For or Against Home Owners' Associations where you live?

[Orlong]

Surely, it's the HOA's power of awesome and not because they are pretty much exclusive of poorer people by function.

Being poor isnt an excuse to not keep your home clean and grass cut

[Sunseeker]

Homeowners associations are essentially governments. I'm willing to pay for them if they provide useful community services. If they're there to get money, make annoying rules and empower certain families over others, they can fuck off.

[Bodakane]

Being poor isnt an excuse to not keep your home clean and grass cut

Riiight. It's not like they have to work three jobs or anything.

You keep shitting on the poor, they're beneath you.

[Klingers]

Weeeellllllllllll.......

If the neighborhood has a mandatory HOA, then you have to follow the HOA if you buy there. Some places have no HOA and some other have a voluntary HOA.

Interesting... Thanks for clarifying

As a side point though how do they enforce this? HoAs are private organisations aren't they? Do municipal councils enforce their membership or something? By that I mean your land is your land, and the roads/nature strips etc are owned by the council. How does a HoA enforce their jurisdiction?

[Orlong]

Interesting... Thanks for clarifying

As a side point though how do they enforce this? HoAs are private organisations aren't they? Do municipal councils enforce their membership or something? By that I mean your land is your land, and the roads/nature strips etc are owned by the council. How does a HoA enforce their jurisdiction?

I always wondered that too. If I buy a house in a neighborhood that has a HOA, how can they force me to join? Im buying the home from the previous owner, not from the HOA, and if someone who owns a home in a HOA sells it without getting the new owner to join what punishment could the HOA possibly dole out?

[Bodakane]

Interesting... Thanks for clarifying

As a side point though how do they enforce this? HoAs are private organisations aren't they? Do municipal councils enforce their membership or something? By that I mean your land is your land, and the roads/nature strips etc are owned by the council. How does a HoA enforce their jurisdiction?

It's generally built into the contract of the house. The house can't be sold without acceptance of the buyer into the HOA. The HOA is part of the contract (if it's a mandatory HOA).

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I always wondered that too. If I buy a house in a neighborhood that has a HOA, how can they force me to join? Im buying the home from the previous owner, not from the HOA, and if someone who owns a home in a HOA sells it without getting the new owner to join what punishment could the HOA possibly dole out?

It's buiilt into the contract if that HOA is mandatory. The house cannot be bought unless the buyer agrees to the HOA.

[Orlong]

It's generally built into the contract of the house. The house can't be sold without acceptance of the buyer into the HOA. The HOA is part of the contract (if it's a mandatory HOA).

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It's buiilt into the contract if that HOA is mandatory. The house cannot be bought unless the buyer agrees to the HOA.

Who is the contract between though. If Im a buyer and youre a seller, any contract is between you and me, not the HOA. The HOA isnt listed as an owner on the deed, so in my opinion they can keep their nose out of my business

[Shadowferal]

Who is the contract between though. If Im a buyer and youre a seller, any contract is between you and me, not the HOA. The HOA isnt listed as an owner on the deed, so in my opinion they can keep their nose out of my business

Telling them to mind their own business won't work in a courtroom.

[zenkai]

Like the title says, are you in favor living in a neighborhood with an HOA or not?

Depends, sometimes HOA is good. But sometimes they can be like Nazi's, it all depends who runs them.

[GennGreymane]

Who is the contract between though. If Im a buyer and youre a seller, any contract is between you and me, not the HOA. The HOA isnt listed as an owner on the deed, so in my opinion they can keep their nose out of my business

Seller and HOA, if the seller is delinquent on payments or breaches their contract, the HOA has it in the contract that they will file a lien or lis pends, thus making the house title unmarketable... you cant really sell unless you can find a buyer willing to take up the cost of the lien or lis pendens.

