|
|
Post by cecilia on May 24, 2022 15:04:08 GMT
We don't pay dues but our neighborhood was supposed to have a standard in what homes look like. Apparently it is no longer valid due to one home being built. (Everyone besides the owners call it the airplane hanger because that is what if looks like).
There is a large gated community just north of me. I know there are POA dues but I don't know if it is based on what neighborhood? (There's a pea who had family there so if you know correct me if I am wrong). I know for a long time if you didn't have a sponsor you couldn't go in for estate sales/yard sales due to COVID. It has relaxed some.
|
|
|
|
Post by melanell on May 24, 2022 15:06:02 GMT
I wouldn't say it is impossible in my area but you're either going to have to shell out A LOT of money or be okay with a much older home that is very small that probably needs top to bottom renovations. Plus it will probably end up in an area outside city limits with little to no zoning so you may very well end up with some neighbors who are not as conscientious about keeping up their home or someone would plop a trailer park next door to you or have a literal scrap yard full of junk. Not to mention we have kids and in order to stay within zoning of the schools we prefer, most of the houses on the market are going to be in HOAs. If we didn't have kids, it would be much easier to find something not in an HOA because our search area would be greatly increased. My husband needs a certain level of internet for his job and it isn't always available in the more outlying areas where this non-HOA houses are. So some people may find it easy to find something in my area without an HOA but us with our requirements, it is very hard. Wow, that's very interesting. For me, especially the idea of being somewhat forced into an HOA neighborhood in order to have your top choice of schools. |
|
|
|
Post by 950nancy on May 24, 2022 15:10:19 GMT
I’m in an old subdivision in CA but it’s on a golf course ( I don’t live on the course but in the subdivision) and we have a cheap HOA that is under $300/year. We have had a fine sitting on our account for 11 years now because our trash cans were in view and I went to a hearing and it was supposedly dismissed but yet the fee still is on our account. I’m not paying it, they’re not removing it. I try every once in a while to get it fixed and submit everything for it to show it should be removed but yet they don’t remove it so it sits there. No added fees, just a monthly bill. I told DH we should be saving all the stamps that are on the bills they mail and send them back when it’s equal to our $300 we owe. I might be a bit stubborn. We do pay our yearly fee. Basically there are no amenities but it prevents junk cars and trashed yards. Not really worth it IMO. We have a neighboring subdivision, the largest in CA, that has optional dues you can pay which gets you the use of tennis courts and clubhouse and pool. It’s like $200/year. Neither subdivision has sidewalks nor lighting nor landscaping included so it’s basically roads that are covered. Another neighboring subdivision has sidewalks, gated entry, pool (that is closed down), clubhouse, lighting, yard maintained and I think they pay around $400/mo. Then there are various apartment type subdivisions with a few residences that have HOA’s for roads and that’s it. Ha! I remember that trash can fiasco! We live in a neighborhood that used to have an HOA, but it is now debunked. Our old neighborhood was like that too. Our city has laws about some of the things an HOA enforces and they do follow through with the vehicle issues. |
|
|
|
Post by melanell on May 24, 2022 15:11:14 GMT
I lived in an area where most older homes were HOA free, but the newer ones, like mine, had an HOA. It was so incredibly frustrating to deal with people who complain about the rules when they had options to buy a non HOA property - but then again, they didn't want those homes... It is so stupid too because you can always ask for the covenants and read through them *before* you make an offer. There are a few neighborhoods we will not buy into because we don't agree with the restrictions. There are plenty of neighborhoods with less stringent HOAs. I agree in theory, although I know that in some cases issues seem to arise later, if HOA rules/regulations change. But I think this is where we often see situations get out of hand, because people get upset either, just as you said, that someone is complaining about rules they knew about ahead of time; or in cases where people feel like they bought into one HOA and then wound up with a different one due to changes. And either one of those scenarios is bound to strike people as unfair, which tends to be when people dig their heels in and start refusing to cooperate--whether that be the homeowner, the HOA, or both. |
|
Kerri W
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,790 
Location: Kentucky
|
Post by Kerri W on May 24, 2022 15:12:42 GMT
In my small town, there are very few HOAs. But most neighborhoods/developments have restrictions (in addition to city ordinances) that prohibit things like fences or ensure the amount of square footage a home has to have. City ordinances give guidance to how far the dwelling has to be set back etc. Restrictions prohibit a mobile home from being placed on a property in that neighborhood.
