why so many HOA's?

[camrynh]

Originally Posted by jojo80

After reading everyone's response, it seems to me the majority of people would rather not have an HOA. I can see having them in certain communities, such as condos, where they are actually using the money to maintain the outside of the buildings, (new roofs, siding, etc.), and where people don't have their own yards, so a pool would be nice. But not single family homes. To me, a community pool is just an unneeded expense (not to mention the liability, if someone gets hurt and the cost of upkeep and repair, etc) for homeowners. Also, you're paying for a pool, and you can only swim the times they tell you. If I want a pool, I'll put my own in, and swim when I want. I still believe, the majority of people don't use these ammenities, and would rather not have them. The whole community is paying for a few people to use them. If a builder asked buyers if they wanted them, I'm sure the majority of people would say no. I guess I don't have a choice. Hope I didn't complain too much, but it feels good to vent my frustrations. Thanks everyone for listening.

I don't know. I guess we're rare birds. Having lived in both HOA communities and communities without an HOA, we wanted one when we moved to DE. I only wish there were more with pools available, because in our last community we used the pool all.the.time in the summer, and paid much less through our dues than our friends who bought pool passes elsewhere (and I'm really not interested in the liability/upkeep of a pool in my yard).

In the house where we had no HOA, we had neighbors build a dog kennel adjacent to the shed on our property. They had a pit bull mix in it, attached to a lead. My dd, who was 2 at the time, was terrified to go past the shed to get to her swingset in the pack. Our neighbors across the street painted their house Pepto pink, and the folks next to them started to pain the front of their house but never finished. We also didn't have sidewalks or streetlights or a community playground.

I *like* living in a community that ensures that everyone's grass is cut, and maintains things like sidewalks, streetlights, play equipment. It's much more family friendly. We did find one that isn't strict, but does have guidelines.

[queenofbavaria]

Originally Posted by camrynh

I *like* living in a community that ensures that everyone's grass is cut, and maintains things like sidewalks, streetlights, play equipment. It's much more family friendly. We did find one that isn't strict, but does have guidelines.

depends on were you live. brandnew developments and their HOA seem to take their job really serious.
I am afraid, most of our fees go to a lawers office in Odessa, because lots of criminal home owners dare to plant illegal vegetable plants (and I am not talking about weed ....) or had a clothline or a shed over 8x10 .
Not to forget, some even bought mailboxes that looked different from the others

honestly: there are always folks, who NEED to have regulations, because they don't care at all. that's why I think, no above ground pool (which might collapse and it looks like cr.... after a year or grass should be under 1 ft ) etc are rules, which make sense.
but lots of HOAs just overdo it and create a very bad climate. they waste their energy by writing letters and observing neighbors instead of helping making a better community by allowing community yard sales, block parties, halloween events etc.
that is really annoying and we had no idea, what 'land of the free' could also mean, when we moved here from germany (which is already wellknown for loving rules and regulations .

we wanted to put solar panels on our roof and had the biggest trouble (because HOA said, it 'does not look nice' ). but since Town of middletown allowed it (and with obama in our back) we could keep it. but we used a prepaid legal (?) to check out our rights and to scare them with OUR attorneys letter, after we got theirs
we got pretty good advise and I think, in your case I would do the same.
I WOULD think, they can't force you - but in the land of the free everything is possible

good luck to you !

[camrynh]

Originally Posted by queenofbavaria

depends on were you live. brandnew developments and their HOA seem to take their job really serious.
I am afraid, most of our fees go to a lawers office in Odessa, because lots of criminal home owners dare to plant illegal vegetable plants (and I am not talking about weed ....) or had a clothline or a shed over 8x10 .
Not to forget, some even bought mailboxes that looked different from the others

honestly: there are always folks, who NEED to have regulations, because they don't care at all. that's why I think, no above ground pool (which might collapse and it looks like cr.... after a year or grass should be under 1 ft ) etc are rules, which make sense.
but lots of HOAs just overdo it and create a very bad climate. they waste their energy by writing letters and observing neighbors instead of helping making a better community by allowing community yard sales, block parties, halloween events etc.
that is really annoying and we had no idea, what 'land of the free' could also mean, when we moved here from germany (which is already wellknown for loving rules and regulations .

we wanted to put solar panels on our roof and had the biggest trouble (because HOA said, it 'does not look nice' ). but since Town of middletown allowed it (and with obama in our back) we could keep it. but we used a prepaid legal (?) to check out our rights and to scare them with OUR attorneys letter, after we got theirs
we got pretty good advise and I think, in your case I would do the same.
I WOULD think, they can't force you - but in the land of the free everything is possible

good luck to you !

