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How the fuck do they keep you from having friends over? Also u need a new player for that group?
I feel like mines the opposite. I pay $20/mo and we get access to a huge and well taken care of community pool, park, and basketball court. They also host community parties for each holiday that you can go to. They certainly allow you to get your $20 worth. Idk how they do it.
When it comes to architectural control, they’re pretty lax. We’ve got some vibrant and eclectic houses, but they are well put together. I haven’t found anything yet they won’t approve if you stay within a standard palette offering when it comes to shingles, siding etc. But some of these colors are yellows and reds so it’s not all boring either.
They also don’t allow signage in the yard to be displayed. So political signs etc will get you a violation. But it’s just a “remove by x date” and there’s no penalty if you do. I don’t mind this rule.
We do have to keep grass cut to an extent, but my neighbors cut it once a month at most and it’s usually a non issue. Honestly, other than safety things I’ve not seen anything crazy in mine. The two lady’s that operate it are super nice.
This is how they SHOULD be but not how a lot of them are unfortunately.
Same boat as you. The HOA maintains a pathway in a wetlands reserve right behind the residential area and it costs less than $20/mo.
They don’t really care what you do besides the following: no farm animals/chickens, no structural changes to the homes without a licensed contractor performing the construction, shoot an email to the HOA if you’re going to replace your roof or repaint your house to keep SOME level of uniformity.
Mostly they don’t care. Hell, the CC&R’s and HOA incorporation docs literally say they won’t directly enforce things against you and leave it up to the neighbors to take you to court with the HOA docs/agreements as free ammo. So if you explicitly want to be a menace to your neighbors/piss people off or want to have the only bright ass neon pink home with custom additions in the entire neighborhood - probably not the place for you. Otherwise they’ve had no effect on myself or my neighbors whatsoever and the wetlands/park is really nice.
Yeah our HOA covers the maintenance of everyones lawn so that basically removes 99% of any complaints.
How much do you pay a month? We pay $50 and they don’t even mow the common areas regularly.
My HOA is… fine. It’s like $25 a month, and it includes trash/recycling and common area maintenance. I’ve gotten a few warnings about leaving my trash cans out too long, or some other small violations, and I’ve cursed them for that because I’m obstinate and ornery… but I take care of it, and I don’t actually get a fine.
Lived in a 1Br condo with one for 5 years. Didn’t have any major beef with mine.
Only issue was they didn’t allow anyone to install air conditioners in their units when I first moved in. Then they said they’d be allowing mini-splits soon, after which it took them 2 years to get that approved. Unfortunately they had designated locations where the condenser had to go, which for the unit I was in, was right next to the front door and kitchen window. I was all ready to purchase one until that detail came out…
Ended up toughing it out for the next year until I could afford to move out into a bigger house without an HOA. Now I’m happy to have full control over anything that goes on or through my roof, attic, and exterior walls.
I took my trash to the dumpster. Later I got a photo of my trash bag in the dumpster because I had tied the bag closed incorrectly and a $200 fine for improper trash bag fastener.
someone in that HOA has shares in a trash bag fastening company, guarantee it
Perhaps! I’ve always found that people who participate in the HOA Governance are the kind of people who can’t mind their own business.
Sounds like someone needs garbage in their front yard
Did you end up paying it?
I had to. It was included with my monthly fees.
That’s so fucked. I hate how even your neighbors can act like dictators.
No nightmares… $100/yr and it mostly goes to landscaping at the entrance and repairing the wall when cars drive into it.
I lived in a failed HOA in California, 8 unit condo, slipped thru the cracks. We shared a water bill so that was getting turned off a lot. We had a large leak that we ignored for years until we couldn’t and had to collect $500 from each dirtbag to get it fixed. 3 of us cared, the others I hope have a painful demise.
I live on a crappy golf course, our fees are $89 a month they don’t provide anything, we can’t have fences over 4ft the fence has to be see through, we can only choose certain colors to paint our houses we can’t store trash cans outside we got a notice for a single weed there is constantly people driving around taking pictures it freaking blows we are selling and the next place will have no HOA
It’s a duplex so the HOA only has two homes in it. The fees were designed to cover the water bill, master insurance policy, and slowly collect enough money to replace the roof every decade or two.
Unfortunately the other unit has no interest in even basic maintenance so unless we take care of everything the place slowly just falls apart. We’ve had to fight with them over every tiny repair from siding damage to a literal hole in the roof that a squirrel chewed out. They keep running an Airbnb with loud guests who throw parties despite it being against the HOA and unless we pay for our own lawyer there’s no way to actually enact the fines and stuff as laid out in the HOA rules.
We’re selling and never buying in a small HOA ever again
I feel bad for these folks.
My building’s HOA kicks ass, but admittedly, the people we elected to it are very ‘live and let live’.
Hopefully it stays that way. I’ve read horror stories about buildings hiring HOA management companies out of nowhere who take over and turn things shitty. 😔
Getting out of it is the hardest part for us right now.
We’re in a small 28 unit condominium, so our dues go towards insurance for all buildings (only exterior, have to have our own for studs in), water, lawn service, management company, etc. Our dues are almost $400/month.
Yes, per month. It absolutely blows, especially when we’re trying to sell our unit and it’s been on the market for almost half a year.
I’m the HOA president so I know what all our expenses are (and have fought to keep increases to a minimum, including negotiating the community water bill with the water company), and unless we kick out the management company (Not going to happen) the dues are just going to stay high. We’re preparing to refuse an increase for the next year.
