I'm looking for a new spot to live and it seems alot of things are in these HOA community things. I've heard alot of really bad things but my folks live in a place that's nice and quiet and the HOA seems to stay out of people's business for the most part unless they let their property go or get loud. Things I'm on board for honestly. I'd like to hear about your experiences and what to look for if you were considering a community with an HOA. I'd personally like to find some acres in the middle of nowhere but that doesn't work for my wife who must be in the damn city for some ungodly reason.

I'm looking for a place that is above all quiet and it seems like an HOA might actually help with that. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Do you live at Purdue University or Pacific Northwest? What size city do you need?

I live in a condo and of course have an HOA. I have no complaints, but it's a condo. If i lived in a townhouse, same feeling.

However, I will never live in an HOA when I finally buy a house and have some land with it. Just no way. My wife and i looked at a place that was real nice a couple of weeks ago, but it is an HOA. The only thing my wife wanted to do with the place though was put up a fence around the property. She called and asked, and nope...not allowed to put up a fence on one's own property. Screw that noise.

It depends on what you want and like. Personally, they suck. Want a shed for added storage? It needs to be approved. Have a utility trailer for snowmobiles/ATV's? Can't park there. Pay fees for garbage but need to mow your own grass and remove snow. Want to add a window, build a deck, add an awning for shade, they need to be approved.

We left an HOA and never looked back. Do yourself a favor and look for a decent neighborhood that you can do what you want. You pay the mortgage and it's your property to do as you wish.

Some are fine, some have board members on a power trip.

I have often criticized them but often are not that bad.

The biggest thing is knowing it going in and knowing what you can and can not do. What do you need permission to do/build? Want a fence or shed. Many will let you but it has to conform to their regulations.

Make sure their rules will not negatively affect how you want to live on the property.

Also, make sure you understand the fees. Some can have hefty fees if there is common spaces, a pool, tennis courts etc.

I don’t think I would want to own a single family home in an HOA with the restrictions. We lived in a condo in an HOA and they changed management companys a few years into living there and the new manager was a real hard ass and really cracked down on nitpicking “violations”. I was never fined but their letters implied they would. I sold that place to buy my home and also to avoid dealing with those guys as a landlord.

Google HOA nightmares and read the stories

If you are going to live in suburbia, HOAs can be a good thing. The covenants and restrictions are likely recorded with the county. Read them and sëe if you can live with them.

Before I brought the house we live in, I looked in a subdivision that unknown to us had a HOA. Found a house for sale there, made an appointment with the realtor to look at the insides. Met my wife and the realtor there for the tour. Came straight from work. On my motorcycle.
Before I got a chance to get off Some asshole (who I found out later headed up their HOA) was up my ass screaming that I couldn't have a motorcycle in "his development", and to leave immediately. Made sure I left a rubber mark on the pavement.
My only dealing with a HOA. Don't care how nice it is, if it's free, and all utilities are free. Hell NO!

Word of advice. Join an HOA that enforces rules on your neighbors, has no dues and leaves you alone. That is the perfect one.

That's the problem. The HOA rules aren't so bad; they have to be on file somewhere, so you can look them up and see if you want to live with them before buying a house in the neighborhood. No, the problem is who is running the HOA - and even if you like the people doing it now, who's to say who's going to be willing to serve on the HOA in the future and who will be elected to the HOA in the future?

Personally I live in a house with no HOA and I'd rather keep it that way.

Read the bylaws. EVERY line.

HOAs are pendulums. They swing from no enforcement to dictating what style of door knockerss are approved.
Last year a guy got on the board that wanted to enforce the 25’ tree height. Letters went out. One letter showed a photo the offending tree. The homeowner realized where it was taken and spoke to the owner. Seems the board member had trespassed. That got the lawyers involved until the guy resigned.
We had one guy move in and park a huge work truck on the street (violation) When asked, he gave a sob story about being on called and needing his work truck. That he didn’t get the HOA rules until signing. When we checked we discovered he’d pulled the exact same stunt with the HOA at his last house.
My advice is to get a copy of the rules before buying. Keep in mind 90% of them are boilerplate. Then get involved with the board. Generally, the idiots that get on a board can be removed.
Having rules and an HOA is OK if you want to keep property values up. They aren’t OK if you want to park toys in your yard or let things go.

The biggest problem with HOAs is owner apathy. The average homeowner doesn't:

care enough to read what they're signing at closing then bitches about it

attend annual HOA election meeting then bitches that the board is full of the wrong type of people

I've posted many times that I was part of a neighborhood coup that recalled the out of control HOA board. People like myself were elected and we started trying to restore a sense of community and treated other residents as neighbors instead of subjects. We moved the meetings to board members home instead of being 15 minutes away at the management company, we held an annual party every summer in a cul-d-sac, etc. Most importantly, we talked to people in person when something arose instead referring directly to the mgmt company's attorney (for example, the recalled board turned a plastic shed into a $12,000 legal bill).

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

I never lived in a HOA until I moved to suburban Houston about 35 years ago. There were no zoning rules (something they are proud of) so you had to have a HOA to enforce what would be building codes and restrictions that a city government would normally take care of. That is the only way to keep the house next door to be turned into a daycare or flophouse.

I live in a 50 home community with a common area. The HOA makes sure its maintained, snow cleared, well lit, etc.

It's a new community - on the outset there was a Design Review Committee that was somehow created. I joined, and let it be known that it's not our place to tell others what color fence they must erect, of if they could use mulch instead of rocks in their landscaping. This committee was disbanded within a year.

HOAs are great, in theory. Keep the neighborhood looking nice. Protect property values. Etc. All good, right?

In practice, they're a massive double-edged sword. It all hinges on who's running the show. If you have normal, level-headed folks on the board, and you're not a dirtbag who lets his house and property fall to ruin, it'll be fine.

But if your HOA board is made up of bored, bitter folks on power trips who see the HOA as their chance to impose their will on their neighbors through nitpicking, it's miserable. Trust me.

And best of all, that double-edged sword is swinging on a pendulum, because sometimes your board goes from being made up of normal folks to power-tripping idiots in just a short time, with little to no warning.

Knowing what I do now, I most likely wouldn't live in another neighborhood with a HOA. The potential positives aren't worth the likely headaches.

Prior townhouse had an HOA, I messed up and got elected to the board. Shit balls, what a pain in the ass. Was about 50 townhouses and there was 5-6 people that had nothing better to do than complain. Not kidding, emails daily about somebody leaving their trash can out a day past pick up day. What's that, shrubs haven't been trimmed since last Tuesday, email. The list went on and on...

Bought another place, condo this time. HOA is laid back as can be. My neighbor is the president and we get a long just fine. Granted, it's a condo and not a townhouse, so there are some differences. I can live with this one however.

I'd never invest in a place that didn't have a well run HOA. Nothing like spending a lot of money on a property and finding out you neighbor is an inconsiderate slob

quote:

emails daily about somebody leaving their trash can out a day past pick up day. What's that, shrubs haven't been trimmed since last Tuesday, email. The list went on and on...

A functioning community should be able to handle these issues without running to the HOA. Neighbor not trimming grass? Go talk to them first. HOA should be a last resort, not first line of complaint.

I'm the HOA. Don't piss me off and I'm here to help you.