Conversations about HOA always focus on the nit picky rule enforcement components of them (rightly because they are dumb).
But a bigger component of HOA financing is maintaining common infrastructure. The pool, party house, signage, etc. Those actually require upkeep. If the HOA doesn’t have a recourse to collect those obligations the cost of that upkeep falls unfairly on the people paying their bills.
I’m all for strict regulations on notification and making foreclosure difficult but if you sign up for an HOA it seems like you ought to understand and comply with your obligations and the HOA should have some teeth to collect.
My first house was in a neighborhood where the builder set up an HOA mainly to care for the clubhouse/pool. Before I moved in, the neighborhood voted to disband the HOA and sell the pool. I think it was sold to a private entity.. its been a while. We didn't have kids and never went to the pool, so I'm fuzzy on who owned it.
I loved that neighborhood. All of the neighbors became friends. It was the closest nit neighborhood I've ever lived in, aside from my college dorm. Property values did not suffer when the guy across the street and one over painted his house pink, nor did they suffer when my neighbor's parents visited in their RV and parked in front of his home for 2 weeks every summer.
My current HOA is raising dues AND charging a special assessments because they need money so desparately (despite having nearly half a million bucks).
Despite that, the head tyrant in charge just pushed through an ultra-low priority parking lot painting project. Not like parking lot was bad, it just bothered him I guess.
More often than not (anecdotally of course) they're just Napoleonic power trips for the select few that are bored and no-life-having enough to devote their whole lives to it.
As someone who would never want to use such shared infra. I would be pretty angry having to pay for it. Though I do suppose the saunas and washing room in place I live isn't fully covered by fees, they aren't that high anyway.
Comments
Conversations about HOA always focus on the nit picky rule enforcement components of them (rightly because they are dumb).
But a bigger component of HOA financing is maintaining common infrastructure. The pool, party house, signage, etc. Those actually require upkeep. If the HOA doesn’t have a recourse to collect those obligations the cost of that upkeep falls unfairly on the people paying their bills.
I’m all for strict regulations on notification and making foreclosure difficult but if you sign up for an HOA it seems like you ought to understand and comply with your obligations and the HOA should have some teeth to collect.
My first house was in a neighborhood where the builder set up an HOA mainly to care for the clubhouse/pool. Before I moved in, the neighborhood voted to disband the HOA and sell the pool. I think it was sold to a private entity.. its been a while. We didn't have kids and never went to the pool, so I'm fuzzy on who owned it.
I loved that neighborhood. All of the neighbors became friends. It was the closest nit neighborhood I've ever lived in, aside from my college dorm. Property values did not suffer when the guy across the street and one over painted his house pink, nor did they suffer when my neighbor's parents visited in their RV and parked in front of his home for 2 weeks every summer.
My current HOA is raising dues AND charging a special assessments because they need money so desparately (despite having nearly half a million bucks).
Despite that, the head tyrant in charge just pushed through an ultra-low priority parking lot painting project. Not like parking lot was bad, it just bothered him I guess.
More often than not (anecdotally of course) they're just Napoleonic power trips for the select few that are bored and no-life-having enough to devote their whole lives to it.
As someone who would never want to use such shared infra. I would be pretty angry having to pay for it. Though I do suppose the saunas and washing room in place I live isn't fully covered by fees, they aren't that high anyway.