HOA's: Love 'em or hate 'em?

[Mom to Aly]

We live in the worst HOA subdivision I have ever heard of--it is huge, 4,500 homes, and it is beyond strict. You have to get permission to relandscape, to cut down or plant anything that will grown to be a diameter or over 6", to paint your house (even if it is to repaint the existing color, in case the shade has changed), to make any changes, etc. They control the color gravel in your driveway, you must hire garbage companies that will come to the back of your house (at $40 more for 3 months) so that your garbage cans cannot be seen from the street, and your garbage cans, that are in the back of your house, must be in a built in enclosure, as must your air conditioner unit and any other outdoor structures. If you want a storage shed, it must match your house exactly, in color, shape, siding, roof, and door color of your house (basically a little house) or you cannot have it.

 

A couple of years ago, three pools in our area were up for sale--the country club, not owned by our subdivision, wanted to sell them because they were in such disrepair, they were not worth trying to fix and open. Our subdivision voted, and the homeowners voted no. The board overturned it and decided to buy them anyway, for the "good of the community". My HOA fees, which were nearly $100 per quarter, are now over $170 a quarter due to this, can go up at any time, only one pool is open, membership is not included, and they are expecting to raise the HOA fees because they don't have enough members.

 

Oh, and they have been charging me $10 a day since last August because I have not met their demands of 1) growing grass in my front side yard (have tried 5 times in 12 years, grass will not grow there). 2) trimming bushes they feel are overgrown, which I cannot do myself, due to back probs, and cannot afford to hire someone else to do. 3) raking very back of my property, even though I have back probs, I have a lung disease, I have notified them of this, and, this backs up to their property which is full of leaves and they leave that way because they want it to look "natural". They used to say they were "reactive", were someone had to complain about your property for them to do anything--two years ago, about when they decided to buy the pools, they hired a three team group who now go around your entire property at least once a month and check the whole thing out for violations.

 

On the other hand--and I have to say I do see this point of view--we are the only subdivision in this area that has not had a drop in property value through all the changes in the market. Houses here are selling in an average of 3 days NOW. And, even in this market, there is a higher demand for houses here than anywhere in our area. Nothing in the past 30 years has effected prices here, and, in the 12 years since we bought this house, its price has gone up more than 160%.

 

So, while I think the HOA is horrible and petty (and they are professionals, not members of our community, but people who are hired!), they certainly do protect our property value. I just want to see them try to catch me for my fines when I sell my house. :)

[manylilblessings]

We have an HOA. I used to be bugged by all the little rules. I laughed when I got a notice about a sled left leaning against our house for a week. The neighbor kid returned it, while we were on vacation. Oh well...

 

This notice was the best though. We had tons of snow all during January. There was a minimum of 18" on the ground all month. Come February 1st, we got a notice that we didn't have permission for "permanent lighting affixed to the eves of our home". Could they just ask us to take our Christmas lights down? Please... it was hilarious!

 

My neighbor, bless her heart, is a slob. She doesn't mow (my son is doing it for community service now), doesn't pull weeds, doesn't water her landscaping, and really doesn't care. She's a newly divorced mom of 1, with lots of people flowing into and out of the house. It's a little irritating. She's someone who needs an HOA to send her notices. The rest of us just take care of our property because it's what we do. We take pride in where we live, and get outside each weekend to improve our property.

 

I see the benefit in them. They can be annoying, but so can neighbors who don't care.

[Peek a Boo]

But when you live in tight quarters, especially with individuals from different cultures and expectations, clear rules make make for better neighbors. Growing up in the country, my family could do all sorts of things without impacting our neighbors adversely.

 

Yup.

 

which is why I wanted a place that is NOT in tight quarters ;)

 

when we were house shopping, a HOA automatically eliminated a house from the market for us.

 

I don't give a SQUAT about property values --I just want to be able to use MY property the way I wanna use it.

 

and I really don't care if the guy next door has broken stuff on his front porch or grass as tall as my head or chickens or dogs or cats [ok, unless it's a health hazard, but back to city ordinances....].

 

I do agree that you also need to watch out for local ordinances. I'm hitting our planning and zoning board about this "your garage must match your house for property value purposes" here pretty soon.

 

we rented a house in a Master Planned community a few years ago. what a crock. like walking on eggshells the whole time. I'm w/ Ellie and DIY-DY and everyone else who would rather not mess w/ them AT. ALL.

