Are you for or against HOAs?

[Alex_angel]

I like the idea of having some sort of consistency in a neighborhood. But I also don’t like someone telling me what to do, especially when I drop a few hundred thousand or more on a home. I just don’t like the idea of an area where you have 5 motorhomes parked along the street. The jackass that leaves their 40 foot racing boat parked in the end of a cul de sac or the home that uses the garage as a storage bin and parks their 5 cars outside. But I don’t like the idea of having someone approve of a specific plant that I want to put outside or tell me how my garden is supposed to look. There needs to be an equilibrium and with HOAs it seems you either get it good or bad.

[NotCranky]

I like an urban detached or semi-rural but not so crazy about what is in between.No suburbs. NO HOA.

[NotCranky]

I like an urban detached or semi-rural but not so crazy about what is in between.No suburbs. NO HOA.

[NotCranky]

I like an urban detached or semi-rural but not so crazy about what is in between.No suburbs. NO HOA.

[csr_sd]

I personally would never own a property where an HOA controlled things. I think the city ordinances should cover the important aspects like, cutting lawns, derelict vehicles, etc. If the town wont enforce the rules than there is little reason for a community to establish there own rules.

Coming from the east coast, it is only the newer master planned developments that have these (although co-op boards can be a real pain). Where there is a diversity of housing styles, and a range of ages of homes, the eccentricities of individuals tends to be muted. I think painting your house neon green, and is perfectly fine even if I live near it (but not in front of it!!!), but clearly here where almost all new developments are master planned, any individuality stands out, even if it is tasteful but different can presumably affect values. What is more distasteful is the inability to confront an HOA, and change the CCA. THe rules in the CCA are stringer than laws, and there have been way too many people that have been harrassed and sued by there HOA for some infringement like (putting basketball hoops on the garage, the size or style of tree, not-cleaning there driveways (oil spots). This is pretty petty, and really only matters where such master planned communities have sucked the soul from individuals.

As for garages, if they didnt put them facing the main street, people would not see them, and the “cheapening” of the neighborhood would not have occured.

I would love to see a developer, actually make a development with 10k lots, and with no HOA. That will never happen here though

[csr_sd]

I personally would never own a property where an HOA controlled things. I think the city ordinances should cover the important aspects like, cutting lawns, derelict vehicles, etc. If the town wont enforce the rules than there is little reason for a community to establish there own rules.

Coming from the east coast, it is only the newer master planned developments that have these (although co-op boards can be a real pain). Where there is a diversity of housing styles, and a range of ages of homes, the eccentricities of individuals tends to be muted. I think painting your house neon green, and is perfectly fine even if I live near it (but not in front of it!!!), but clearly here where almost all new developments are master planned, any individuality stands out, even if it is tasteful but different can presumably affect values. What is more distasteful is the inability to confront an HOA, and change the CCA. THe rules in the CCA are stringer than laws, and there have been way too many people that have been harrassed and sued by there HOA for some infringement like (putting basketball hoops on the garage, the size or style of tree, not-cleaning there driveways (oil spots). This is pretty petty, and really only matters where such master planned communities have sucked the soul from individuals.

As for garages, if they didnt put them facing the main street, people would not see them, and the “cheapening” of the neighborhood would not have occured.

I would love to see a developer, actually make a development with 10k lots, and with no HOA. That will never happen here though

[csr_sd]

I personally would never own a property where an HOA controlled things. I think the city ordinances should cover the important aspects like, cutting lawns, derelict vehicles, etc. If the town wont enforce the rules than there is little reason for a community to establish there own rules.

Coming from the east coast, it is only the newer master planned developments that have these (although co-op boards can be a real pain). Where there is a diversity of housing styles, and a range of ages of homes, the eccentricities of individuals tends to be muted. I think painting your house neon green, and is perfectly fine even if I live near it (but not in front of it!!!), but clearly here where almost all new developments are master planned, any individuality stands out, even if it is tasteful but different can presumably affect values. What is more distasteful is the inability to confront an HOA, and change the CCA. THe rules in the CCA are stringer than laws, and there have been way too many people that have been harrassed and sued by there HOA for some infringement like (putting basketball hoops on the garage, the size or style of tree, not-cleaning there driveways (oil spots). This is pretty petty, and really only matters where such master planned communities have sucked the soul from individuals.

As for garages, if they didnt put them facing the main street, people would not see them, and the “cheapening” of the neighborhood would not have occured.

I would love to see a developer, actually make a development with 10k lots, and with no HOA. That will never happen here though

[no_such_reality]

I think the city ordinances should cover the important aspects like, cutting lawns, derelict vehicles, etc.

There in lies the problem. The cities have abdicated their responsibility for enforcing such ordinances and in many cases have abandoned even making such ordinances. Lob in rights groups and everything turns into a legal battle for the city.

In such, a private-government organization is formed that then lacks the rigorous oversite.

[no_such_reality]

I think the city ordinances should cover the important aspects like, cutting lawns, derelict vehicles, etc.

There in lies the problem. The cities have abdicated their responsibility for enforcing such ordinances and in many cases have abandoned even making such ordinances. Lob in rights groups and everything turns into a legal battle for the city.

