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Do you think that Homeowners Associations for single family detached homes really help a neighborhood? I heard things like they are good because they keep "bad" people out, people who they would say would leave a junk car that is rusting out on the side or people that would paint their house dark black and bright red because it would make an eyesore and lower property value.
But do you really think that there are measurable and actual benefits for neighborhoods to all be under HOAs where they can decide more of what you can do or not do with your house? The other side of it is that people who are in an HOA have to pay more money per capita for getting the same house as an equivalent non-HOA single family detached home somewhere else because it goes to paying the HOA to enforce rules and maintain the property. Some have called it a scam where HOA board members rule a fiefdom and "extort" money from their members and potentially forcing them to foreclose a home if they do not agree with the HOA's rules. There are also problems with the idea of freedoms.
There are many stories of people in areas of Brooklyn or Queens or other urban neighborhoods in America where, in the lower density parts, had a good sense of community and they had no HOA's for the detached housing as well as more variety because had much more freedom to be creative with their house. When I was driving around a big city, this one old house in an urban neighborhood is eccentric because they always "overdecorated" by having TONS of flowers all over their property and it looks VERY different from all the houses around them. Not only that, but many statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary were on that house's property. Some other house in the same city I think also tended to overdecorate for each holiday, like Halloween, Christmas, 4th of July. Had they have been in an HOA, they couldn't have the freedom to decorate and be creative and happy.
What do you think? Do you think HOAs help keep a better atmosphere for living or do you like non-HOAs where your next door neighbor who is eccentric could put up a joyful display of holiday celebration to a very extreme degree... or put a rusting junk car on the side of the road?
I thnik they are for people who want greater standards than can be enforced by ordinace by way over burdened local governamnts. It give control to local residence over rules they agreee to abie by.HOA rules vary so much one example can not real shed much light on others.But altho i do not live i one :i see they are becaomig very popualr with new homebuyers or they would disappear.They not only allow for rules on owenrs but also allow many things to be keepup in the neigborhood. I noticed quite a differences when we recent looked at subdivisions with and without HOAs.
HOAs serve some of the functions of local governments where local government doesn't exist. But mostly they're detrimental. Their restrictions tend to strait-jacket a neighborhood into a specific time period and (like zoning) do not allow for organic, natural development.
HOAs are dangerous--they become a de facto government with the powers of government but none of the responsibilities or accountability. Cities have the power to provide code enforcement (things like rusted out cars and other hazards) without prohibiting basketball hoops or American flags (most HOAs ban display of any flags, except on Flag Day or the 4th of July.)
I hope to NEVER live under the rules of an HOA. I want to be able to do whatever I want to my house, and want my neighbors to be able to do the same. I think they have nothing to do with sense of community -- just "protecting" property values, which in many ways seems the antithesis of community. So many people these days seem to buy with the idea that they're just passing through, and put resale value at the top of the priority list; the HOA, then, perhaps protects them from the horrors of an eccentric neighbor, but it comes at the cost of people being able to really be (and share) themselves. Obviously real estate is a major financial investment and cost and value are important, but I think it really does say something about the state of a community when the focus on the neighborhood revolves primarily around monetary value, and not other, less measurable values.
I don't know that so many Americans really DO like HOAs. Obviously many do, but for a lot of people if they want to buy in a subdivision they really don't have any options.
Going against the tide, here. I am a curmudgeon, after all.
Where we live, our Property Owner's Association (POA) is wonderful because it's non-intrusive. We're a community of 210, custom homes on the shore of a large lake in the SW Missouri Ozarks. The POA sets few but necessary building standards - no McMansions - but does not dictate color, flag flying, etc. I trusts that those of us who own property are mature and considerate, and it works.
Our association maintains 4.5 miles of private streets (and sets a 20 mph speed limit, quite appropriately), 15 commonly owned lots with a nice community center and pool, a lake-front park and a launch ramp. It also maintains a lighted helipad for medical evacuation as we're 25 miles from the nearest hospital. It takes care of snow clearance as required, area beautification and other appropriate issues such as maintaining the two wells and pumping systems that provide our water.
