Home Owners Associations, yea or nay?
- Thread starter Monello
- Start date
Well, you know how I feel about them. When Christy was running the list of houses for me to look at, I told her to remove any that had an HOA.
Busybodies whose grandchildren hate them and won't come visit, so they have nothing better to do than stalk you and hide in your bushes waiting desperately for you to not take your trash cans in at PRECISELY! the second the trash guys pull away so they can exercise their authoritah by imposing fines and making your life as miserable as theirs is.
Busybodies whose grandchildren hate them and won't come visit, so they have nothing better to do than stalk you and hide in your bushes waiting desperately for you to not take your trash cans in at PRECISELY! the second the trash guys pull away so they can exercise their authoritah by imposing fines and making your life as miserable as theirs is.
lived in ours since 1991, WOW. Ours is a waterfront townhome community with piers. Good and Bad. Lots of shingles blown off this wind storm, HOA got right on it and getting them fixed. We had terrible trash dude, was PIA, just got a dumpster outside our area and should solve problem etc etc... You truly have d1cks everywhere unless youre on 20 + acre... How would you like to have nice house and then one next to you sells and Billy Bob come in and has 4 junkers parked all over HIS yard, right next to you... HOA's kinda protect you there. Many people i haven't said 20 words to in all this time we have been here. We are ready to move south, won't miss this place a bit. Will probabaly be into another community thats HOA driven. I really am think 55+ places....
HOAs are a scam. The concept originated in Rome as a means of organizing (and controlling) the populace within the city. Resurrected after WW2 due to the large numbers of servicemen returning home and starting families. Check multiple references on the net, you'll discover that a lot of these 5,000 home developments, especially those in California, failed in one way or the other (mainly too many different builders not coordinating their efforts) before they could be built out, and the government had to bail the builders out. Brought back again in the 1960s in New York around Central Park, again builders failed and the government bailed them out again. Cost was larger than the Savings and Loan bailout. No real changes to date, developer's lawyer of the HOA I live in actually took a template from a 1960s document that I found in the National Archives. Developers use the HOA concept to reduce their ground maintenance costs (putting them on the owners) until they can build out and run with their profits. VA gives preferential treatment because they have been led to believe that their investment is protected to a higher degree than regular mortgage loans. Developers often hire shady sales people that provide false information and higher than normal mortgage rates to potential buyers (e.g. "Everyone is taking out a 5/1 ARM, it's cheaper than renting") resulting in many foreclosures in a development, reducing the resale value for the remaining owners. The development I live in had 22 foreclosures in the first three years. Don't know what the national average was but strongly suspect this was much higher.
Very few states actually put teeth in their HOA/Condo laws and it is usually in favor or the HOA/Condo Association. One benefit that was passed a few years ago was the CARA act, which allows owners to depose an inactive Board of Directors, but this has a downside as the replacement manager must have no vested interest in the HOA - original intent may have been to prevent conflicts of interests with developers and owners. Regardless, HOA management has very little authority under the law. Many levy fines as a deterrent/punishment instead of changing bylaws (usually takes 75-90% affirmative vote to change a bylaw or add one when you can't get more than 10% of the voters at an annual meeting) and force the owners into expensive litigation. Many HOAs have "hidden" costs in their language, such as maintaining the HOA road system which can be over $50K to repair and resurface a single asphalt circle in the development because the developer chose not to construct the roads/circles/sidewalks/drainage systems to county/state building codes.
In conclusion, HOAs are the means by which developers defer costs while construction is underway and improve their profits. Maintenance of storm water management systems, roads, pools, playgrounds, sidewalks, street lighting, trash and snow removal (and all the others) are all at the expense of owners. In a large development, this can add $300 or more in HOA fees every month! The public has been "educated" to believe that they must accept this concept in order to live in affordable housing.
I bought into a HOA here in SOMD and am sorry every day that I did. I will NEVER buy into a HOA again! HOAs benefit developers at the expense of the owners!
Very few states actually put teeth in their HOA/Condo laws and it is usually in favor or the HOA/Condo Association. One benefit that was passed a few years ago was the CARA act, which allows owners to depose an inactive Board of Directors, but this has a downside as the replacement manager must have no vested interest in the HOA - original intent may have been to prevent conflicts of interests with developers and owners. Regardless, HOA management has very little authority under the law. Many levy fines as a deterrent/punishment instead of changing bylaws (usually takes 75-90% affirmative vote to change a bylaw or add one when you can't get more than 10% of the voters at an annual meeting) and force the owners into expensive litigation. Many HOAs have "hidden" costs in their language, such as maintaining the HOA road system which can be over $50K to repair and resurface a single asphalt circle in the development because the developer chose not to construct the roads/circles/sidewalks/drainage systems to county/state building codes.
In conclusion, HOAs are the means by which developers defer costs while construction is underway and improve their profits. Maintenance of storm water management systems, roads, pools, playgrounds, sidewalks, street lighting, trash and snow removal (and all the others) are all at the expense of owners. In a large development, this can add $300 or more in HOA fees every month! The public has been "educated" to believe that they must accept this concept in order to live in affordable housing.
