What's the *real* purpose of home owners' associations? (gated communities, negotiating, fee)
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I'm researching buying my next home. I'm pretty sure I want a condominium, but I'm not completely ruling out houses, either. Over time, I learned that tract home subdivisions almost always have a home owner's association (hereafter: HOA). Houses on traditional gridded streets usually don't have one. So far, I'd prefer not to have one. It's easier to deal with just one set of cops (city) than two (city + HOA).
In the research process, I've read plenty of horror stories about HOA's. The horror stories were plentiful, ranging from having to fix a broken window (reasonable, even good) to paying a $50 fine for a newspaper left out in the yard (stupid). In that light, it seems like HOA's are just a nuisance, run by people with too much time on their hands, who were bullied in school, and are now delighted to make other people's lives more difficult, not to mention play favorites with certain residents. Plus, charge X dollars per month for the privilege of that. True or not, don't shoot the messenger; I'm just posting what I read in other sources.
But there has to be some tangible purpose to HOA's. Otherwise, they'd be disbanded long time ago. So what do HOA's actually do? What benefit do they provide for residents, outside of enforcing rules? Either way, if I were to buy a house and not a condo, I'd buy one that doesn't have an HOA. But I'm still interested in finding out about its role.
The reason I wanted to live in a deed restricted community with an HOA was because I was tired of neighbors who parked their cars, trucks and boats all over the lawn. Didn't want to live next door to it.
The down side, of course, was I got violation notices for improper edging and overgrown trees.
Just do your homework, read the restrictions, check out the HOA from other residents if possible.
What you are describing are less than 1% of HOAs. I see that you think you are able to judge the people that run an HOA when you don't know anything about them.
The people that complain about HOAs are usually fools. They buy without reading. They sign without reading. Then they blame others for their own stupidity.
Not correct..You can read the CC&R's until you are cross-eyed but there is nothing to guarantee that either the rules will be changed, or that a different management company or board of directors will begin interpreting them differently or take a different approach to enforcement.
I would live in a tent before I would ever live in an HOA again. I spent 14 years of feeling like I was renting an apartment rather than living in a house I had purchased. I'm not going to go into the whole thing here, most people aren't interested but all I can tell you was that one of the happiest days of my life was when the moving truck drove away from that house with all our stuff in it.
I would live in a tent before I would ever live in an HOA again. I spent 14 years of feeling like I was renting an apartment rather than living in a house I had purchased. I'm not going to go into the whole thing here, most people aren't interested but all I can tell you was that one of the happiest days of my life was when the moving truck drove away from that house with all our stuff in it.
Thank you! That's what I was trying to point out when I mentioned my fear of HOA's. It's interesting, almost ironic, how Americans clamor for less government on a federal level, but have no problem with excessive government on a local level. And that's what HOA's are: a form of government on a small scale. You vote for their members, you can run for office in them, and they rule over you.
If anything, I'd say I'm being extra patriotic, for wanting less government in my life by avoiding HOA's.
I would live in a tent before I would ever live in an HOA again. I spent 14 years of feeling like I was renting an apartment rather than living in a house I had purchased. I'm not going to go into the whole thing here, most people aren't interested but all I can tell you was that one of the happiest days of my life was when the moving truck drove away from that house with all our stuff in it.
You and me both! I'm out of here in four months and am quite looking forward to it. We lived here only so my daughter could go to a specific school (graduated now) but unfortunately, this area is absolutely inundated with HOAs so I didn't get a choice to not buy in an HOA. Can't wait to leave it behind - going for some acreage in the country.
True HOA story, wanted to paint my house - got into an argument with the Architectural Review Board on which shade of tan I should paint it because they said "your house has such nice landscaping that people notice it more, so we want to make sure the shade is just right" (hubby is a landscaper). Took two months to get a flipping tan shade approved - insanity. It was tan for crying out loud and the final shade approved was so close to the original I picked that 99.9% of people would never be able to differentiate between the two. So ready to put this kind of crap behind me.
and thus helps developers get their projects approved by town councils, etc. Since this adds additional tax revenue vis-a-vis residential property taxes but adds little in burden to the town, towns are all too happy to have HOA developments built in their municipalities.
