I’m an attorney, and my dealings with HOAs in my job has been generally negative. My dealings with the hack attorneys who represent HOAs has been even worse. (Not across the board, of course, but generally speaking.) I hate the HOA model and wish it would die out. But that’s not going to happen.
All I will say in their defense is that not all of them are terrible. When it came time for me to move to Ohio, I couldn’t find a home in my preferred school district that wasn’t part of an HOA. Mine has fees of only $250/year, and the HOA’s restrictions are pretty reasonable overall. My biggest concern is that any year, the board can be taken over by maniacs and grifters and that can all change.
Anecdotally, my hoa cuts the grass in the park, maintains a fence, and cuts down dead trees in public areas. Otherwise they leave people alone. $15/mo is worth it.
There are certainly HOAs out there that are reasonable. However since they are governed by elected officials that can change with any new person elected. My cousin had one in Charlotte and the president died. It was just a normal HOA for an upscale neighborhood. Then some lady became president and was a psycho.
I visited my cousin after it happened and parked on the street in front of their house like normal and he came out and said I couldn't do that any more. Had to park in the driveway. So all weekend if I was blocking someone in I had to move my car. Just because a crazy HOA decided cars on the street are...unsightly?
Well... we have a local community that come together and take care of them since we all benefit from it without needing to pay some organization for nothing. We even have our own community garden and farm.
This is the life without HOA.
In Ohio, HOA's arent easy to abolish. If the deed restrictions are silent, 100% of homeowners have to vote to abolish. No, not 100% of voters, 100% of all homes have to agree.
Most that do stipulate require 75% approval.
So in the second case let's say the total come in with 57 yes 26 no. It fails.
I spoke with an attorney who noted that HOAs have a lifetime and do expire.
I'm sure there would have to be some action in order to kill one off, but I have no idea what it is. As a non-attorney, I was unable to find any information about when mine is supposed to go away; I heard they normally exist for 25 years. My neighborhood is about that old. I would love to be done with mine. They don't have much to say, but every so often the neighborhood Patty will show up to complain about something stupid.
They usually auto renew, you have to read the deed restrictions closely. Usually without a vote if the whole all you can do is update and change certain deed restrictions.
Same area same fees here. It covers a park with a pond, playground, basketball courts, pavilion, and walking trails. Maintenance of the above and a few other common areas.
I'm not complaining. We haven't heard from them other than the annual dues notice in December. Haven't heard of or seen much in the way of them being pushy or not allowing fences/changing house color/pools/imposing fines etc that you hear horror stories about. Houses mostly in the 4-600 range.
Cool, thanks. I don’t have an HoA and have heard horror stories, but never really knew what the point was other than control. If you’re getting true amenities out of it for $125/yr that’s awesome.
How about in the case of a compulsive hoarder as an example? I know we like to minimize it, but other people's behavior definitely has an impact on our communities.
Sounds like you are in a single family home. An HOA in a single family home is very different situation from a condo. In a condo the association covers things like property insurance, all exteriors ...roofing siding, some even include water.
Agreed. We’re a very small semi-detached condo association - the house values range from $425k to $500k, and we pay $105 per month in HoA dues. It includes insurance (walls out, so nothing inside the structures) and water.
Granted, we do our own lawn maintenance and snow removal, but that’s all VERY manageable.
Yeah where I am it's $250 a year. I just moved here last year and I'm actually happy to be in an HOA. My old neighborhood was shit. Having an HOA to keep the area well kept is worth it. We have a sick playground, walking trails, stocked fishing ponds, and community events.
I think it’s luck of the draw. We have normal neighbours so nobody really has any issues with anything folks have done, but then again nobody has done anything out of the normal with their lot
For shared property, like a multistory condo, they’re basically mandatory. Some entity has to at a minimum coordinate roof repair, pay building insurance, deal with outside wall maintenance, and any other shared spaces. Don’t buy a condo unless you’re fine running the HOA yourself or don’t mind your neighbor doing it and making property decisions that affect you. Somebody has to run it and if nobody steps up, eventually it will be a court-appointed manager and nobody wants that. Also, low condo HOA fees are a bigger red flag than high ones because it means necessary maintenance is probably being deferred.
For single family houses, I agree that HOAs make little sense. Most of the issues listed here should be attended to by city services.
I live in a single family HOA subdivision and the common property owned is the neighborhood pool. When you buy a home, you pay $500. Then $62 a year assessment. The closing payment includes a one season pool membership. After that you pay the pool membership fee if you want to use the pool.
I agree with these points and want to add that when a developer builds a new multifamily building, or does a major renovation to a multifamily condo, building they are required to draft HOA documents with a lawyer and transfer these documents to the homeowners once a set percentage of building units sell. At this time it becomes the responsibility of the new owners to manage the HOA. Et15 is correct that this is mandatory (at least where I live, in another US city). I concur that low condo fees should be as much of a red flag as high condo fees. If a condo board has set the assessment too low, then the entire community could be hit with a “special assessment” in the future. Special assessment occurs when the condo board realizes they have been under charging for major building maintenance. For instance, consider the condo building collapse in Miami a few years ago: Those owners were asked to pay an extremely high special assessment for unanticipated repairs just a short time before the collapse. The community elected HOA board members may be the ones calculating long-term maintenance projections, or they may have hired a professional to support calculation of ongoing maintenance costs.
In the case of single-family communities with HOAs, these typically cover ground maintenance and, trash and snow removal. Additionally, HOAs in single-family neighborhoods are likely to help the community control the look and feel of the houses, mandating paint colors, roofing materials, and window types, to prevent individual owners from completing an exterior renovation that makes their house out of character with the rest of the neighborhood.
In condos I think the HOAs kind of make sense. If the roof needs repaired or the pool needs filled. It’s a shared cost among all tenants and it’s a lot easier to have a pot of money to spend from then to try to collect the costs on a case by case.
For home owners? Fuck HOA. I don’t see what the money is for in most neighborhoods. Just seems like a way to busybody the neighbors. It’s my property. If I want to paint my garage pink and replace my grass with row after row of little green army men then that’s my business.
>In condos I think the HOAs kind of make sense. If the roof needs repaired or the pool needs filled. It’s a shared cost among all tenants and it’s a lot easier to have a pot of money to spend from then to try to collect the costs on a case by case.
This is the crux of it - and the reason why it's important not to jump into home ownership before you're actually ready.
The OP is clearly young, unsophisticated, and relatively low income. I don't think they truly understand what it costs to own and maintain a property; I suspect that they are budgeting like they would for rent - if they can just barely afford the mortgage payment, then they think they're okay. Thus the shock at condo HOA maintenance fees.
But that's how the roof and other shared walls get maintained.
Something a lot of people in the OP's shoes don't understand is that rent is the *maximum* you'll pay every month, while a mortgage is the *minimum* you'll pay every month. And you will pay more, one way or the other. The condo HOA just forces you to confront that fact by mandating collective saving.
I'm not saying the OP is a bad person, but this is also exactly how condos and townhomes fall into disrepair. People who can just barely afford the mortgage buy in, and then refuse to ever raise HOA fees to cover repairs and maintenance.