Again, the "rules" are few and far between and for all the services we pay a walloping ANNUAL assessment of $205. Yes, you read that right. That's $205 a YEAR, not a month. Now we do pay for the water, a whole $30 a quarter. Occasionally there are special assessments as really needed. In fact, one's coming up - $500 per lot (we own one) for road resurfacing and repair. Hurt us some more!
Having moved here from California we were very wary of HOAs/POAs because of what they usually entail on the left coast - precisely what others have posted. Add all those restrictive CCRs to MONTHLY fees ranging in the several hundreds and like wburg and uptown_ urbanist, we think they're ridiculous, intrusive and not worth the expense. Worse, they fly in the face of freedom and your home being your castle.
All HOAs are not the same in all parts of the country.
Going against the tide, here. I am a curmudgeon, after all.
Where we live, our Property Owner's Association (POA) is wonderful because it's non-intrusive. We're a community of 210, custom homes on the shore of a large lake in the SW Missouri Ozarks. The POA sets few but necessary building standards - no McMansions - but does not dictate color, flag flying, etc. I trusts that those of us who own property are mature and considerate, and it works.
Our association maintains 4.5 miles of private streets (and sets a 20 mph speed limit, quite appropriately), 15 commonly owned lots with a nice community center and pool, a lake-front park and a launch ramp. It also maintains a lighted helipad for medical evacuation as we're 25 miles from the nearest hospital. It takes care of snow clearance as required, area beautification and other appropriate issues such as maintaining the two wells and pumping systems that provide our water.
Again, the "rules" are few and far between and for all the services we pay a walloping ANNUAL assessment of $205. Yes, you read that right. That's $205 a YEAR, not a month. Now we do pay for the water, a whole $30 a quarter. Occasionally there are special assessments as really needed. In fact, one's coming up - $500 per lot (we own one) for road resurfacing and repair. Hurt us some more!
Having moved here from California we were very wary of HOAs/POAs because of what they usually entail on the left coast - precisely what others have posted. Add all those restrictive CCRs to MONTHLY fees ranging in the several hundreds and like wburg and uptown_ urbanist, we think they're ridiculous, intrusive and not worth the expense. Worse, they fly in the face of freedom and your home being your castle.
All HOAs are not the same in all parts of the country.
I think they are generally bad from a social perspective. Sure they can keep "bad" people out, but what exactly is a "bad" person? A felon, a child abuser, sure... but what about a "brown thumb", "colored folk", a mechanic, an artist, someone in a lower income bracket? Not so much.
A HOA neighborhood serves mostly to segregate people, and we need more integration as a society. The only way we learn how to live peacfully with different kinds of people is to actually live among different kinds of people.
Otherwise we will eventually end up similar to places like South Africa or Brazil, where the "beautiful people" live in posh walled off compounds and everyone else scrambles for a living in crime ridden slums. You just can't hide from your problems behind high walls in the modern world. You need to include people of various means and perspectives to get a successful civilization.
I think they are generally bad from a social perspective. Sure they can keep "bad" people out, but what exactly is a "bad" person? A felon, a child abuser, sure... but what about a "brown thumb", "colored folk", a mechanic, an artist, someone in a lower income bracket? Not so much.
A HOA neighborhood serves mostly to segregate people, and we need more integration as a society. The only way we learn how to live peacfully with different kinds of people is to actually live among different kinds of people.
Otherwise we will eventually end up similar to places like South Africa or Brazil, where the "beautiful people" live in posh walled off compounds and everyone else scrambles for a living in crime ridden slums. You just can't hide from your problems behind high walls in the modern world. You need to include people of various means and perspectives to get a successful civilization.
Oh, please. It's far more a matter of economic status (read: ability) than it is an ethnicity issue. Nowadays it's all too easy to interject race and racism into every social discussion and you have now made this one of them.
Please go peddle those wares on someone else's street corner.
Once again, political correctness run amok!
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Do HOAs really help a neighborhood?