Bingo. This is one of the main reasons. Zoning and codes. The few the better for the developer. Sometimes streets not as wide. Sometimes no sidewalks. Sometimes no street lights. Sometimes minimal play or green areas. And on and on.
But some of the expensive ones with high HOA dues - are there to keep the riff raff out. Some have real expensive amenities - just for HOA residents.
What you are describing are less than 1% of HOAs. I see that you think you are able to judge the people that run an HOA when you don't know anything about them.
The people that complain about HOAs are usually fools. They buy without reading. They sign without reading. Then they blame others for their own stupidity.
This is just flat out Bull. In many areas everything is under one HOA or another. And you can read that garbage all you want, but any set of members can decide to interpret them however they want. The only ones who are in favor of the HOA are the busy bodies that want to run everyone else's lives.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MillennialUrbanist
Good answers so far. But like with cops abusing their power in the name of safety, it's not too difficult for HOA's to abuse their power in the name of property values. Those HOA's are the ones that people complain about, which includes posting on the internet. "Seinfeld" even had an episode or two about Jerry's parents' having trouble with their HOA. Honest HOA's that diligently do their jobs get talked about far less often.
That's why I started this thread; its tone was meant to be neutral. That said, I prefer not to have one. But since I'm planning to buy a condo, I'm sure there will be an HOA there. So I want to learn about them, so I know how to avoid the bad ones, as well as understand their role.
I've lived in communities where the original homeowners managed things well. Even got myself on the board to fight for homeowner rights against over zealous busy bodies like thinkalot above. Manage the common areas -- good. Try to run people's lives -- bad. You would not believe the things people would come to board meetings about. All negative, always about some trivial bit of nonsense that wasn't even against the covenants but just a way to poke a neighbor. They'd actually come to meetings wanting stronger covenants to "keep those people" out. We moved away from there to the country where people mind their own business, but last we heard, they had gone off the deep end over it.
For me, no amount of amenities can make up for the misery a HOA can inflict on their neighbors.
True HOA story, wanted to paint my house - got into an argument with the Architectural Review Board on which shade of tan I should paint it because they said "your house has such nice landscaping that people notice it more, so we want to make sure the shade is just right" (hubby is a landscaper). Took two months to get a flipping tan shade approved - insanity. It was tan for crying out loud and the final shade approved was so close to the original I picked that 99.9% of people would never be able to differentiate between the two. So ready to put this kind of crap behind me.
Oh yeah..been there, done that. We hired a painter to paint the exterior of our house, I got verbal approval from the HOA, and after the painter had finished about 1/3 of the house two cars with HOA nazis pull up, jump out of their cars and start taking pictures and hand my painter a "cease and desist" order.
I went to the HOA office and they said the person who approved painting my house was "unauthorized to do so". They said I could only paint my house in one of the 6 colors approved when the houses were built 20 years earlier. I asked for a list of those colors and they couldn't find it. When they located it a week later I took it to the paint store and they laughed and said they had no idea what those colors were that they must have been 20 years old. I called my attorney he called the HOA attorney and threatened to sue and they suddenly decided that the color my 1/3 completed house was painted was ok after all. $1,000 for my attorney, $300 to my painter for him being chased off the property. What a joy it was to live in that hell hole
In theory they are good, and a street with maintained properties (tidy yards, no broken windows, no garish colours, piles of junk or 6 dogs in the yard) will be far more desirable. but there are psycho ones.
My folks live on a street that used to be lovely. all owner occupied houses. people kept their lawns decent and most planted flowers. It slowly devolved and there was one house across the street that ended up rented, eventually had a dead lawn, junk outside and a boarded up broken window for years. Last time I visited that house my mother was only one of a few with a flowerbed. and other houses were starting to look a bit sad. It's my assumption that a HOA can enact change faster then bylaw. Problem is weirdo powertrippers though. I wonder if HOA's can change things that originally caused people to buy those properties in the first place (# of pets, painting options etc). Will look forward to reading more.
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