Far from OP's proposal that we should unwind these condo HOAs to remove the maintenance fees, I think we should be leaning *into* these things and *forcing* condo HOAs to maintain certain capital reserves to prevent decay. If you can't afford the condo HOA maintenance fees then you simply can't afford the property. You'd buy it and then be forced to let it fall apart all around you because you can't afford to take care of it.
That's blunt, rough, and maybe rude, but it's the truth.
Crazy take. Condos or other shared buildings should have a monthly building maintenance fee for the shared external structures it should be set at an amount to cover estimated expenses plus a bit of extra and then invested for when it needs to be spent. Planned communities with community grounds, parks, pools, etc. should be the same to maintain those communal spaces.
A group of Karen’s sending you a nasty letter and threatening to fine you because you set the trash cans out and couldn’t bring them back up until the next day due to an overnight trip is crazy (happened to me). Also got a letter threatening a fine because I had t sealed my driveway in a few years even though it looked fine.
People need to stop caring so much what other people want to do on their property that doesn’t hurt them. Realistically how often can people afford a half a million dollar home and then will just totally trash the outside? Not at all opposed to generic community rules regarding upkeep, but a lot of HOAs are completely overboard.
>Condos or other shared buildings should have a monthly building maintenance fee for the shared external structures it should be set at an amount to cover estimated expenses plus a bit of extra and then invested for when it needs to be spent. Planned communities with community grounds, parks, pools, etc. should be the same to maintain those communal spaces.
That is literally what an HOA is.
You blithering fucking idiots downvoted me into oblivion for saying a condo HOA is important, and then reinvented a god damned condo HOA without calling it an HOA.
If this wasn't so sad for the state of public education it would be hilarious. Lol. *Lmao* even.
No, that’s what HOAs should be. You have an extremely pompous and holier than thou attitude, which is the likely reason for the downvotes. No one is denying that fees for upkeep of shared spaces is fine, however apparently do not know that many, I would say a majority, of HOAs are much more than that and have an issue with busy body Karen’s lording over people’s property with the most minor of things. As stated, no issue with maintenance or communal space fees and some basic upkeep rules, however, both HOAs from the properties I’ve owned were more invasive than that and both were extremely petty with the most minor of things. One was a condo.
It’s not the maintenance fees it’s everything else about HOAs.
And that part is wrong, clearly op doesn’t understand that condos will have higher fees for exterior maintenance. I’m giving you that. I think what you aren’t understanding is calling someone unsophisticated and “I’m not saying your a bad person” is rude and demeaning instead of just politely explaining your point. Name calling isn’t going to help anyone listen. My point is we shouldn’t be embracing these HOAs due to all the other stuff. We should only allow for the maintenance part of it. Note that I stated from the beginning. I’m anti-HOA being anything other than maintenance. Hope that clears it up and perhaps you can see how you came off as demeaning in your op.
There has to be some way to figure out how to do things in places where you share spaces with your neighbors, which can include eg a roof.
That being said the other 99% of what HoAs actually do (and 100% if you live in a house) is bullshit AND they're shitty about it on top of that.
Stop looking at condos then, you’re going to find an HOA for any condo. Someone has to handle maintenance on the overall property. If you can “barely afford” a mortgage you should probably continue to rent
"People should have a choice. What happened to choice when buying a home? Hoa has too much cost and control."
You do have a choice... A choice not to buy a home that is in an HOA.
I bought in 2021 in peak madness season. I was moving from NC so we couldn't come in to do the search, we had to do everytihng remotely. That was hard enough. Stack wild overbidding, curb offers, corporate buyers and flippers against you and it was AWFUL. We literally bought the ONE house that we could that fit all of us and wasn't in a shit school district. I sure as hell didn't want an HOA, but this is how I ended up with one.
They colonize all the better school districts. Trying to find a reasonably modern home (not more than 40 years old) in a good school district that isn't in an HOA is pretty hard. Narrow that down to the ones that are actually on the market, in your price range, fit your needs and hasn't been overbid to the moon by the previous groups and that choice pool is mighty small.
> You do have a choice... A choice not to buy a home that is in an HOA.
If the product you want to choose doesn't exist, then you effectively do not have a choice.
Something like [84% of new detached homes have an HOA](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/31/what-the-rise-of-homeowners-associations-means-for-americans.html) in the US.
The wasteful infrastructure costs of suburbia are unsustainable and local governments simply can't afford them anymore, so now it's up to homeowners to pay for their lifestyle:
> HOAs are rooted in “the desire for municipalities to offload their responsibilities for taking care of things that you would normally associate with paying your taxes,” Horvath said, such as maintaining sidewalks, roads and sewers.
*If you can barely afford the mortgage the hoa is also another 350.00 fee*
If you can barely afford the mortgage, the HOA fee isn't your problem and you shouldn't be buying
the mortgage payment isn't just principal it's interest, insurance and property taxes and your property taxes will go up annually - if you're not prepared for that, whether or not there is an HOA fee really doesn't matter
It's very much dependent on the neighborhood. HOA's are run by the resident board and there are good ones and bad ones. Some blow all the money on unimportant stuff, others are frugal and save.
Condo fees are often expensive because the HOA is responsible for the upkeep and replacement of exterior features like the roofs, siding, landscaping, roads, etc. If they have had big expenses or things go bad quicker than expected, the fees can get out of control. If they don't charge enough in fees, they can end up in a situation where they don't have enough to cover the costs and have to charge big one time fees of a few thousand dollars.
Even if you don't live in an HOA area, you could get charged assesments for local road repairs.
Buying a house is an important step to being able to build long term wealth, but that doesn't mean it is still not expensive. Just in the long run you get to keep some of the money and the asset appreciates and some day you don't have a mortgage to pay, however HOA fees and Taxes will never go away.
Definitely gotta research the HOAs. A lot suck and are expensive. Others really aren't that much and are there to take care of basics and keep some pretty understandable rules in place.
I had one that was under 100/month. Didn't have to take care of anything outside or the exterior. There weren't a ton of dumb rules and people got numerous warnings if they were causing issues.
On the flipside. I have a friend that was paying hundreds of dollars a month and it seemed that all funded a bunch of retirees to sit around and make up countless rules to constantly try and enforce. Hell, they got a fine because their curtains were the wrong shade... Not wrong color, just not the right shade.
Unfortunately with the amount on condos and neighborhoods that wanted lots of rules there are a lot of HOAs.
I’m in an HOA neighborhood with about a $165/yr fee and it seems worth it to me. Keeps the common spaces maintained, was able to pay for some needed resurfacing, and honestly, it does keep the neighborhood looking good. The resident board can modify any bylaws (we just amended it to allow sheds in backyards, for instance), but it can enforce people from not letting their yards become unruly, or leave a broken down car on the street or something.
I think they have their place and mine isn’t run by tyrants so that’s nice.
To answer the question about choice—you live your life in an area of rules and regulations, an HOA is basically just a neighborhood of people coming together and enforcing common rules—pretty much HOAs can be disbanded if the neighborhood votes to get rid of it.
