HOA?

mahantango

Anyone live where there is a homeowners association (HOA)?  Is it oppressive? Or does it keep order and junk out of people's yards?  How often do you typically pay fees?

mkerr09

My FIL owns a condo and pays HOA...its monthly and he pays $39 which from what I hear is extremly cheap. It takes care of anything on the exterior, snow removal, trash (they use dumpsters), lawn care & outdoor lighting.  He's had probelms with the door frame to his condo and they have replaced it numerous times because water would come in and he hasn't paid for it out-of-pocket...the association takes care of it.

TheLinkBride

I live in an HOA community.  It has it's pluses and minuses.  For our community, there is actually a town HOA and a community HOA.  The town HOA isn't bad and I do think that it helps the upkeep of the community in general.  That's the type of HOA I would want to stay in.  My community HOA unfortunately has ordinances but not all people follow.  Things have to get pretty bad before they call in the lawyers, but that's pretty much the only power that they have to enforce things and they don't like to do it unless it's necessary.  One positive though in terms of keeping the community in check is that the HOA much approve the current condition of the exterior of the house and grounds before a sale can go through.  Our community does have turn over so this is a time when they can make sure that you are in compliance.  Of course, if someone doesn't sell for awhile, then it can be difficult to enforce the HOA ordinances.

I don't like how we can't change the colors of our house at all, and other things are subject to approval of the HOA.  But then again, this also means that my neighbors can't have some crazy things without approval as well.

mahantango

I hope our HOA will not be that bad!  I have a feeling it is not super planned like where you live.  I know from canvassing that you can't put out political signs in this neighborhood which isn't a huge deal because we aren't suppose to anyhow because of DH's job.  We are getting a copy of the bylaws soon, I guess I will find out if the greenhouse is staying or going and if we can ever change the color of our potential new house.  I was just thinking today new shutters would make it pop more.

bonjourbelle05

We have one....although our development is about 20 years old, so people don't always follow it.  For the most part it keeps people from junking up their yard with stuff, letting their pets run loose, etc.  My only complaint is you are suppose to go to them for anything you want to do like putting up fences, decks, etc and then go to the township as well, which is kind of annoying.

TheLinkBride

Definitely just read the bylaws.  You would be amazed at the people in my community that just don't take the time to even know the rules.  I would hate to make a change that costs a lot of money and then have to change it again because I didn't read.  I think if you have an HOA like my town it's not bad at all.  My community is over the top.

Brooke&Ryan

My mom's condo community has one and I don't think its super strict, and I think her fee is about $125 a month. I know it covers lawn care, snow removal, water and other exterior things like re-sealing decks every few years. I know some of her things are you can't have anything set up in your yard like a swing set, hot tub or canopy and you have to clean up after your dog.

I wish we had a HOA in our neighborhood, just to force people into keeping up their properties and cleaning up after their dogs.

lindyanne

Ours is $45 or so a month and just goes for maintaining common areas (snow removal and mowing/upkeep) as well as putting aside money for capital improvements (we have walking paths in the green space and the sidewalks and such that are in the common areas).  Our rules are nice although I think most people in the neighborhood would be pretty good about keeping things in check.  You do have to check with them if you're doing pools and fences and such and you can't have a shed but you can do a "shed" that's attached to the house as long as it's covered in the same siding as your house.  There's a lot of rules but they're all pretty easy to live by.  Our HOA is pretty new (about a year as the community is still building up).  I don't know of any issues that they've had to deal with at all even (although I am sure there is some).