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I live in Fort Myers, Florida and just about every newer home is in an HOA unless you are buying a house with some acreage. Some are better than others, some include more than others and some are very intrusive. Some of the HOA fees are as low as $125 a month and others can go as high as $700 a month. Before you buy a house that is in an HOA review their rules & regulations to educate yourself whether or not you want to live there. I believe you have 72 hours after making an offer on a house to determine whether their rules are acceptable to you.
When my mom & step dad moved down from Long Island they were very interested in one development until they read that the HOA required the garages to be closed all the time unless you were pulling your vehicle in or out. That did it for my stepfather. He was not about to have some association tell him he couldn't leave his garage door open while he was doing a project in there.
The problem I have run into with the HOA fees has to do with the price of the house. The mortgage company naturally figures those fees into the amount of house you can purchase so if I wanted to live in an HOA I was going to have to find a house that was about $35K less than one that was not in an HOA. Personally, I have no problem with an HOA that isn't too intrusive. It keeps your neighbors from having their cars up on blocks in the front of their house or letting the grass grow so tall you can't see their house.
I guess I'm disappointed that so many properties in Florida are under communism.
oh, please, stop it with the word "communism". Communist regulations are forced. HOA regulations are not forced, as you make the CHOICE to live in that community. Don't like it? Don't move there.
oh, please, stop it with the word "communism". Communist regulations are forced. HOA regulations are not forced, as you make the CHOICE to live in that community. Don't like it? Don't move there.
Beyond that, many of these 'HOA whiners' do not seem to even grasp that an HOA is literally a "Home Owners Association" - The HOA Board is a group of elected volunteers who work together with other owners to ensure publicly available rules and covenants are followed.
The real problem with HOA's is the highly vocal few who buy in a community with an HOA and agree to follow the rules and covenants. But, then they act like they are being imposed upon by jackbooted nazis when they are asked to follow the rules they agreed to follow.
People buy into HOA communities because they are tired of inconsiderate neighbors who want to paint their house bazooka pink, put a closeline in the front yard (next to several non-running junk vehicles) - and let their barking, hunting dogs run freely throughout the neighborhood.
If you want a pool and tennis court (which I do) but don't have the budget for one just for myself and my family, (which I don't) an HOA is an attractive alternative. Also sometime a pool and tennis court re more cheerful places with others being arond.
I didn't realize that it was American to whine about how other Americans have exercised their freedoms and arranged things in a way that you don't like.
Go move somewhere where you can exercise your freedoms. i dunno, Texas or Idaho. Buy some raw land and build you paradise. Haul water, set up an outhouse. Then you can be free.
And that isn't necessary either. We have lived in Florida for well over 40 years and never wanted to live in an HOA controlled community either. The house we lived for 26 yrs in in Miami was an older home (built in 1958) in an older well established neighborhood, probably built before the apparently current belief among many that HOAs are necessary to maintain even a vestige of civilization, or the amenities (such as electric, plumbing) we all expect, even here in Florida.
And when we were ready to retire, we found a piece of land in an area where there are a few other houses, with roads and and power lines ready to go (imagine that!), no HOA there either. And we built our own house on that land, which amazingly, has all the amenities we could want.
And even more amazing, we keep our property well maintained, landscaped, and looking good. As we did for our house in Miami, and our neighbors in both places have done so as well. And we didn't even need an HOA to tell us what we had to do.
Beyond that, many of these 'HOA whiners' do not seem to even grasp that an HOA is literally a "Home Owners Association" - The HOA Board is a group of elected volunteers who work together with other owners to ensure publicly available rules and covenants are followed.
The real problem with HOA's is the highly vocal few who buy in a community with an HOA and agree to follow the rules and covenants. But, then they act like they are being imposed upon by jackbooted nazis when they are asked to follow the rules they agreed to follow.
People buy into HOA communities because they are tired of inconsiderate neighbors who want to paint their house bazooka pink, put a closeline in the front yard (next to several non-running junk vehicles) - and let their barking, hunting dogs run freely throughout the neighborhood.
That's funny, I live in a community that has no HOA, as I did in Miami, and we never had any neighbors who 1) painted their houses bazooka pink, 2) had a clothesline in their yards ( although I would not have objected if they did), 3) left nonrunning junk vehicles on their property, or 4) let their animals run free in the neighborhood. In fact, we, as well as our neighbors in both places have always maintained our properties well, landscaped and generally showed the pride of ownership in what we had. Although you might object to the uniqueness of the houses in these areas, they don't tend to be cookiecutter identical such as often seen in housing developments with HOAs. Or as crowded, we and most of our neighbors have built on a half acre or larger.
So despite your descriptions of non-HOA properties as something out of "L'il Abner" (Dogpatch), or maybe the Beverly Hillbillies, it 'taint always so.
Because you are a responsible homeowner but unfortunately a lot of people aren't. However usually those people would never buy in a HOA community in the first place. There are plenty of homeowners who don't seem to realize they bring the whole neighborhood down by having junk all over the front lawn, untrimmed lawn & bushes, etc.
Florida laws on HOA's have been revised over the years. HOA's have more regulations to follow when changing rules. There is also a ban on liens if you suddenly can't afford HOA fees https://www.clickorlando.com/news/ne...51105195912240. Before purchasing a property ask for and review the HOA documents. Not all HOA's are restrictive. I have 2 HOA's for my home, one is the association my house is located in and the other is the larger association which covers the whole development of over 1,000 homes. Neither is extremely restrictive. The local one covers our roofs, outside walls, landscaping, but we can plant ourselves if we choose flowers and small bushes. It also covers insurance on the outside structure. My insurance, therefore, is less than $450 a year.
The larger HOA covers roads and other things unique to our neighborhood. We do have a golf club but it is a separate business and not covered by the HOA. The larger HOA requires submittals of plans for new roofs, structural changes, adding pools etc. but rarely if ever denies them. Charges a nice fee though.
HOA's get a bad rap from the few that are bad. Remember, an HOA is a HOMEOWNER's association and if someone is becoming a dictator, then you have every right to try and get them removed.
Because you are a responsible homeowner but unfortunately a lot of people aren't. However usually those people would never buy in a HOA community in the first place. There are plenty of homeowners who don't seem to realize they bring the whole neighborhood down by having junk all over the front lawn, untrimmed lawn & bushes, etc.
Oh I know that's true. And I guess it would bother me a lot more if that neighbor lived very close to me and those untrimmed bushes and lawn, junk and so on encroached on my space, or I had to look at it every time I looked out a window or went out the door. But I guess we have been fortunate in that our neighbors for the most part maintain their properties very well, and in the event someone had a problem it was for a specific reason (such as illness, death in the family) where they were unable to keep up the property and we were able to help them out.
There are some properties around here in need of quite a bit of TLC, but not in sight of our "domain". Many of those properties have been sold and fixed up.
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And I guess it would bother me a lot more if that neighbor lived very close to me and those untrimmed bushes and lawn, junk and so on encroached on my space, or I had to look at it every time I looked out a window or went out the door. But I guess we have been fortunate in that our neighbors for the most part maintain their properties very well, and in the event someone had a problem it was for a specific reason (such as illness, death in the family) where they were unable to keep up the property and we were able to help them out. 