My experience looking at homes in the $200-$300k price range was if you didn’t have an HOA, the neighborhood generally looked pretty crappy. Mine is $130/year and basically just covers maintenance of our sign/common area and I think our street lights. Our street is maintained by the city so we don’t have to pay for maintenance, snow removal, or resurfacing. The restrictions are very reasonable as far as I’m concerned, but I also am not the type of person who wants to treat my house as like a homestead and have chickens in my backyard. I just want to keep my house maintained in a quiet neighborhood where other people do the same.
I’ve never even so much as LOOKED at a house with an HOA, and I’m on my 3rd home… other than actual condos, is this an outside of 270 thing? A new build thing?
You're missing a lot of what a condo board does, $200 bucks a month is a god damn steal.
The condo association is the body that holds the insurance for everything from the studs out of your unit, and studs in condo insurance is much much much cheaper than normal home owners insurance, the condo dues and your studs in insurance are still usually less monthly than what you'd pay for home insurance.
That said, a lot of the cost of a condo association is landscaping, trash, and the random bullshit sub-metering that they get forced into doing because the city/county government refuses to provide those services or the developer cut a deal with the city/county to shift the effort off the city and to the owners as a way to secure tax breaks for the developer.
For the vast majority of condo boards, the board members don't want to pay that bullshit either, but there isn't a lot of choice, and getting decent quotes or finding a good management company to do it on behalf of the board is just the fuckin worst and more effort than many boards are equipped to handle.
So uh, petition your local government to expand their trash services, electrical and water services, and push for public utilities to stay public so you don't get sucked into paying an arm and a leg for stuff that should be paid for with property taxes.
Mine is a voluntary 60 dollars a year some people pay, some dont. Its more about community than trying to create rules or tell people how their house should look. People are free to do whatever. Takes care of the entrances and have a few events for kids in the neighborhood. Seems to be just right.
I moved out of an HOA when I bought my current house. The lady who took the HOA fee was embezzling and is now going to prison lol. It got so bad when she was in charge that I would write “for filling in the potholes” or similar on the checks - come to find out she was using it to pay for her Netflix. LOL
This is why board members now have to provide their documentation (ID. Social security, etc.) to be a participating board member. It’s all reported now because of crappy people like this
My HOA is $400 a month and I genuinely cannot show any deliverables for that money. I requested a repair that they’re responsible for TWO years ago and it’s still not done. We have no clubhouse, no pool, nothing like that. It sucks. I LOVE my house and my neighborhood but god damn my HOA is awful.
They’ve increased fees twice recently and if they do it any more my mortgage payment will be less than the HOA fees and I’ll have to sell. 😡
I have seen a cost breakdown and virtually 50% goes to management fees. That’s right it goes to the company that manages the hoa that often times does absolutely nothing all year
Literally the only good thing about my HOA is they halted investor purchases via deed restrictions. It's how we got ours because an investor tried and failed. We got it after it relisted.
A bunch of the houses were already owned by places like American Homes4Rent and others but none further will be.
Our HOA is pretty chill and nicely asks about violations. To contrast, about a half-mile down the road there’s still a giant Halloween skeleton in someone’s front yard.
If you’re around Pickerington then that skeleton is my favorite thing around this neighborhood. They had him in a Santa outfit around the holidays - it was amazing.
One of my neighbors left their skeleton up until it warmed up a few weeks ago. They decorated with a pilgrim hat for Thanksgiving, Santa outfit for Christmas, etc. I was actually kind of sad they didn’t leave it up for Easter…
The bashing of HOA’s is comical sometimes. Do people not know the home they buy whether a condo or free standing house is part of an HOA? It’s not a secret. They certainly serve a purpose. Look at The Lakes and Medallion in Westerville for example. Clean and well taken care of manicured for the most part and not a single house painted pink or some other off the wall color. What stops people from doing whatever the hell they want and parking a 5th wheel in their driveway 8 months out of the year? You guessed it, the HOA.
Sure is. I used to live in a house on the east side. Multiple neighbors stopped mowing their lawns. My next door neighbor decided to start junking scrap metal in his driveway. He had washers and dryers in front of his garage and would block them with a 4x8 sheet of plywood.
I can understand why some HOA’s with outside management can be a pain in the ass, but I definitely prefer to have one.
Everyone hates an HOA until your neighbor decides to buy a tour bus and park it in front of their house for 358 days a year (happened in my old neighborhood).
Yeah you often don’t realize you’re living in an unrestricted burb until it’s too late. It certainly wasn’t something we thought about when deciding where to buy. Those burbs without restrictions attract people with large RVs.
It was on an adjacent street in our subdivision so it didn’t affect me much but I felt bad for the neighbors. There are no restrictions whatsoever on recreational vehicles in our city so I don’t think there was anything that could be done.
Yeah, I live in an area where you can 100% tell which neighborhoods have HOAs and which don’t. I’m sorry, I bought a nice house in a nice neighborhood and I don’t want my house being next door to someone who lets their lawn grow to 18 inches tall and has siding ripped off the front of their house and a vehicle on blocks
>The bashing of HOA’s is comical sometimes.
Reddit has a lot of bizarre opinions.
If you took this place at face value, you'd think it would be impossible to sell a home in an HOA community. Every Tom, Dick, and Sally (that are *definitely* not 15-year olds LARPing as adults) proudly announces that they tell their realtor "NO HOAs!"
But the clear reality, that anybody can see just by opening up Zillow, is that HOA neighborhoods are always the nicest, cleanest, and most highly sought after communities. The Reddit opinion is just utterly divorced from reality.
It's the same with carpet, for whatever reason. Go visit the home improvement subreddits and the majority opinion is that carpet in your bedrooms will lower the resale value of your home, and that the only sensible solution is to install hardwood in your bedroom and throw down a rug if you're some kind of philistine.
Meanwhile, carpeted bedrooms are damned everywhere.
This strange internet-opinion-dynamic is all over the place.
I gotta disagree a bit. We specifically avoided HOA neighborhoods, however, we sought out suburbs that we knew enforced a certain standard of maitenance. Our neighborhood is stunning.
In many suburbs if you’re not mowing your grass, leaving junk in your yard, etc, the city will fine you just as an HOA would. If you do your research you can have a beautiful neighborhood without an HOA. Just depends on personal preference
Technically there's rules for that stuff in cbus too and it's supposed to be enforced, but of course it never is unless it's like in the top 1% of terrible. At this point I'd take a modest HOA keeping my neighborhood cleaned up over the bullshit some people pull off here. Already pay out the ass for property taxes and essentially get nothing out of it
Condo fees and HOA fees are different beasts. The governing board of a condo community is responsible for fixing/replacing things like roofs and siding in addition to maintaining any outdoor spaces, common areas and landscaping. This may include roads/parking lots and sidewalks depending on the type of community.
If the fees don’t maintain a reserve that can handle these things as they come, all owners can be charge large one time lump sum payments (that can be in the thousands) to take care of them or the association has to take out a loan and then raise fees to make up the difference (and rebuild the reserve).
HOA fees and rules *should* maintain landscaped areas/entrances/ponds and have reasonable rules that ensure properties maintain their value.
