Experience with HOA's? (Alexandria, Roanoke, Burke: sale, real estate, apartment)

[Roanoke2]

So I'm originally from Roanoke and have moved around a lot including Pittsburgh PA, Prince George's County MD, Cobb County GA, and briefly Durham NC. Currently just outside Charlotte. I did live in an apartment in Reston for a few years so I have some experience with NOVA. In short I'm thinking about moving myself my two young kids and my wife back to NOVA for a job opportunity. We'd like to live in a newer development. However it seems like most of the newer developments in NOVA have HOA's. I despise the concept of HOA's. The idea that I pay a fee to have someone else tell me what I can do with my property is just.........well yeah. I'm wondering how strict they are in general. Like will I be allowed to have a baskeball hoop in front of my garage for my kids (that was an issue for a friend I had that live in an HOA neighborhood in Bowie MD). Will I be able to grow a garden in my backyard? Stuff like this seems like it should be so basic, yet some HOA's don't allow it. Ideally we want to be in an area with light or no HOA's.

[spencgr]

If those things are against the HOA rules, you should expect them to be enforced. Find an HOA with bylaws you can live with.

[finalmove]

Originally Posted by Roanoke2

So I'm originally from Roanoke and have moved around a lot including Pittsburgh PA, Prince George's County MD, Cobb County GA, and briefly Durham NC. Currently just outside Charlotte. I did live in an apartment in Reston for a few years so I have some experience with NOVA. In short I'm thinking about moving myself my two young kids and my wife back to NOVA for a job opportunity. We'd like to live in a newer development. However it seems like most of the newer developments in NOVA have HOA's. I despise the concept of HOA's. The idea that I pay a fee to have someone else tell me what I can do with my property is just.........well yeah. I'm wondering how strict they are in general. Like will I be allowed to have a baskeball hoop in front of my garage for my kids (that was an issue for a friend I had that live in an HOA neighborhood in Bowie MD). Will I be able to grow a garden in my backyard? Stuff like this seems like it should be so basic, yet some HOA's don't allow it. Ideally we want to be in an area with light or no HOA's.

I understand your concerns, but eventually you'll experience those that may move in near you that have no taste, no appreciation for others, nor care about how the appearance of their yard affects property values.

Real estate appreciation in this area is the nation's highest. Having some clod next door with derelict cars, shutters missing, and 9-cords of wood in the front yard is not what most would see as desirable. Thankfully all new developments have bylaws to keep such riff-raff under control.

Take a look at Greenbriar, west of Fairfax. It would be a good compromise for you. The rules are watered-down and reasonable.
Good luck.

[NC211]

Here’s a real world example - my house and my neighbors house. 3 years ago our neighbors house went in the market (we weren’t here yet). It sat for a year and they kept dropping the price, eventually selling for about a 20% discount.

5 months later we bought this house at about $0.70 on the dollar.

3 months ago my neighbor moved, and sold that house for what the original seller wanted 3 years ago without having to really do anything to it, and it sold in about 4 weeks time in winter. Had he waited for the spring bloom, I bet he could’ve gotten more. Why?

Our house was a total mess when we came along. It was “that house”. Landscaping was dead. Looked like either a neglected rental or pending foreclosure. Turned out to be very close to the later. We have since fixed all of that over the past couple of years. We’re now “that house” for totally different reasons and all around us are benefiting from no longer having an eyesore right outside.

The difference in his purchase and his sale was nearly $175,000.

I had to battle with my HOA a couple of times, but ultimately won and simply did what I wanted to do. My position was for them to ask any of the neighbors how they felt, and if the HOA didn’t back off, I would return the home to its previous condition when we bought it because the HOA gave it a clean bill of health in that prior condition so we could buy it and they could get rid of the previous owners finally.

[ersatz]

People often feel strongly about HOAs, both pro and con. In some cases, "No HOA" is considered to be a selling point. If so, put "no HOA" in your real estate search engine filter when looking.

A number of older established neighborhoods have no HOAs so look there. It is not true that no HOA means it is a shabby neighborhood, I have seen quite nice neighborhoods that do not. If you see a property you might like, examine the listing closely to see if HOA fees are listed. I just picked a house at random in an older neighborhood and selected the More Details button on Zillow. It has no HOA. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...51928439_zpid/ There are lots if you look for them.

You can always ask the selling agent for further detail if no HOA info is contained in the listing. If you are actively hunting with intent to buy, have a Buyers Agent do the legwork for you.

[ToyVW55]

I live in an HOA neighborhood. We are not strict but the covenants are enforced. I am glad of it because we have a few non-HOA neighborhoods around us that look like something out of the Wild West. It's all well and good not to have an HOA when you move into a new neighborhood. Everyone is good for a while, but then it starts slipping.


Our homes are now over 20 years old. Lately, our HOA has had to enforce issues with people having all their wood rotting off their home to the point that you can see right through to the framing. Grass and weeds that have grown knee-high. People doing home based businesses that brought tons of car traffic and noise to the adjoining neighbors. The latest was someone putting a huge religious statue in the middle of their lawn (it was approved to be moved into the landscaping around the house--covenants clearly state no statues on the lawn).


Anyhow, we do do pay HOA fees and they aren't to pay for someone to tell you how to live. Maybe the large HOAs take an administrative fee; ours does not. The fees go toward maintaining the common areas (drainage "lakes", signage, landscaping at the entrance) and they also incorporate the trash and recycling fees so everyone gets a great deal on trash pickup.



Now, I think there are some HOAs that are over-the-top strict. You can usually get a feel for that as you view the various neighborhoods.

[skeddy]

Originally Posted by finalmove

I understand your concerns, but eventually you'll experience those that may move in near you that have no taste, no appreciation for others, nor care about how the appearance of their yard affects property values.

Real estate appreciation in this area is the nation's highest. Having some clod next door with derelict cars, shutters missing, and 9-cords of wood in the front yard is not what most would see as desirable. Thankfully all new developments have bylaws to keep such riff-raff under control.

Take a look at Greenbriar, west of Fairfax. It would be a good compromise for you. The rules are watered-down and reasonable.
Good luck.

Greenbriar?...When I was a kid, I worked construction building that community. That was many years ago.

HOA's are only as good as the people in charge.

[Roanoke2]

Originally Posted by ersatz

People often feel strongly about HOAs, both pro and con. In some cases, "No HOA" is considered to be a selling point. If so, put "no HOA" in your real estate search engine filter when looking.

A number of older established neighborhoods have no HOAs so look there. It is not true that no HOA means it is a shabby neighborhood, I have seen quite nice neighborhoods that do not. If you see a property you might like, examine the listing closely to see if HOA fees are listed. I just picked a house at random in an older neighborhood and selected the More Details button on Zillow. It has no HOA. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...51928439_zpid/ There are lots if you look for them.

You can always ask the selling agent for further detail if no HOA info is contained in the listing. If you are actively hunting with intent to buy, have a Buyers Agent do the legwork for you.

Yeah I live in a neighborhood in Charlotte that has no HOA's. Most people keep really good care of their property. There is one guy who often has a ton of cars in his driveway. Some people complain about it. I could care less.

[Roanoke2]

Originally Posted by finalmove

I understand your concerns, but eventually you'll experience those that may move in near you that have no taste, no appreciation for others, nor care about how the appearance of their yard affects property values.

Real estate appreciation in this area is the nation's highest. Having some clod next door with derelict cars, shutters missing, and 9-cords of wood in the front yard is not what most would see as desirable. Thankfully all new developments have bylaws to keep such riff-raff under control.

Take a look at Greenbriar, west of Fairfax. It would be a good compromise for you. The rules are watered-down and reasonable.
Good luck.

I complete get why HOA's would come down on people with uncut grass, multiple missing siding panels, or who play loud music and party all night. However I don't understand why they would care about having a basketball hoop in the garage, backyard above ground pool, garden, or a trailer in the driveway. People who take issue with this really irk me. I wouldn't care if my neighbors did stuff like that with their property and I don't see why it would decrease home value. Thanks for the advice I look into Greenbriar. Any word on Burke HOA's?

[ameridreamNoT]

We pay $115/month for HOA. They handle nothing for the townhouse except cutting the backyard lawn. We do use the pool most of the summer time and they take trash every week. Also every day, they would have Security check the surrounding at least twice. We do not think it's worth the $115 monthly but there may be other services they do that we did not read the HOA thoroughly. The way I personally see it is, realistically, there is always been an HOA, it's a matter of a private one or the county. The county is definitely an HOA in my mind. They check your grasses to make sure you meet the code, they remove trashes. You pay the annual taxes associated with it...it's all called out in the semi-annual tax bill (waste, etc) we all receive in July, at least in VA it is.