HOAs are very common in the neighboring larger city. It would be difficult to find a house in a subdivision without an HOA.
|
|
|
|
Post by malibou on May 24, 2022 15:17:06 GMT
I think most of the neighbourhoods, in my city of about 130,000, that have been built in the past 30 years are HOA. I've been in a small HOA for 26 years. We only have 112 houses, no pool, small tot lot/sport court our dues recently went up to $120 after being at $100 for a very very long time. Ours is not a horrible one at all, and I don't find the CC&Rs to be overly restrictive.
|
|
|
|
Post by Merge on May 24, 2022 15:17:09 GMT
Very common here in Houston. Even if you don’t have an HOA per se, you probably have some kind of deed restrictions that the city can enforce. We don’t have zoning, so this is kind of necessary to keep your neighbors from running a strip club in their basement.
There are older neighborhoods that have deed restrictions on POC owning the property, but those are ignored (and in most cases they’ve been removed).
The HOAs in the suburbs can be pretty restrictive. Ours mostly exists to contract for security vehicles and prevent people from holding garage sales, as far as I can tell.
|
|
|
|
Post by elaine on May 24, 2022 15:21:26 GMT
I wouldn't say it is impossible in my area but you're either going to have to shell out A LOT of money or be okay with a much older home that is very small that probably needs top to bottom renovations. Plus it will probably end up in an area outside city limits with little to no zoning so you may very well end up with some neighbors who are not as conscientious about keeping up their home or someone would plop a trailer park next door to you or have a literal scrap yard full of junk. Not to mention we have kids and in order to stay within zoning of the schools we prefer, most of the houses on the market are going to be in HOAs. If we didn't have kids, it would be much easier to find something not in an HOA because our search area would be greatly increased. My husband needs a certain level of internet for his job and it isn't always available in the more outlying areas where this non-HOA houses are. So some people may find it easy to find something in my area without an HOA but us with our requirements, it is very hard. Wow, that's very interesting. For me, especially the idea of being somewhat forced into an HOA neighborhood in order to have your top choice of schools. Many choice schools are newer schools (our ES opened the year we moved in - 2003 - and was a top school from the year it opened), and in many areas most newer homes are built in an HOA development. As I previously mentioned, our neighborhood has developments that are mostly 15-35 years old, and like katlady we have lived here almost 19 years now, so “newer” is relative. Land is so expensive here, that it would be incredibly costly to find a lot that wasn’t part of a HOA and build a home on it. The few homes that aren’t HOA are 50+ years old, small, and in need of repair, or are $1million+ on older lots that were rebuilt on. So, if you want to choose your schools, you generally need to be willing to live in an HOA or can afford to spend over $1million on a house. Sadly, many of the teachers I work with live in the next county over where the schools aren’t as good because they couldn’t afford the same level of house in our county, the county in which they teach. |
|
|
|
Post by melanell on May 24, 2022 15:22:22 GMT
HOAs are not the norm here, more neighborhoods without them. How did they lose their homes??? I didn't know that was even possible due to HOA fees! In both cases there were legal issues involved---fees, court appearances, etc. But apparently, Georgia is a state that gives HOAs very high standing and they can place liens against homes or even evict people. In both cases, though, there did sound like the homeowners made mistakes, but also that some questionable things happening with the HOAs----mainly in terms of communication. One woman was told to mail any correspondence to a certain address, but then her correspondence was returned to her with multiple stickers stating it was not a valid address and to return to sender. However, when all was aid and done and she had fees to pay, they gave her the same address to mail the check to, and that was delivered with no issue. The other woman had her cell phone number blocked by the HOA. Now this is television, so it may very well be that they blocked her after she moved out, not while they were still in the middle of things. It's hard to always know the exact truth in these televised segments. |
|
|
|
Post by lisacharlotte on May 24, 2022 15:22:37 GMT
I think HOAs are prevalent in the south, Midwest and farther west is due to population spread. As people moved out of populated north eastern cities to the south and west, large suburbs were created and eventually went the way of HOAs. Nowadays, I don’t know of any new subdivisions being developed that aren’t an HOA. My last house was in a subdivision that only had about 40-50 houses. We had deed restrictions and paid $25 once to upkeep the entrance. But not an active HOA.
