Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
HOAs make more sense in a condo or coop structure.
In my single family house I dont want to be connected to my neighbors in maintaining the neighborhood and playing snitch or cop. Point of a single family home is exactly that.
My small condo beach place is an HOA which makes sense. I am only there 20-40 times a year and it keeps up landscaping, roof repair, sprinklers, etc so when I go there I can actually go to beach rather than weeding or watering lawn.
I am fine with a well run HOA and choose to buy in developments that have them. What annoys me are people who buy homes in an HOA neighbourhood and agree to abide by the rules and covenants at closing and then do nothing but complain about those rules and covenants (rather than actively working to change something they don't think is reasonable) or just decide to disregard them once they move in. An HOA neighbourhood isn't for everyone and if they don't like the restrictions they come with, then they should buy elsewhere, not fill the neighbourhood Facebook page and/or every conversation with complaints about the "evil HOA" they chose to live with.
I disagree.
In my neighborhood, a particular rule that I strongly disagree with did not come in the rules and covenants that I was presented with when I built and closed on my home; the rule in question was on a pdf file on the HOA's web site, that I had to search for and find after being sent a violation letter about it.
Having served for 4 years on our HOA Board, this couldn't be farther from the truth. For the most part, being on an HOA Board is a thankless and irksome task. Board members, when elected by the community, have 2 responsibilities to uphold. 1 - They are charged with finding contractors to do maintenance (like lawn serves) and repairs (like painting and roofing) for the community at large. This can be simple or, in the case of HOAs whose CC&Rs provide for lots of services, fairly complicated. 2 - They are charged with enforcing the CC&Rs as written consistently and fairly. If they fail in either of these duties, they can and should be immediately removed from the Board.
And no, Board members do not play HOA policeman because they are on a power trip. It's your neighbors that do that. In my experience, 95% of the owners want the rules enforced and either send an email to the management company about violations or report them to a Board member who is then required to pass it on. Then there's the 5% who, despite agreeing to the rules when they purchased their townhouse, feel the rules don't apply to them. Just to other people who do something they don't like who they then want punished as swiftly as possible.
If you choose to buy in an HOA neighborhood, just follow the damn rules you agreed to. That'd make being a Board member a much more pleasant experience.
Many, but not all, HOAs boards tend to eventually or continuously morph into the same problems inherent in any organization that has some power. Don't get me wrong, I think HOAs are -- on balance -- a good thing.
As far as being "thankless and irksome", you remind me a bit of English teachers who groan about grading essays, science teachers who groan about having to put up and take down equipment for labs, and gym teachers who complain about having to supervise the locker room. We have an HOA president now who is sometimes in tears when people don't love her for all the good she is doing. Hey, you aspire to be on the HOA board, that's part of the territory...just as it is in practically any leadership position of any organization.
The consistently and fairly things is where the issue often comes in. In my first townhome we were responsible for all of the upkeep of our townhomes, except for the sidewalks and parking lots. We were responsible for painting and roofs, etc. So one day I decided to do some painting and decided to paint my front door a slight two-tone scheme; just as I finished, the "architectural committee" walked past and stopped to compliment me on how well I kept up my place, and how much they liked the two-tone door. A year later, different members of the "architectural committee" sent me an official letter warning me that in 30 days they would contact an attorney to begin proceedings about my two-tone door. So I had a friend who was an attorney, and he said to write a similar letter back to the HOA board...all very official sounding. So I did. The HOA board president called and said, "Hey Vince, no need to contact an attorney. We're all family here. All you had to do was call us." And I said, "Hey Joan, no need to contact an attorney. We're all family here. All you had to do was call me about the door."
Another time, I decided to make my very small front lawn a rock garden. After I did it, I got a call (I guess by then we were family) saying I couldn't do that. I said, "If I drop by and give you something, will you be home?" "Sure." So I dropped off to her a list of 26 other townhomes in the complex who, over the years, had done exactly what I had done. Case closed.
And then there is sometimes an issue with the unfairness of HOA board elections. For example, here in Colorado, the HOA board can give proxies in elections to any candidate they wish...including themselves. So, naive me, I ran a couple of years ago, and our HOA president gave herself 35 proxies...and I lost by 1 vote. Legal, yes. Fair, hell no.
I could tell you plenty more true stories.
Now you and your board may be the finest people on planet earth. But most people I know see HOA boards as -- at best -- a necessary evil.
