Disillusioned with HOA and thinking of moving

[bobandsherry]

People look at HOAs as only being for regulations. They can also provide amenities and perks such as pools, fitness centers, cafes, etc. My HOA also bundles Internet (500/500) and cable (Spectrum with Showtime plus DVR and extra cable boxes and Apple TV box) for all homes at a cost of $65/mo. That's a great benefit itself.

The HOAs can also ensure that rental properties are properly maintained. Most landlords will skip maintenance to increase profits, so HOA keeps them in check.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Our HOA has the function of making sure we follow our town ordinances, and also maintaining a few common areas in the neighborhood. A common area, a center island with some landscaping near our house had not been weeded and looked awful. I called the HOA president and the problem was taken care of in 24 hours.

I served on our HOA for a couple of years. The main problem we had was people not paying their HOA dues. The average house in our neighborhood has 2700 square ft and 4 bedrooms. Yet the worst offenders were those in the bigger fancier houses. Average dues? $25 per year.

 

[marko]

Odds are that will be the case with or without an HOA. But it only takes one or two nearby homes to sell to a buyer who doesn't take care of the property and/or remodels with purple paint and pink shutters. That will NOT happen with an HOA...

The do-gooder lady who owned the $1.8MM, 16 room, 7 bath, ocean-front home next door to us decided that she’d move out and convert it to "very low income rental housing".

At one point there were 17 people living there, many obviously fresh out of prison, face tattoos, pit bulls, police raids, "visitors" coming and going at 1,2,3,4 and 5am banging car doors and radios blasting... She singlehandedly ruined an entire, fairly upscale neighborhood.

We were forced to sell our beloved forever home that had been in the family for 135 years. We now live in an HOA gated community and could not be happier with the rules, regulations and enforcement.

Respect for your property, neighbors and self seems open to one's own interpretation nowadays and we are thrilled to have it spelled out clearly and actively enforced if necessary.

 

[Walt34]

Respect for your property, neighbors and self seems open to one's own interpretation nowadays and we are thrilled to have it spelled out clearly and actively enforced if necessary.

Bingo.

This is why HOAs are necessary. If the neighborhood one lives in doesn't need one that's great, but as marko's example shows it only takes one asshat to ruin a whole block or even several blocks. I've seen it happen when I was working.

 

[REWahoo]

Bingo.

This is why HOAs are necessary. If the neighborhood one lives in doesn't need one that's great, but as marko's example shows it only takes one asshat to ruin a whole block or even several blocks. I've seen it happen when I was working.

^ This.

Drive through our rural subdivision and the one next to us and it isn't difficult to figure out which one has a HOA to enforce deed restrictions and which one doesn't. Thankfully it's ours.

 

[yhoomajor]

I'm allergic to people who want to dictate and control what color someone can paint their own house.

But escaping HOAs in Arizona is not easy. Most newer neighborhoods have HOA. No option to opt out. Welcome to cookie cutter houses everywhere. There is a neighborhood south of ours. Few years older. No HOA. Houses are nicer as well. Homes are more expensive in this no-HOA neighborhood. Ours (with HOA) has become a transient neighborhood. Most people leave after couple of years. I had to paint my house 3 times because paint didn't match exact shade that was allowed by HOA. All I wanted to do was paint the existing color schema.

 

[truenorth418]

A "no dogs allowed" neighborhood would be nice.

Does anybody know of such a place? I would gladly pay a premium to live there - HOA or not!

 

[old medic]

Yeah, here no HOA means junk cars parked in the yard (in the city!) & several months of uncontrolled landscape growth (are they selling hay?) before the city will even begin enforcement proceedings.

Bill... I didn't know we was neighbors...
Yup... Got 3 undrivable cars (4th one was picked clean and scrapped), 2 campers and an old sailboat parked in the field. We do try and keep growth under control though.

OP... We would have already been packed, Have no desire for an HOA.

 

[FindingForward]

My neighbors are wealthy and have lawn service, maids, pool service, etc. and I doubt any of them do their own maintenance so everything is handled by some kind of professional. I am not worried about the neighborhood going down hill because there is no HOA. My neighbors have more to lose if they don't take care of their houses.

With Marko's exception which is awful, I don't think most upper end areas or homes on generous land need an HOA as much as those of us living in "starter home" working class communities - especially as many cities are overwhelmed, understaffed and/or simply don't prioritize code enforcement.

We have many modest neighborhoods throughout our region. All started out nice. Over the decades, I've seen most non-HOA ones go downhill, including plummeting property values. Yet others with HOAs (within a square mile or two) held their value.

It really just takes 1-2 bad neighbors. With no HOA to stop them + indifferent city enforcement, the people next door or across the street now have trouble selling. So they drop prices until they can unload the house.

Even 1-2 fire sales in a small neighborhood will sink average MLS values pretty fast, which then leads to more problems.

 

[FindingForward]

Respect for your property, neighbors and self seems open to one's own interpretation nowadays and we are thrilled to have it spelled out clearly and actively enforced if necessary.

So true. Sorry about your experience - yikes.