Our community is 5 years old, so pretty new. Like I said, it's fairly lenient. And we read the CCR's (I think that's what they're called) before buying. Very important! So, we bought knowing exactly what we could and couldn't do, so there would be no surprises.

I agree though that sometimes HOA's can get overboard. But really, if we couldn't/wouldn't deal with what the HOA's regulate, we wouldn't buy there. So they're not really a big deal to me.

As far as land of the free and all that, it still is. You are choosing to buy a house in which those rules are regulated. You also have the choice to not buy a house in an HOA.

[queenofbavaria]

we bought the house and 2 years AFTER the HOA started up. until then we only knew about the towns regulations.

you are right, we are free to choose. but I would be happy with 10 big rules instead of 5 important and 25 silly one's.
I cant see, why we can only have beige, brown and grey houses here, why white or a light yellow e.g. is not permitted, to change this cookie cutter appearance at least a little bit.
the only thing you can do is join the board and trying to change something. my husband actually did that - but know we are happy to move to another state - and this time we will be more careful.

as I said, I am convinced that a society NEEDS rules and I am not against HOA overall - I don't like extremes, that's all.

[from PA]

I've said this before but it bears repeating. Most of the rules are initiated by builders to make the community more attractive so they can market and sell homes. Once the community is a certain percentage complete, the Board is turned over to the homeowners. At that point the rules can be and usually are amended to suit the homeowners who live there.

I lived in condos before my move to DE and I served on three differnt Board of Directors as soon a position opened up in my communities. I was against all the pettiness and so were others. We modified the rules to suit and protect the neighbors in the community. The changes we made were welcomed and we were applauded for the positive changes we made.

We had a HOA when we bought in our current community and we read over the rules carefully before signing. In this case, they were written to protect the aesthetics of the cape course behind our home. We did not object to any of the restrictions. Since then, the cape course has closed and the HOA has been abolished. So far so good but I foresee pink sheds and chain link fences, broken down vehicles,and unkept yards and above ground pools etc. as there are no rules in effect to protect us.

I'm not saying that this is happening only that it could. Most of our neighbors feel as we do and take pride in their community but that could change and there is not a thing we can do about it.


My opinion,a HOA is a necessity in a neighborhood situation.

[armx]

Poepoe1:

I am not a lawyer but nobody can make you join an association after the fact ...your oligation to the community starts on the day you purchase your home. Whatever your deed specifies when you bought the home is what you agreed to; whether you read the deed or your settlement lawyer explained to you or not. So please find your deed and carefully read paragraphs after the legal description for the property to determine your obligations ....

DM me if you feel necessary.

Obviously, the HOA leadership group has not consulted their lawyer.

[from PA]

Sorry Poepoe 1. I did not see your post before my response. What is happening to you and your neighbors is totally unfair. I agree with Armx. If you did not have an association when you received your original docs, I don't think the Board has a leg to stand on. I never heard of an association starting up after 18 years!!! Does the association have a management company? If so maybe the property manager is new? Over the years, I've had to deal with inexperienced managers, maybe a call to a superior in the company will straighten this out. I would think they should know better than to pull this.

Where I lived before, we were members of 2 associations. Very unusual but one was for the community, grounds, etc the other was for the pool, fitness center and various amenities. This was because the first builder had the ground and built the pool and tennis courts. He then went out of business and another builder came in , bought the ground and opened up a new community. We only paid dues once a month but a certain percentage was given to the other association for the recreational costs. We shared the amenities with the other community.

[jdoll]

In Delaware many (not all, but many) developments are not within the city limits and the HOA replaces a city for supplying services.

Your HOA dues cover the cost of landscape maintenance of all the common areas in the summer and snow removal on the development streets in the winter. Plus if you have water runoff retention ponds that maintenance can get expensive too. And if you have a outside property management company cost lots of money. The 4 items list would be 3/4 or more of what you pay in HOA dues.

Deed restriction vary by development, but all I have seen in the MOT area start as Builder deed restrictions, and after completion of the development are transferred to a HOA for that development. When you buy the house the deed restriction come with it. One of my closing papers states that and I can only assume that is consistent statewide.

I asked the title company for copies of everything I was going to be asked to sign at closing, several days before so I could read all the fine print. You'll find the HOA & deed restriction stuff there.