum for the entry level inventory.

[bhcompy]

The problem is that HOAs here are very expensive for what you get. What you pay 200$/mo for here, you'll pay less than half in the IE and a quarter in a South OC type town in other major western metro areas(like Denver for instance, with a ~45$/mo HOA within Highlands Ranch which has basically the best array of HOA funded services I've ever seen in the US). 200/mo sounds like a dang condo HOA fee

[russlancea]

anything over $100 is too much for me, but the HOAs I've been seeing down in South OC are like $20 to $90, so that's reasonable to me. I just wonder if it's ever gone up for any reason. Probably not, but it essentially could and that's one of the reasons I want to avoid them.

[USCTrojanCPA]

There are several communities in South OC that do not have HOA fees, but they will typically be older homes. For the most part, HOA fees are a big waste of money. The small HOA fees typically take care of landscaping & road maintenance and these HOAs can be very strict and annoying. In terms of comparing one property to another one with an HOA fee vs. one with no HOA fee is for every $60/month is equal to $10,000 in capitalized cost. Remember that HOA fees almost never go down, they only go up.

[russlancea]

husband and i were so tired of putting in offers and not getting anything that he actually suggested buying in temecula where we could get a newer home (not always a good thing considering the shoddy craftsmanship of some of the new construction) with more space than we need and with good schools for the kids.

i prayed this plan wouldn't work. he recalculated the costs of moving that far and decided it wasn't worth it, so that's why we began looking in south oc and increased our purchasing amt even more.

we've been approved for about 500-600k (i forget the amt because we're never spending that much) but only want to pay 350k (unrealistic for what we want). we've now decided a max of 490, but to me, that's still too much, so i'm aiming for something lower.

so you're right, fontucky--we have to and we have increased our purchasing range. the houses i've saved on redfin have seen a reduction in price, though, so maybe i'll get something close to what i want.

sigh...i still love that house with the small HOA that i just made an offer on and lost. told husband that if we lost it for being too cheap in our offer, it's okay, because the bedrms are small. loved everything else, but the small bedrms, which could hurt resale later. oh well. something will come up in the 450k range and i don't mind older homes or older or more established neighborhoods as long as it's still well kept.

good night ya'lls.