I think most HOAs have iron clad rules and you cannot change them or anything like that , so for someone to say maybe you should work on changing them , I think maybe they should re read their by laws because most of them are iron clad and cannot be changed . I just looked at a home for sale and was really considering buying it and then I found a copy of their HOA by laws and now I know why that same said house has been on the market for over a yr and a half . The house was beautiful but the HOA is killing the sale .
So let me get this straight - you don't live in an HOA community, and I guessing have never lived in one, but you are an expert in how they work?
Quote:
Originally Posted by WellShoneMoon
So tired of this same argument over and over. Don't like HOA's? Don't buy there. End of chat.
Don't know why this needs to get repeated over and over, but apparently it does.
Quote:
Originally Posted by twingles
Seriously, 9000+ posts and this is the idea of the day? Who cares? Don't like them, don't buy in one. I'll never understand why the anti-HOA crowd feels the need for these posts every few months. It really makes you wonder.
As far as HOA rules being ironclad, not true but that's already been addressed. But never let good hyperbole get in the way of the truth.
Exactly. The "I hate HOAs and I'll say whatever I want about how awful they are, regardless of accuracy"
Quote:
Originally Posted by cargoman
Looked at a lovely house a few months back....the listing failed to mention it was in an HOA. During the walk through it became known. I ended the showing immediately. Potential buyer lost due to the existence of an HOA. In that situation the sellers property value plummeted to 0%!
Yes, because you were the only person on the planet who was in a position to buy that home. So if you didn't buy it, it now has zero value.
Looked at a lovely house a few months back....the listing failed to mention it was in an HOA. During the walk through it became known. I ended the showing immediately. Potential buyer lost due to the existence of an HOA. In that situation the sellers property value plummeted to 0%!
If you are a Realtor in the area how was it YOU were not aware of the house you were showing was in an HOA before showing it? Sorry but I wouldn't use an agent that didn't know the area any better than that!
If you are a Realtor in the area how was it YOU were not aware of the house you were showing was in an HOA before showing it? Sorry but I wouldn't use an agent that didn't know the area any better than that!
I'm sorry did I miss something? Where in any of my posts or in my quoted statement does it say that I am a realtor and that I was showing a house? please help me out here and clarify.....genius!
I'm sorry did I miss something? Where in any of my posts or in my quoted statement does it say that I am a realtor and that I was showing a house? please help me out here and clarify.....genius!
Oh I get it now....you saw this "I ended the showing immediately" and assumed by this that I was a realtor performing a showing. Obviously I could not have ended the showing as a buyer...brilliant!
I'm not happy to learn that most HOAs on the beach would not allow me to keep my small camper van (Class B motor home) onsite, as it was going to be my only vehicle and daily driver as well as used for part-time travel. Now I'm forced to rethink my entire retirement plan.
On the other hand: Without one, anyone can buy or rent the house next door to you and live/maintain it in such a way as to render your property unsellable; it happened to me. It's something to consider...
I was reluctant to buy in a neighborhood with HOA but I loved the house and it was close to work. Later when it was time to sell the resale price was good and the realtor said it helped that the neighborhood looked so good and everyone's lawns were well kept and the houses were neat etc. When I moved to another city I noticed non HOA neighborhoods had 'those homes' with poor lawns/shrubs, broken down car in the yard, houses needing power washed etc
Bottom line, if everyone took pride of ownership and kept their property up nicely HOA's wouldn't be necessary
Last edited by grampaTom; 08-06-2015 at 01:59 PM..
I think most HOAs have iron clad rules and you cannot change them or anything like that...
Wrong. Several residents in my HOA successfully got the rule on acceptable fencing changed in my HOA's covenants and bylaws. When I bought my house, only black wrought iron or black vinyl-coated chain link were allowable; now privacy fences can be installed.
HOAs have their pluses and minuses, for sure. Right now I'm waiting to see if mine will allow the roofing material I'd like to install (stone-coated metal, rather than the more conventional asphalt shingles). I'll be bummed if they say no to my preferred choice (which has a look that closely mimics the appearance of shingles, but is much more durable). But that's the downside of living in a HOA. The upside is that if my neighbors wanted to fence their yard with barbed wire, paint their house fluorescent pink with bright purple trim, and park a car on blocks in their front yard, I'd have recourse that didn't involve having to move.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Don't like HOA's? Don't buy there. End of chat.