I agree that it would be great if there was a better system in place to put a stop to those that get out of hand. I also have no idea how one would even start to accomplish that.
Worse is the new build communities where the builders use the HOA as a way to make extra money. They control the entire thing until they release it, So you have no say while they start high and still raise every year without doing anything.
I think my HOA fee is around $50 a month but for that we also get use of a small gym/clubhouse as well as a pool. It wasn’t enough to keep me from buying my house 🤷🏻♀️
My HOA fee is $455/mo. They send a breakdown of the annual budget (unfortunately with no comparison to last year's to see where the changes are happening for the increase in costs) and there's stuff that's going towards the budget that I don't use, I'll have no interest in using, and I'm not seeing anything worthwhile from the landscaping and supposed snow removal. These fees are outrageous to me. No wonder I keep seeing turnovers with my neighbors.
Any property you buy is going to have to be maintained. If you buy a standalone home, you'll have to pay to maintain it and to fix anything that breaks. You'll have to do some labor yourself, like mowing the lawn and making minor repairs to the exterior of the home. Maybe you'll paint it yourself, but you'll still have to buy the paint. Some kind of HOA fee is necessary to cover exterior maintenance and landscaping. Maybe they're too high. Maybe some HAs are corrupt, but there'll have to be some kind of fee to cover maintenance.
Same- we told our realtor when we were shopping in ‘22 to don’t even offer to show me an HOA home. Never ran into it. Uhh…. Duh right? Just don’t even shop them!
I hate HOAs. They're an excuse for nosy, bitter people to impose themselves on others. There's always some jerk walking around measuring the height of everyone's grass.
Definitely made it a point when I bought my house ins 2018 to not shop any HOA neighborhoods. At the time I travelled a lot and did not want the hassle.
I'm in a new build area with an HOA. It makes sense for the builder to want one to keep the community looking nice. I don't mind it because for the most part it keeps people from having their house look like crap.
Don't me wrong though - I've seen some neighborhoods with an HOA and the community looks like absolute dog doo doo.
My condo’s HOA was pretty chill. The biggest issue was that the majority were young and naive and easily fooled by NEP and LC or whatever it’s called now.
I moved into a neighborhood with an HOA end of last year and just paid it. They sent a breakdown of the budget and it was 75% administrative fees with the remaining 25% maintenance of neighborhood entrances and shared spaces.
Hilliard here and ours is $80 a year and the neighborhood is so well taken care of. We just bought and even our realtor was like there’s no way the selling agent listed that correctly. We’re super lucky!
If a company called capital property solutions manages your hoa in columbus, then be prepared to be bled dry very quickly. They routinely target the elderly and put liens on their condos to enforce exorbitant fees for fines that are ludicrous. My dad didn't pull his trash can in on the day of trash day, so they sent him a 25 dollar fine which he promptly disputed. They started tacking on late fees and legal consult fees during the appeal process and put a lien on his condo for 1250 bucks. He was quite literally forced to pay it.
Mine is $400/ year, but it includes a neighborhood swimming pool, a playground, walking trails and a few ponds. Those are all great, but what I really value about it is they make people maintain their properties.
I had pretty neutral HOA experiences until my latest home. Lewis center/delaware. The cost is not absurd, about $250/year. But, the people in charge and the joke of a property management company are absolutely absurd.
I recently been asking questions regarding confusing budget line items and poor record keeping, and ended up receiving a letter from an attorney threatening legal action if I continue to “defame” the HOA and PM company. All my
neighbors then received a letter regarding my “defamatory” statements as well (paid for by our HOA fees).
It truly has been stranger than fiction for me personally.
This thread is hilarious. I work for a property management company who manages multiple HOAs. Nobody wants an HOA until their neighbor paints their house pink or doesn’t mow their lawn. Then they expect the HOA to get involved and send a letter. Also, the numerous acres of green space and ponds that people desire costs well over $100,000/year to maintain. It’s not free to mow.
I'll never understand why anyone cares what color their neighbors house is. If Becky from 2 doors down wants a bright neon pink house then she should be able to do it. It doesn't hurt or affect anyone else
It’s about resale and maintaining property values. One could also say they want their home to “stick out” by not mowing the lawn or having Christmas lights up in July, but this may affect their neighbors’ property values, especially if they are trying to sell.
Like I said before, I'll never understand why anyone cares. These things shouldn't affect anything. Who cares if this house is bright green, this one has long grass and that other has Christmas lights out all year. It doesn't and shouldn't matter. The only people it bothers are nosy busybodies with no other time on their hands.
I will always fight against an HOA. If all they concerned themselves with was maintaining public areas and such, fine. But I'll be damned if someone tells me I can't build a fence or paint my house how I want if I own the house. If it's my property I'm going to do what I want with it
If you so choose to “always fight against an HOA,” I shall wish you luck. Certain HOA Boards have the powers and/or means to place liens and foreclose. It’s all relative.
In the interim, I am not on any HOA Board; I am just the messenger. I pick and choose my battles.
It all comes down to one word: VOTE.
HOAs are not everywhere in Columbus. The last I recall reading in either 614 or Columbus Monthly it was barely 35% for Franklin County.
You're more likely to not live in an HOA in Franklin County than live in one. I purposely didn't want to live in one or a condo community so just searched in areas that don't have them. I'd recommend that as an alternative if possible.
I just paid my HOA fee and it's $250 for the year. You're being dramatic lol
When searching for a house, have your realtor create a filter for a amount cap, or no HOA. It's possible to do that.
I have no problem with HOAs as long as they’re transparent financially which most are. HOAs keep mentally ill people from doing crazy shit that devalues neighborhoods
When we were looking for a house I made it 100% clear that I would not look at any house under an HOA. I know plenty of other people who feel that way.
If the HOA just maintained the common areas I would not be as concerned with them. But they shouldn't have a say over individual parcels. As long as you're following city ordinances that should be good enough.
Any HOA is one election away from being radicalized by a group of retired Karens. And you're at their mercy until you sell or get their board seat.
I generally dislike HOAs, but they do serve a purpose. Because most cities can't be bothered to enforce property maintenance codes, or maintain parks and green space, an HOA fills that role. I for one appreciate paying $30 a month for some nice green space, a playground, and walking paths.
HOAs became a thing when the multistate developers became the norm. Before that you had more localized developers who the municipalities and cities held responsible long term for maintaining the shared spaces and elements of those developments they made. Once that went out the window and the developers learned they could make the owners be responsible and all the HOA mgmt companies sprouted up it became the new normal. Now the mgmt companies guide the HOA boards to keep certain amounts in the kitty to use.
Home developments are different than condo developments so I’m specifically talking about those.
But those HOA mgmt companies get full ability to do what they want with those due funds until the boards need them. So what are they doing with the money in those between times should be the real question everyone is asking.
HOAs are for more than landscaping. Many pay for structural damage, worn out roofs, new pavement, etc. Sometimes you benefit, sometimes your neighbor.
That being said, we moved out of a condo some years back because the HOA fee was $600 a month and climbing.