 

[Souschef]

I was the Treasurer of a HOA for 25 years. One year a group was unhappy with the board and ran their own slate. I stayed on because of cumulative voting. The others in the group lasted 3 months when they saw how difficult it was.

 

[Texas Proud]

I'm allergic to people who want to dictate and control what color someone can paint their own house.

But escaping HOAs in Arizona is not easy. Most newer neighborhoods have HOA. No option to opt out. Welcome to cookie cutter houses everywhere. There is a neighborhood south of ours. Few years older. No HOA. Houses are nicer as well. Homes are more expensive in this no-HOA neighborhood. Ours (with HOA) has become a transient neighborhood. Most people leave after couple of years. I had to paint my house 3 times because paint didn't match exact shade that was allowed by HOA. All I wanted to do was paint the existing color schema.

It is not just the color that you have to worry about.... how would you like to live next to the beer can house?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Can_House




I will agree that a small tint change is no reason to make someone paint again... our neighborhood just requires 'earth tones'.... no specific color

 

[Closet_Gamer]

Unfortunately the HOA has become a small dictatorship. The same people are the only ones who run for election every 2-3 years. The board creates conflict and is known for enforcing the rules impartially.

I believe the only people who should be allowed to be on an HOA board are people who don't want to be. If you want to be in the business of barking at people for painting their house, you should be automatically disqualified.

I will never live in an HOA property again.

We lived in one in CO. We added a window to our house. Filed all the paperwork, followed up...100 days later there was no answer so we put in the window. A month later we got a note from the HOA saying we needed to submit all this additional information...I told them they could drive by the house and write it down themselves.

Following summer Costco had a great deal on swingsets. My friend and I each bought one. Identical swingsets, four houses apart. He got a nasty note from the HOA demanding he file paperwork and might have to tear it down because he had a nosy neighbor. I never got anything.

My neighbor to the left parked a boat on the street creating a blind spot for me and let the weeds in his yard grow higher than his privacy fence.

Neighbor on the right got a threat of legal action because he had a drainage pipe that went four inches to his neighbors property...which had been a vacant lot for the first five years my neighbor lived there.

During a major drought when the state was begging everyone to xeroscape and stop watering lawns, they sent out a note reminding everyone that the HOA code limited xeroscaping to 15% of the yard and browned out grass was not allowed under HOA rules so you would be fined if your grass wasn't kept green.

To the extent HOAs exist at all they should be there to interfere if someone builds a ferris wheel in their yard. Oh, wait...we have building codes and towns for those situations...

 

[marko]

I believe the only people who should be allowed to be on an HOA board are people who don't want to be. If you want to be in the business of barking at people for painting their house, you should be automatically disqualified.

Our HOA is managed by a separate, impartial and independent company with no major members living in the community. We have a few resident 'advisors' but all the decisions and enforcement is done by those unconnected to the neighborhood.

Solves a lot of problems!

 

[Texas Proud]

Our HOA is managed by a separate, impartial and independent company with no major members living in the community. We have a few resident 'advisors' but all the decisions and enforcement is done by those unconnected to the neighborhood.

Solves a lot of problems!

But can create more... they want to send out as many notices as possible to show how valuable they are to the neighborhood..


that is what happened when my old neighborhood hired a mgmt company..

 

[oldphd]

And sometimes the problem is the neighbors who ignore the rules and cause problems when a good board tries to enforce the rules.

That is what's happening in our neighborhood. New guy builds next door, and when he doesn't get approval files lawsuits with personal attacks against neighbors (me!) filled with false info. He currently has a massive pool that is, IMHO, way too big for the lot. He has filled it and uses it, despite it not being approved for use, primarily because he hasn't got his yard fenced in, which is a zoning regulation, not an HOA rule. And has had a letter sent by a lawyer demanding the HOA give approval - to something that violates zoning... Meantime, he is POd about it, so has left a small part of lot unlandscaped with a bobcat sitting on it for the last 8 months without moving, that he claims is needed to finish it, and a big statue he wants on display that the design committee has not approved. It's almost a year since he took occupancy. The board has gotten numerous complaints from other neighbors and is trying to get him to finish, but he refuses. Just because he can.

There is an expectation of compliance with an HOA and standards... one reason we thought buying here was a good idea was so the HOA would prevent this sort of thing from happening, yet it's going on any way. After all the effort to move here, I hate the idea of moving again, but it has crossed my mind. I expect to have lost value with the situation.

We've been saying he's a bully from day one. He just does whatever he wants with no regard for the rules.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

That is what's happening in our neighborhood. New guy builds next door, and when he doesn't get approval files lawsuits with personal attacks against neighbors (me!) filled with false info. He currently has a massive pool that is, IMHO, way too big for the lot. He has filled it and uses it, despite it not being approved for use, primarily because he hasn't got his yard fenced in, which is a zoning regulation(

That is what happens when one has a spinless HOA with no balls and without the backing of a strong Management Company.

