For me there is an association, and voluntary dues, but no agreement to sign.

New neighbor's contractor dug a 2'x2' hole under my fence then illegally and erroneously retapped them into the sewer line.

Dogs could have run away if I hadn't noticed the hole and thrown a bunch of tomato cages into it until he very much belatedly filled it in.

Then there was the consequences of the sewer line breaking because of what he did.

Even if I went to the association what good would it have done? The very first thing the new neighbor did was get himself on the board.

I've been on the board of our little HOA (41 homes) for 5 years. Last 3 as President.

Why?

Because 50% of our neighborhood since the crash has been sold or leased to folks who would have no problem parking derelict cars in the front yard (had to ask the last 2 new move-ins to please remove their cars from the front yard), not mow until the grass obstructed the view from their window, and few would "donate" any money to maintaining the common areas or surveillance cameras.
(God forbid they have to cut back on the Walmart or Netflix expenses)

Because frankly the apathy level is off the charts and if I didn't I'm pretty sure we wouldnt have an HOA in 2 years time. The neighborhood just south of us found that out the hard way, their home values are 25% less than ours and sinking fast.

And mostly because but I'm not quite ready to allow those folks to pick my pocket and reduce my home value by 25-50%. Trashing a neighborhood lowers home values Umkay?

Would I rather live on 100 acres in Wyoming with no neighbors? At my age, yeah, sure would. But if you are going to work in a major metropolis and own a home over $100K that doesn't require a 2 hour commute, you may find the benefits of an HOA outweigh the negatives.

Mine is not bad. Lawns have to be cut, house colors have to be approved, and the weird one which the are hyper fixated on...no fences. Sight lines are a biggie. I have never had an issue with the HOA even though I am surrounded by the leaders of it.

The plus is we often pool money for parties that are actually fun to go to.

quote:

Originally posted by guardianangel762:
...and the weird one which the are hyper fixated on...no fences. Sight lines are a biggie.

'That' would be a big problem when my 75+ pound Coonhound started leaving lawn ornaments in everyone's yards.

My HOA is voluntary and pretty laid back too. Most of the time they simply stay out of the way until the one or two losers in the neighborhood refuse to maintain they properties. Then they pounce like a Panther on prey.

Nope

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:
Not for me. If you gave me a house in a HOA neighborhood it would immediately go on the market. No way I would ever subject myself to the nonsense of some numbnuts with a Napoleon complex telling me what I can or can't do on MY property. No way, no how.

Yep.

No way, ever, do I let some motherfucker(s) in my neighborhood dictate what color I can paint my fence, or whether I can build a shed, or 1000 other things. Absolute crazy talk. It is completely antithetical to the idea of owning my own place. Who thinks up this shit?

(rhetorical)

Exactly!

Yep. I've lived in two. Both were incredibly squared away, and didn't affect my lifestyle. I did get a warning about leaving a dead potted plant on a pedestal on my porch, but it did look tacky and I should have gotten to it before the HOA or a busybody saw it.

I particularly like not having to zig zag around RV's parked in the street, or see any beaters in the driveways near me.

Oh, heavens, Marge, didja hear that... these guys actually parked their RV at their own house. (gasp) I know, Bob... Godless heathens. Whatever will we do? I know, let's run away to a safe haven, free from such obscenities, with Rules about this unacceptable behavior, yeah, think of it, a paradise of our very own, and think of the children, Bob. THE CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!!

(I'm in equal measure amused, pleased we all have the freedom to find what makes us happy - however unique, and delighted I don't have to share a neighborhood with someone who cares about that sort of thing.)

(laughing)

an RV, Marge, a flipping R...V.... (shakes fist)

First time for us. In AZ no less.
Never again. At first the meetings were amusing, then not so much. Anyone with any common sense will not be on the board. So you are left with, well, the rest.
Thinking of suing mine. But MY dues will go toward defending against ME. Not much to gain there.

This is my first time living with the HOA. So far, so good. The lawns are well kept, trees that have died are replaced. The small lakes are stocked with fish and well maintained. A nice pool, clubhouse and walking/bike trails.

Before I retired, I was out of town quite a bit. Nice to come home to cut grass, shrubbery trimmed or snow shoveled. Now that I'm retired, it's nice to look out the window on a Saturday and see the grass has been cut, snow removed etc.

Guess I'll see how the second fifteen years goes before I make a final judgement.

quote:

Originally posted by Tailhook 84:
Love my neighborhood and the HOA too. We have over 160 homes in the HOA and it's not without it's issues at times. But our neighborhood seems to collect good people who are content and don't get into each other's business. We're all responsible enough not to leave leaky cars up on blocks for everyone to see and other stupid stuff.

The HOA Board of Directors are made up of homeowners who have good sense and a take a reasonable approach to things. There is nobody on a power trip on the board or any committees.

Similar here, but only 60 homes in my subdivision. I'm one of the trustees. Generally, we leave people alone. We take care of the common grounds, which consists mostly of one large field where kids can play, and pay for street lights. We do have some restrictions, like where you can put a fence (no chainlink), but not many.