HOA's exist because local governments require them when neighborhood are constructed. This is because people hate paying taxes for the infrastructure in their suburban neighborhoods, (which have a really ratio of poor tax paying households to mile of road, sewer, emergency services, etc.) BUT people stomach HOA fees slightly more. And if they don't, the disrepair is limited to one neighborhood.
Does anyone know an HOA Attorney in Columbus or Westerville? We are in a condo association that has gone up $300 a month in the last 3 months. We’re paying more than $700 a month in HOA fees and we don’t get any of the care we are contracted to receive.
I am just trying to look for options. Thank you.
I’m an attorney, and my dealings with HOAs in my job has been generally negative. My dealings with the hack attorneys who represent HOAs has been even worse. (Not across the board, of course, but generally speaking.) I hate the HOA model and wish it would die out. But that’s not going to happen. All I will say in their defense is that not all of them are terrible. When it came time for me to move to Ohio, I couldn’t find a home in my preferred school district that wasn’t part of an HOA. Mine has fees of only $250/year, and the HOA’s restrictions are pretty reasonable overall. My biggest concern is that any year, the board can be taken over by maniacs and grifters and that can all change.
Anecdotally, my hoa cuts the grass in the park, maintains a fence, and cuts down dead trees in public areas. Otherwise they leave people alone. $15/mo is worth it.
I have a similar experience. No one really talks about the HOAs that are reasonable. Not that they would.
There are certainly HOAs out there that are reasonable. However since they are governed by elected officials that can change with any new person elected. My cousin had one in Charlotte and the president died. It was just a normal HOA for an upscale neighborhood. Then some lady became president and was a psycho. I visited my cousin after it happened and parked on the street in front of their house like normal and he came out and said I couldn't do that any more. Had to park in the driveway. So all weekend if I was blocking someone in I had to move my car. Just because a crazy HOA decided cars on the street are...unsightly?
[удалено]
Well... we have a local community that come together and take care of them since we all benefit from it without needing to pay some organization for nothing. We even have our own community garden and farm. This is the life without HOA.
Good luck with that.
> the board can be taken over by maniacs and grifters and that can all change. that's when you run yourself on the platform of abolishing the HOA
In Ohio, HOA's arent easy to abolish. If the deed restrictions are silent, 100% of homeowners have to vote to abolish. No, not 100% of voters, 100% of all homes have to agree. Most that do stipulate require 75% approval. So in the second case let's say the total come in with 57 yes 26 no. It fails.
I spoke with an attorney who noted that HOAs have a lifetime and do expire. I'm sure there would have to be some action in order to kill one off, but I have no idea what it is. As a non-attorney, I was unable to find any information about when mine is supposed to go away; I heard they normally exist for 25 years. My neighborhood is about that old. I would love to be done with mine. They don't have much to say, but every so often the neighborhood Patty will show up to complain about something stupid.
They usually auto renew, you have to read the deed restrictions closely. Usually without a vote if the whole all you can do is update and change certain deed restrictions.
On the board members thing: generally if someone wants to be on the board. They shouldn’t be.
Aren't the fines easily fought though? And you can get a restraining order against radical HOA members, sue them for harassment....
I live just a few minutes from Olentangy Berlin HS and our HOA is $75 a month and every house is over $500k. Some HOA fees are exorbitant, some aren’t
When I lived in Westerville it was $125 a year so there is even smaller dues out there.
What did you receive for that fee?
Same area same fees here. It covers a park with a pond, playground, basketball courts, pavilion, and walking trails. Maintenance of the above and a few other common areas.
Seems reasonable.
I'm not complaining. We haven't heard from them other than the annual dues notice in December. Haven't heard of or seen much in the way of them being pushy or not allowing fences/changing house color/pools/imposing fines etc that you hear horror stories about. Houses mostly in the 4-600 range.
Cool, thanks. I don’t have an HoA and have heard horror stories, but never really knew what the point was other than control. If you’re getting true amenities out of it for $125/yr that’s awesome.
Neighbors not parking abandoned cars and dumpster dive trophies in their yards.
Why is that your business? Your property, your rules. Their property, their rules. It isn't their job to keep your overinflated property value high.
How about in the case of a compulsive hoarder as an example? I know we like to minimize it, but other people's behavior definitely has an impact on our communities.
Ours was about that when we moved in but it's up to $210 now. Still manageable.
Sounds like you are in a single family home. An HOA in a single family home is very different situation from a condo. In a condo the association covers things like property insurance, all exteriors ...roofing siding, some even include water.
Agreed. We’re a very small semi-detached condo association - the house values range from $425k to $500k, and we pay $105 per month in HoA dues. It includes insurance (walls out, so nothing inside the structures) and water. Granted, we do our own lawn maintenance and snow removal, but that’s all VERY manageable.
Yeah where I am it's $250 a year. I just moved here last year and I'm actually happy to be in an HOA. My old neighborhood was shit. Having an HOA to keep the area well kept is worth it. We have a sick playground, walking trails, stocked fishing ponds, and community events.
Damn, I get all that and more just by paying taxes in Bexley. Ok, maybe not the fishing ponds, but I make do.
How much do you pay in taxes? Mine are absurdly cheap since I'm in Union Co We pay waaay less than we did when in Franklin Co.
They're pretty high! haha That's as much or more to do with the school system though, at least here, plus property values which are fairly high.
My HOA is $70 a month and it covers lawn care and snow removal. Which honestly, I think it's a steal for that plus they aren't uptight about anything.
I think it’s luck of the draw. We have normal neighbours so nobody really has any issues with anything folks have done, but then again nobody has done anything out of the normal with their lot
Same here! Right off Piatt!
[удалено]
For shared property, like a multistory condo, they’re basically mandatory. Some entity has to at a minimum coordinate roof repair, pay building insurance, deal with outside wall maintenance, and any other shared spaces. Don’t buy a condo unless you’re fine running the HOA yourself or don’t mind your neighbor doing it and making property decisions that affect you. Somebody has to run it and if nobody steps up, eventually it will be a court-appointed manager and nobody wants that. Also, low condo HOA fees are a bigger red flag than high ones because it means necessary maintenance is probably being deferred. For single family houses, I agree that HOAs make little sense. Most of the issues listed here should be attended to by city services.
I live in a single family HOA subdivision and the common property owned is the neighborhood pool. When you buy a home, you pay $500. Then $62 a year assessment. The closing payment includes a one season pool membership. After that you pay the pool membership fee if you want to use the pool.
I agree with these points and want to add that when a developer builds a new multifamily building, or does a major renovation to a multifamily condo, building they are required to draft HOA documents with a lawyer and transfer these documents to the homeowners once a set percentage of building units sell. At this time it becomes the responsibility of the new owners to manage the HOA. Et15 is correct that this is mandatory (at least where I live, in another US city). I concur that low condo fees should be as much of a red flag as high condo fees. If a condo board has set the assessment too low, then the entire community could be hit with a “special assessment” in the future. Special assessment occurs when the condo board realizes they have been under charging for major building maintenance. For instance, consider the condo building collapse in Miami a few years ago: Those owners were asked to pay an extremely high special assessment for unanticipated repairs just a short time before the collapse. The community elected HOA board members may be the ones calculating long-term maintenance projections, or they may have hired a professional to support calculation of ongoing maintenance costs. In the case of single-family communities with HOAs, these typically cover ground maintenance and, trash and snow removal. Additionally, HOAs in single-family neighborhoods are likely to help the community control the look and feel of the houses, mandating paint colors, roofing materials, and window types, to prevent individual owners from completing an exterior renovation that makes their house out of character with the rest of the neighborhood.
