HOA Question ?

[frayne]

Anyone here every been party to an HOA that was dissolved by the homeowners. I know there are legal ramifications as the HOAs in my state are incorporated.

Long story short, the subdivision developer is in the process of turning over HOA to homeowners. Many don't see the need to have an HOA and want no part of one.

 

[yakers]

Interesting question. I lived in a condo with an HOA, don't know how common things like insurance and maintenance would be managed without one.

 

[frayne]

This is a single family home subdivision with very little common area just at the front entrance. The county has responsibility for the roads, side walk and curbs are responsibility of the homeowner. Storm water facility is part of HOA responsibilities but is pretty much a maint. free drainage system.

 

[Corporateburnout]

I am interested in this topic as well since we will be going through the same process in the near future as our townhome development is almost completed.

In our case an HOA will be required to manage the subdivision as we have common areas with common water, sewer, insurance etc.

 

[imoldernu]

We went through this changeover from developer (who had run the HOA since 1999)... to our own Home Owner operated HOA, back in 2007. It's a senior (an older person) senior community, of 65 homes, so there were only a few people who would/could take the lead in the changeover.
A very interesting project. I took over the basic rewrite of the Agreement and the Rules and Regulations, a 19 page document. Prior to this, the originals were heavily weighted towards the interests of the owner/developer, so there were many changes that had to be made to make it more friendly. We had originally hired a lawyer to do this, but he basically returned the original documents to us... which included some superfluous paragraphs as well as leaving out many other important points such as the establishment of a reserve.
Since our association has the responsibility for lawn care, shrubbery, and snow removal, as well as insurance and a relatively small common area... I don't see how we could operate without some legal entity.
The filing with the state, was a little bit tortuous, but we blundered our way through it in good shape, and our residents are quite happy with the result. Virtually no complaints from the residents.
On the PLUS side... we hired a manager who has been excellent... not only by staying on top of the needs, but saving enough money to establish a strong reserve, for things like lawn failure or tree removal which we didn't have before. In addition our semi annual meetings are now dinners and picnics, which are well attended, and one big plus... for all of the houses, the wood door and garage door frames were covered with aluminum at no cost to the residents ('cept ftrom the dues, which weren't obligated to pay for these improvements).

BTW... our lawns a maintained like a golf course, and the pride of the community and the town.

Old people are not inclined to be patient when things go wrong, but for the past three years, the only complaints that were heard from the residents, were about unauthorized solicitors coming to the door. Even this has since been corrected.

In our case, I don't know how we could live here without a Homeowners Association. A good manager is the key, IMHO.

 

[Texas Proud]

I think it matter what state law says...

As an example... when my parents moved to the neighborhood where I grew up, there was a HOA by the builder (I was only 1, so did not know anything)... well, after a few years it kind of withered and 'died'....

But, it was not dead.... at some point someone in the neighborhood decided to revive it.... and imposed a whopping $5 per year fee... my mom decided to pay, but I think that there were a lot of people who did not... The neighborhood had declined to where there were a few crack houses and you could buy drugs on most major street corners...

It was interesting as the neighborhood actually got better over the years... but, since a lot of people had done things that were against the rules the association could not do anything about it....

 

[H2ODude]

Storm water facility is part of HOA responsibilities but is pretty much a maint. free drainage system.

Is there a storm water retention pond? This all depends on jurisdiction (state and local) but usually if there is there is a permit associated with it and requirement for maintenance. In 15 years of running SW programs the biggest headache was when HOA realized they WERE responsible for pond maintenance (in our jurisdiction), which can be very expensive. AND, developers were very cunning in turning over maintenance to the HOA just when they no longer needed control but were on verge of a major maintenance requirement. Dredging a pond can run in the tens of thousands of dollars. Besides ponds, culverts and catch basins may appear maintenance free, but they are not. Without a HOA if there is a culvert under the road that collapses, who will repair? It MAY be the city/county, but if they are private roads, highly unlikely. Developers love to use private streets/ drainage/ utilities because they generally have a lower standard and cost. Then the unknowing home purchasers come back later and wonder why the jurisdiction won't accept maintenance. That's enough, too much what I retired to get away from.

 

[zinger1457]

When our HOA switched from the developer to the owners we decided to hired a real estate management company to take over the management of the HOA. Since we don't have any common areas to maintain the cost is reasonable (~$100/year to each home owner). The management company is there primarily to enforce the CC&R's so that neighbors don't turn their yard into a dump which will end up affecting everyone's property value.

 

[Chuckanut]

The key issues are what the HOA is responsible for that the homeowner's can't do individually. An HOA is made up and represents the homeowners. It is is you and your neighbors and should do what the majority wants. If it serves no useful purpose, you can get rid of it. But, if it is needed to so something, and eliminating it will result in disputes over who is responsible for what... Well... The legal costs could get far bigger than the HOA dues.

 

[Texas Proud]

Oh, one thing that you have to watch out for..... someone taking advantage of a HOA...

In my last neighborhood.... someone got voted onto the board with a relative.... they proceeded to change the mgmt. company to one that they owned... the mgmt. company hired other firms that these people owned... fees went up... but most people still did not do anything...

When found out, the guy stalled the voting for the board... someone took the board to court and got an order for a vote... the guy made the time and location difficult for a number of people hoping that with the proxies that he got he could stay in power..... almost did... heck, he closed the first meeting kind of quickly so there could not be a lot of discussion... we did not find out that he was voted out for almost 3 months...


This probably cost every homeowner about $400 more than they should have paid based on the time they were in office....

 

[grumpy]

I moved into a community with an HOA after retirement. I am now the treasurer of the association. Go to this website and do a search for you topic - it almost certainly has been extensively discussed:

HOA Talk.com > HOA Forum > Homeowner Association > HOA Discussions