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Funny, I grew up in an upper-middle class neighborhood without any kind of 'HOA', and
the community did not fall apart and it was very safe.
If I plunk down for a mortgage worth hundreds of thousands, I don't want a bunch of nazis
trying to micromanage what I do with my own property, and I have read some real horror
stories on this. HOA is a deal breaker for me.
No one is forcing you to live in an HOA community. If you don't like it than live somewhere else. We have an HOA and they keep the neighborhood nice and things are taken car of, like planting trees and flowers. I think it helps property values. If you are the type of person that dislikes anyone telling them what they can or can't do with their house and/yard then you should not move into an HOA community. Not all HOAs are good and not all are bad. But if you are sensitive to this then avoid an HOA.
I do everything in my power to avoid HOAs. But guess what. Sometimes a job sends you someplace where every dang neighborhood is in some HOA or another. All you can do then is try to limit the damage they can do to you.
And yes, the HOAs can change the rules to suit them. Because I was in one HOA I got myself elected to the board. We were one of the first homeowner in the development and all the early homeowners got along just fine. Then as more and more people moved in, we got more of the retired busybodies who want to run everyone's life. It was unbelievable the things people would want to do. We had neighbor spying on neighbors -- actually had someone sneak a peek through our windows and file a complaint with the city that our basement was finished, expecting us to get a big fine or something. Fooled them -- it was all permitted, inspected, and signed off.
Eventually it reached the point the original members were gone from the board one by one and the new ones started adding rules that were never part of the original covenants. Even forced one homeowner to repaint his house even though the original color was submitted and properly approved by the architecture committee that was in place at the time. This cost the association a pretty penny. The final thing for us was the big community meeting where there was a large faction arguing that we needed more rules to keep "those types" of people out.
HOA is just a disguise for racist & classist "rules" that would never pass muster if they implemented in a town, city or state. And they hide their racism and classism behind that same "no one is forcing you" argument.
we got more of the retired busybodies who want to run everyone's life. It was unbelievable the things people would want to do. We had neighbor spying on neighbors -- actually had someone sneak a peek through our windows and file a complaint with the city that our basement was finished, expecting us to get a big fine or something. Fooled them -- it was all permitted, inspected, and signed off.
They can be comical! I have people say what I consider to be bizarre things all the time. Seriously stressing all day every day over the smallest things.
One of my favs is the complaint about the leaves. The people who are supposed to take care of those never do a good enough job for her. She painted fingernail polish on some to 'prove' that the very same ones that are blown away, and supposed to be bagged up and removed, actually fly back up on her porch.
The logic behind HOAs is quite clear. As soon as a neighborhood has common features it is going to have an HOA. No other way to have common features. Here it is generally driven by walls and entries. If the developer does not completely align with the street grid but chooses to lay out winding lanes etc it will have to have an HOA. Likewise a playground or pool or gates. There is virtually nothing being built in the Las Vegas Valley not in an HOA. Some customs on 1/2 acre and bigger properties but they often have CC&Rs that can be quite confining. And even the 1/2 acre gated tracts will have an HOA.
Now the range of an HOA is quite wide. We have what are referred to as agriculture only...$15 a month and they take care of landscaping up to places with valet and such that go $500 a month or more.
Note that the general reach of an HOA is set by the CC&Rs. The details are in the rules and regulations. If it is not in the CC&Rs as a general principle it is almost impossible for the board to write rules in the area. And in general changing CC&Rs is difficult to impossible. So read the CC&Rs to learn the scope ofg the HOA.
Some of you would have absolute fits about this particular house in a neighborhood that you most likely could not afford to live in. None of the neighbors had a problem and it was an Austin landmark.
The HOA found out someone had been letting someone else live in his garage.
If my friend fell on hard times, I, as an American, ought to be able to let him sleep on my couch or live in my garage until he could stand on his own two feet again. Crazy HOAs is as un-American as it gets.
Who wants to bet the aforementioned HOA is ruled by a powercrazed busybody?
Letting a friend sleep on your couch temporarily is different from letting him live in your garage or you renting out your garage to him or to a family or group of people.
If someone lives in your garage then you likely are not parking your car(s) in your garage and are instead parking multiple cars (including the one that belongs to your "guest") either on your driveway or on the street. If it is more than a car or two, then spillover onto the street is likely.
As someone who lives in an average city without an HOA, I would welcome fewer cars parked cars everywhere, including encroaching on my driveway so that I cannot even get out without trying to locate the owner, or as a last resort, calling the police to get the car moved. Even without an HOA, cities usually prohibit people from living in garages. I think that's a good idea.
We rented a house in a 50+ community for a few days and they had an HOA that did not permit street parking for more than a few hours, e.g. just for a visit. It was a beautiful community, and the lack of street parking contributed to that beauty, plus we were told that it was also done so that cars that did not belong to the residents were obvious to local patrols. Actually, I think the HOA discouraged driveway parking, too, as the driveways were nearly all empty, with the cars parked in the garages. Since the residents were mostly couples, there was no need for parking multiple cars. These people are Americans, too, and agreed to the HOA rules before buying their homes.
Personally, I loved the lack of overnight street parking, though I have no problem with people parking in their driveways.
Last edited by SFBayBoomer; 01-13-2018 at 04:19 PM..
Of course there are building codes and permits are required. Of course there are rules about picking up dog poop and not parking cars on your front lawn. What I'm saying is that you don't need an HOA for that. The town takes care of that. I've never seen homeowners who didn't keep their property up--why would they want their property to be run down? They'd be losing money. Most people take pride in their homes and want them to look nice. {snip}
[i] Other than that, I've never encountered a problem--people just abide by the town laws and anyway they take pride in how their homes look.
lol - I can't decide if you are merely oblivious or just don't want to admit you are wrong. "never seen homeowners who didn't keep their property up"???
Many towns prohibit parking in the street. Sometimes it's prohibited during the day, other places it's prohibited overnight. Last town I lived in was a beach town with very limited parking so they allowed on street parking. It varies. But you still don't need an HOA for things like that.
Well, the only way to get street parking prohibited is often with an HOA. Where I live (Columbus, OH), they really don’t ban street parking, even on days we get heavier snow.
tHE hoa I lived in for a few years was generally well-run, but it slowly changed when we bought a larger house and took in a family as renters. The President lived in the unit atttached next door, and they would get in the habit of calling me to complain about something new every week or so. They really would have been more happy in a 55+ development.
The topper was getting a $30 fine from the HOA because my tenant's cat pooped on their little deck in the rear. I had to drive up to the next meeting so I could tell them to stuff it. Nevermind all the strays wandering around. Or even evidence that it came from a cat at all. The evidence was never produced, so no forensic DNA investigation could be conducted.
Constant things like that just made it a pleasure to sell it and walk off with the proceeds.
What irked me the most is the blatant abuse of the low income system. Our dues were around $130 per month back then. In the middle of each row of townhouses were a pair of slightly smaller units required by law in this area. Dues on those units were as low as $20 in exchange for the owners to hold onto the units for 10 years. El Presidente and I could both see through our front window the very nice new BMW 5 series parked in front of low income unit 1, the unemployed lady next door who had imported Italian tile flown in for her remodel in unit 6, etc etc.
He was too busy spying on my tenants to notice and fraud going on.
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