NWR: homeowners associations

jdluvr06

We've been looking to move into a new home because we want something bigger. So far most of the houses we have looked at have a home owners association. Do any of you live in a neighborhood with one and if so what have your experiences with it been like?

JCbride2015

Both of my parents have owned in townhouse communities with HOAs.  My mom had a really negative experience, and my dad is pretty neutral about it.  My mom would get notices for stupid reasons: first her flowers were dying, so she removed them and put nice mulch in the beds until she planted something else, then she got a notice because her beds were empty.  We also weren't allowed to have window AC units (our central AC was broken for like two years and my mom couldn't afford to fix it... so this really sucked).  

Meanwhile my dad practically never interacts with his HOA, has a big garden out the side of his townhouse, keeps a stack of firewood in the woods next to his unit, and has built a patio out his back door.  No problems for him; the neighbor he shares the patio with helped him build it.

Keep in mind HOAs have a lot of legal power over what you can and cannot do.  Sometimes that is used well, and sometimes not.  I would just read your requirements very carefully and expect to be held to the letter of the agreement.  Then if your HOA is more lax like my dad's, it will be a pleasant surprise.

jenna8984

I've only heard negative things about them from friends and relatives. The scariest thing is that they can up the fees whenever they want. If the whole complex/unit has a 30 year old roof and they decide the entire complex needs a new roof they can charge you the 5k or whatever they need. Some may have different rules but I would be sure to read VERY carefully so you're prepared if they do this. I honestly don't think any of the services (mowing, plowing, etc) are worth the money or pain in the ass rules (can't paint your house this color, have to have this mailbox, etc). 

jdluvr06

They've given us the different requirements to look over for each neighborhood. Some of them are pretty lax and some of them are super super strict. One has a list of colors that are approved to paint the INSIDE of your house..

jenna8984

jdluvr06 said:

They've given us the different requirements to look over for each neighborhood. Some of them are pretty lax and some of them are super super strict. One has a list of colors that are approved to paint the INSIDE of your house..

If I were going to deal with that BS I'd just live in an apartment!! That's the best part of owning your own is being able to do what YOU want with it! 

RebeccaB88

When I was shopping for my house, one non-negotiable requirement was that there was no HOA. I don't know anyone who has had a good experience with one. Usually a bunch of over-legalistic busybodies with nothing better to do with their time than poke their nose into other people's business.

RebeccaB88

DP

Senecaf

Don't do it! They are so difficult. FI and I both bought properties a few years ago. He has condo with an HOA/Condo Association. Pain in the butt AND the fees are going up $15/month in Jan to "keep up with rising costs". They are not doing anything new.

I bought a single family in an older neighborhood (we live there and rent the condo) it's so much better. You don't need permission for anything!

RebeccaB88

It's so much nicer and easier with no HOA, but the tradeoff is that there are always those homes where the owners don't care, or some that are rentals with absent owners where the renters don't care. We have a loosely organized neighborhood association, but it's voluntary and has no legal standing whatsoever, so if someone's house looks like crap all they can do is inform the city, or if there's something illegal or dangerous. A bunch of reasonably maintained homes with one eyesore just makes the owner/tenant of that home look like the loser, not the rest of us.

RebeccaB88

DP

jdluvr06

The more of these agreements I read the lessi want to live in an HOA

HaileyDancingbear

I'd say no to the homeowners association.  You're a grown woman, you don't need people telling you how to maintain your own house.  I'd personally be annoyed enough to scream at someone if I had people monitoring the colors I painted the interior of my house and bitching that my grass is a half inch too long or that my flowers wilted.  

misshart00

Meh. I've never had any problem and prefer them.

WinstonsGirl

I hate them, though I've never lived in one.  The neighbourhood that boarders ours has one, but all the money goes to is putting flowers in the beds of community signs (the Welcome to Neighbourhood A ones).  Seems like a waste of money to me.  But apparently they can tell you to repaint your fence if they think it's a little faded too, or if it's the wrong shade of fence.  No thanks.  I'll repaint my fence when I think it needs it.  

That said, I mind them less when I can see where my money is going.  There's a community we looked at buying in (tried really hard to find a house there we liked) cos there is a big lake.  There's a neighbourhood beach, you can fish, swim, canoe, skate in the winter, and they have tennis courts and a park too that all residents can use, right in the city.  I understand the HOA fees then, as they're all going to maintain the lake/beach area.  Seems more worth it than for a few flowers

kgd7357

I own a condo with an HOA. The fees are really high ($750/month), but they pay for security and our front desk attendant, and a lot of important things. Some of it's dumb. I once got fined b/c my roommate used a hose he wasn't supposed to to fill coolers. Otherwise, I love that they take care of a lot of things.

My FI and I own a town house in a complex that he owns two other town homes in. Those HOA fees are super low ($30/month). They are super lax on rules. The fees mostly go to paying for street lamp electric and the plow services. They are so lax it's annoying. I'd like them to make a special assessment to repave the road, but no one wants to pay more, so it gets voted down.

