HOA fees in the Davenport, FL (33897) area - LEGACY PARK (The Centre) (Jay: for sale)

[DJJayito]

Hey guys / gals...

I have started to look to buy a home (my first home). For starters, I have been jogging around the neighboring areas. I found this one community, which I was really interested in. Large homes for GREAT prices in a community that definitely needs some help. There's a bunch of for sale signs and up and coming foreclosures, etc etc. In any event, I pulled a few flyers from info tubes and I ran across the wonderful HOA fee section of the sheet. $485 (quarterly). Having lived in communities with HOA fees before, I assumed that $485 was the annual figure... 485 / 4 = $121.25 per quarter. OOPSIE! I was wrong. It's $1940 annually. OK... Here is why I am writing... This community's HOA is obviously ripping off their home owners (which might explain the empty houses). I kid you not... This neighborhood does NOT have any community trees that need maintaining. There is NO pool / NO community center / NO gym / NO tennis courts.... blah blah blah. The only thing it has is a TINY play ground for little kids and a basketball court without a backboard or rim. LOL! On top of all that, most lawns are NOT well maintained, so they obviously don't mow the lawns for you. I lived in a town house community that had 2 olympic size pools / a gym / tennis courts / community center / the lawns were maintained by a company (and always in immaculate condition)... HOA fees were 201 per month, and WELL WORTH IT! (oh... They also plowed all the snow, when it snowed). I was hoping someone might clue me into where this $485 (quarterly) is going. I saw other similar homes in similar type neighborhoods with HOA fees as low as $25 / month. There was even a few (with LOW HOA FEES) that had community pools. What's the deal here? What am I missing? Or is this as obvious as I think... THEIVERY?

[cfIfan]

HOA fees vary from community to community. It may be that they offer cable and internet included or it could be that alot of homes are in foreclosure in that neighbourhood and they are not being successful in collecting so they put the whole communities rates up to compensate. Realistically there is no rhyme or reason for how hoa's charge, the key is to buy in a neighbourhood that seems to have a low foreclosure rate, and shows value for money in terms of amenities.

[DJJayito]

ABSOLUTELY! I have been looking all over the area and I have a few neighborhoods that have very few for sale signs... the neighborhood seems very secure in terms of the foreclosure nonsense. I wouldn't want to buy in a community with a lot of forclosures, UNLESS, the prices of the houses - because there is so much supply - drop SO LOW that you just can't turn down that price. I can see these houses - already half price from what they were sold for - dropping a lot farther, as they have to "TRY" to make the community whole again. The bank - likely could be 1 lender since the builders typically have their preferred lender won't want to carry these mortgages / taxes forever. If I could get that BIG HOUSE for under 100,000....... lol

This is what I think happened in terms of Legacy Park. The deal probably came with free lawn care... In that area of Davenport, most places have lawn car included. However, when the HOA fees weren't getting paid, the lawn care company wasn't getting paid and just bailed on the community. I imagine this could've happened. It could be cable... I was told by a realtor, who never elaborated, that they do have an arrangement with cable, but as I told the realtor, I live in a community with an arrangement with the cable company and it just includes basic cable, which is only about 50 bux / month. I can't imagine that the "triple play" which would be included with the HOA would be very powerful. It would probably be basic / digital cable... The lowest plateau for high speed 765k - or whatever the lowest high speed is. I was asking the realtor because I wouldn't "mind" if it was a GOOD bundle arrangement, but would rather pick my own cable plan / company. I don't much care for the ala carte nature COMCAST is in florida. I love my FIOS.

Originally Posted by cfIfan

HOA fees vary from community to community. It may be that they offer cable and internet included or it could be that alot of homes are in foreclosure in that neighbourhood and they are not being successful in collecting so they put the whole communities rates up to compensate. Realistically there is no rhyme or reason for how hoa's charge, the key is to buy in a neighbourhood that seems to have a low foreclosure rate, and shows value for money in terms of amenities.

[cfIfan]

You will generally find that the majority of bundles which are offered are just the basic, but some offer great deals when upgrading. For example, where i live our basic pack which is included includes high speed internet, basic cable, pest control and alarm monitoring. Our cable and internet is with brighthouse. We upgraded ours to the DVR HD pack from the basic 90 channels. If we didnt have it through our HOA we worked it out just for the cable would have cost around $150. We pay 29.95 for the upgrade so there are pros aswell. Although very few offer lawn maintenance unless you are looking at townhomes. In terms of falling alot further i cant see this happening. Prices are already very low and with the bail out plan i dont see this happening, however this doesnt mean there arnt excellent deals out there for you to find.