In our development, the contractor would not have got permits for the pool without the HOA and Management company sign off. The bulldozer would be removed by the Management company and the owner billed for the cost, liens and fines would be applied to his property till he complied and cleared the debt. Was he provided with the CC&Rs by the realtor or whoever sold the property and did he sign for them?

As I keep stating time and time again, buyer beware, and you get exactly what you pay for.

 

[oldphd]

That is what happens when one has a spinless HOA with no balls and without the backing of a strong Management Company.

In our development, the contractor would not have got permits for the pool without the HOA and Management company sign off. The bulldozer would be removed by the Management company and the owner billed for the cost, liens and fines would be applied to his property till he complied and cleared the debt. Was he provided with the CC&Rs by the realtor or whoever sold the property and did he sign for them?

As I keep stating time and time again, buyer beware, and you get exactly what you pay for.

In hindsight, a couple of things happened. First, the HOA was switching management companies at the time he contracted with the builder (who owned the lot), but the builder had the house plans approved. They were told the pool would have to come after the house, since the builder wouldn't deal with the pool, it would be an add on. Builder told him no problem (which was none of his business), and he contracted the pool without approval and paid a big chunk, basically the feeling is he knew it would be an issue but forced it through by being a bully and making threats. The builder sat on the lot for several years (one of the last couple available in the neighborhood), is pretty crappy, with a reverse wedge shape, the back is very skinny., and I'm sure was anxious to unload it. So where the pool is goes all the way to the edges of the lot. Our climate is one that isn't conducive to a long pool season, so the specifics on pools are limited. There are 2 other pools in the neighborhood of 150 homes, one is indoor, one is an exercise lap pool adjacent to the house and pretty much not visible by neighbors. There are very few in the region. There are specifics about putting spas next to a house and screening for visual and noise, and he has one big a$$ spa, so they tried to get that to work. His lawyerly argument was the HOA covenants didn't say "don't build a pool the size of your backyard that is closer to your neighbor's house than your own", so he's allowed. It also doesn't say I can't put in oldphd's version of Car Henge...

The HOA is currently pursuing the removal of the bobcat. They have tried to work things through without legal issues, but he has resisted. There was actually a discrimination lawsuit filed by him, which was thrown out as frivolous. Again, in hindsight, the feeling is this was to freeze the HOA and let him do as he pleases. He changed plans, did his landscaping and then submitted approval, etc. The bottom line is he just seems to consider himself above the rules and has deep pockets... Sadly, I have to live next to a swim club. So far this summer there has only been one big party, but they have a huge family and they are quite loud... and the current pool being filled without a fence is a hazardous situation where a kid could wander in, he has not followed zoning.

Sigh... it's most unfortunate...

 

[SecondAttempt]

Our HOA has a management company that knows Nevada laws and keeps us from doing anything illegal. We also have a lawyer to advise us when necessary. There’s 5 people on the board and only one is a jerk. We only need 3 votes to pass items and that person is not the president. The board is a reasonable group of people.

In the situation I mentioned the board had both a lawyer and a management company advising them. They decided they did not like the advice and noted they had the authority to disregard it. They did have the authority. And 100+ owners paid the price for over a decade. They were voted out but suffered no other personal punishment for their idiotic and reckless arrogance. They should have been drawn and quartered.

 

[badatmath]

If people choose to not take on any responsibilities of being involved in an HOA that maintains their property, they are effectively giving control of their property to others.
That's a consequence of the choice.

HOA board members, committee members, etc. are unpaid volunteers who are looking out for what is best for the property owners. People should keep that in mind. Somebody has to look after your property including the property you share with others. If not you, who?

My neighborhood uses a management company which is most definitely not free. The one board member I currently know uses his position to violate all the rules - fixing cars in the driveway and parking at the pool. (I think he has at least 6 cars - 2 drivers). But as I understand it the management company is taking orders from him.

 

[Amethyst]

I am always mystified by why the purple house always, always comes up in HOA justifications.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I am always mystified by why the purple house always, always comes up in HOA justifications.

Fair enough, how about Lime Green?

 

[Texas Proud]

I am always mystified by why the purple house always, always comes up in HOA justifications.

Look earlier.... I referenced the beer can house...

 

[Texas Proud]

That is what's happening in our neighborhood. New guy builds next door, and when he doesn't get approval files lawsuits with personal attacks against neighbors (me!) filled with false info. /snip/

The HOA should get a good lawyer and have the matter settled... maybe your state does not have the laws to allow enforcement....


In my sister's neighborhood someone had converted their garage to a living space... their main problem was they got rid of the garage doors... the HOA said the rules require a 2 car garage and after some time and legal matters the guy had to remove the living space and get it back to a garage... and also had to pay all legal bills...


In Texas the HOA can foreclose on a house and sell it...

 

[Walt34]

I am always mystified by why the purple house always, always comes up in HOA justifications.

Because it's flat-out ugly. We used to drive past one frequently in Sharpsburg, MD. You could literally see that thing a half-mile away, standing out from all the houses surrounding it. Fortunately for the neighbors the house changed hands and was repainted a different color, such that I cannot remember what color it was changed to.

But I have to grant that ugly as that one was, the beer-can house is worse.