Comments on: Problems with our Home Owners Association

By: Monthly Mortgage Payment | Passive Family Income

Monthly Mortgage Payment | Passive Family Income — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:03:30 +0000

[...] payments. Homeowners may also have to pay for expenses like property taxes, homeowners insurance, association fees, mortgage insurance, etc. It is important for future homeowners to account for these extras when [...]

By: Ralph

Ralph — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:38:14 +0000

I don’t blame you a bit for the choice. It’s just sad that they have such a poor reputation when they’re in place to serve a need of community members.

By: passivefamilyincome

passivefamilyincome — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:38:32 +0000

Mark – We actually had a couple in the neighborhood organize a meeting for the homeowners this Wednesday so we can lay out our issues and determine our next steps. I will write a follow up post on our activity.

Mikewoodbooks – Thanks for the visit to the site. Yeah, this is our 2nd home we have owned with an HOA. I think in certain cases they are good (i.e. making people cut their grass when it is 18″ long, etc.). However, both experiences we have had so far have been very frustrating.

Ralph – We wanted to buy into a community that had a pool for our son’s to enjoy. Those don’t come without the HOA as well, so we choose the pool over not having an HOA. So far, it hasn’t been a good choice.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:36:23 +0000

I’d have to agree with Mike on this one. The idea of an HOA makes sense, but the implementation tends to be lacking in my experience. My wife and I actually bought a home in a neighborhood with no HOA and very minimal common areas for just that reason.

By: mikewoodbooks

mikewoodbooks — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 19:55:20 +0000

HOA’s are always a source of frustration. I think most people are unhappy with them unless they are a member of the board. And most of us aren’t motivated to use our precious time to become a board member unless we become really upset with the way things are being run. Most of the complaints I hear about are for dues being too high or for gestapo like tactics in enforcing minor rules that have no real effect on the neighborhood (You put your trash out one day to early!). In my current subdivision, they actually charge too little. At $100 per year and with only about 600 homes very little gets accomplished.
The other major problem with home owners associations and subdivisions in general is that developers are in business to make a profit. Consequently, when they develope a neighborhood they put in the cheapest parts they can get for the fountain at the entrance. The clubhouse has a nice exterior but is made of unpressure treated wood, etc. This means that everything looks great until all the homes are sold. After that, the homeowners suddenly find out that many of their ammenities need major maintenance. And that nice low rate that homeowners were promised when they moved in suddenly needs to double.
Unfortunately, there is no solution for this. If one wants to move into a new subdivision you just need to be aware of the game that is being played and expect your HOA dues to go.