Now this will be rare to find a buyer because
1. A bank or mortgage company wont go near it without title insurance
2. you aint gettin a title insurance company to sign anything that has a lis pendens or a lien like that since they aint covering that for you.
3. Be prepared to sell the house at a fraction of the value

[derpkitteh]

obnoxious, stuck up pieces of shit.

against. nobody's business how another person decorates or otherwise treats their yard and house unless it's a health hazard to people outside of their yard.

[zenkai]

Who is the contract between though. If Im a buyer and youre a seller, any contract is between you and me, not the HOA. The HOA isnt listed as an owner on the deed, so in my opinion they can keep their nose out of my business

Like stated previously, its tied to buying the home. It's because you live in their neighborhood. HOA is there to make the neighborhood look pretty, such as the entrances, and to protect you from your neighbor going "Sandford and Son" lowering your property value. This is a good thing, however some people who run it go Nazi and will measure your lawn saying it's too high and then fine you.

[SL1200]

What's the point of buying a house if some asshole association can come tell you what you can and can't do? No i don't want any association. The government is bad enough.

[zenkai]

obnoxious, stuck up pieces of shit.

against. nobody's business how another person decorates or otherwise treats their yard and house unless it's a health hazard to people outside of their yard.

Well when you affect the property values around the homes you live in, it becomes their business, at least that's what the HOA is there for. Also for taking care of the neighborhood.

I see the merits of HOA but like anything it can be abused.

[GennGreymane]

Well when you affect the property values around the homes you live in, it becomes their business, at least that's what the HOA is there for. Also for taking care of the neighborhood.

I see the merits of HOA but like anything it can be abused.

Its pretty much always abused, My uncle was kicked off a board for proposing to lower the monthly charge by removing a service hardly used anymore (they removed the service, but still kept the rate), but yeah, they exist solely to preserve property values and increase them. Generally they are a good investment.

[zenkai]

Its pretty much always abused, but yeah, they exist solely to preserve property values and increase them. Generally they are a good investment.

The last one I had was pretty non existent, no one wanted to do it. The last guy running it said he got death threats, he even tried to abolish it but hit lots of road blocks legally.

They're not always abused, after all, it's the neighborhood who elects the people running the HOA, you can't piss everyone off and still be in charge.

[GennGreymane]

Honestly local govs handle it better. At least you can see tons of examples as to why local boards limit property use. In Suffolk county Long Island, a local board prohibited building a deck without some type of support (the construction details are lost on me)

Some people built one, and it collapsed and 4 people got hurt. Thats a pretty standard local law in some variants in many states, HOAs dont make rules like that.

Also unlike HOAs, you can actually petition your local boards to do the thing you want to do, generally they are cool with it if you bring the plans from a contractor with you and itsnot like you are going to build a weird trapezoid house with outside hallways or something like.

[Shadowferal]

What's the point of buying a house if some asshole association can come tell you what you can and can't do? No i don't want any association. The government is bad enough.

I suspect it has more to do with property value.
I'm usually against having an HOA, but...

If Joe Shmo just purchased a house next to you and the first thing he does is put his problem car on cinderblocks on the front lawn...where as you were trying to sell your own house for a nice tidy profit...well, don't expect to sell anytime soon.
And then there's the house bought in "historical" districts. (I can see that having an HOA would be pretty much a requirement in such places)

[chewie49]

depends on a number of factors. do you have to join the HOA if you wish to purchase the house? if so, then you know this in advance and are able to determine if you're ok with this part of the transaction. if so, then you shouldn't have a problem with the HOA. now, if you didn't know about the HOA before buying the home, they should have no say over you at all. on the other hand, if you're trashy life style is damaging other peoples home/neighborhood value, one should be able to sue in this case; i believe this is why a lot of HOA's exist is the provide a mediating factor before lawyers and police are called in...some folks are just trashy and lazy.

[GennGreymane]

BTW a lis pendens is just a notice of legal action for the most part. HOAs use them a lot. Its an option neighbors can use too in some circumstances. Contractors use it the most I think. Most common stuff an HOA may do is a lien.