HOA Rant
 

Some of you have been there, others lucky enough to avoid it.

Every year (March) an info letter is sent out, detailing any renters, vehicles for your residence, number of occupants, and number of pets. Whatever - our details haven't changed in the 5 years we've been here but I get that some people rent their units out and need to update info regularly.

This March comes along, I fill it out, send it in and everything seems good.

September rolls along, we get another in the mail: "We haven't received your information yet, if you don't send it the HOA can impose fines, call you to a hearing" blah blah blah. I fill it out, send it (again) as soon as we received it.

Yesterday, another one notice. This time I'm called to the principal's office (HOA board meeting) on the 15th and given another form. I'll pretty much tell them at the board meeting to eat my ass. I've sent it twice already. The issue isn't me sending the form but either mail failing to deliver it or the property management agency processing it. I'll scan it and send it via email as well. I pay $393/month for the privilege of dealing with this $h!t. Also for one of the board members to sporadically patrol the parking lot and complain about the cars of people he doesn't like.

Maybe I should just REFI and rent this place out, take the cash and live in a community (outside CA) that doesn't have this kind of BS. It sucks because I really like all my neighbors in my building. We get along, do BBQs, help each-other out with all sorts of things. My HOA is a real PITA though.

/rant

Band together and win a seat on the HOA board. Change the ridiculous policies. On second thought, then you'd have to deal with all their garbage all the time.

My neighborhood had an HOA. No one wanted to bother with paying the dues and no one wanted to do the work of being the "neighborhood spy". Eventually the HOA was disbanded.
What a shame. :)

Brando, I am not so sure about non HOA outside of CA? My friend looked in places like Prescott and various places in AZ. The discovered that many of the newer communities, even though they have 1/4 to 1/2 acre still fall under some kind of HOA which they want to completely avoid.

I read some of the Ca thread. The grass always seem to be greener on the other side.

I rent one home out where they have an HOA. I have to do the same for my tenants (as I am responsible for them)...but it is more difficult, as they do not follow the rules as much as I would. If I do not get whatever they complain about fixed quickly, the HOA fines me.

HOA management companies are the worst. 75% of your fees go to them.

The problem, is no one wants to do it themselves because the job sucks.

The solution, IMO, is no HOA. I'd rather have no community property and no HOA than a really nice pool and an HOA.

HOAs are everywhere. Our old home built in 1967 had an HOA. Granted, the cost was only $75 per year.

Our gated community consists of about 4000 homes and the HOA fee is about $1300 / year. They have a full time security force of 27 that has all the authority of a local sheriff and man two access gates 24/7. The HOA maintains 72 miles of roadway, miles and miles of bike / leisure paths, all the parks and common areas. There's a huge pool, tennis center with 12 Har-tru courts, beach area and several recreational buildings. They do control what trees you can cut down, what color you can paint your house and stuff like that. Some find that objectionable but I feel like it's a big reason why the place is as beautiful as it is. We've lived here 8 years and I'm happy to pay the $1300 every year. That's my 2 cents about HOA!

I love my HOA. Stops people from parking the boats on roads for months on end, letting their front yard go to crap including a water leak for 3+ weeks and painting their house bright pink.... All of which had been done and taken care of.

All of those things are fine to do, but don't buy a house in an HOA. The only people who have an issue with the HOA around here are the ones too stupid to realize they knew exactly what the rules were when they moved in AND signed saying they would follow them or deal with consequences.

Go both ways, right? At non HOA places, you get billy-bob and all his worn out trucks, lawn mower, and everything else sitting all over the lawn for all to enjoy. Roof is different colors, and his dog pooing all over the place. What I am not OK with its that one can't have a car or work on their own home and take their time. Let say, I want to remodel my kitchen and make the cabinets in my own gaage. CArs parked on the driveway is a no go? My kid did the suspension all rubber parts and such to his old 4 runner this summer. The some HOA people will turn themselves inside out because of it.

Interesting to see how other people live.
Your HOA fees are 50% of my property taxes, and I live on 5 acres.
Living out here in the sticks has its disadvantages, but reading stories like these make me like it more all the time.

HOAs are another taxing authority to which you pay "rent" so you can be told how to live and what's good for you by a small group of insiders.

Many communities are fine without needing one. Find one and move there.

Move to the country. The only HOA that controls what I can do is my wife

When our island had a mandatory evacuation for hurricane Mathew, the POA did an excellent job of keeping all the evacuated residents informed about what was going on. I was thankful for that. Ours has an elected 9 member volunteer board and several committees of volunteer residents as well as a paid staff that manages the communities and facilities. I am thankful that so many people are willing to use their time to keep our community nice. Like someone said, you don't like it, move somewhere where they don't have one.

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/nBpP/geico-involved-hoa

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No HOA where I live.

We do have a city Code Enforcement department which handles issues that an HOA would normally oversee....except we don't pay a monthly fee for that.

Sounds like extortion to me.....

WTF is the benefit of an HOA? Is it a BDSM thing?