Why can’t you kick them out? Wouldn’t it be cheaper if the hoa managed all that jazz?
It’d be cheaper, sure. But that assumes anyone actually wants to run things locally. My VP is an elderly woman who would love to get off the Board as well. We just don’t have volunteers to run things. I joined up so our HOA didn’t get handed to a lawyer to run, which would cost even more.
Prior to having a management company, the HOA treasurer embezzled about $40,000. It’s the reason they got the management company in the first place.
Yeah people don’t really understand that HOAs are a two way street in most states. Bad HOAs exist because of bad neighbors, neglectful neighbors, or both. All it takes to right a ship is to show up and vote (or fill out the paper absentee ballot…) when the yearly elections happen. And then show up to some meetings so quorum can be met.
My HOA has to reschedule important meetings several times a year because nobody can be bothered to show up for a 30 minute meeting every quarter so quorum is met. Bad HOAs are like bad local unions. They only have power because you let them have power. Lobby your neighbors to do something about it. Unfortunately my experience is such that the typical homeowner who chooses to live in an HOA does so because they want to be rorLly hands off as much as possible. Kind of the opposite of the default pictures people have of obsessive neighbors in HOAs.
Honestly, it sucks, but nowadays, $400 isn’t overly high for condo HOAs. At least not in my region of the state. For stand alone, detached homes, it’s insane. But fees are crazy high nowadays for everyone. That price for a condo HOA is not outrageous unfortunately.
My HOA is badass because it’s really just one paranoid nice lady who lets literally anyone know if a trunk is open or if someone suspicious entered, etc. I’d complain about privacy but who the fuck hangs out in hallways?
But they had a nightmare prior to me moving here. Long story short, the former board member ran a slip & fall legal case against herself which paid out to the tune of 4 million. The insurance company refused to fight it (despite the lack of evidence) and instead settled immediately, recouping their costs by raising the building’s costs four fold.
This resulted in high HOA fees while that lady just fucking bought a house and left. Her sister sticks around, though, and on multiple occasions, stolen cars have been in our garage in their spot or in the guest spot as their “guest”.
Now that I said the last part, that’s still happening and I change my answer to that also being my nightmare HOA situation. Lol
That it was in a state of total chaos: the management company wasn’t doing their job, one of the members wasn’t paying his fees (only 3 units so it was a major hit), and I found out we didn’t have any insurance. I ended up taking over, got rid of the shitty management company, sued the delinquent member, evicted one of his tenants (drug addicts that left the doors unlocked and would set off the building smoke detectors all the time), and sold/moved once the dust settled.
Mostly the neighbors who don’t pay their dues or needlessly hold up needed improvements.
Our HOA board does a great job, they are volunteers who live in the neighborhood. Our dues used to be $100 a year, plus $150 if you wanted to use the pool. Then the pool needed to be replaced (it was 45 years old) and we didn’t have the money for it, so we changed the dues to $250 and everyone gets access to the pool. That still didn’t raise enough money, so they tried to get everyone to agree to a one-time assessment of $1000 but too many people complained. So they’ve now raised the dues to $350, likely going up to $450 soon.
The good thing about the higher dues is we will now be able to afford a lawyer to go after the 10% of the homes that aren’t paying their dues. And maybe even force the people who are hoarding cars in their yards to have to move them.
You sound like a fun person to live around
Wait so for the folks that didn’t care about the pool, their dues went up 3.5x so far, soon to be 4.5x, for something they didn’t want or use, and you’re surprised they’re not paying? That’s some entitlement right there…
If you don’t want to pay for a pool then don’t move into a neighbor that has a pool. If you don’t want to have an HOA, don’t move somewhere that has one. If you don’t like how the HOA is run, volunteer to help run it.
What you don’t do is hold up the rest of the neighborhood that actually wants to take care of things properly.
The change to the dues required a change to the bylaws, which required 100% participation in voting, and required 60% approval. The change passed with over 85% approval. Most HOA dues in our area are $600 - $1000 per year, and many of those don’t have a pool. There are also many places around that don’t have an HOA.
It sounds like they moved into a neighborhood with an HOA that had an opt in pool and a two tier fee based on usage, and y’all changed that after the fact and are holding the smaller percent who don’t care about the pool hostage. This is part of why no one likes HOAs.
Prior to the pool retrofit could folks still move in and choose whether or not to pay for/use the pool?
Maybe they don’t care about the pool. Fuck an hoa
Then don’t move into a neighborhood that has an HOA and a pool?
mine went after a guy for adding insulation to the attic.
Only the poors care about energy efficiency. Can’t appear poor, or it might bring down the property values.
it was completely insane. they claimed he was storing the insulation in the attic (he had it professionally put in) and used association money on an attorney demanding he remove it. He refused and ultimately they had the maintenance guys remove it. bonkers. spent money so that our energy costs can be higher.
I’ve lived in 3 and had the luxury of them being fantastic and doing more than I expected, above and beyond and never being more than like…$50/mo. Included gym and pool access and stuff.
BUT, I have a family member who lives in one where basically everybody got hit with a roof repair bill of $30k partly due to previous management embezzlement, and it ended up being taken to the courts and crap and eventually got reduced but not eliminated. I think like half the residents sold and left in the year following.
So…it can be a crapshoot but I hear more stories that are bad than good.
