Is a HOA really a way to protect your investment? How much are your HOA dues?

Question

We'll be closing on a new home soon but are really not too happy about the $153/month we're going to have to pay for a $222,000 townhome. We really needed the extra space and didn't want to leave our current location but we're convinced this is outrageous!

Answer 1

It's not allot with today prices. this include insurance, outside maintenance, landscaping, you probably don't have a swimming pool, because it would be around $300.00. Good Luck and enjoy your new home!

Answer 2

$153 a month for HOA fees is really high. You must be in California or one of those overpriced overvalued areas.

I have a 4 bedroom home in a nice area of Austin, TX and my HOA fees are only $200 a YEAR.

Most HOA's don't do anything but take your money, in my experience of about 40 years of owning homes in many areas. Most of the time they're a bigger pain in the rear than they are a help.

Home Owner Associations don't provide ANY services like mowing your grass. Whoever mentioned that must be an apartment dweller. Sometimes they do a half-way job of taking care of landscaping around the sign by the side of the road......LOL

Answer 3

HOA's are created to protect the owners from having a few bad apples in the development, however, they can become a nightmare. It depends on what they cover, and the amenities afforded by being a member. It also depends on who manages them. Some may cover some part of the hazard insurance, yard maintenance and the club house, tennis courts, common grounds, such as the entrance, and so forth. They can be raised by the management and controlled by a few fellow home owners, that in many cases, become over zealous and hard to get along with. I, personally would never buy a property that had one, as they are a pain in the ***.

Answer 4

As a property owner in a community which has Home Owners Association with legal covenants and restrictions you have 3 choices 1) Become active in the management, 2) Attend meetings and have an understanding of what going on, 3) Do nothing and pay the consequences of ignorance.

•Acknowledge your ownership and take control of your property. There may be restrictions that you may not agree with some don’t make any sense. The only way to change them is to be an active participant in the process. Voting only takes place on items listed on the monthly agenda the board members and the management company set the agenda.

•Yearly elections of new board members. In the covenants you will find how many board members and for how long board members are allowed to serve. In most communities you are limited to 2 or 3 successive terms with half or a third of the board changing each year. Some areas allow the same board members to be re-elected continuously with out changing (these little kingdoms are where the problems are the most evident).

•Committees are another way to have your voice heard. The board is not always easy to be elected into you may find the process is similar to being a politician in local elections others are begging for home owners to participate. HOA’s are always in need of committee members and leaders to help spread the work, with amenities such as pool, tennis courts, playgrounds, common areas, and social functions these all need committees and committee leaders. These are good places to get your foot in the door to have your voice heard and listened to in regards to how the community is handled.

•Management companies can be the most helpful and useful to HOA’s. The better ones have experience in all areas of land, building, and amenities management and help direct the part time inexperienced board to knowledgeable decisions. When you are dealing with an inexperienced management company or a small one person manager the problems can get out of hand real fast. They normally don’t have the contractors support and are not available when you really need them. Also smaller operations don’t have the full time accounting departments to keep the books straight which can be dangerous if the board is not keeping track of the funds.

•Foreclosures have been out of hand in some communities. Non payment of association dues or fees has been the number one reason of foreclosures in condo and townhouse communities across the country. Families have lost there properties for $600.00 in over due payments, the real problem is $15,000 in added fees the management companies an attorneys are allowed to tack on which pushes the property in to foreclosure. I have interview many management companies and found that when they reference how their attorneys can speed up the collection process by foreclosure I show them the door. These are the people you don’t want anywhere near your community. They because of the tactics they use will drive down values of each individual property and are of no benefit to the home owner or the HOA.

Be active in your community protect your property and family from unscrupulous management companies, HOA board members, attorneys and investors who have their own agenda when it comes to your property.

Answer 5

Yes it may be outrageous, depending on the amenities that go along with it. (At the least you should have a 24 hour security service, pool and tennis).

But since you've decided on that neighborhood already, make sure that you stay active with the board so that when decisions need to be made, you are on top of them. If a board becomes negligent or hires pitiful contractors and subcontractors to do external maintenance work, especially with roofs, you may find that fee increasing to accommodate shoddy work.

Answer 6

An HOA covers rules and regulations but also maintains the landscaping, lighting, pool, amenities, and look of the property. I paid $240 a year for my home, but condos are always more.

The fee seems very reasonable for maintaining everything a home owner would be responsible for including mowing, snow removal, trash, and an infinite list of repairs and improvements.

Answer 7

HOA's are not all they are touted to be, unless they are GOOD ones. There are plenty of bad ones out there. You may not get the 'service' you were promised when you swallowed the sales pitch.

There are legions of complaints where those who control the funds of the HOA oddly enough get the best service, with others waiting and paying for services they never receive.

Answer 8

Depends on what that covers. If it covers yard maintenance, water, and/or trash pickup, that is actually very reasonable. If you have any common areas that are maintained by the association (pool, community center, greenways), then you are actually getting a bargain.