[quote=xiv014]Why is it that most new construction in San Diego have HOAs?[/quote]
Because society has evolved and has improved. When my grandfather bought his house, people of a certain race, religion or socio-economic status would rarely dare to live somehwere they didn’t fit in. Then the last 30 years happened and now we need HOA’s. I’ve had houses in both, just go with the HOA. Be accepting of everyone, have neighbors who are different from you, make friends with them, but have the assurance that whatever the 1950’s were afraid of, won’t show up next door.
For every hoa horror story you may hear, I can tell you about the giant peeing baby fountain in a neighbors front yard, or the baby blue house, or the raiders sheets as curtains for four years, the year round christmas lights, the 9 cars out front, the corn instead of lawn, the urban chickens, the smell of curry in the air 24 hours a day, the monster trucks, boats and dunebuggies on the lawn, the yard appliances, the perimeter fence at a tract house, the weekly garage sales, the unmowed lawns, the trash cans permanently at the curb, the constant rv storage and I’m sure a few other things that you can avoid for the bargain price of $30-$90 a month (what my various hoa’s have been over the years at different houses). We all live together now, we accept each other, but we gotta have a few basic rules. Just pay it, I’ve found it to be some of the best money I’ve ever spent. When I was young I avoided hoa’s cause I was cheap, now it’s a requirement.
Gated communities are another animal entirely, they cost a lot more because the government doesn’t pay for the streets, the streetlights or the insurance because the public has no access, so just the existence of a gate will often cost you $100 a month by itself in what is included in most peoples taxes, so that is a personal decision.
