No HOA in my Heighborhood, but One wants to Start: What to Watch Out for? (renting, condos)

[brown_dog_us]

Originally Posted by Mitzibear

I am closing on my house this Monday in a new development with only 6 homes currently lived in. They are building. We were told that some day an HOA may come into play costing us $100 yearly or so because ther is nothing to collect for except a small amount do grass at the entrance which is still incomplete. Well just today 2 days before closing my realtor told me that there was going to be an HOA fee starting in July of $200 monthly. This is a deal breaker for me. What are my rights, so I have to accept this and close

What does your real estate agent say you rights are?

[Mitzibear]

I get nothing. At the closing the lawyer agreed I don't have to pay for a HOA when it eats formed, since it was not formed when I closed. Will'll see if that holds up. The developer is just starting to think about or an HOA.

[MattCW]

That's great. It'll be so nice for you not having to live under an HOA while your future neighbors are stuck under one. Prepare for a fight thought, HOAs don't like to give up any power.

[ofcgds]

There is a difference between an HOA and a Neighborhood Association or Civic Group. The HOA is formed by the developer of the neighborhood before the first house is even built. The associated fees are part of being a homeowner in that development and you really don't have any choice but to pay your fees and follow the rules. A Neighborhood Association or Civic Group is formed by a group of like minded citizens that want to see deed restriction enforced. It also helps when you want to set up a neighborhood watch program. A Neighborhood Association generally has no fees and a civic group has voluntary fees.

[AnsleyPark]

Mitzibear - I am curious as to your objections to an HOA. Is it the cost, or is it something else?

[Mitzibear]

Originally Posted by ofcgds

There is a difference between an HOA and a Neighborhood Association or Civic Group. The HOA is formed by the developer of the neighborhood before the first house is even built. The associated fees are part of being a homeowner in that development and you really don't have any choice but to pay your fees and follow the rules. A Neighborhood Association or Civic Group is formed by a group of like minded citizens that want to see deed restriction enforced. It also helps when you want to set up a neighborhood watch program. A Neighborhood Association generally has no fees and a civic group has voluntary fees.

Yes but this developer never formed an HOA. He waited till several houses were built then sent a letter to everyone asking for money for an HOA. That's not how it works.

[TreeRunner]

Originally Posted by IC_deLight

The HOA will not "preserve property values" for the owners. There is nothing good that would come from one unless you happen to be one of the vendors that feeds off of HOAs and the involuntary members.

How about looking at this article entitled "Benefits of the Georgia Property Owners' Association Act". Look at all the "benefits". Ask yourself whether these are benefits for property owners or for the HOA attorneys....
[URL="http://www.gaddislanier.com/documents/POAABenefitsArticle.pdf"]Benefits Article[/URL]


Avoiding the HOA is good for health, financial, family, and use & enjoyment reasons. Here are just a few reasons to fight those seeking to burden your property with involuntary membership in an HOA corporation.


1. Perpetual liens on your home that can never be paid off are one reason you don't want an HOA while you live there and a reason for others to avoid buying there when you want to leave.

2. In many places virtually all new housing built for the last many years is forced by local government to have an HOA. This makes non-HOA property a diminishing portion of the entire housing market. As such, the demand curve is working in favor of remaining non-HOA.

3. The financial condition of the HOA and the antics of its board and vendors will create marketability issues for your property. In addition, the HOA boards and vendors inevitably seek more money from you through "transfer fees", "community enhancement", "improvement request", "estoppel certificate", "resale certificate", and other junk fees.

4. The people driving the creation of the HOA obviously intend to interfere with use & enjoyment of individual owners' properties. This will negatively affect use and enjoyment of property for you and your neighbors.

5. Those seeking to form the HOA will try to enforce their whims thru litigation at your expense. Aside from the obvious problems the litigation creates for the individuals targeted by the HOA board, pending lawsuits make buyers wary of buying any homes in the subdivision.

