Poll:How do you live?

[Ronstar]

Live in a house on a rural 5 acre lot. We have an HOA with few rules - almost all relate to the lakes in our area.

But my condo is a different story - many HOA rules - some of which we unknowingly violated. Garage door open for too long. Garbage cans not in by specified time. Window coverings not up within specified move-in grace period. The HOA sends out letters of noncompliance for these things. Unbelievable.

 

[Martha]

Up here in the frozen north, an HOA is unknown. Sounds like a condo association for people who hold property free and clear. WADR, what is it and how is it formed?

• Are you informed of their power before purchase?
• Can one be formed after you buy?
• Can you opt out?

My part of the country doesn't have them either for the suburban developments though they seem to be common in many other parts of the country. They are used here for condos and most town home developments.

They are generally created by a developer. The restrictions "run with the land" and there is no opting out. So, you want to read the rules before you buy. Homeowner associations and condo associations are really the same thing, one is just in reference to condos. The developer creates the association as part of the development. The association can have a lot of power, again depending on how it was set up. Sometimes there are committees like architectural committees that review proposed changes people want to make and then decide if they meet the rules. The rules can be hard to amend, maybe even requiring the consent of every owner or maybe requiring only a majority.

An association or other deed restrictions can't be formed after you buy unless you consent. We once owned a unit in a building that was divided into 11 units. There was no rules, no association, no nothing. It was built about 1900 and was always in separate ownership units. The owners [-]Martha [/-] decided that it was important to be able to address how to maintain the building. An association was created. It was tough getting everyone to agree as of course everyone had an agenda.

There also can be deed restrictions without an association. My husband has a townhome in a very small development. There is no association but there are a page and a half of deed restrictions which deal with things like how to handle reroofing/residing of your unit when it is attached to another. The downside is that enforcement of the rules is about impossible without going to court.

 

[donheff]

We have a home in the city -- no HOA but fairly strict historic district requirements and zoning limitation on additions. By and large I am happy with that. It keeps the neighborhood looking good and values up. Our weekend place has an HOA and, again, I am largely happy with it. Some of the property owners can be a PITA but I don't have to worry about my neighbor subdividing his lot and selling off a parcel to a meth lab.

 

[Gumby]

We also live in a historic district, which imposes some limits on what we can do with the exterior of the house. I am, however, more than happy to live with a few restrictions in order to keep one of my neighbors from doing something crazy.

 

[RonBoyd]

more than happy to live with a few restrictions in order to keep one of my neighbors from doing something crazy.

Define "crazy."

remuddling - Google Search

Remuddling - Architecture, house additions, windows, paint schemes, and restorations run amuck.

And, which neighbor is that?

 

[freebird5825]

Homeowner, 2nd owner of house built in 1977, lived here since 1984. Taxes and heating bills are doable but a drain financially. I am re-assessing that situation over the coming winter. I love my house but it may be time to rethink this. Unless I get a roommate .

House has been steadily upgraded over the years. No mortgage. It needs new windows but I am questioning the ROI on that.

Downsizing in place to a rental or smaller home with fenced in yard for doggies, a bit closer to civilization, OR a complete relocation out of cow town just may happen next year. TBD.

 

[jayc]

House on 8 acres. Only covenants are no swine, no fowl, no cars/rv parked in front of house.

 

[antmary]

After 5 years, we are finally moving into our new 1320 sq ft home on 10 acres. We designed and built it ourselves; it is extremely energy efficient. No HOA's or "rules." The neighborhood is typically 5 to 200+ acre homesites and old ranches. My only heartburn is with people having too many (barking) dogs. They get excited when the possums, deer, skunks, coyotes etc. come out at sundown to eat.

I am a nature lover, so on balance, I much prefer the morning rooster crowing to HOA officers squawking. I have heard some horror stories from friends!

 

[chris2008]

Homeowner of townhouse in quiet street.
Great neighbors, everybody minds his/her own business but helps out if needed.

 

[avengerki]

Homeowner of townhome with HOA. Would be nice if I had ever recieved the HOA rules since I seem to keep violating things. It is nice that the homes were built in 1998 and we finally won a judgement against the builders so all the units are currently in the process of getting new siding and roofs installed, it sucks since we can no longer put sat. dishes on the roof (or siding which I didn't care for looks really bad) but the are working to get a shared dish installed on each unit so that if someone wants satellite TV they can just get it hooked in to that, but until that gets installed I have been without tv for about a month now and they just finished my unit. I also never had the information on how much the association fees were or where to send them so I got behind to start with.

