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HOA and fees -
So we got our HOA fees invoice last week and it went up $23 dollars. When I called to inquire the "property accountant" said it was due to all the water consumption and upkeep. - I thought we were on a water conservation???
I just don't want to feel like an idiot, but are these fees flexible? We were told it would be x amount per year. It was not explained that it could move up or down depending on whatever variables.
I should mention that our neighborhood is still in construction stages so there is a management company running the HOA.
ALSO - I didn't want to go all ape on the lady but I am tired of them sending me notices to cut my yard, etc... if you haven't noticed lady - my grass is DEAD, as in not growing, so no need to cut it... thanks.
Is anyone else going through this????
Re: HOA and fees -
Read through your covenants to see what they can do about raising the fees. Ours has to have a vote in order to be increased. But that didn't stop our idiot board from strong arming my dumbass neighbors into raising our fees by $600 a year. They threatened to take away landscaping services unless we raised our dues.
I hate HOAs. I hope wherever we live next doesn't have one.
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Thanks PAGAS - I will definitely be fine tooth combing that sucker... and what the crap to the bolded part...HOLY CRAPOLY - $600! Im over here whining about $23... LOL... Dang HOA's suck! Ditto to the "hope the next place doesnt have one!"
Ours requires a majority vote in order to raise the rates. However, if you're still in the building phase it's probably not locked in yet... Less houses = more money per house. The builder is probably still in control and it will be released to the home owners when construction in finished.
On another note our HOA doesn't inlude the pool. I freaked out when I found out that the POOL membership is $868 a year. That's just the pool... on top of our HOA fees.
OH SNAP! I don't even know where our pool is. I probably wouldn't use it anyway since there are about 1,000 kids in our neighborhood.
WTF? That is insane. Our HOA dues were $350/year when we moved in, but we have 3 years of increased fess due to all of the exterior fencing being replaced around the whole neighborhood. They will be $500 for the coming year and then it goes back down to $350. I know our pool is extra, but it is maybe $100 a year.
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I'm suddenly very very thankful for our 650/year fees for everything, pool included.
For real! Our old place was $144/year which included a few acres with a huge fishing pond, tennis court, huge gazebo for parties, play ground and pool. But this was in Magnolia.
Ditto! This includes three pools, landscaping in the neighborhood, golf course (I think), play areas, and tennis courts. This is probably because we live way out in the burbs.
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Ditto what BPaullo said! Most the time it can't be turned over to elected Board of Directors from the builder until 50%+ of all lots are sold. You can request a copy of the budget and they have to provide you with it. This should better explain the details of all the operating expenses being paid with your HOA dues.
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our fees go up and down. I actually think they are scheduled to go down for next year but I'm kind of bracing for a special assessment because invariably we'll be hauling out a lot of dead trees (our neighborhood has lots of walking trails and old trees).I think our board just specifies the fees for the year rather than some neighborhood vote to allow changes.
with regards to original post, while we are in water conservation time, i know that water consumption is a big issue. in our neighborhood, for awhile the cost was really high but it turned out that in some sections of the development the sprinklers weren't working properly or something broke and was on a lot. with all the shifting ground that can happen. plus, if your system can sense rain and only turns on when rain isn't sufficient, then you'll see an uptick in consumption even if it's only turned on every other day at night. just food for thought (I'm on a landscape committee and my H is on HOA)
We are in water conservation because of the drought. Water rates have increased because the water expenses for the city were not in line with the rates. Here is one article I found (although it is over a year old).
http://www.examiner.com/legal-issues-in-houston/city-of-houston-significantly-raises-water-rates-beginning-this-month
Our HOA increased over this as well.
our neighborhood is still under construction, so management company for us too. it went up this year to $825 from $750. fortunately that includes pool, gym and clubhouse.
i'm curious if it will go up again for 2012...
I think I shall send cookies to all of the HOA board members this year after reading this post.
Ours work really hard to make sure every penny is managed with fiduciary responsibility. Ours are currently $550 or so but started out at $506/yr - almost 6 years ago. That isn't much of an increase especially considering the exterior fences had to be replaced after IKE and our playground has been heavily upgraded and we have a nice t-ball field and pool nearby.
As for the dead grass OP - could they have meant they want you to weed eat it? I mean, if it is completely dead they may want you to replace it and just gave you a form letter. I'd be very displeased if a neighbor had brown grass in our neighborhood. They aren't lush and green because of the drought but they aren't dead. I'm going on the assumption yours is probably just not lush and might have some dry spots... hence a potential need for weed eating or even running the lawn mower over it to keep all the blades nice and even.
DH is anal retentive about lawn maintenance or else I wouldn't notice. Maybe he advises your HOA. ;-)
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Ours probably makes up that difference by spreading it around all the homes.
And you cannot get into the pool if you are behind on your HOA fees. I learned that the hard way (had put the $ in the mail but a few days late and between sending and its processing they turned off my access - on a weekend where I was taking guests! EMBARASSING!)
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Ours is $660/year. Our neighborhood is still under construction so we have no say in our HOA, it's all the management company. In our bylaws, they can only raise the rates 10 or 20% a year.
Our HOA is sending out letters for dead yards but not enforcing them since we're still under water restrictions. We get stupid letters to edge by the street when there's a few strands of grass growing over the curb. At least we have grass!
$35 civic club dues. Woohoo!
Our townhouse was $700+, but our neighborhood had quite a bit of landscaping to do. Our yard was tiny but it was still bigger than PAGAS'
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to be 100% honest, $23 for a year is really not worth the time it would take for me to find piece of paper and have to contact someone about this kind of stuff. How much of your time is worth $23?
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