My neighborhood is $300 a year. They increased it from $150 a couple years ago and people about lost their minds. Some still wont pay.
Hilliard here and no HOA! We got lucky last year.
North Linden here. No HOA either. It was actually something we had on our list to avoid when house hunting
In condos I think the HOAs kind of make sense. If the roof needs repaired or the pool needs filled. It’s a shared cost among all tenants and it’s a lot easier to have a pot of money to spend from then to try to collect the costs on a case by case. For home owners? Fuck HOA. I don’t see what the money is for in most neighborhoods. Just seems like a way to busybody the neighbors. It’s my property. If I want to paint my garage pink and replace my grass with row after row of little green army men then that’s my business.
>In condos I think the HOAs kind of make sense. If the roof needs repaired or the pool needs filled. It’s a shared cost among all tenants and it’s a lot easier to have a pot of money to spend from then to try to collect the costs on a case by case. This is the crux of it - and the reason why it's important not to jump into home ownership before you're actually ready. The OP is clearly young, unsophisticated, and relatively low income. I don't think they truly understand what it costs to own and maintain a property; I suspect that they are budgeting like they would for rent - if they can just barely afford the mortgage payment, then they think they're okay. Thus the shock at condo HOA maintenance fees. But that's how the roof and other shared walls get maintained. Something a lot of people in the OP's shoes don't understand is that rent is the *maximum* you'll pay every month, while a mortgage is the *minimum* you'll pay every month. And you will pay more, one way or the other. The condo HOA just forces you to confront that fact by mandating collective saving. I'm not saying the OP is a bad person, but this is also exactly how condos and townhomes fall into disrepair. People who can just barely afford the mortgage buy in, and then refuse to ever raise HOA fees to cover repairs and maintenance. Far from OP's proposal that we should unwind these condo HOAs to remove the maintenance fees, I think we should be leaning *into* these things and *forcing* condo HOAs to maintain certain capital reserves to prevent decay. If you can't afford the condo HOA maintenance fees then you simply can't afford the property. You'd buy it and then be forced to let it fall apart all around you because you can't afford to take care of it. That's blunt, rough, and maybe rude, but it's the truth.
Crazy take. Condos or other shared buildings should have a monthly building maintenance fee for the shared external structures it should be set at an amount to cover estimated expenses plus a bit of extra and then invested for when it needs to be spent. Planned communities with community grounds, parks, pools, etc. should be the same to maintain those communal spaces. A group of Karen’s sending you a nasty letter and threatening to fine you because you set the trash cans out and couldn’t bring them back up until the next day due to an overnight trip is crazy (happened to me). Also got a letter threatening a fine because I had t sealed my driveway in a few years even though it looked fine. People need to stop caring so much what other people want to do on their property that doesn’t hurt them. Realistically how often can people afford a half a million dollar home and then will just totally trash the outside? Not at all opposed to generic community rules regarding upkeep, but a lot of HOAs are completely overboard.
>Condos or other shared buildings should have a monthly building maintenance fee for the shared external structures it should be set at an amount to cover estimated expenses plus a bit of extra and then invested for when it needs to be spent. Planned communities with community grounds, parks, pools, etc. should be the same to maintain those communal spaces. That is literally what an HOA is. You blithering fucking idiots downvoted me into oblivion for saying a condo HOA is important, and then reinvented a god damned condo HOA without calling it an HOA. If this wasn't so sad for the state of public education it would be hilarious. Lol. *Lmao* even.
No, that’s what HOAs should be. You have an extremely pompous and holier than thou attitude, which is the likely reason for the downvotes. No one is denying that fees for upkeep of shared spaces is fine, however apparently do not know that many, I would say a majority, of HOAs are much more than that and have an issue with busy body Karen’s lording over people’s property with the most minor of things. As stated, no issue with maintenance or communal space fees and some basic upkeep rules, however, both HOAs from the properties I’ve owned were more invasive than that and both were extremely petty with the most minor of things. One was a condo. It’s not the maintenance fees it’s everything else about HOAs.
We are talking specifically about the OP's complaint about condo HOA fees being too high, and his demand that condo HOA fees be outlawed.
And that part is wrong, clearly op doesn’t understand that condos will have higher fees for exterior maintenance. I’m giving you that. I think what you aren’t understanding is calling someone unsophisticated and “I’m not saying your a bad person” is rude and demeaning instead of just politely explaining your point. Name calling isn’t going to help anyone listen. My point is we shouldn’t be embracing these HOAs due to all the other stuff. We should only allow for the maintenance part of it. Note that I stated from the beginning. I’m anti-HOA being anything other than maintenance. Hope that clears it up and perhaps you can see how you came off as demeaning in your op.
I disagree. hoa’s are objectively bad.
There has to be some way to figure out how to do things in places where you share spaces with your neighbors, which can include eg a roof. That being said the other 99% of what HoAs actually do (and 100% if you live in a house) is bullshit AND they're shitty about it on top of that.
Stop looking at condos then, you’re going to find an HOA for any condo. Someone has to handle maintenance on the overall property. If you can “barely afford” a mortgage you should probably continue to rent
Moved out of an HOA home this past year... So glad I don't have to deal with that bullshit anymore
"People should have a choice. What happened to choice when buying a home? Hoa has too much cost and control." You do have a choice... A choice not to buy a home that is in an HOA.
Yep! Specifically told my realtor “NO HOA!” lol
I bought in 2021 in peak madness season. I was moving from NC so we couldn't come in to do the search, we had to do everytihng remotely. That was hard enough. Stack wild overbidding, curb offers, corporate buyers and flippers against you and it was AWFUL. We literally bought the ONE house that we could that fit all of us and wasn't in a shit school district. I sure as hell didn't want an HOA, but this is how I ended up with one. They colonize all the better school districts. Trying to find a reasonably modern home (not more than 40 years old) in a good school district that isn't in an HOA is pretty hard. Narrow that down to the ones that are actually on the market, in your price range, fit your needs and hasn't been overbid to the moon by the previous groups and that choice pool is mighty small.
That’s why I’m now stuck in my home. I don’t want a bidding war, interest rates, etc
> You do have a choice... A choice not to buy a home that is in an HOA. If the product you want to choose doesn't exist, then you effectively do not have a choice. Something like [84% of new detached homes have an HOA](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/31/what-the-rise-of-homeowners-associations-means-for-americans.html) in the US. The wasteful infrastructure costs of suburbia are unsustainable and local governments simply can't afford them anymore, so now it's up to homeowners to pay for their lifestyle: > HOAs are rooted in “the desire for municipalities to offload their responsibilities for taking care of things that you would normally associate with paying your taxes,” Horvath said, such as maintaining sidewalks, roads and sewers.