In such, a private-government organization is formed that then lacks the rigorous oversite.

[no_such_reality]

I think the city ordinances should cover the important aspects like, cutting lawns, derelict vehicles, etc.

There in lies the problem. The cities have abdicated their responsibility for enforcing such ordinances and in many cases have abandoned even making such ordinances. Lob in rights groups and everything turns into a legal battle for the city.

In such, a private-government organization is formed that then lacks the rigorous oversite.

[temeculaguy]

I would never buy a house that didn’t have an H.O.A. of some sort unless it was rural. I have never owned in a condo association and have heard some horror stories but from all of my experiences with sfr’s in and out of HOA’s, most of the sfr associations were pretty reasonable. I’ve spun the wheel of chance in a non HOA and lost, no more for me thanks. There will always be extremes, look into it before you buy. Most of my friends that complain about their HOA I wouldn’t want to live near once I see their house and their view of the situation is usually their own distorted perspective. Go to a ten or twenty year old development with and without an hoa and I bet the one with an hoa looks better. I am sure there are exceptions but it is always my luck that I will end up living next to the guy who likes year round christmas lights. The biggest drawback is that the non HOA houses advertise that fact and the nutjobs gravitate to those, if they would tell people there was an hoa and then not have one, that would weed out most of the crazies and lazies.

[temeculaguy]

I would never buy a house that didn’t have an H.O.A. of some sort unless it was rural. I have never owned in a condo association and have heard some horror stories but from all of my experiences with sfr’s in and out of HOA’s, most of the sfr associations were pretty reasonable. I’ve spun the wheel of chance in a non HOA and lost, no more for me thanks. There will always be extremes, look into it before you buy. Most of my friends that complain about their HOA I wouldn’t want to live near once I see their house and their view of the situation is usually their own distorted perspective. Go to a ten or twenty year old development with and without an hoa and I bet the one with an hoa looks better. I am sure there are exceptions but it is always my luck that I will end up living next to the guy who likes year round christmas lights. The biggest drawback is that the non HOA houses advertise that fact and the nutjobs gravitate to those, if they would tell people there was an hoa and then not have one, that would weed out most of the crazies and lazies.

[temeculaguy]

I would never buy a house that didn’t have an H.O.A. of some sort unless it was rural. I have never owned in a condo association and have heard some horror stories but from all of my experiences with sfr’s in and out of HOA’s, most of the sfr associations were pretty reasonable. I’ve spun the wheel of chance in a non HOA and lost, no more for me thanks. There will always be extremes, look into it before you buy. Most of my friends that complain about their HOA I wouldn’t want to live near once I see their house and their view of the situation is usually their own distorted perspective. Go to a ten or twenty year old development with and without an hoa and I bet the one with an hoa looks better. I am sure there are exceptions but it is always my luck that I will end up living next to the guy who likes year round christmas lights. The biggest drawback is that the non HOA houses advertise that fact and the nutjobs gravitate to those, if they would tell people there was an hoa and then not have one, that would weed out most of the crazies and lazies.

[lniles]

I would never buy a SFR in a place with an HOA. Aside from someone else telling you how to decorate your landscape and outside walls, where you park your car, and so on, you have someone else controlling money you put into a fund and making decisions on how to spend your money. You can expect a lifetime of HOA dues increases, and on top of that you might expect “special assessments” in which they require each owner to put in thousands of dollars for “special” projects (building a playground for little Jimmy next door, fixing the sidewalk that little Jimmy later drove his monster truck onto, putting in a stop sign because little Jimmy killed some pedestrians there, painting the clubhouse that little Jimmy’s friends sprayed graffiti on, whatever).

The management of your HOA is completely unregulated, undemocratic, and allows for rampant waste and poor management, even if the board members live in the complex. It sounds like another conspiracy theory but when you take normal people and put them in control of funds from a large group of people (in my complex the reserve is in the millions) then strange things occur.

Please read the section called “Lack of Checks and Balances” in wikipedia’s page on homo-asses. In fact, read the whole page, it’s a great and unbiased viewpoint on HOAs with all the pros and cons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeowners’_association

[lniles]

I would never buy a SFR in a place with an HOA. Aside from someone else telling you how to decorate your landscape and outside walls, where you park your car, and so on, you have someone else controlling money you put into a fund and making decisions on how to spend your money. You can expect a lifetime of HOA dues increases, and on top of that you might expect “special assessments” in which they require each owner to put in thousands of dollars for “special” projects (building a playground for little Jimmy next door, fixing the sidewalk that little Jimmy later drove his monster truck onto, putting in a stop sign because little Jimmy killed some pedestrians there, painting the clubhouse that little Jimmy’s friends sprayed graffiti on, whatever).

The management of your HOA is completely unregulated, undemocratic, and allows for rampant waste and poor management, even if the board members live in the complex. It sounds like another conspiracy theory but when you take normal people and put them in control of funds from a large group of people (in my complex the reserve is in the millions) then strange things occur.

Please read the section called “Lack of Checks and Balances” in wikipedia’s page on homo-asses. In fact, read the whole page, it’s a great and unbiased viewpoint on HOAs with all the pros and cons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeowners’_association

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