6. Along with an HOA, the promoters will invariably seek the power to impose private "fines" and to charge assessments. They will want to impose a lien on your property so that you can be foreclosed upon if you don't pay what they demand. See the "benefits" article above where liens, foreclosures, etc. are touted as "benefits".

I've lived in both conditions - within an HOA community and in a non-HOA community. There will always be that individual(s) that could care less about their neighbor much less about themselves and that is where the community in the form of an Association can come together to help everyone get along. You don't like to be told what to do? So do I, but if you co-exist with other humans you better learn how to get along otherwise we fight. It's our nature. So don't like rules? Find property far away from others and do what you want otherwise, wise up.

[TreeRunner]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

If you have no common areas, there's no point.

Even if you have a bunch of people who mean well forming an HOA, it will eventually be taken over by busy bodies who want to exert power over others. That's the personality that HOAs filter for. They are volunteers, they don't make any money, so the only real motivation for people to want to be part of the board is so they can instill their opinions and tastes on others.

If you have people letting their yards turn into jungles, HOAs can be good, but those are not people who would ever join anyway.

I know what you are thinking....I'm not ever going to put a clothesline in my front yard or paint polka dots on my house, so I would never have any beef with an HOA. THINK AGAIN! HOAs in Georgia have almost unlimited power and can do things like build fences on your property and then send you a bill for building it. They can and they do, and there's very little you can do about it legally. If you don't absolutely need an HOA, don't ever get one.

So if I decide to paint my house pink you would not care? Good for you're a better person than me. But on the other hand, you're not too smart either. Home value is important. Check your finances, a day will come where you want capture as much value from your home when you sell for that assisted living location.

Put your egos in a box and Think people.

[TreeRunner]

Originally Posted by MRFLASHPORT

sounds like my neighborhood, I've been here since 1977, and in when the subdivision was first built, there was no HOA. Then, around 1981, a few neighbors got together and formed one, incorporated, and it quickly fell apart, as it costs money to run an organization (ask me, I sit on the board of directors of an NPO), requires much thankless work. You'll get plenty of whiners but no one will step up to be a part of the solution, or put their $$$$ where their mouth is.

as far as authority, unless you volunteer to join and be bound by said agreements/covenants, if it isn't in your original deed, than any subsequent HOA that forms has no authority over your property. This is why those that form after a subdivision fail, as membership is optional, and low participation=low results=a dead duck.

Wonder if the OP is in my neighborhood? In my hood, one of the original HOA founders wants to start it up again as many of the "original" families are long gone. We were the second or third ones here. Personally I don't see the benefit and I think in our case, someone's personal disputes are spilling out over into the street. A meeting has been planned for Oct 10th, I plan to be there and see what all the noise is about.

I personally don't care for the concept of HOA's. In Cobb county, we already have a Quality of Life unit at Cobb PD that uses county ordinances to prevent blight, so HOA's aren't of any real value, and just an opportunity for someone with too much time on their hands to be in the hair of others' business.

That's certainly a plus for Cobb County - Quality of Life unit. We don't one in Alpharetta so it's left to us to manage ourselves, and we all know how easy it is to get along with each other right? Unless everyone in a group, community, etc (i.e., more than 2-people) have the same beliefs and values there will need to be a mutually agreeable set of rules that everyone can abide by. Otherwise it's each for their own right? Right.

[Mister 7]

Originally Posted by TreeRunner

So if I decide to paint my house pink you would not care? Good for you're a better person than me. But on the other hand, you're not too smart either. Home value is important. Check your finances, a day will come where you want capture as much value from your home when you sell for that assisted living location.

Put your egos in a box and Think people.

People don't paint their houses pink in nice neighborhoods. That's what you HOA people don't get. HOAs are generally in nice neighborhoods with expensive houses. Someone painting a $500k house pink or purple, that just doesn't happen. If it does it's a freak occurance.

We have no HOA in our neighborhood and all the houses are very, very pretty. There are boats here and there (including in my yard ) and nobody cares. I don't care if they do care.

I literally live in a "well known, well respected" Knoxville neighborhood.

Houses hardly ever go up for sale here and when they do they're gone in a day or two.