The annual assessment is only $75 dollars. You would be amazed at how hard that is to collect that small amount from some people though.... 3rd notices going out today!

I love my condo home. It's an older building, built as a condo, as opposed to an apartment conversion, so good solid floors and walls with good sound-proofing. And big rooms – I hate cramped little rooms! My unit is on the top floor, so I have high ceilings too. Gated access to keep out the riffraff, and underground parking. The public space interior has columns, arches, fountains, neat passageways, and plants (including palm trees) – like having an apartment in an old castle. A functional board with a good management company. A good neighborhood, near UCSD, so lots of students and professors about. In walking distance of several malls, including one that's the nicest mall in San Diego. So, yeah, I like my HOA.

After hearing personal stories of HOAs changing from helpful and reasonable to hostile and micro-controlling, living in a home with an HOA will be my last resort.

They seem to be like city councils, but with less checks and balances. While they might be okay for a while, a change in the HOA board can make it go from beneficial to evil.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
I love my condo home. It's an older building, built as a condo, as opposed to an apartment conversion, so good solid floors and walls with good sound-proofing. And big rooms – I hate cramped little rooms! My unit is on the top floor, so I have high ceilings too. Gated access to keep out the riffraff, and underground parking. The public space interior has columns, arches, fountains, neat passageways, and plants (including palm trees) – like having an apartment in an old castle. A functional board with a good management company. A good neighborhood, near UCSD, so lots of students and professors about. In walking distance of several malls, including one that's the nicest mall in San Diego. So, yeah, I like my HOA.

I live in a very nice condo as well. There are eight units per building, two floors with four units on each floor. There is also an underground heated garage. We of course also have an HOA, and I really don't have too much to complain about (except of course that the HOA fees have nearly tripled since I first moved in ) .

But with a Condo, an HOA makes sense. It's the reason I first bought the place actually because I was a single man at the time who traveled frequently for work and was away from home sometimes months at a time. So it was nice to know that my place was mostly cared for, relatively that is.

But with my own land and a house? No. I don't want anyone else but myself deciding what I can and can't (or won't) do with my own property. Take a hike.

So condo vs house, we are talking about two very different things with regards to an HOA.

Since he's now retired, I can tell the story of a Texas police chief's dealings with the HOA that ran the neighborhood he and his family lived in.

One day several years ago, parking tickets started appearing on residents' cars on the streets. But the citations weren't issued by the police department; they had been printed up and handed out by the HOA. The furious homeowners whose cars got ticketed---and had been legally parked in front of their houses---flooded the police chief with phone calls demanding that he do something. They needn't have bothered, because he was already royally pissed. One of his cars got tagged, too.

He called the HOA president, who said, "We're completely entitled to enforce parking in our neighborhood. The by-laws state that nobody can park their car on the street." The police chief told her they couldn't. The HOA president held her ground. "You can't tell us what we can and can't do, Chief. This is OUR neighborhood and these are OUR streets."

The police chief thought a few moments and said, "Okay, then. If you own the streets, you're not entitled to City services like water and trash pickup. If a street gets a pothole or a water main breaks, you'll have to fix it yourself. Unless you contract with the City for all of this stuff, the City won't lift a finger."

"But everybody in our neighborhood pays taxes for all this!!," she yelled.

"Sorry, you just told me that the streets belong to the HOA."

Miss Big Britches backed down real fast.

Don't need an HOA to 'help me' decide what I can and can't do on my property.


My strategy is to look closely at the houses in neighborhood I am going to live in, and try to make an informed decision. When/if the neighborhood starts to change, we'll move before electing an HOA to tell us what they think we should do. Ultimately if there is a problematic neighbor, I think it is better to talk it out.

No HOA for me. I decided a long time ago that the best way to determine how a piece of land will be used is to own it.
I have 55 acres of dirt moat around me.
I share a fencerow with my sister and BIL.
My mother owns the land across the county road (where I grew up).
Mine is the smallest "lot" of the three.

And yes, I have a private range

I want to move to a place where people are not so obsessed with their home values. My neighbors are nice people most of the time, but the HOA has created a lot of discord and I don't like it.

I've seen otherwise kind people turn nasty because they felt colored Christmas lights were lowering home values versus white lights. The next year, a lot of people switched to white lights. It looks stupid, and frankly I do not think their ideas are grounded in reality.

Word gets around, and people buy in another development in town. How does that help home values?

quote:

Originally posted by bigredfish:

Because frankly the apathy level is off the charts and if I didn't I'm pretty sure we wouldnt have an HOA in 2 years time. The neighborhood just south of us found that out the hard way, their home values are 25% less than ours and sinking fast.

I stand corrected, I was wrong. The home values of the neighborhood just south of us, built within a few years of ours, and who abolished their HOA 7 years ago, are not 25% less than ours.

According to a realtor, the comps are now $100K less than ours.

To those of you whom $100K doesnt matter, bless you and congrats. But for me that's a pretty big pile of money I cant afford to lose.

Mine is okay.

No real issues.

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