Is there such a thing as a NICE neighborhood withOUT an HOA or a relaxed HOA?

[riveree]

Originally Posted by cricketfan

Especially today when RE prices are plummeting in developments, I'd rather live in a nice neighborhood with an HOA than in a nice neighborhood without an HOA.

Neighborhoods can go downhill suddenly and faster than a snowball in summer.

I don't know if I agree with that.

Who is most likely to be upside down on a mortgage right now? Someone who bought a home in the last couple of years. A new development is full of people who recently bought and some are having trouble paying their mortgages. When times are tough, are you going to spend time and money maintaining a lawn for a house where you're possibly facing foreclosure? HOA rules can only do so much and they can only take action after the fact (after the lawn has been neglected). Hopefully we won't see much more foreclosure fallout than we have now, but who knows? And if there are more foreclosures, who will maintain these houses? And who will pay to maintain these houses?

Neighborhoods can go downhill fast, I think that's true. But we have plenty of long-established non-HOA neighborhoods that have never gone downhill and show no signs of it now.

Honestly, I think the HOAs have been hoisted upon us and there are 2 groups getting very rich off of the fees - the management companies and the lawyers on retainer. Beyond that, I don't think HOAs do much for anyone.

If you want a new or newer home though, you're stuck with an HOA. That's the one and only reason I built in an HOA neighborhood. And the hype about "protecting property values" is nothing but a sales tactic. If it were true, why have HOA neighborhoods dropped in value just as non-HOA neighborhoods have? The HOA neighborhoods are not impervious to the reality of the real estate market, they just have better landscaping at their entrances .

[grsPAFL]

You mean like Waco? Yeah, I'm feeling that.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by grsPAFL

You mean like Waco? Yeah, I'm feeling that.

You're going to go Waco on your HOA management company?

[tallrick]

A better form of insurance is to only buy in an area with large lots. The larger the amount of land each house has, the lower the risk of becoming a dangerous area. As for property values, the lower they fall the lower your taxes. If your property becomes worth less than 50.000.00 it becomes yours!

[grsPAFL]

My kid would kill me. We need other children for our child - and for us too. In our experience - the larger the lot the more people want to be left alone.

This was our situation in Chicago - very pastoral neighborhood. But lots of loners needing more alone time.

[mawipafl]

grsPAFL -- have you attended a HOA board meeting? not to speak necessarily, but to observe. It would be interesting to see if the board is akin to the woman in the movie Over the Hedge or if the board is weak and meekly succumbs to an overpowering management company.

[grsPAFL]

No - haven't attended. I've gone as far as reading the online meeting minutes.
I will try --- knowing that public commentary is saved for the final credits.

BTW - You live in Eagle Harbor. Our agent kept trying to get us out there but it seemed too far from my DH's job (nearer the beach). She told us about the friendly atmosphere and their activities. Now I can see that she read us correctly. At the time I couldn't figure out why she kept going on and on about Eagle Harbor.

[iuki001]

Originally Posted by riveree

I don't know if I agree with that.

Who is most likely to be upside down on a mortgage right now? Someone who bought a home in the last couple of years. A new development is full of people who recently bought and some are having trouble paying their mortgages. When times are tough, are you going to spend time and money maintaining a lawn for a house where you're possibly facing foreclosure? HOA rules can only do so much and they can only take action after the fact (after the lawn has been neglected). Hopefully we won't see much more foreclosure fallout than we have now, but who knows? And if there are more foreclosures, who will maintain these houses? And who will pay to maintain these houses?

Neighborhoods can go downhill fast, I think that's true. But we have plenty of long-established non-HOA neighborhoods that have never gone downhill and show no signs of it now.

Honestly, I think the HOAs have been hoisted upon us and there are 2 groups getting very rich off of the fees - the management companies and the lawyers on retainer. Beyond that, I don't think HOAs do much for anyone.

If you want a new or newer home though, you're stuck with an HOA. That's the one and only reason I built in an HOA neighborhood. And the hype about "protecting property values" is nothing but a sales tactic. If it were true, why have HOA neighborhoods dropped in value just as non-HOA neighborhoods have? The HOA neighborhoods are not impervious to the reality of the real estate market, they just have better landscaping at their entrances .

I agree with you. I have been searching online for homes in Florida. It appears to me, homes with high HOA dues seem abundant in foreclosures. Newer homes appear to be cheaper because the HOA dues are so high. Older homes appear to hold their value because of low HOA dues or none at all.

iuki

[cricketfan]

My HOA dues are a whopping $50 a year. I'm not gonna quibble about 50 bucks a year for some degree of oversight if it deters my next-door neighbor from painting his house purple.

I opted to buy a house in a HOA community, it was my choice and I was in synch with the rules of the covenant, and in retrospect I am glad that I did. The choice is yours when you are house hunting, you can look elsewhere.

I agree with Riveree that we have plenty of long-established non-HOA neighborhoods that have never gone downhill. But we also have HOA and non-HOA neighborhoods that have indeed gone downhill. Bottom line is that HOAs cannot guarantee the survival of neighborhoods and in fact that is not the intent of HOAs. What it does however is tell the new homeowner who is now moving into that foreclosed house that there are some rules to follow in order to maintain some order and maintenance in the community.

I will grant you that the upheaval that we have seen in this market has been alot less prevalent in the long-established neighborhoods than in the newer developments where 1 of every 10 houses (usually flippers) had a for-sale sign out front. What I said earlier was that now that those prices are plummeting and we are seeing a whole new influx of buyers of those re-priced houses the role of HOAs may become even more relevant.

[mawipafl]

grsPAFL ... yes, I'm in Eagle Harbor, and admittedly I'm quite bias about the community because I live here, and IMHO it's exactly as your realtor described. Hands down decision for us. However, it's not for everyone, especially those who have to commute over the Buckman. As well, many of the streets are through-streets and some people prefer cul-de-sacs. Additionally, it is cookie-cutter - although there were a number of different builders, many of the houses look so much alike in structure and color. But all of this is minor for us since EH is the perfect fit for our lifestyle.