I don't get it, why buy a house in an hoa?

[Drilldov2.0]

Most cities have ordinances in place now that require all newly built subdivisions to have HOA's. It allows the city not have to worry about code enforcement since the HOA gets to enforce their own codes.

I have an HOA where I live and they catch stuff fairly quick. I've avoided fines up this point but I have had to make some fairly costly repairs to my home to avoid them. It really does suck getting those love letters in the mail but at the same time it keeps people from parking broken down cars in their driveways and painting their houses obnoxious colors.

My next house is going to be on land. That way if the neighbors park their broken down shit on their property I'll be far enough away that I won't give a crap. Hell if I have land I just might start to collect broken down crap.

Holy shit, am I the only one who has a problem with that? Bsically that exempts the local govt. from doing what they are supposed to do and allows a private party to levy a tax against the citizens of their community (private homeowners) without any oversight?

[Great-Kazoo]

Never had an HOA never will. You chose to live in an area where there is one. This is why we always buy in older neighborhoods.

[Drilldov2.0]

Never had an HOA never will. You chose to live in an area where there is one. This is why we always buy in older neighborhoods.

Well it was the only choice at the time. Never again. Some people are afforded enough time to shop around for months. Some work too much.

[MrPrena]

I pay $56/mo.
It covers Trash, general area snow/grass.
Not really happy with paying HOA.
I moved to this place, because HOA was $25 when we moved here. It went all the way upto high 60s, and went down to 56.

We use to have a crappy property management company, but we recently changed to cheaper management who does better job.

[sniper7]

Well it was the only choice at the time. Never again. Some people are afforded enough time to shop around for months. Some work too much.

we were in kind of the same boat. We could either get a HUD home that had potential problems, never knew what it would end up looking like until the current residents moved out....or a brand new home in an HOA but we got to pick everything and have it built the way we wanted, up to standards, with a warranty and worked in lots of extras.

[tmckay2]

I'm not huge hoa supporter but live ext to enough jackasses without an hoa and you start to appreciate them a bit. MOST have reasonable rules that really just tries to block complete laziness and stupidity. They make sure your neighbor can't trash the hell out of his place which actually lowers the perceived value of your place. Also, my hoa has paid for a lot of stuff it would have sucked for me to pay myself such as when the roots of a big ass tree obstructed my plumbing. 9k in cost and I didn't pay anything. I also don't have to remove snow, cut my grass, fix my deck, weed whack, maintain the pools, tennis courts or roads in the community. Not too bad really. The only rule they have I dont like is no fog can be off leash. This sucks for people like me with well behaved dogs but I get why it's a necessary rule.

[tmckay2]

Also all the hoas Ive been in warn you before fines

[BigDee]

Holy shit, am I the only one who has a problem with that? Bsically that exempts the local govt. from doing what they are supposed to do and allows a private party to levy a tax against the citizens of their community (private homeowners) without any oversight?

It gets worse.

My wife and I spent over a year house hunting and despite the fact that it was a buyers market we had a tough time finding what we wanted. We were within inches of building a new home in the Wheatlands subdivision (SE Aurora/Centennial) until we found out that they had two HOA's. There is a community HOA (private) and a metro HOA (city). When all is said and done you are paying $85 a month in HOA dues for what they claim to be maintenance of all of the wonderful facilities offered to the residents; a pool is not one of those facilities.

As if the HOA due's aren't bad enough check into the property taxes of newly built subdivisions. City and county government's now allow builders to take bonds out to pay for the roads, street lights and etc. the bonds end up as levies in the form of property taxes. When you buy a new home you assume that the cost of all of the roads and etc. were built into the cost of the home but that is wrong and the sales guy at the new home office will tell you that property tax is 1% which is an out and out lie. New homes now run close to 2%+ for property tax alone. If you purchase a $300K home expect to pay close to $6K in property tax and $85 a month in HOA's. None of that property tax money or HOA money will be recovered when you go to resale your home.