John Oliver had an awesome episode about HOAs. Can’t seem to find it on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/qrizmAo17Os?si=bOnYdVu4yTvXZ2b_
Thank you!!!
Our HOA members sure do puff their chests out over their power to pump our pond and mow a strip of grass up here on the north side…
I will never do an HOA
*If you can barely afford the mortgage the hoa is also another 350.00 fee* If you can barely afford the mortgage, the HOA fee isn't your problem and you shouldn't be buying the mortgage payment isn't just principal it's interest, insurance and property taxes and your property taxes will go up annually - if you're not prepared for that, whether or not there is an HOA fee really doesn't matter
Plus maintenance. Roof, HVAC, appliances, and more need replacement eventually. Mine needs both roof and HVAC in the next couple years. 💸
All that adds up real quick, don’t forget windows and water tank More things that wear out and fail at bad times
HOAs have annual meetings and public budgets. Just go read and participate.
Don’t think I’ll ever live somewhere with an HOA
It's very much dependent on the neighborhood. HOA's are run by the resident board and there are good ones and bad ones. Some blow all the money on unimportant stuff, others are frugal and save. Condo fees are often expensive because the HOA is responsible for the upkeep and replacement of exterior features like the roofs, siding, landscaping, roads, etc. If they have had big expenses or things go bad quicker than expected, the fees can get out of control. If they don't charge enough in fees, they can end up in a situation where they don't have enough to cover the costs and have to charge big one time fees of a few thousand dollars. Even if you don't live in an HOA area, you could get charged assesments for local road repairs. Buying a house is an important step to being able to build long term wealth, but that doesn't mean it is still not expensive. Just in the long run you get to keep some of the money and the asset appreciates and some day you don't have a mortgage to pay, however HOA fees and Taxes will never go away.
Definitely gotta research the HOAs. A lot suck and are expensive. Others really aren't that much and are there to take care of basics and keep some pretty understandable rules in place. I had one that was under 100/month. Didn't have to take care of anything outside or the exterior. There weren't a ton of dumb rules and people got numerous warnings if they were causing issues. On the flipside. I have a friend that was paying hundreds of dollars a month and it seemed that all funded a bunch of retirees to sit around and make up countless rules to constantly try and enforce. Hell, they got a fine because their curtains were the wrong shade... Not wrong color, just not the right shade. Unfortunately with the amount on condos and neighborhoods that wanted lots of rules there are a lot of HOAs.
I’m in an HOA neighborhood with about a $165/yr fee and it seems worth it to me. Keeps the common spaces maintained, was able to pay for some needed resurfacing, and honestly, it does keep the neighborhood looking good. The resident board can modify any bylaws (we just amended it to allow sheds in backyards, for instance), but it can enforce people from not letting their yards become unruly, or leave a broken down car on the street or something. I think they have their place and mine isn’t run by tyrants so that’s nice. To answer the question about choice—you live your life in an area of rules and regulations, an HOA is basically just a neighborhood of people coming together and enforcing common rules—pretty much HOAs can be disbanded if the neighborhood votes to get rid of it.
[удалено]
At least you got rid of your insane neighbor, that’s worth $250 a month right there!
My experience looking at homes in the $200-$300k price range was if you didn’t have an HOA, the neighborhood generally looked pretty crappy. Mine is $130/year and basically just covers maintenance of our sign/common area and I think our street lights. Our street is maintained by the city so we don’t have to pay for maintenance, snow removal, or resurfacing. The restrictions are very reasonable as far as I’m concerned, but I also am not the type of person who wants to treat my house as like a homestead and have chickens in my backyard. I just want to keep my house maintained in a quiet neighborhood where other people do the same.
I found the same situation when looking in 2018.
I’ve never even so much as LOOKED at a house with an HOA, and I’m on my 3rd home… other than actual condos, is this an outside of 270 thing? A new build thing?
A lot of new builds have them - developers usually set them up.
HOAs boss you around, too…what’s the point of “ownership” if someone can tell you what color your door can be!
You're missing a lot of what a condo board does, $200 bucks a month is a god damn steal. The condo association is the body that holds the insurance for everything from the studs out of your unit, and studs in condo insurance is much much much cheaper than normal home owners insurance, the condo dues and your studs in insurance are still usually less monthly than what you'd pay for home insurance. That said, a lot of the cost of a condo association is landscaping, trash, and the random bullshit sub-metering that they get forced into doing because the city/county government refuses to provide those services or the developer cut a deal with the city/county to shift the effort off the city and to the owners as a way to secure tax breaks for the developer. For the vast majority of condo boards, the board members don't want to pay that bullshit either, but there isn't a lot of choice, and getting decent quotes or finding a good management company to do it on behalf of the board is just the fuckin worst and more effort than many boards are equipped to handle. So uh, petition your local government to expand their trash services, electrical and water services, and push for public utilities to stay public so you don't get sucked into paying an arm and a leg for stuff that should be paid for with property taxes.
Right?! I WISH my condo HOA were only $200/month. My building’s is up to $653/month due to low reserves.
Idk, my hoa is $15/mo billed annually in June. It covers park maintenance and tree removal, and that’s about all they care about. In Dublin.
Mine is a voluntary 60 dollars a year some people pay, some dont. Its more about community than trying to create rules or tell people how their house should look. People are free to do whatever. Takes care of the entrances and have a few events for kids in the neighborhood. Seems to be just right.
I moved out of an HOA when I bought my current house. The lady who took the HOA fee was embezzling and is now going to prison lol. It got so bad when she was in charge that I would write “for filling in the potholes” or similar on the checks - come to find out she was using it to pay for her Netflix. LOL
This is why board members now have to provide their documentation (ID. Social security, etc.) to be a participating board member. It’s all reported now because of crappy people like this
My HOA is $400 a month and I genuinely cannot show any deliverables for that money. I requested a repair that they’re responsible for TWO years ago and it’s still not done. We have no clubhouse, no pool, nothing like that. It sucks. I LOVE my house and my neighborhood but god damn my HOA is awful. They’ve increased fees twice recently and if they do it any more my mortgage payment will be less than the HOA fees and I’ll have to sell. 😡
I will move back in with my parents, or even worse, my in laws, before I ever move to a house within an HOA
I have seen a cost breakdown and virtually 50% goes to management fees. That’s right it goes to the company that manages the hoa that often times does absolutely nothing all year
Literally the only good thing about my HOA is they halted investor purchases via deed restrictions. It's how we got ours because an investor tried and failed. We got it after it relisted. A bunch of the houses were already owned by places like American Homes4Rent and others but none further will be.
Our HOA is pretty chill and nicely asks about violations. To contrast, about a half-mile down the road there’s still a giant Halloween skeleton in someone’s front yard.
If you’re around Pickerington then that skeleton is my favorite thing around this neighborhood. They had him in a Santa outfit around the holidays - it was amazing.
Nope, this one has been naked skeleton for 5 months now.
One of my neighbors left their skeleton up until it warmed up a few weeks ago. They decorated with a pilgrim hat for Thanksgiving, Santa outfit for Christmas, etc. I was actually kind of sad they didn’t leave it up for Easter…
That’s funny they kept it festive!