My last place didn’t have one and I had to deal with stupid redneck neighbors swilling beer, blasting Skynard, having half-disassembled cars all over their lot from the “body shop” they were running and a few other goodies. Generally speaking it wasn’t as much of a bother as one might expect since it was rural and it was about 200+ yards to that property line - the other one was about twice that far , the third was conservation land and the fourth was a roadway that had vacant land (woods) across. So it generally was ok and didn’t bother me but just seeing that some people could and really did live like that was enough for me to understand that in denser situations HOAs do have their role to play.

That said, anyone who buys a place with an HOA and doesn’t thoroughly read the by-laws before signing on the dotted line is asking for it. I walked away from a couple of accepted offers in the mid-2000s for precisely that reason. A low stress HOA that has common sense bylaws that were revised 5 or 10 years ago is what I’d look for. One that’s got an “active” HOA that’s constantly tweaking / rewriting rules is a HUGE red flag (busybody alert!)

I rent now (happily) but still familiarized myself with the HOA bylaws from the guy I rent from - firstly because I want to be good to him and not land him in trouble and secondly for the reasons above (I didn’t agree to become his tenant until I knew and understood what the rules were...). The bylaws were last updated in I think 2007 and that was to impose a rule prohibiting people from having dogs more than 25 pounds in the complex - something I’m totally fine with. I’ve never had an issue. If things go well maybe I’ll buy the unit from him or grab another one in the same complex (they come up from time to time). Pleasant place, quiet, no hillbillies, a few neighborhood kids that are generally good, etc. The way things should be.

I echo what the others said about getting on the board. Then be someone else’s pain in the rear for a change. :)

I instantly thought of this video when reading the opening post. No HOA in my area, and it can show in some of the properties. But I think it's worth the price...

A funny aside...my retired pilot buddy lived in one of those "over 55" communities...he loved telling the tale of how pissed off other residential area ladies got when his trophy wife showed at the pool in her bikini...

HOAs can be good or bad. The by-laws are written with some very general phrases regarding things like "Attractive appearance" and "well maintained" etc. It can be interpreted as the board sees fit. One HOA might think your grass being six inches high or having a dead spot here and there is just fine, other HOAs come by every week and measure your grass with a ruler. I got fined by my HOA in Vegas because there was a spider's web on one of my tenant's car wheels. They interpreted that as the car was immobile and could not be driven. Spiders can build a web in a day. One HOA might only be annoyed if you put a car on blocks on your yard while another would fine you for opening your hood to check your oil (since the rules say no auto repairs on the property. The people that sign up to be on the Board of Directors are usually the kind of folks that are just dying to tell you how to live your life. Often, they hire, with your money...a company that does this type work and inspects your property and collects your money. If a shrub or tree dies, I get fined. If I remove it and don't replace it, I get fined. If there is a single weed on the half acre property, I get fined. If there are leaves under a tree, I get fined. If someone parks on the street in front of my house, I get fined. I got fined about a year ago because one of the power lines coming into the house was not painted the same color as the house (it had been that way for 14 years since when the house was built). You either have to do what they want, or sue...as they have the ability to place a lien on your property.

the HOA tax is the penalty for not being as well armed as the riff raff..

Did you moved to Alaska from CA? Now you are elsewhere?

Heya, short version is I left CA in 2009 to take a job back in Boston. Lived in NH for a few years and worked in MA. It had a few nice things but all in all the northeast isn’t for me. I got a chance to come out to HI in ‘17 for some work and took the plunge. Life’s pretty good now. :) Alaska is beautiful but I doubt I could ever live there!

I could have written this^^^ !

$393 a month seems really steep, but I guess location is everything ?

well armed... Ah. so it IS a BDSM thing.

Thankfully I've never had live anywhere where the riff raff arent into that. Not that theres anything wrong with it.

Some areas, like mine do not have zoning. The HOA becomes the defacto zoning board. The idea is low level uniformity, to prevent idiots from ruining the property values.

My neighborhood is gated. And we own the streets. So the HOA also takes care of community maintenance.

We also have amenities like 2 pools, tennis courts, playground, community center and a guard shack.

$1500/yr

Also, the board changes. Our present board has been pretty good. Except for the last month or so where they tried to pass a "tax" on new homeowners to fund improvements/maintenance 25-30 years from now (2045-2050!). I admire them for trying get ahead of it, but it would be better if we just raised the HOA fee 1% over inflation for a few years and spread the cost around. (Need to raise an inflation adjusted $7M for road repairs).

I've received a few letters over the years. Most were mistaken address issues. But the one or two items were real things that needed attention (green mold on a fence, clean and repaint). As far as dealing with the architectual commitee, it is done to keep the appearence up. I have only seen one issue of enforment where the homeowner completely deviated from the plan.

The funniest thing are the couple of homes that are consistently in violation, are always owned by lawyers.

I love our HOA.

