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Hi, Thanks for the info on condos. I was thinking of buying a house in AZ, and found out the HOAs are going bankrupt. Can someone let me know if this is an issue for a house owner, not a condo owner? Thanks ~
not familiar with AZ maybe it's how they do it over there, but why is there a HOA if it's a house?
Are you talking about a gated community townhouse type setup? with common pools, grass cutting, snow removal etc..?
I would be very careful buying into any condo/gated community if the HOA is bankrupt. It means not just a few but many units are abandoned/foreclosed. Unless the price is extremely good (30-40% below market) i did avoid at all cost.
I'm so glad to read that some HOAs are going under. This monument to communism should have gone away long ago. If I want to paint my home I should be allowed to paint it whatever color I want since I own the home. If I want to plant figs or peach trees or a vegetable garden then it's none of their business what I grow. Last thing I need is some nosey busybody coming into my yard with a ruler measuring my grass so he can gleefully threaten me with fines if I don't cut it the approved length. Most importantly, I don't want to own a home with title in hand in my retirement years only to have it taken away from me by the HOA because I can no longer afford the fees. At that point that HOA board would be meeting the business end of a shotgun.
I read about this in an article, they were saying that there are so many foreclosed condos and the owners are still living in them and not paying homeowners assoc. fees. Its like what can they do, they cant foreclose because its already under foreclosure!
That is the #1 reason that HOA's need to be proactive and "beat the bank" when people don't pay their dues. By month three the HOA should institute foreclosure proceedings, and then once they have a judgement of foreclosure, ensure the sherrif evicts. Of course if the owner is making a good faith effort to get caught up and there is a foreseeable plan in place to do so, you don't pull the rug out from under them. But the HOA in any event should file a lien to protect their interests. The lien can be removed once the arrears are paid in full.
Hi, Thanks for the info on condos. I was thinking of buying a house in AZ, and found out the HOAs are going bankrupt. Can someone let me know if this is an issue for a house owner, not a condo owner? Thanks ~
Generally speaking you are much safer buying a single family home. Yes, you could lose amenities like a pool or clubhouse until the HOA gets its finances fixed, but you're not going to get kicked out of your house because the power and water to the common areas has been cut so the fire alarms and toilets in the club house don't work.
SFH HOA's can easily cut back on amenities while still providing important basic services (street lights, gates, lawn mowing of public areas) to get through tough times.
Anyone anticipating writing a contract on any sort of property within an HOA should request all the necessary documentation, including rules, audited financial statements for the past 2 years, budget and YTD P/L, before making an offer and/or make an attorney review/approval of these documents a contingency.
In every state I've ever lived in, that information is part of the attorney review process. HOA's are under no obligation to provide this to anyone who isn't a resident. If I were selling my house I wouldn't go through the time/expense of obtaining these documents until someone had signed a sales contract with an earnest money check. At that point I would expedite getting them for the buyer.
I'm so glad to read that some HOAs are going under. This monument to communism should have gone away long ago. If I want to paint my home I should be allowed to paint it whatever color I want since I own the home. If I want to plant figs or peach trees or a vegetable garden then it's none of their business what I grow. Last thing I need is some nosey busybody coming into my yard with a ruler measuring my grass so he can gleefully threaten me with fines if I don't cut it the approved length. Most importantly, I don't want to own a home with title in hand in my retirement years only to have it taken away from me by the HOA because I can no longer afford the fees. At that point that HOA board would be meeting the business end of a shotgun.
You are exactly the reason HOA's exist. And I don't know why you post about your hatred of them in every thread you can find on them on C-D. You don't like them, great--don't live in one. It's not communism, you can live wherever you want. I'm glad I DO live in one so I don't have whack job neighbors who paint their home purple with fuscia trim.
And frankly HOA fees are just part of the cost of home ownership, and if you can't afford them, you shouldn't be buying in a place with them. No one forced anyone to live in a HOA community. I live in one for the added amenities, and I'm glad it's gated so we can keep out people trying to use our amenities who aren't paying for them. We also have a system in palce to not allow those who are late with thier HOA fees to use the pool, clubhouse, etc. They quickly find their card keys deactivated.
The community I live in has filed foreclosure proceedings against two homes that haven't paid dues in over two years. They owe over $5K not including late fees and legal fees. They have refused offers of payment plans, they are simply deadbeats.
I am not on the board, but am on the oversight committee that has to sign off on major board action like this, and I did so without hesitation--had the home owners at least been making a good faith effort, I would have looked more closely at the situation and what the chances that they would be able to come current at some point were before agreeing to such drastic measures. This committee keeps the board from being power hungry and harrassing people because they get a stick up their butt about something.
I used to be on an arbitration committee that's like a "People's Court" where if the board fines someone and the homeowner appeals, myself and two others (out of a pool of six to keep conflicts of interest down) hear both sides and then make a binding decision. (I gave that up to join the oversight committee) They side with the board about 40% of the time, but there have been times that they thought they were outside their minds. About half the time they find a middle ground that makes both sides halfway happy. It's a great system that has really kept the board in check and even the people who were fined did admit that they thought the process was very fair. I encourage other communities to develop a similar concept.
Let's see. There are HOAs that will not give a prospective buyer a list of their regulations until after the sale. There are home owners who buy a home in a non-hoa area only to discover an hoa develop around them and are given the choice of either paying the dues and be a member of the hoa or sell the home and leave. Do you not remember the case of the hoa that kicked an 82 year old lady out the home she and her dead husband bought and paid for because she could no longer afford to pay the dues now that her husband died. In Dallas, the president of the hoa personally sent a Marine veteran a warning letter stating that his Marine stickers on the car were a violation of no advertisement on vehiciles and he'd be fined and his car towed if he didn't remove them. The story went nation wide, including the video of the Obama08 bumper stickers. The president of the hoa backed down after the national pressure and pressure from other board members came down on her.
Quote:
Originally Posted by annerk
You are exactly the reason HOA's exist. And I don't know why you post about your hatred of them in every thread you can find on them on C-D. You don't like them, great--don't live in one. It's not communism, you can live wherever you want. I'm glad I DO live in one so I don't have whack job neighbors who paint their home purple with fuscia trim.
And frankly HOA fees are just part of the cost of home ownership, and if you can't afford them, you shouldn't be buying in a place with them. No one forced anyone to live in a HOA community. I live in one for the added amenities, and I'm glad it's gated so we can keep out people trying to use our amenities who aren't paying for them. We also have a system in palce to not allow those who are late with thier HOA fees to use the pool, clubhouse, etc. They quickly find their card keys deactivated.
The community I live in has filed foreclosure proceedings against two homes that haven't paid dues in over two years. They owe over $5K not including late fees and legal fees. They have refused offers of payment plans, they are simply deadbeats.
I am not on the board, but am on the oversight committee that has to sign off on major board action like this, and I did so without hesitation--had the home owners at least been making a good faith effort, I would have looked more closely at the situation and what the chances that they would be able to come current at some point were before agreeing to such drastic measures. This committee keeps the board from being power hungry and harrassing people because they get a stick up their butt about something.
I used to be on an arbitration committee that's like a "People's Court" where if the board fines someone and the homeowner appeals, myself and two others (out of a pool of six to keep conflicts of interest down) hear both sides and then make a binding decision. (I gave that up to join the oversight committee) They side with the board about 40% of the time, but there have been times that they thought they were outside their minds. About half the time they find a middle ground that makes both sides halfway happy. It's a great system that has really kept the board in check and even the people who were fined did admit that they thought the process was very fair. I encourage other communities to develop a similar concept.
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