buying in subd w/o no active HOA

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by twowolves

We are very tempted. You guys say run but don't really say why. Or, what could happen terrible.

I think folks have been saying to run for good reasons, but go ahead and buy it. Sounds like a real gem.

More reasons "con":

No HOA = ...

1) Neighbors who wind up painting their homes blue and purple.

2) Neighbors who wind up leaving old cars/fridges/kid's toys in the yard.

3) Neighbors who don't maintain their lawns, attracting rodents and snakes.

4) No one to fix pool issues, street lighting issues, pot holes (many subdivision streets are privately maintained), etc.

5) The builder is now gone under, so when you buy the house and find out later it was poorly built or odd materials were used (from China) and your kids are now glowing in the dark, there is nothing you'll be able to do.

6) The bank may well sell the remaining area to a new developer who might decide to build high density apartments in the area, lower income properties, or who may also go under and let it go all over again.

7) The "deals" on homes may being in a lower-credit level of owner who might regularly commit # 1-3 (and more) above, not caring about their property, much less care about those who live next door to them.


If you need more reasons, there are maybe 251 we could list. Please listen to the "run now" comments earlier if you want a happy home life.

[gtcorndog]

Added con:

New developer may come in and start selling homes in a price range 30% less than what the first 15 were built at. Instead of $200,000 homes, they start building $125,000 homes. Guess who loses?

[10 feet tall]

Try looking for a house in a "neighborhood" rather than a "subdivision". But if you must buy a new home in a subdivision, don't do it with a defunct HOA. No telling what could happen.

[lorilove]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

2) Neighbors who wind up leaving old cars/fridges/kid's toys in the yard.

3) Neighbors who don't maintain their lawns, attracting rodents and snakes.

We don't have a HOA and these two issues are not a problem - they are against the city ordinances. We have a very responsive City Councilman and City Manager that has helped with issues. We had one home of guys that were parking their cars in their yards! It is worth finding out how issues like this are managed in that area.

The maintenance of the pool and amenities would be my concern and lower priced homes being built would be another. Yes your neighbor could paint their house purple but that is an eyesore but does not dramatically affect the value of your home.

We have one neighbor that has fake flowers in her yard which is silly and we keep plotting a midnight raid to get rid of them but no one is really that freaked out about them.

[twowolves]

Thanks everyone. After mulling it over, and even contacting 2 of the (few) residents in the hood, we decided against further interest in the home. Just too many unknowns with the issues in there. There were ~120 lots left undeveloped (only 15 with homes built) and all were in some stage of foreclosure! I could just envision some developer coming in there and swooping up the lots at a fraction and building homes in the mid or high 100's range when the 15 existing homes were worth 300k at some point (imagine they are pretty fancy/decked out).

And the no HOA really bothered us. Lawsuit haven with the residents swimming, having bday parties at an uninsured pool.

Funny thing is, the day after we decided to skip this home, it went under contract! Hahaha! I wonder if THOSE people did their homework?? (like we did) Doubt it.

Anyway, thanks!