HOAs are not a terrible thing. You just need to research the HOA you are looking to buy into. It may be nice and come with some good perks.

monkeysip

*In most cases* (not all), HOA's help maintain the property value of an area.  

But they can be huge PITAs.  And word of advice, don't move downstairs from someone in the HOA (UGH--that lady was on us for EVERYTHING--even when she was kicked out of the HOA).

CMGragain

I have owned three houses.
House #1 was in a lovely town with few rules and no HOA.  Everything was fine until our neighbor decided he was going to park his son's boat in his front year, directly across from our front door.  He had concrete poured over his front yard, and we got to look at the back end of a cigarette boat with a sexually suggestive name for the next three years.  Another neighbor decided to paint his house purple.  Another decided not to cut his grass - ever!
House #2 had a strict HOA.  It kept our next door neighbor from putting in a 6 foot privacy fence that would have blocked everyone's view of the woods behind our house.  It forced another neighbor to replant the trees he had cut down at his own expense.  Decks were strictly regulated, and nothing artistic was permitted.
House #3 has an HOA, but it is fairly moderate.  DH is the president.  You can't put on an addition or a backyard shed or greenhouse without permission from the architectural committee.  No plastic fences.  Since we are next to a National Monument (park), we are not allowed to keep outside lights on after 10:00 PM to prevent light pollution. Number of pets is limited.  (No cat hoarders and no livestock) No boats or RVs in the front of the house. If you seriously neglect your yardwork, the association will have it done for you and bill you for it. (Sometimes a problem with houses that are rented out.)  Other than that, not much is a problem.
I think that if you live in close proximity to your neighbors, you need rules to protect everyone's property values.  That first neighborhood isn't as nice anymore.  Too many people did strange things to their homes, and there was no one to stop them.

CMGragain

HaileyDancingbear said:

I'd say no to the homeowners association.  You're a grown woman, you don't need people telling you how to maintain your own house.  I'd personally be annoyed enough to scream at someone if I had people monitoring the colors I painted the interior of my house and bitching that my grass is a half inch too long or that my flowers wilted. 

So how about the neighbor that plants a bamboo barrier across the front of his house?  How about the rented out house down the street where no one EVER cuts the grass?  What about the hoarder's house with eight feet of broken junk piled all over his front yard (including six non-running vehicles)?  Try selling your house when you live next door to that!

thejucheidea

We don't have a HOA, and I'm glad. We like being able to do what we what to do with our house and haven't had any issues with any of our neighbors either.

NYCBruin

Depends on the HOA.  Yes, some of the rules might be annoying, but those same rules protect your home's value.  They can also provide some protection from crazy busy-body neighbors.  As an example, the people who live behind my parents house are BSC.  The wife used to have some high paying stressful job and is now a SAHM who clearly misses her old fast paced life and needs a hobby.  A few years back, the fence that several of the neighbors shared needed repairing, so they all agreed to split the cost to have it redone.  Because the houses were built by different builders, the paint color was different for the different sides of the fence.  BSC lady decided she didn't like the color of the fence some neighbors were using (which was the original fence color) and got in a shouting match with the painter the neighbors had hired telling him to stop painting the fence.  Thank goodness for the HOA, because my parents and the other neighbors were able to submit the "dispute" to the HOA who decided what color the fence would be painted.  Far better to deal with an HOA decision than have your neighbor berating the person who you have hired to paint your home.  Or worse, just going and painting your fence herself, which she also tried to do.

As long as you're ok with the rules and ok with amount of money you pay/how it's spent, I think HOAs are a good thing.

freebread03

My parents have an HOA (they live in a single family home) and have had a very low key experience.  I think they pay around $275/quarter, and this covers trash, and maintenance of the tennis courts, pool, and club house (which everyone has access to).  When they repainted their home a few years ago, I believe they had to receive approval on the color from the HOA, but it was more to keep people from painting their house bright pink than being strict about what color of taupe it could be.

FI and I own a condo, and we obviously have a condo association (HOA).  FI is on the board, and the board works tirelessly to make improvements in the community and keep from raising fees.  I'd prefer to pay an HOA fee then having to take care of all external maintenance myself.  Fees are high-$498/month, but that's pretty standard for a big city (we live in DC).  It covers all external maintenance, including garage and garage door, cleaning and gardening for common areas, snow removal, emergency maintenance, lights, building electric, our unit's water, etc.  It also covered replacement of all carpets in common areas recently as well as painting the entire building.  I don't ever find it to be an issue, but we are also quite active in making decisions, especially with FI on the board.

climbingsingle

We don't really have HOAs in NY, however, I've had friends that have lived in them and my parents do in PA. There's no way I'd ever live in one of those communities. If I wanted that many rules and regulations, I'd rent or buy a townhouse/condo. 

Maggie0829

I live in a neighborhood with a HOA and am actually on the board.