 

[grumpy]

We live in a 55+ community of 800 single family houses, managed by an HOA. Up until May of this year the developer was in total control of the association and there were lots of problems and issues. Now that we have an elected board of homeowner/directors things are getting straightened out. The availability of all of the amenities make the HOA hassles worth while.

 

[Tiger]

I sold my house and moved in with my gf who's home is paid for.

The best of both worlds, no wife (she doesn't want to get married), no mortgage.

 

[harley]

SFH in a 93 house neighborhood, with HOA. I always swore I would never live anywhere with an HOA, then broke my rule. If we ever move again, there's no possibility we'll be in an HOA. What a bunch of crap! In the 3 years we've been here we had the ARB nazis who complained when we planted a few romato plants. Then they got voted out by the group that objected to having their grass length measured. Now the group we have is spending all our dues on beautifying the entrance to the community in the hope it will help their houses sell. It looks nice, but I'd rather do it myself than pay someone else an exhorbitant fee to do it. DW and I pull the weeds every time we go up there on our walks, since we don't think once in the spring and once in the fall is enough. Between the HOA rules and the state wetlands rules which change every couple months, it's difficult to count on anything here. If the views weren't so great and the house price so low, I'd be considering moving to the country where I could put my car up on cinderblocks and use it as a planter.

 

[alvarezg]

Mortgage on my 8-year old house in small town TN is a lot cheaper than apartment rent. No HOA; everybody keeps their place looking good anyway. Oh, and I can walk 1 mile to get to work.

 

[chris2008]

Homeowner of townhouse in quiet street.
Great neighbors, everybody minds his/her own business but helps out if needed.

Edited to say that I LOVE to sun dry our laundry in the garden. Everybody should!

 

[Walt34]

We live in a development with an HOA, the covenants for which I read very carefully before signing. That seems to be the issue - the ones complaining never read the covenants or think they don't apply to them.

I had mixed thoughts about it, but then I've never wanted to paint my house purple with orange stripes either. So far the HOA has been reasonable, the only ones complaining about it are the ones trying to conjure up some reason why the rules don't/shouldn't apply to them. Sorry, I don't feel any sympathy for them.

And in our old neighborhood, there was the guy two blocks away with a 10 foot jon boat in the front yard with small trees growing in it. With an HOA one doesn't see that.

 

[Emeritus]

My parents bought this house in 1957 and we bought it from them in 1977 so I am that rarest of DC area types, a person who lives in the house he grew up in. No HOA but my parent's deed was so old it was racist (no "negro except a domestic servant")
We are the senior family on the block in terms of ownership, since the neighbors on both sides date from the early 60s. Big change here are Mc Mansions. An 8400 square foot lot costs about $700,000. Every house sold on the block in the last 10 years has been torn down and replaced with a 1.2 million plus McMansion. We are a little more "old style" since we did a second story "push up" in 1987. Since then it has been bigger, Bigger, BIGGER. The latest one we call the Best Western hotel.


The only real restrictions are the zoning regulations from the 1940s. No Horses or pigs or derelict cars. Citizens association is active and uses friendly persuasion to prevent planting of invasive species.
Nice mix of kids and retired. Used to be a block of teachers and government workers, now it's more lawyers. My wife was the first physician on the block, now we have seven.

 

[hankster]

I selected "Renter", although our situation is a bit unusual. My workplace is considered "remote" in that it is about 30 miles from a sizeable town. My company offers on-site housing for nearly free to employees who don't mind living in the boonies and can live without city amenities just down the street. This nice perk is certainly going to make it harder to pull the plug on w*rk. Leave the job, lose the house.

For housing after retirement, we're leaning toward a small condo as a home base combined with a substantial amount of RV living as we indulge our travel habit. We'll probably just rent a condo initially.

 

[HFWR]

To paraphrase Jerry Reed, I've got a home that's mine alone, that me and the finance company own...

No HOA, but thankfully most of the subdivision residents keep their places in good repair, and lawns mowed, etc. The city will enforce zoning standards, such as tall grass/weeds, or junk sitting around.

 

[Khan]

I live in a small old house on the edge of a small city in Ohio. No HOA, but the city does enforce certain standards (which I have occasionally fallen below).