We have several wonderful rules. Like no long term parking on the streets. All vehicles are to be in the garage, or parked in your own driveway. All but a couple of the house in our neighborhood have three car garages. It looks so much better to drive down the street and see the open streets.
If someone has guests it is no issue to have them park on the street for a few nights. When my brother came to visit he parked his class A motorhome on the street in front of our house overnight.

The trash cans have to be put away and out of sight from the street. The obvious mow the yard and keep the property up is just logical. The community property has a sprinkler system to keep the grass alive and we pay to have it mowed.

I have served on the HOA for my home in Mexico.
Imagine getting involved in serious medical transportation issues, animal control and good old fashioned fraud.

If as a HOA member, you get your financials on a spreadsheet each year, you are being skimmed

I have been very lucky, living in an HOA for 10 years and having never heard from the HOA. I am on nextdoor.com and read a lot of horror stories about enforcement and HOA board shenanigans. But so far I have not had firsthand experience with it. I know my luck will run out one day.

OTOH, I work in a lot of non-HOA areas, the kind of scenarios HOAs were invented to prevent. One guy I visited in a trailer park had his trailer totally destroyed by a gas explosion. His insurance denied the claim, so he lives in the rubble with a rented makeshift chain link fence around it. You wouldn't believe it unless you saw it. I can't believe the county even allows that, but an HOA surely never would.

Pictures?

I was just joking. I figured someone here was going to say it sooner or later.
Out here I AM the riff raff. :D

Looks like it might have been removed since I was last there a few mos. ago. It's the fenced lot behind and to the right of the fire hydrant.

3638 W Monona Dr, Glendale, AZ, 85308

I just want a nice cabin out in the boonies. Sit on my porch with my Mossberg. Hey, you with the red beard... GET OFF MY LAND!

I just want to sit in my hilltop fortress with my Barrett. Get within two miles of my house and....

(JK ;))

My sister lives in a HOA area. The board was being unreasonably picky with neighbors. Her husband and some other neighbors got together, ran for the board, won, and put things on the right track.

My friend bought a condo, which has the equivalent of a HOA. The board was refusing to maintain the building and dock. He and other neighbors got on the board and fixed the problem.

I’ve never lived anywhere with a HOA. If I did, I’d get on the board and do my part to make sure things were running well.

This. With any club or HOA the board members make decisions and there are complaints. In our PCA region many times a members says "we need to do this type of event" and we give them the same reply, you are now in charge of that. You do all the work and spent your time and effort to make it happen. Some just slink away, and others step up, and do the work and the club is better. It just takes the volunteer to step up and make it right.

Smae thing with our HOA. We all agreed we needed to "do something" to pretty up the association owned green area. The HOA can't afford to hire pros to do it. So some residents did it with the supplies funded by the HOA.

Neighborhood bodies, whether they be HOAs or traditional neighborhood associations like mine, are always in need of people who are willing to step up, get involved, and work with others. If you’re have that mindset, you can always get a role and start making things better.

My neighborhood is not a HOA, and we’ve been seeing the disadvantages of that in the last few years. The city doesn’t do jack all for us and is increasingly hostile to our needs and wants. Our park has 50-60 tents and homeless people doing drugs, spreading trash, acting hostile all over the place. The police have been ordered to do nothing, and our neighborhood officer was taken away. Last night a deranged homeless guy was pounding on one neighbor’s house all night trying to break in. They called the police who merely shooed the guy away, but he kept coming back, finally in the morning they arrested him, but he’ll be released in 24 hours. The houses by the park are $1MM+ and the folks living there are under siege. Times like this, you kinda wish you had a HOA.

I'm in a love hate relationship with my HOA.

A lot of the hate stems from them simply not having the resources to monitor a 4,000 home community.

Our community is larger than many of the towns around here so a lot of the letters they send is the result of your neighbors dropping dime which is even worse because some people just don't have lives and are just *******s in general so you end up dealing with bull**** letters.

I love it because the HOA is very strong and the community was well thought out.

It's nearly 20 years old now and the place is immaculate.

No ****ty lawns, dilapidated fencing, odd paint schemes, etc....

I appreciate how well they preserve my property values.

Now HOA's can be silly.

Maybe 8 or so years ago we were having issues with mail delivery and I did not get my renewal notice for some fee so it got paid a month late. No big deal.

They tried to hit me with a $35.00 late fee so I called them to have it waived.

For some reason they refused.

OK, fine. So once a month I get a bill for $35.00, tear it up and toss it in the trash.

The absolute worst that can happen is they attach a $35.00 lien to my house. Meh.

The plan is when I sell next year, I'll send them the $35.00 along with a note and the calculation of what it cost them to collect it.

I imagine mailing out 120 or so "reminder" notices has cost them well in excess of $35.00.

Other than that, nothing wrong with a good strong HOA, it's just finding one that's the challenge.

The HOA where I live now will send you a notice to do something (cut down a tree or mow your yard). If you do not, they hire someone and send them to do it and bill you. You come home from vacation and not only was your forest of trees trimmed or cut down, but you have a bill for it.