My current neighborhood has an neighborhood association that is very active in keeping our neighborhood thriving, but it’s all voluntary. It’s the best neighborhood I’ve ever lived in and we keep our property values high even with dilapidated old homes and some houses pained purple and lime green.
|
|
|
|
Post by fotos4u2 on May 24, 2022 15:50:14 GMT
We live in an area with a lot of HOAs. The areas without HOAs usually have much lower property values and the elementary schools they are zoned to are lower rated which is why we bought where we did.
We actually have lived in 5 different houses in our subdivision--all zoned to the same elementary school and between the 5 houses there are 3 different HOAs. Each one are actually run by the same management company though so have basically the same rules which are really not that strict.
My EX wasn't much for rules so we got a lot of letters over the years for leaving out trash cans or not maintaining fences in a timely manner, but we never got to the point where they fined (I almost did when I moved to this house after EX was supposed to take a treadmill I didn't need anymore and instead of taking it to his house he parked it in front of the garage and left it there for 3-4 months before the HOA noticed. Even with that they just threatened to fine, but didn't actually do it.
Our dues are actually not too bad either, $60 a month and that includes common space maintenance (of which we have a decent amount thanks to the planned community aspect) as well as each HOA has access to 3 of their own pools.
|
|
|
|
Post by melanell on May 24, 2022 15:50:23 GMT
I did a spot check just now, and out of 143 properties for sale, 6 had HOAs due to being a townhouse or condo community, 1 house had an HOA due to being a neighborhood on a private golf course, and 1 empty lot had an HOA due to being in that same development as the house. I checked houses in 6 other named developments, but there were no HOAs at all in any of those. I will say that right now, there are far less homes for sale in developments than out of them in my area, which is very unusual. I know, because I have been looking to buy an older house in the older parts of town for a long time, and they were always few and far between, and suddenly they are the majority of what is being sold. I have a strong inclination that it's due to people are buying up old houses, fixing & flipping them, knowing full well they can sell someone a garden shed right now and still make a killing.  No one is going to say "Oh, I'd really rather a newer home" when they are desperate to buy into a community. And besides, these flippers take a 1922 house, rip everything out and replace it with 2022 Home Depot builders' specials, so the houses may technically be old, but they look brand new inside, which goes a long way in getting most buyers to forget any qualms about an old house. |
|
Anita
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,702
Location: Kansas City -ish
|
Post by Anita on May 24, 2022 15:52:40 GMT
It's damn near impossible to buy a house without an HOA in my area. We lucked out on our last house and had none. This last house we weren't so lucky, but so far they don't seem to be so bad. And the neighborhood and house are worth it.
|
|
|
|
Post by nine on May 24, 2022 16:15:11 GMT
Only once have I lived in a non-HOA community. The people next door had 12 people living in 1700 sq ft. They stopped watering their lawn to turn it into a parking lot for the 12 people. Ugh. Never again. Once was enough.
we’ve naver had problems with HOAs. I’ve never known anyone who had problems with an HOA.
I’m in SoCal.
|
|
|
|
Post by MichyM on May 24, 2022 16:20:47 GMT
I live inside Seattle city limits. HOAs are not the norm here. In my 35 years of home ownership, I’ve lived in one HOA for about 5 years, and then two different COAs (condo owners association) for the past 9 years. HOAs in the city are few and far between.
|
|
|
|
Post by fredfreddy44 on May 24, 2022 16:20:51 GMT
We sort of live in an HOA. Everyone who buys in this neighborhood must pay $440 per year for the community pool. That is the only required thing. The HOA has no say in someone's personal property.
