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Hi, if this subject already exists, I can't find it. Can anyone suggest good, safe neighborhoods in the $250,000 - $450,000 range that do not have HOAs or restrictive covenants? It is hard enough finding a house without finding one and then discovering you can't live there. It can be in Raleigh, Durham or Chapel Hill. Thanks.
Anything built since 1990 is probably in an HOA or has restrictive covenants. Some of the latter though are not too onerous since they may mostly have had to do with what type of house could be built or whether you could have sheep in the backyard.
I am trying to buy from out of town since my husband's job doesn't start for over a month. Our agent is not doing as much as I would have hoped. I find most of the homes we look at myself on the various search engines (Realtor, Zillow, etc.) that don't allow that level of search. We have told her that we need a non HOA home for a couple of reasons, but that just seemed to result in her sending even fewer listings. We've been looking since October/November and we are lucky to get one or two listing from her a week. I find I am doing most of the work, even searching the HOA covenants online and finding out if we can work with a certain neighborhood. This is why I'm trying to find some specific neighborhoods I can search myself.
What other criteria are you giving your agent? As noted newer houses that are in a development have an HOA. If you're telling your agent that you want a house no older than 5 years and it needs to have all the neighborhood amenities then you're not going to get many listings.
Inventory seems to be low all over right now as well.
I am trying to buy from out of town since my husband's job doesn't start for over a month. Our agent is not doing as much as I would have hoped. I find most of the homes we look at myself on the various search engines (Realtor, Zillow, etc.) that don't allow that level of search. We have told her that we need a non HOA home for a couple of reasons, but that just seemed to result in her sending even fewer listings. We've been looking since October/November and we are lucky to get one or two listing from her a week. I find I am doing most of the work, even searching the HOA covenants online and finding out if we can work with a certain neighborhood. This is why I'm trying to find some specific neighborhoods I can search myself.
If it's a home you're interested in, use Google maps to look around the neighborhood. If you see a level of architectural consistency, upkeep, pride of ownership and sanity, its a HOA neighborhood.
If you see junk cars and boats parked in the front lawn, mailboxes shaped like a football, Christmas lights all over the place even though the map image was taken in July, NFL team flags sticking out of the house, a guy in speedos tanning himself, a house painted dayglow orange from top to bottom including the roof, and stuff like that, it's a non HOA neighborhood.
To be fair, that will limit your results. If she has you on a search to get all the new, or updated, listings which match, that is what you should receive. The thing is, the MLS search is based on what people into it. It is entirely possible not all the inputs are accurate. Searching neighborhood by neighborhood through covenants is not practical. Also, they may not be the most updated versions. It is easier to find what you want further out.
What exactly do you want to do that's forbidden by most HOAs? I grew up in a non-HOA neighborhood in South Raleigh near Cary, and I live in a different one there now. They both have restrictive covenants, though they are fairly lenient. All the houses in my neighborhood are well-kept and attractive, but the houses are more the 400,000-600,000 range. We enjoy the freedom and also the land (we wanted an acre).
If we knew exactly what it was that you wanted to do we might could help you. Warning: the lower priced no-HOA neighborhoods might have a lower level of upkeep. I am not aware of many neighborhoods without covenants - have you considered a single house just on a road with no neighborhood?
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