Good luck

Originally Posted by DJJayito

ABSOLUTELY! I have been looking all over the area and I have a few neighborhoods that have very few for sale signs... the neighborhood seems very secure in terms of the foreclosure nonsense. I wouldn't want to buy in a community with a lot of forclosures, UNLESS, the prices of the houses - because there is so much supply - drop SO LOW that you just can't turn down that price. I can see these houses - already half price from what they were sold for - dropping a lot farther, as they have to "TRY" to make the community whole again. The bank - likely could be 1 lender since the builders typically have their preferred lender won't want to carry these mortgages / taxes forever. If I could get that BIG HOUSE for under 100,000....... lol

This is what I think happened in terms of Legacy Park. The deal probably came with free lawn care... In that area of Davenport, most places have lawn car included. However, when the HOA fees weren't getting paid, the lawn care company wasn't getting paid and just bailed on the community. I imagine this could've happened. It could be cable... I was told by a realtor, who never elaborated, that they do have an arrangement with cable, but as I told the realtor, I live in a community with an arrangement with the cable company and it just includes basic cable, which is only about 50 bux / month. I can't imagine that the "triple play" which would be included with the HOA would be very powerful. It would probably be basic / digital cable... The lowest plateau for high speed 765k - or whatever the lowest high speed is. I was asking the realtor because I wouldn't "mind" if it was a GOOD bundle arrangement, but would rather pick my own cable plan / company. I don't much care for the ala carte nature COMCAST is in florida. I love my FIOS.

[DJJayito]

I would still have to research that more, but like I said, those realtors with houses in there haven't gotten back me. I imagine they aren't too interested in selling a short sale at a value they probably feel isn't worth their time / way below what they sold for, new, not even 3 years ago. I am still interested in this one house, over there, because it pretty much has everything I would want.

[savelegacypark]

Where do I begin. I have lived in Legacy Park since the beginning, Legacy Park was primarily set up as an investors development with short term rentals only. It has seven villages making up 1240 homes. All of the villages were supposed to join the Master HOA as well as their respective village HOA. The Center was lucky because Maronda homes backed out of the deal to join the Master and now does not contribute to maintain the Blvd and wells etc. So now there are only 1067 homes sharing the burden of all expenses. There has been recent talk of asking the Center to join the Master but why would anyone pay another dime when they are already riding for free? Now for why the Center pays $485 per quarter. $100 per month goes for cable, internet, and telephone, the $185 left per quarter goes toward the management company (who manages for the original developer who ruined Legacy Park in the first place) The Master just filed for bankruptcy on 6-15-2009! And whats left goes to the landscaping company that charges theme park prices for maintaining the Centers entrance and retention ponds. The real problem is that better than 70% of the homeowners do not live in Legacy Park and do not attend HOA meetings to correct what is needed. That is why HOA fees have gone up so much because the management company has dictated how things run instead of the homeowners. We need more owners to get involved but most live 1200 miles away or better. I have fought since day one with a handful of owners who live here but are always overturned because the majority are not here.

[DJJayito]

That's pretty much what I thought. First off... You guys shouldn't be paying a single cent for landscaping, since the landscaping of many of the residents (those who don't live there) is an eye sore, to put it mildly. They don't even have much to cut. We have been a big fan of Maronda homes in terms of BANG FOR THE BUCK. We were looking to move into Legacy Park... Wanting to buy either a Baybury or a Winchester. We opted out when we heard about the HOA fees and saw - no pool / no park (the basketball court... Is it still HOOPLESS?) In terms of the money towards cable. That's pretty much a shot in the foot. The cable company benefits from that. They give you basic ammenities for the $100. If you are ok with basic cable and low high speed, then of course it will work. If not, you then have to ALA CARTE everything. We live (renting) in Tuscan Hills and they got us with that one. I ended up switching to Verizon Fios, but still having to pay the $50 (within the HOA) for the basic cable. When you see DirecTV antennas within a community with included cable, you know there is an issue. I pray for the REAL residents that - eventually - the HOA fees are adjusted, OR, you get more for the money. At that HOA fee, lawn care should be included. Just a note... Tuscan Hills is a gated community with lawn care and tree care - with tennis courts and a community center (gym and game room) and their HOAs are only about 50 bucks more than Legacy Park - at least from what I was told.Good luck with that. I still - even with the handful of awful lawns - LOVE The Centre. I just wish the HOAs were more reasonable. Luckily, though, you aren't included within the MAIN HOA. I imagine that, with those over priced homes in the back, that portion of an HOA would be STEEP.