I worked as the office coordinator for 4 years at the pool. It amazed me: 1) how many people bought houses and were never told by the seller or the real estate agent about the mandatory cost and how mad they would get about it and 2) how many members thought paying the fee meant they could complain about their neighbor's tree, bush, car, noise, etc and the office would take care of it.
|
|
|
|
Post by ~summer~ on May 24, 2022 16:33:50 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by myshelly on May 24, 2022 16:41:40 GMT
When we bought our house we told our real estate agent we absolutely would not consider buying a home in an HOA. They told us that would limit our choices and make it take longer to find a house.
If you buy a newish house or build a house, it will almost certainly be HOA.
|
|
|
|
Post by Scrapper100 on May 24, 2022 16:41:55 GMT
We have an HOA and for the most part I think it’s good. It’s only $42 a month and they take care if the common areas. Not sure how much they have give up but a couple places with pools were about $100 we didn’t think we would use them enough to make it worthwhile. Condo’s around here have crazy high fees around $500 if you are lucky. I know my MIL thought about downsizing and the monthly fees keep her in her house  Our area is mostly new and most homes have HOA fees and most are more than ours. Ours is pretty mellow with no crazy strict rules. There are several around here that I have heard horror stories about. |
|
|
|
Post by Scrapper100 on May 24, 2022 16:45:03 GMT
Wow that’s more than our mortgage. |
|
caangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,674
Location: So Cal
|
Post by caangel on May 24, 2022 17:29:59 GMT
We chose to buy in an HOA. Ours includes many neighborhoods, has a very large clubhouse with several pools, tennis courts and other amenities. Ours and 1 other similar HOA in our city started in the mid 70s so they have a long history in the community. There are some small 1 neighborhood HOAs (single pool with a small clubhouse) and there are neighborhoods without HOAs. I believe all the new builds are part of HOAs. I'd guess probably 30% of SF homes are non HOA in our area.
My parents live about 30 min away in an older city and I'd guess 50% of SFH are non HOA. But they have built a lot over the last 30 yrs, and again pretty sure the new builds are HOA homes.
We gutted our 1 story house and added a second story with zero issues from the HOA, we did all the paperwork required. We have received a few notifications in the 20 yrs we have loved here but never fined. Our monthly dues are around $130. In addition to the clubhouse (not IN our neighborhood) we also have neighborhood park spaces and private streets that the HOA maintains.
|
|
|
|
Post by revirdsuba99 on May 24, 2022 17:33:32 GMT
I wouldn't say it is impossible in my area but you're either going to have to shell out A LOT of money or be okay with a much older home that is very small that probably needs top to bottom renovations. Plus it will probably end up in an area outside city limits with little to no zoning so you may very well end up with some neighbors who are not as conscientious about keeping up their home or someone would plop a trailer park next door to you or have a literal scrap yard full of junk. Not to mention we have kids and in order to stay within zoning of the schools we prefer, most of the houses on the market are going to be in HOAs. If we didn't have kids, it would be much easier to find something not in an HOA because our search area would be greatly increased. My husband needs a certain level of internet for his job and it isn't always available in the more outlying areas where this non-HOA houses are. So some people may find it easy to find something in my area without an HOA but us with our requirements, it is very hard. Bold mine!! I have never understood this. We have a town and the next town and so on....each has a school system, police and fire etc.. there is no 'outside city limits' |
|
smartypants71
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,816
Location: Houston, TX
|
Post by smartypants71 on May 24, 2022 17:46:28 GMT
That is a condo association fee and not an HOA. The difference is that each condo owner has joint ownership of the common areas of the property. A condo association would maintain the entire outside of a unit while each condo owner would maintain the interior of their unit. Condo owners can also be at risk for special assessments whereas homeowners typically don't encounter that. When you add in property maintenance, insurance, valet parking, pool, gym, etc, it can get very expensive. |
|
blue tulip
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,005
|
Post by blue tulip on May 24, 2022 17:49:04 GMT
we live in a subdivision with an HOA. but in general here, no, it's not hard at all to find a place to live without one. most newer subdivision neighborhoods have them tho, to maintain the qualities and aethetics that people are desiring.
|
|
|
|
Post by bianca42 on May 24, 2022 19:22:37 GMT
It's a split in my area of Central NY. The fact that our neighborhood was not part of an HOA was part of the reason we purchased it. There was nothing disclosed when we purchased about any kind of restrictions.