I think it really depends on your neighborhood and who the members of the board are.  Myself and the other members of the board are very relaxed about what people do to their homes.  Yeah you have to ask for approval to add on a deck or paint your house, but unless you want to paint your house hot pink with yellow trim then it will most likely be approved.  We also ignore most of the "rules" that are ridiculous like no dark colored blinds, you can't leave your garage door open even if you are working outside and you can't add or take away any bushes/flowers to your garden beds.

As far as the fees.  A budget has to be made each year and depending on the costs of maintenance around your community (like if landscaping is done for you) and the vendors that are used raise their prices then the fees have to go up.  But if the board is good they will work hard to prevent that and will give ample notice on the price increase if it has to happen.

In the end it really depends on what you want out of your neighborhood.  If you don't mind the rules and the fees then living in a HOA community can be a good thing.  But if you don't want any regulations at all then a HOA is not for you.  I live in an area where a HOA is the norm but I think the majority of the rules are ridiculous and am willing to fight with the board and property management group over certain things.

jdluvr06

My FI and I were talking about this and we're not sure that we want all those regulations. We're of the opinion that if we want a purple house (which we don't) and we've spent all the money buying the place then we should damn well be able to paint it purple. I've noticed that a lot of the HOA neighborhoods in my area are suburbs with cookie cutter houses anyway and that isn't something we really want.

KeptInStitches

I've only heard negative things about HOA's. Fortunately I'm in an area where I can avoid them if I don't want to live in one.

PolarBearFitz

jdluvr06 said:

My FI and I were talking about this and we're not sure that we want all those regulations. We're of the opinion that if we want a purple house (which we don't) and we've spent all the money buying the place then we should damn well be able to paint it purple. I've noticed that a lot of the HOA neighborhoods in my area are suburbs with cookie cutter houses anyway and that isn't something we really want.

My neighborhood has an HOA and for the most part unless a neighbor complains they don't really do much. The minute someone complains about something though they do very little research and try to fine whoever is being complained about. So on occasion a couple of homes have been accused of things they were never involved in and scolded/fined. That's just with my HOA and not every HOA lacks the ability to research complaints.

The good thing they do is to keep the value of your neighborhood up. That is really their purpose, to protect property value that can be impacted by things like a barney purple house, yard trash, etc...

emmyg65

Eh, there are pluses and minuses (as outlined above) but it's not my thing. I have a wee libertarian streak and I'd rather be able to do whatever I want with my house and deal with the risk that my neighbors might do something ugly.

MyNameIsNot

I've never lived in a house that didn't belong to an HOA, so it's the norm for me.  We currently live in a townhome that has a strong, but reasonable HOA.  I actually really appreciate that everyone has to keep up with their maintenance.  It keeps the neighborhood looking nice and updated, and it helps everyone maintain property value.

My sister moved into a neighborhood a few years ago without an HOA.  After that, I'm sure I will never go that route.  One neighbor moved in right after her and is a total slob.  He's had a broken television sitting in his front yard for over a year.  He refuses to get rid of it, and there's nothing anyone can do.  Other people have unkempt yards, fences, etc.  Little things like that really do add up and hurt your property value.  The neighbors may be fine now, but as neighborhoods get older, things change.  

triciaandkenswedding

I rent a condo w/ a HOA.   From what I've heard, they are strict.   Blinds must be a certain color (off white) and must be up.  They really try to maintain a uniform look.  Now I will say the place looks great for nearly 30 years.  Just repainted all the buildings, always keeps up with landscaping....... but we have a dog.  It recently snowed.  They don't put salt on the road ( just repaved it) so the road is ice at night with re-freeze.  so the dumpster is across the road.   Well, I couldn't get my bag to the dumpster at night after her walk, it was solid ice.   My landlords received a letter the next day about the "bags" of feeces on our patio.   I left it there until the morning when it was safe to walk to the dumpster.  Landlords got a laugh about it but still.......

buttercup1958

I dislike them very much. They always sent us letters growing up. One was because someone can see our trash can ( it was near the back of our house). So someone had to cram their necks to even see it. Another one was because our mailbox was too "dirty". Its planted in dirt, sooo I'm not sure what they wanted. Basically I wouldn't buy a house with a HOA.

aurorajanette

I grew up in a neighborhood with a HOA. It was great for preventing things that I see now, not living in a neighborhood with a HOA, such as people's old furniture in a heap in their backyard, grass that hasn't been mowed all summer, etc. I think it really depends on the HOA, and it's important that you get involved in it if you have a strong opinion.

In my teen years, we lived in a house where there was no HOA, but the township officials were more strict than when we lived in the town with the HOA. They would hire summer workers to come around and measure the length of your grass, and they would give citations if you had one weed growing up through a crack in your sidewalk. If god forbid you put your trash out too early in the day, or didn't bring your trash cans in within 4 hours of the trash man coming, you would have a citation.

Just do some research on the area before moving there.