[gardenschooler]

In our old house, the neighbors would frequently let the weeds get waist high in their house.

 

You don't always need an HOA to take care of things like that. Here, it's against city law to have grass or weeds more than 12" high. And I'm happy to call code enforcement if I ever felt the need (thankfully, I haven't). But I sure would, in a heartbeat.

[gardenschooler]

 

But when you live in tight quarters, especially with individuals from different cultures and expectations, clear rules make make for better neighbors. Growing up in the country, my family could do all sorts of things without impacting our neighbors adversely. But when your in tight quarters, just playing music loudly in your home can make it impossible for toddlers to nap next door! To enjoy your home, you need to have rules and restritions on the rights of your neighbors. And they in turn need restrictions on your rights.

 

 

Well, I live in the city, not in the suburbs, and the houses aren't all that far apart, but a bit more than in some newer suburbs I've seen. Most of my neighbors are great, and we all get along just fine without any rules. It's just common courtesy.

 

For the one or two that don't comply with things that you'd think are basic consideration (like loud music late at night), I call the police. That usually takes care of the problem very quickly.

 

I agree with you that there do seem to be some good points about HOAs, but I don't think they're really necessary for most people to be considerate neighbors. There's always one bad apple in every neighborhood, HOA or not.

 

I just remembered this crazy guy in our city, who put so much kooky stuff in his yard, it was on the news! People fought and fought to get the city to do something about him, and it went on for years. Truly off his rocker, this guy is (but it was kind of funny - not for his neighbors!). I'll have to see if I can dig up a picture of his house.

 

It'll make everyone want to run to an HOA!!!

[gardenschooler]

Here you go - who wants this guy for a neighbor? Absolutely no one!

 

[chaik76]

We've chosen never to live in a HOA community. Like others who have posted, I don't want anyone to tell me how to take care of my property or what I can do with it (even if I want to build a 6-foot cinder-block fence!).

I figure it's up to me if I want long or short grass, weeds, or not, or to take half my shutters off my house, but leave the others up(which we did, but not on purpose).

[Tracey in TX]

I just want to see them try to catch me for my fines when I sell my house. :)

Be careful! Check the HOA covenant to ensure they don't place a lien on your home. I read ours thoroughly prior to signing and they can (and sometimes do) put a lien on your home. That will require you to either pay the fines or hire an attorney when you attempt to sell your home.

 

I have disregarded many notices and am concerned I've ticked off the HOA enough that we'll also get a little 'surprise' lien someday.

[Tracey in TX]

HOAs can be a hassle, but would not live in a neighborhood again without one. We've been in a few neighborhoods where the 'riff raff' has taken over--dozens of dilapidated vehicles parked in front, unkept lawn, barking dogs, etc. I seem to find them wherever we go! (Mind you, others probably assume we're the 'riff raff' with my crazy kiddos :)) Living in a HOA our public areas are immaculate--kept to the same standards as the parks and golf course. I LIKE that! Lawns are supposed to be kept to a similar style. Hmmm, we get notices often for untrimmed shrubs and grass always dying.

 

In all, I'd prefer a HOA.

[gardenschooler]

I just wanted to clarify that I wasn't being flippant in posting the above picture. This was a very eccentric character, and the ruckus caused by what he did to the house he bought (in an otherwise quiet, upper-middle class neighborhood) was big news. It was awful for the neighbors, and it necessitated a long, drawn out court battle.

 

You can read about it here.

[MNClaire]

Hate 'em. Which is why we moved to a rural area with land years ago.

[momofkhm]

It's nice to have an HOA when there is a neighborhood pool. They take care of it - hiring lifeguards and dealing with the city. I've never run afoul of one so I don't know if they are hideous or not. There are some things I wish were different - like being able to build without approval. Which we have done and no has complained - the playhouse in the back yard and the dog run under the deck. But when someone wants to change the color of their shingles, it's a pain to have to sign a form b/c I can see their house from mine. OK, it's not a pain to me but I can imagine the pain it is to have all your neighbors sign it.

[Gretchen in NJ]

I just wanted to clarify that I wasn't being flippant in posting the above picture. This was a very eccentric character, and the ruckus caused by what he did to the house he bought (in an otherwise quiet, upper-middle class neighborhood) was big news. It was awful for the neighbors, and it necessitated a long, drawn out court battle.

 

You can read about it here.

Darn. I can't see the pictures in the link. I only see the little boxes with the little red X. :glare: at the red Xs.