August 2009 Weddings
cortneyloo
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
House shopping-opinions!
Sooo DH and I agreed we would start looking for a house this summer, but we found a house online that we are just really drawn to so we drove by it and fell in love with the neighborhood. I knew it might not be around this summer so I emailed an agent about getting some more information and setting up a showing. It turns out it's in a community with a) deed restrictions and b) HOA fees. I was surprised about the fees because it's not gated and lawn maintenance and such isn't included. There's apparently a pool and tennis court and it's $60 a month for access to them which seems a bit steep since they close those areas during winter (yet you still have to pay those months) and I pay $40 a month for a gym membership that includes these things anyway. The paperwork the agent sent us also says these fees can increase by a maximum of 5% each year if the association deems it necessary. Does anyone on here pay HOA fees that's not associated with a condo/gated community? With this house being at the top of our price range I was a little hesitant about the additional money each month (with the potential of increasing over time) and the hubs is concerned about the restrictions since it controls anything we might want to build/change about the property right down to whether or not we can get a satellite dish. I need opinions! If the lot size, neighborhood, proximity to jobs and conveniences, and move-in ready state was right, would the HOA fees and community restrictions sway your decision?
Re: House shopping-opinions!
I'd think carefully about the deed restrictions and compare them to the way you want to live in the house. When you see the house, think about changes that you might want to make immediately and eventually - are these allowed by the HOA? And if not, how badly would you want to make those changes? Perhaps you could find out about the satellite dish specifically. It should be pretty clearly laid out in the HOA's documents (and if not, that's a bit of a red flag).
I really can't comment on the $60/mo fee because I don't know how that would fit into your budget. If it's chump change to you and you work it into your budget easily, then great; but if not, then it may be a deal breaker for you. You should draw up a new house budget (including things like home maintenance and property taxes) before you offer to buy the place anyway.
FWIW property taxes and home maintenance costs will almost always increase over time.
Baby #2: Surprise BFP 9.19.12, EDD 5.24.13, natural m/c 10.19.13 at 9w
We live in a neighborhood with HOA and restrictions. At first I was very turned off at the thought of paying a monthly fee for the HOA's and having someone be able to tell what to do with my own property, but once I started looking to the rules and what my HOA fees paid for I become more comfortable with the idea.
I would suggest getting a copy of the neighborhoods policy and procedure manual and highlight any of the rules that you might not be able to deal with. When we went through the manual and talked them out we were very surprised at how few really affected us.
The major upside of having the restrictions is peace of mind in knowing your neighbors can't have 30 junkie cars piled in their front yard or paint their houses lime green and pink. (This also keeps the property values higher than some other neighborhoods)
Does your HOA fees include anything more than pool and tennis court? $60/mo seems really steep for just those two things. (Ours is $104/quarterly for trash removal, snow removal, pool, clubhouse, and park and trail maintenance. We pay the pool year round too because they calculate the total cost and divide it by 4 quarters so that we don't have to pay more in the summer.)
PS: Most the HOA policy's I've seen concerning satellites say that satellites are fine as long as they aren't visible from the front of the house. We had ours installed on one of the sides.