Living with an HOA (Angus: new house, landscaping, neighborhoods)

[romesq]

Just received a Fed-Ex package with 2" of HOA documents in it. Required disclosure prior to closing. Purchasing in an area with mandatory HOA membership. Never dealt with HOAs before. We do plan to do backyard work, since right now it's a blank slate. Plans must be submitted 60 days in advance w/fee for review, according to what I've just read. Actually appreciate the oversight to support property values, but wonder to what degree architecture control committees can become problematic. Anyone have any experience or words of wisdom?

[Trainwreck20]

It really, REALLY depends on your HOA. Some HOAs actually have people who drive around in cars to look for violations, others only respond to reported violations. And of course, there are various levels of violations. In my neighborhood, you can have a shed in the backyard if it is <8' tall and >5' from the fence. I would say that probably 90% of the sheds are ~2' from the fence and <6' tall, which essentially accomplishes the same goal (low visibility), and I don't know anyone in the neighborhood who has gotten in trouble.

Now, if you paint your wood fence in purple in yellow stripes, expect to get a notice very quickly .

As some rules of thumb: a) if the general public can't see it and b) the neighbors can't see it or don't care, then don't worry too much about it, especially if they are going to charge you to review a plan for your flower beds .

[FromCalitoSteinerRanch]

I know in our neigborhood, they do enforce at a level that is similar to a company that takes action against folks using their Trademarks. If there is not a record of enforcement, then that can cause bigger issues in the long run.

We received a letter for not having a shrub in front of our above ground backflow prevention device on our sprinkler loop. We planted a shrub, and we are good to go.

For our swingset, we had to get architectural approval, and it has an assembly that made it 11' tall, so that meant we had to keep it 10' from the neighbors fence.

I was made to understand it is a courtesy to them to keep some privacy in their backyard. If you had something 11' tall, 5' from their fence, one could have a pretty good view into their yard. We have a 1/4 acre, so it was not an issue for us.

If I was on the other side of that proposition, I would be appreciative of the rules in place.

By the way, you are lucky you got a copy, in CA, we could not get a copy until we were owners, and we had to trust there was nothing it the CC&Rs that would have made us really upset.

[jennyb315]

my HOA rules when I signed the closing docs was seriously no less than a ream of paper!!!!!!!!!!

I skimmed them and they all look fine to me. Personally, having lived in both HOA and non-HOA neighborhoods, I will take the HOA anyday! Trying having a neighbor with a shed larger than a 2 car garage or another one that was the biggest slob in the world -- you will appreciate a few rules! Now, HOAs aren't for everyone, but they work for us!

[Trainwreck20]

The Angus Valley neighborhood does not really have any rules, but he neighborhood was still quite nice. It is off of Duval between 183 and MoPac. I kind of miss the 'organic' nature of a neighborhood that allows some variation, but I also understand that, especially with the close lots in newer areas, a pretty detailed HOA is necessary. The lots in AV are generally a little bigger than most of the new areas. I personally did not mind that there was a horse or two in the neighborhood (on the BIG lots) and one guy kept a pot bellied pig next to his house (had a 'swine acres' sign on the pen).

[mrsengle]

(had a 'swine acres' sign on the pen).

That's a good one

[AK123]

We live in one that's really strict (First Colony), people actually drive around searching for violations. We've gotten a few letters for really minor things that were easy to fix (like new tree stakes left in past a year, a little mildew on one side of the house), and the problem was resolved.

For me, it's easier to just go to their website and look at listings of rules and violations. If your HOA has one.

But most HOAs are not unreasonable in what they ask, it's to keep the neighborhood looking nice and will benefit you.

[love roses]

The HOA where I'm at is not too bad. I think they're mostly concerned with people parking boats, etc in the driveways and keeping weeds out of your yard. I was on an HOA before I moved back to Texas, and as it was a brand new community, we had to make up our own rules. We were a pretty laid back bunch. We called ourselves the Gnome Patrol. You did have to submit a plan for any landscaping, but for us, unless you were putting something massive in your front yard (we had tiny lots), concreting in the backyard, or putting all rocks in the front, we would just write approved for it. The paperwork for some HOA's is merely a formality so they have things on file. That would protect you as well, because if somehow you got a letter about not getting approval for something, or someone else complained about it, it would be on file and we could disregard the letter or tell a complainer that "too bad, they have approval", etc...

[austin-steve]

The good thing about no HOA is if you want to paint your house purple and orange, you can do it. The bad news is, your neighbor might paint his house purple and orange.

My neighbor just painted their house turquiois and purple. It looks terrible. It might have been ok in Travis Heights or Hyde Park on a small cottage, but it doesn't look right in my ranch home neighborhood. The colors don't even match up as contrasting or complimentary colors such as we're taught using a color wheel. They are just random clashing shades.

We have no HOA so that's the way it's going to look. Much of my 1960's neighborhood looks run down and lacking in pride of ownership, and it's a primary reason we are building a new house and moving. I tired of the "organic" look. I'm building a new home in a neighborhood with an HOA and looking foward to having neighbors who will have homes that compliment mine instead of detracting from it.

Steve

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by romesq

Just received a Fed-Ex package with 2" of HOA documents in it. Required disclosure prior to closing. Purchasing in an area with mandatory HOA membership. Never dealt with HOAs before. We do plan to do backyard work, since right now it's a blank slate. Plans must be submitted 60 days in advance w/fee for review, according to what I've just read. Actually appreciate the oversight to support property values, but wonder to what degree architecture control committees can become problematic. Anyone have any experience or words of wisdom?

In our neighborhood no one wants to be on the committees so it is hard to get volunteers. My plan is to just take over the neighborhood association if I start to get any lip from the architectural committee.