One year after we moved in, a bunch people tried to get one started. I guess there are a list of covenants that must be followed for the neighborhood and the builder was in charge of enforcing it. The deal was, once he built the last house, the enforcement turned over to the neighborhood. He built the last house about 6 months before I moved in, but nobody realized until several above ground pools went in. They were strictly forbidden.
They weren't able to get enough support to start the HOA (thank goodness) so the only way to enforce the covenant was for neighbors to sue their neighbors over those pools. There were counter-suits over other things that were against the covenant. We had about a year of angry leaflets. I have no idea how the case turned out, but a bunch of original owners moved.
|
|
|
|
Post by greendragonlady on May 24, 2022 19:40:17 GMT
They're not as common where we are, but I think "developments" vs older homes that were built singly might have them.
|
|
|
|
Post by bigbundt on May 24, 2022 23:04:52 GMT
I wouldn't say it is impossible in my area but you're either going to have to shell out A LOT of money or be okay with a much older home that is very small that probably needs top to bottom renovations. Plus it will probably end up in an area outside city limits with little to no zoning so you may very well end up with some neighbors who are not as conscientious about keeping up their home or someone would plop a trailer park next door to you or have a literal scrap yard full of junk. Not to mention we have kids and in order to stay within zoning of the schools we prefer, most of the houses on the market are going to be in HOAs. If we didn't have kids, it would be much easier to find something not in an HOA because our search area would be greatly increased. My husband needs a certain level of internet for his job and it isn't always available in the more outlying areas where this non-HOA houses are. So some people may find it easy to find something in my area without an HOA but us with our requirements, it is very hard. Bold mine!! I have never understood this. We have a town and the next town and so on....each has a school system, police and fire etc.. there is no 'outside city limits' School district is county wide so both in and out of limit pay school taxes through their property taxes. Most services and utilities that are provided by the city within limits are provided outside in the county but by other agencies/companies. Within limits pays more in property taxes but it includes trash, city run police, city run fire. They also have city water, sewer, and electricity. Outside the city limits we have the same stuff... just not provided by the city. Our property taxes are a little lower but we pay more for water/sewer, our fire departments are volunteer, we get our electricity from a cooperative, and the sheriff has jurisdiction. We do not have trash pickup but can pay private companies if we don't want to take it to the dump ourselves. And there is always the possibility that the city can annex county property to become part of the city. |
|
maryannscraps
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,791
Aug 28, 2017 12:51:28 GMT
|
Post by maryannscraps on May 24, 2022 23:18:20 GMT
Very common here in Houston. Even if you don’t have an HOA per se, you probably have some kind of deed restrictions that the city can enforce. We don’t have zoning, so this is kind of necessary to keep your neighbors from running a strip club in their basement. There are older neighborhoods that have deed restrictions on POC owning the property, but those are ignored (and in most cases they’ve been removed). The HOAs in the suburbs can be pretty restrictive. Ours mostly exists to contract for security vehicles and prevent people from holding garage sales, as far as I can tell. We have strong zoning laws here. I mean, not to the point of requiring painting you house or weeding, but still. There are requirements for the type of building you can put on a particular lot. |
|
janeinbama
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,201
Location: Alabama
|
Post by janeinbama on May 24, 2022 23:21:50 GMT
When we were looking for houses with our realtor, she mentioned HOAs prior to showing us houses. WE would never have looked at one.
|
|
janeinbama
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,201
Location: Alabama
|
Post by janeinbama on May 24, 2022 23:27:56 GMT
When we were looking for houses with our realtor, she mentioned HOAs prior to showing us houses. We would never have looked at one.
|
|
No one is going to say "Oh, I'd really rather a newer home" when they are desperate to buy into a community. And besides, these flippers take a 1922 house, rip everything out and replace it with 2022 Home Depot builders' specials, so the houses may technically be old, but they look brand new inside, which goes a long way in getting most buyers to forget any qualms about an old house. 
Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant
