Why hoa is bad

People are just trying to get out of the situation. The cosmetics means inside, appliances, flooring, some of them are too cabin-y inside for everyday life. They have a very strong hoa. You can see it, hemlock farms. Once I have some friends and roots, I can see about moving to a private home.

Thanks for your words. I am going to go for it. Thanks xo. I also want to be around quality people because I actually have 2 degrees from Notre Dame but got off track career wise helping my grandma. Maybe something will find me that uses my brain more. I used to live in a small cute town and I learned that you can get more chances by being around the right people who can see your personality.

In , I was financially set for life. I bought a townhome because I wanted to be free to travel and work seasonal positions out of state without the worry of mowing grass, cleaning gutters, and taking care of the exterior of my home. I thought that is what I was buying into. Because HOA board members are uneducated, unskilled, and often times thieves. The president suddenly died and the predecessor told the court they had no records.

Big lie! Next, the siding on all the housing was rotting to the point mine was so severe the electric meters fell off in a torrential rain and water poured through the holes and destroyed my entire finished basement. That resulted in lawsuit number 2 for breach of contract. Next they let the driveway on my unit drop below the garage floor and again when it rained water poured under the flooring and destroyed my finished basement on that side.

They also let the fence rot to the point I could never put a dog or child in the backyard. We are now in lawsuit number 3. There are far more details but I will spare you those.

This is the first and will be the last HOA I ever live in. That has been my experience. That is cash money because I paid cash for the home and have paid for all the other with my savings. The stress of 12 years of this hellhole has caused me to lose all the pigment in my skin due to Vitiligo and some other stress-related health issues have presented themselves. At 62 years old, I should be out enjoying life and the great job I did of saving for retirement.

I cannot be out in the sun and vacationing are cost prohibitive. In addition, when you sign on the dotted line of ownership into an HOA you sign away your Constitutional Rights. You become business partners with all of your neighbors in a non-profit corporation. And you become the guarantor for payment on all debts, loans, lawsuits, liabilities, settlements, construction defects, and disaster rebuilds for the entire HOA. The risks are massive and there is not getting out of them if the board members make stupid decisions, steal the money, or engage in lawsuits against you or your neighbors.

Rent an apartment and enjoy life if you do not want to own a home without an HOA. Volunteer, take a class, or find some other means of meeting friends but buying into an HOA is not the answer. I get a kick from all of you who complain about living in an HOA community. I love how our homes all looks as nice or nicer than they did 20 years ago. If you look at other non-HOA communities of the same age, people have probably changed the colors and original designs over the years…not always for the best.

The biggest problem is finding volunteers to serve on the Board or committees. Read the rules before you buy. Hi Guy — I completely agree with you about people not reading the bylaws and covenants.

I saw that all the time in the mortgage business. People ignored them and assumed all was well. They never stopped to consider that certain restrictions might interfere with exactly what they plan to do with the house.

But there are cases, such as with my wife and I, where a non-mandatory HOA became mandatory after we moved in and we were stuck. Over the years I came to the conclusion that buying a house is mostly an emotional endeavor.

They just want the house — period! Guy is right. It all works well for them until someone like me gets elected; then they get to sit down and be quiet, while the rational among us call the shots until they die, or go into a retirement village. The sooner the better. Hi Jessica — In my experience the HOA boards are usually occupied by young bucks, people in their 30s and 40s who are climbing the career ladder and also looking for a side venture as Masters of the Neighborhood.

Control freaks know no age limits. So sad. Actually, no guy. ANY time. Jessica and Guy — I like a lively debate as much as anyone else, but this is starting to get personal.

I must ask you to take it offline, so we can keep the thread from getting ugly. Thanks to you both for reading and for your initial comments. I guess name calling is how you single handily whipped your community back into shape, Jessie. Most are well educated, long time residents and knew exactly what they bought into.

Never been bothered except for an occasional letter taped to our mailbox about civic meetings but that was it. I found it unethical, disturbing and unprofessional. I think sometimes they do it because someone has complained, other times because someone — maybe someone on the board — has an ax to grind with you. But other times I think they just go on a dragnet because they think they have to, or because they want to flex their muscles.

Thanks for writing this article. Sadly, even the developers arranging mini farms are including some major covenants and restrictions. We walked away from one piece of land over the principle of it. They wanted us to sign away the right to have an officer obtain a warranty before coming on our property! We walked away at contract signing on that one. Keep up the good work informing the public.

I know in my area the highest priced homes are in older non-hoa communities. The only people this topic strikes a chord with are those who have come into conflict with their HOA and see their true nature, or those who got tired of being restricted to the point of diluting the entire concept of homeownership.

Most people seem thoroughly enchanted with HOAs. Good catch on constitutional rights. That basically removes legal remedies.

Glad your a fan of C. Many others have said it as well, in a different form, but it falls on deaf ears with most. That means you rarely find them in HOA neighborhoods. You just have to stay alert and avoid following the herd with the money that you do have.

Older people 75 and up with no life accomplishments to speak of other than several failed marriages, no successful career, and a few children and grandchildren on their resume. Dealing with those board members drunk on their power became too much to tolerate. Nilla, is that how you see all HOAs? Is that how you see all younger HOA board members? What did Jessica do that was worth applauding?

Hi Guy — I certainly see what Nila means. People claw at each other to get on the board. Some of them do it in the hope of launching a political career I think. But a lot of them also seem to be on a power trip.

They always seem to attract the same people types. There were stories of hoa issuing parking citations then charging s of thousands of dollars legal fees to go to court to collect said parking ticket. Needless to say when I moved to another area I bought an older home without hoa. I am extremely happy about that.

I cannot. In our area DC it is very hard to find a property without an HOA or a condo with low condo fee if you buy a condo. Even when you buy land, it turns out there is an hoa in place already unless that land parcel is huge. In one area near a lake a 0. That caveat? Little wonder people want to get rid of such land at any price.

We had the issue in the Atlanta area, where most neighborhoods have them. I like it better this way. HOAs are a government within a government, and we already have more than enough government at all levels. I own a home without HOA currently, but had a condo with one. What a nightmare that was! Everything stated here happened. The assessments for additional repairs, which were not done by methods, and companies that could be considered capable, but cost-efficient, legal fees, were just constant, and in the thousands.

Neigbors were charged hefty daily penalties for such crimes as unapproved doormats, hanging a lovely stained glass panel in the side window of the entry door. The personality types on the board were wanna-be politicos, people with a deep-seated need to feel important, and those wanting to control others. After all, they do it for your own good — or so they believe.

Really they do it for their own good and long-term purpose. Those predicaments never get better, and always get more expensive. What puzzles me is that those kinds of neighborhoods usually draw well-to-do people. What I wonder is if a person has money, why would he subject himself to that type of oversight??? But I see so many who are doing well financially fall into line with this kind of trap, and they do it willingly and enthusiastically. They unknowingly become toadies for the rulers on the board, and many of them support the board with the conviction of a convert.

I live in northern Nevada in a small middle-class suburb. The HOA here is run by a dictator-like retired Navy enlisted guy. He has many cohorts on the board; he is their boss. His sycophant buddies get away with many violations while the rest of us face constant fines and harassment. I once challenged him at a meeting. He and his cohorts are a bunch of crooks who constantly steal from the HOA. This is like a criminal enterprise for these guys; and they use intimidation, promises, and threats to get voted in again and again.

I quit going to meetings out of frustration. Nothing to do really but move out. I will as soon as I can. When these things go bad they can really go bad. Hi Jay — Of course, none of this surprises me. Your best strategy is to lay low until you can sell and get out. I think the only people who have participated in this thread are the ones who have experienced the dark side.

The others are happily ignorant. To me, it had all the trappings of being back in high school. I want no part of that. Agree with much of this article. Stay away from HOAs. Our taxes are about the same as the dues. We have no pool, no clubhouse, no workout room, no kids play area, no nothing.

In our area, many of the developments in the past 20 years have had repairs to leaking walls, windows, roofs. Shoddy developers and contractors, and less-skilled non-citizen labor are also contributors to the problem. I could write for hours on this HOA topic, but I will spare you. Two other points you touched on that I want to emphasize.

One, the lack of roof overhangs. A handyman in our old HOA neighborhood warned me about these. Many of the houses in the neighborhood had problems with leaking and rot.

He said that was a major source of the problem. But most houses today are built the same way. The second is being familiar with HOA regs. Most people completely ignore them when buying in. In my experience, most buyers develop buyers blindness. Anyone who brings it up is an adversary. It compromises the basic notion of homeownership. Best advice — stay away from HOAs.

Be independent. Be a free American. Surveys have shown people prefer them, and even pay a higher price to live in one. I thought the Financial Meltdown would change this, with people being required to keep up maintenance even without a job or after having been crushed by the stock market crash, but I was wrong. Would you believe a survey by ANY other industry measuring satisfaction for their own products and services? It has nothing to do with what the public really prefers. All of it is a promotional stunt.

In fact, I have a healthy amount of skepticism about any survey. The results can be — and often are — heavily skewed by several factors: the questions that are asked vs. All of these variables can be manipulated and then the resulting data is selectively reported to the public. Survey and statistical data with regard to housing and community development is both incomplete and contradictory. I have written about this and posted several articles on my website that indicate demand for HOA, condo property is leveling off or dropping, when you look at Census data and market surveys done by the National Association of Home Builders.

See independentamericancommunities. In my observation, a minority of people actively seek out HOAs. Even CAI? The reason most people buy into one of these?

Many local governments mandate or de facto mandate HOAs because they don? So they dump construction and maintenance costs onto housing consumers.

A developer passes construction costs to the sale price of new construction. When we were living in Atlanta HOAs completely dominated the market, especially new construction. But I digress. Excellent, excellent, excellent point about HOA fees being a property tax.

If buyers knew the truth and massive risks that come with HOA, Condo, or Co-Op purchases they would run like their hair is on fire. Examples: Every drug being advertised on TV has a massive list of possible side effects. Enough warnings for me that I avoid taking any of those drugs. When entering a hospital to have surgery there are numerous times that a staff member confirms you are there for that particular surgery. You sign, initial, and verbally acknowledge you know what surgery is going to be performed prior to being wheeled into the the operating room.

The truth is: You are signing away your Constitutional Rights. You are becoming business partners in a non-profit corporation with all of your neighbors. The HOA industry is ripe with organized crime! Rest assured the answers would have been pure BS to move the process forward. People enter the arrangement completely unaware. And forget about hiring a lawyer and fighting it legally.

The deck is stacked against you from the start. This is precisely why some of us have worked tirelessly to educate others about the risks and nightmares that exist before they make the purchase. More people need to be made aware of this, and hopefully one day this madness will end. In full disclosure, I serve on an HOA Board, and my only interest in doing so is to protect our homeowners including my family from petty behavior, keep costs down, and defend their freedoms as property owners.

This is alarming, and the fight is exhausting. Yet I feel that I must continue, only to prevent our neighborhood from becoming another casualty of the system. Just today we had an incident that brought my anger to a boiling point, and I do not even know the people who were targeted.

One of our homeowners had a minor flaw in a piece of their landscaping, and our overzealous property manager as well as a few board members made a huge ordeal of it. All I could think about was this poor person, minding their own business, probably unaware that anything was wrong, or perhaps they were too busy with work or their families to make sure their landscaping was perfect in February.

I made a statement in defense of the homeowner, and tried to emphasize that this is not something we should focus on, but I know it fell on deaf ears. That explains why these organizations are so firmly entrenched…if you promise people money, they will buy into almost any set of ideals. What they fail to realize is that the money may or may not materialize, for all of the reasons the other good people who commented here and the article itself stated. We love our community, our home, and our neighbors, and we have been long time residents.

I will continue the fight, for my family and for everyone else here who has been snared by the same insidious trap. Bless you Nick for serving on the board and actually daring to try to do something good! And thank you for your commendation. The property value issue is at the heart of the HOA problem. They get a pass on logic, compassion and fairness in the alleged pursuit of higher property values. The board have an us-vs-them mentality, that mostly swells their already bloated egos. HOA communities need more people like you.

I live in a neighborhood now that has very weak HOA rules my neighbor to the left of me has gallons of old deep fryer oil and tires and broken down trailers and old plant containers and his yard has holes dug in it where his sprinkler broke over a year ago with a safety cone in the holes.

My neighbor to the right has old car parts, tires, break rotors, yard debris, these are k houses. No one wants to come home everyday to a garbage pit and have your neighbor never mow their lawns and have weeds growing in it and all over their driveways. Also during the crash my brothers neighborhood turned into a rental house paradise and the renters did not keep up their properties the same, he had to constantly get the HOA to tell the people they could not park cars on the grass or block peoples driveways and to mow their lawns and fix their screens.

A lot of people are just down right pigs and they do not care that their house is falling apart, and that is fine as long as you do not live next to me and affect the ability for me to sell my home for the best possible price. Hi Rick — I can certainly appreciate that. Either they let them fall apart, or they hit owners with special assessments. Neither outcome is a good one.

They go after some people, while ignoring others for the same violations. They can be very political, and the last thing I want is another governing body in my life.

I guess I have more faith in individuals than I do in groups, and especially groups with legal authority. It works for you. Viva la difference! True… there obviously no right or wrong answer to this question. In my brothers case though the neighborhood failed, there were major financial penalties accessed to the owners so at least there was a little bit of satisfaction knowing they were not getting off scott free.

If a neighbor is that bad you can always call city hall, as most communities have certain minimum maintenance standards. A true community of caring neighbors would offer companionship or home maintenance help to a neighbor in need.

City hall does not care, I live in the county and regulations are very loose and harder to enforce. She has tried to put her house on the market and the real estate agents say, your house is beautiful but your neighbors bring down your value by over 50k and I doubt anyone with kids would ever buy this house. Deborah come on over and help.. I doubt you ever have.. I spray his weeds and pick up the trash that his uncovered cans place in the street weekly. I doubt you had a neighbor brind in a class c motorhome with flat tires and broken windows and park it across the street and leave it there for 8 months along with a boat that the junk yard would not even take.

Some people are just impervious to rules, no matter who issues them. Only people who respect rules and laws actually obey them and are controlled by them. I think that applies here.

So true. That is why i am so frustrated. My hoa has no teeth or rules for a dirty front yard only about the type of siding your shed can have. A contract with No teeth is worthless.

This will never be settled. Those that have had a neighbor that has pushed passed the point of civilty will like someone looking out for them and those that have only decent neighbors would rather be on their own.

Until 14 years ago i would have not been associated with a hoa now i wish there was someone that could do something. I am not alone in my neighborhood most of us wish there could be something done. Thanks for the feed back. I only have about 5 years until i move then on to the next neighbor. City and county governments view HOAs as a way to collect property tax while delegating all those pesky duties such as managing infrastructure and code enforcement.

The HOA is just a fourth layer of governance, usually ineffective and unaccountable to its members. Hi Deborah — This is another of my soapbox issues. Government is always looking to a increase revenues, and b pawn services off on someone else. As you point out, HOA neighborhoods are the perfect way for them to do both. The bill for this — due to inadequate replacement reserves — is going to shock a lot of people.

Maybe that will fix the problem for good. But like the politicians, when the dung hits the fan, the board members will be nowhere to be found when the masses are looking for culprits to sacrifice for the transgressions.

By then the neighborhoods are in poor condition. I saw some once solid neighborhoods physically deteriorate in just a few years. As I say, I saw a lot of that in Atlanta.

Homeowner Associations Fee Can Increase. One of the biggest drawbacks to homeowner associations is that the HOA fee can increase. When a homeowners association decides to increase their fee, the homeowner has virtually no say in whether the fee increases or not.

The majority of homeowner associations will raise the HOA fees every couple years. Some increases are significant and some are relatively minor. Restrictions in homeowner associations can be very frustrating to a homeowner.

These are just a few examples of the restrictions that are common within a homeowners association. Other homeowners association restrictions include:. Another drawback to owning a property that is part of a homeowner associations is that many projects will require board approval. The process to get board approval for special projects can often be very tedious, time consuming, and unfortunately is frequently unsuccessful. The most common first step to obtaining board approval for a special project is filing a variance request or special request.

This normally is required to be submitted in writing several months before the homeowner associations next board meeting. Once your request is submitted, it may take several months to receive a response. Review And Understand The Bylaws.

A common contract contingency for buyers who are purchasing a property that is apart of a homeowners association is the ability to review the bylaws within a specified number of days after acceptance. Homeowner associations are often associated with management companies. The management companies are often responsible for the finances and other various day to day functions.

Homeowner associations are also frequently associated with maintenance companies. Finding out who is responsible for exterior repairs, roofing repairs, landscaping, refuse, and other services is important when determining whether the HOA is good or bad. A good homeowners association should be able to provide their budgets in a clean and concise format so that you can clearly understand where the residents money is being spent.

Knowing how much in reserves a homeowners association has is also important. Well, I doubt there is an actual law that deems this specific action as "illegal". Perhaps there is a case-law on record where a similar issue had been adjudicated? If so, that ruling would set the precedent for what your HOA would be allowed, or not allowed, to do in a similar case. In the event there is no case-law on record and your case is the first of it's kind, then, it's likely the HOA is not doing anything "technically" wrong.

Until a judge deems it so. Notwithstanding, if there are HOA members who feel strongly enough against it, want to spend the time and money to hire an attorney to fight it in court, they can. A judge would then decide if the rule will stand or should be overturned. Generally, the odds of winning aren't great. Spectrum has made an offer to discount phone, internet, cable bundle.

The HOA is having a simple majority vote to decide. Thanks for that reply Dawn. There are auctions where people can pay the taxes owed and receive title to property from the state. And paying off the HOA for accumulated fees should not be a problem either, I would think. So I really am curious too. I can't get any information from them. It's just lost in the bureaucracy. That certainly is an interesting situation with your neighbor's property. I imagine there are some nuanced differences in the law between NY and CA.

But, here in CA both the HOA and the State would have filed liens and when there was no reciprocal communication or attempt to satisfy the debt by the homeowner, the house would have been sold at a public auction for at least the combined amount owed, satisfying both liens and putting the property into the possession of a new homeowner with a clear title.

I find it curious that it doesn't work the same way in your state since it seems to be a logical solution. Now, I'm interested to know if there is a case law in your state that sets the precedence for such an instance? If I come upon an answer I'll be sure to share my findings here.

Great question, Glenn! I live in an HOA community. I knew that they can change rules when I bought my home eight years ago. It was clearly mentioned in the contract, and it was one of the things I accepted because people said wonderful things about the area. So far they never changed any rules in a negative way. One thing I find interesting, however, is with another home here.

The homeowner died around the time I bought my house. She was alone and had no relatives. There was no one related to her who might have inherited her property. For eight years now the taxes and HOA fees were not paid. The place remains empty and no one can buy the property because of a lien for the huge back payments that have been adding up, plus the RE taxes due.

A wrong cut can lead to a weak branch which could end up being a hazard. Remains healthy: HOAs may additionally ask you to get rid of and update a tree if it becomes exceptionally pest ridden or inflamed with the disease. Planting trees is a natural, easy way to beautify the landscape of any community. Shared common areas and privately-owned properties within an HOA are often dotted with trees of varying shapes and sizes, and the effect is, for the most part, appreciated by all who live there.