I bought into a HOA here in SOMD and am sorry every day that I did. I will NEVER buy into a HOA again! HOAs benefit developers at the expense of the owners!
lucky_bee
RBF expert
We got a slap on the wrist because we placed a brown storm door on our front (red) door. They immediately sent us notices about either removing it or painting it white to match the trim and coordinate with the neighborhood or pay fines, etc. I sent them some pics off Pinterest of pretty doors with coordinating storm doors in different colors and white trim as examples that this is a normal and aesthetically pleasing thing. They approved it but came back saying we need to powerwash our driveway because of some oil stains. But our adjacent neighbor has a bright-ass purple door :shrug: not sure how that was approved. Our fees supposedly go towards common area lawn maintenance, snow removal, etc. yet the mowers wait until the grass is ankle deep, several snow storms the plows showed up after the snow melted a couple days later, and our dog-run area poop trash cans are always overflowing.
It's just poorly run. We've pointed these things out multiple times but yet we got a note about our door within a week of adding it
and I could care less about other people's houses and how they look, like the purple door people. They're the ones that look a little loopy with an un-coordinating door, not me. If someone wants to trash their yard...go for it. You look like pigs but as long as it doesn't affect me, IDGAF.
It's just poorly run. We've pointed these things out multiple times but yet we got a note about our door within a week of adding it
and I could care less about other people's houses and how they look, like the purple door people. They're the ones that look a little loopy with an un-coordinating door, not me. If someone wants to trash their yard...go for it. You look like pigs but as long as it doesn't affect me, IDGAF.
It's just poorly run. We've pointed these things out multiple times but yet we got a note about our door within a week of adding it
It's because HOAs are notoriously populated by Busy-Body control freaks that can't mind their own business, crooks or crooked busy-bodies!
awpitt
Main Streeter
I used to live in an HOA community. Mostly positive. They were picky about fence heights. Exterior colors and things like that. I didn't like how long it took in order to get any sort of improvements approved. I ened up running for the HOA Board, got elected, and was able to streamline the approval process.
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If you used to leave does that mean that you now stay?
awpitt
Main Streeter
Damm, Ken. You got me again.
I'm a tidy person, but my old neighbor had the carport from hell. Jimmy Hoffa was probably under all that crap.
I didn't care and didn't feel the need to get all pissy about it.
His little yappy dog also barked a lot, and I didn't care about that either.
On Saturdays my cattycorner neighbor would blast classic rock that you could hear all over the 'hood while he was doing his yard work. Nobody cared.
I can't live around fussy people who always want to be bitching about something because it sucks to be them and they want to take it out on others. That's why I would never live in a neighborhood that had an HOA.
glhs837
Power with Control
No kidding, when I refiananced after three years, I finally got a copy of the "HOA" agreement for the five house private road. No legal teeth, since it was intended that all five homeowners would be siblings as Dad had bought the property and given each sibling a lot. Stipulations were that the first 150 feet of each lot be kept forested except for direway access and no modular/mobile homes be placed on the property. Oh, and that we share the cost of road maint.
Buddy of mine lives in WhiteHall Farms. Got to have the correct mailbox, doncha know........except that mailbox went extinct years before he bought in. Gotta get a variance for a different mailbox. Screw that.
Never had a single family house in an HOA-controlled neighborhood (nor would I), but our condo we keep in Crystal City has an association, as most if not all do. It's fairly well-run, unobtrusive, and since the Telecommunications Act of 1996, I can keep my ham radio antenna on the balcony without any hassle from anyone. They of course forbid renting our unit out on AirBNB, but that's probably a good thing. The extra cash would be nice.
GWguy
*
My dad lived in a gated community with an HOA for years. When they don't bother you, it's like they aren't there. But when they get a bug up their butt, it can be a royal PITA to satisfy or justify something they don't like. Something as simple as the color of your door, or you can't remove a tree that's ready to fall on your house without expense of expert opinions and paperwork up the gazoo, or some leaves that you haven't gotten to clean up yet because the weather has been bad.
I could never live in an HOA, being told what I can't do. My house, my property.
I could never live in an HOA, being told what I can't do. My house, my property.
Anyone who's been here through the old ranch club HOA wars would never willingly live HOA community, but it was great entertainment.
Mother is in Ft. Pierce in a seemingly militaristic setting. 24 hour guarded gates, some armed (hey it's Ft. Pierce), the works. They are condos, the association is militaristic. On the other hand, they take care of more stuff than is typical so there's less stuff about which to get in arguments with them.
Clem72
Well-Known Member
I think they make sense in a condo or townhome situation where there is significant shared ownership of property. Everywhere is a ####ing scam. Too bad if you wan't to live somewhere nice in this area with access to amenities you basically have to have an HOA. One of my buddies has 16 acres and an HOA. Who the hell cares if his shed is painted the same color as his house (with similar siding and roofing) if you literally cannot see it or the house anywhere except on his private property?
Before moving to the east coast the only places I ever knew of that had HOA fees also provided amenities (like a golf course, manmade lake, pool/gym, etc).
Before moving to the east coast the only places I ever knew of that had HOA fees also provided amenities (like a golf course, manmade lake, pool/gym, etc).
Holy cow! That's a new one on me; I just assumed HOAs were a "thing" for the tract housing developments only.....1/3 to maybe 1 acre size. How does someone end up with an HOA on a 16 acre piece? Is it surrounded by a bunch of smaller lots that were created at the same time?