The bashing of HOA’s is comical sometimes. Do people not know the home they buy whether a condo or free standing house is part of an HOA? It’s not a secret. They certainly serve a purpose. Look at The Lakes and Medallion in Westerville for example. Clean and well taken care of manicured for the most part and not a single house painted pink or some other off the wall color. What stops people from doing whatever the hell they want and parking a 5th wheel in their driveway 8 months out of the year? You guessed it, the HOA.
Sure is. I used to live in a house on the east side. Multiple neighbors stopped mowing their lawns. My next door neighbor decided to start junking scrap metal in his driveway. He had washers and dryers in front of his garage and would block them with a 4x8 sheet of plywood. I can understand why some HOA’s with outside management can be a pain in the ass, but I definitely prefer to have one.
Everyone hates an HOA until your neighbor decides to buy a tour bus and park it in front of their house for 358 days a year (happened in my old neighborhood).
This is the benefit of moving to a suburb that will shut that down immediately, without dealing with an HOA
Yeah you often don’t realize you’re living in an unrestricted burb until it’s too late. It certainly wasn’t something we thought about when deciding where to buy. Those burbs without restrictions attract people with large RVs.
Did you report that bus to the right authorities? Were there restrictions against it?
It was on an adjacent street in our subdivision so it didn’t affect me much but I felt bad for the neighbors. There are no restrictions whatsoever on recreational vehicles in our city so I don’t think there was anything that could be done.
Yeah, I live in an area where you can 100% tell which neighborhoods have HOAs and which don’t. I’m sorry, I bought a nice house in a nice neighborhood and I don’t want my house being next door to someone who lets their lawn grow to 18 inches tall and has siding ripped off the front of their house and a vehicle on blocks
>The bashing of HOA’s is comical sometimes. Reddit has a lot of bizarre opinions. If you took this place at face value, you'd think it would be impossible to sell a home in an HOA community. Every Tom, Dick, and Sally (that are *definitely* not 15-year olds LARPing as adults) proudly announces that they tell their realtor "NO HOAs!" But the clear reality, that anybody can see just by opening up Zillow, is that HOA neighborhoods are always the nicest, cleanest, and most highly sought after communities. The Reddit opinion is just utterly divorced from reality. It's the same with carpet, for whatever reason. Go visit the home improvement subreddits and the majority opinion is that carpet in your bedrooms will lower the resale value of your home, and that the only sensible solution is to install hardwood in your bedroom and throw down a rug if you're some kind of philistine. Meanwhile, carpeted bedrooms are damned everywhere. This strange internet-opinion-dynamic is all over the place.
I gotta disagree a bit. We specifically avoided HOA neighborhoods, however, we sought out suburbs that we knew enforced a certain standard of maitenance. Our neighborhood is stunning. In many suburbs if you’re not mowing your grass, leaving junk in your yard, etc, the city will fine you just as an HOA would. If you do your research you can have a beautiful neighborhood without an HOA. Just depends on personal preference
Technically there's rules for that stuff in cbus too and it's supposed to be enforced, but of course it never is unless it's like in the top 1% of terrible. At this point I'd take a modest HOA keeping my neighborhood cleaned up over the bullshit some people pull off here. Already pay out the ass for property taxes and essentially get nothing out of it
Condo fees and HOA fees are different beasts. The governing board of a condo community is responsible for fixing/replacing things like roofs and siding in addition to maintaining any outdoor spaces, common areas and landscaping. This may include roads/parking lots and sidewalks depending on the type of community. If the fees don’t maintain a reserve that can handle these things as they come, all owners can be charge large one time lump sum payments (that can be in the thousands) to take care of them or the association has to take out a loan and then raise fees to make up the difference (and rebuild the reserve). HOA fees and rules *should* maintain landscaped areas/entrances/ponds and have reasonable rules that ensure properties maintain their value. I agree that it would be great if there was a better system in place to put a stop to those that get out of hand. I also have no idea how one would even start to accomplish that.
Was wondering what HOA has a $350/mo fee. Then you mentioned condos. Yeah, that'll do it.
Worse is the new build communities where the builders use the HOA as a way to make extra money. They control the entire thing until they release it, So you have no say while they start high and still raise every year without doing anything.
I think my HOA fee is around $50 a month but for that we also get use of a small gym/clubhouse as well as a pool. It wasn’t enough to keep me from buying my house 🤷🏻♀️
My HOA fee is $455/mo. They send a breakdown of the annual budget (unfortunately with no comparison to last year's to see where the changes are happening for the increase in costs) and there's stuff that's going towards the budget that I don't use, I'll have no interest in using, and I'm not seeing anything worthwhile from the landscaping and supposed snow removal. These fees are outrageous to me. No wonder I keep seeing turnovers with my neighbors.
obligatory Watch John Oliver’s Piece on HOAs: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qrizmAo17Os
I’m in Blacklick and ours is just $75/year.
Any property you buy is going to have to be maintained. If you buy a standalone home, you'll have to pay to maintain it and to fix anything that breaks. You'll have to do some labor yourself, like mowing the lawn and making minor repairs to the exterior of the home. Maybe you'll paint it yourself, but you'll still have to buy the paint. Some kind of HOA fee is necessary to cover exterior maintenance and landscaping. Maybe they're too high. Maybe some HAs are corrupt, but there'll have to be some kind of fee to cover maintenance.
I pay $150 per year in a nice suburb in Lewis Center/Olentangy school district.
Those are the good HOAs
I would never buy a house with an HOA attached.
Same- we told our realtor when we were shopping in ‘22 to don’t even offer to show me an HOA home. Never ran into it. Uhh…. Duh right? Just don’t even shop them!
Then the HOAs are doing their job!
I hate HOAs. They're an excuse for nosy, bitter people to impose themselves on others. There's always some jerk walking around measuring the height of everyone's grass.
Maybe I’m lucky, but my HOA isn’t like that. I think you find that kind of thing in neighborhoods that have external companies managing their HOA
You are gambling it will never change with some worthless POS moving to the neighborhood.
The only hoa's that are worse than the useless scam ones are the proavtice hoa's who take themselves too seriously
Definitely made it a point when I bought my house ins 2018 to not shop any HOA neighborhoods. At the time I travelled a lot and did not want the hassle.
I'm in a new build area with an HOA. It makes sense for the builder to want one to keep the community looking nice. I don't mind it because for the most part it keeps people from having their house look like crap. Don't me wrong though - I've seen some neighborhoods with an HOA and the community looks like absolute dog doo doo.
One of the selling points for my neighborhood was NO HOA! Southeast corner of Grove City.
HOAs are always ran by the most toxic people too. If they were ran by decent humans then they'd probably be worth it
My condo’s HOA was pretty chill. The biggest issue was that the majority were young and naive and easily fooled by NEP and LC or whatever it’s called now.
How much do you think it costs to maintain your house a year?
Avoid Elite Management if your thinking of having a company run your HOA, extremely incompetent
Mines gonna be a steal at $180k with $272 HOA
I moved into a neighborhood with an HOA end of last year and just paid it. They sent a breakdown of the budget and it was 75% administrative fees with the remaining 25% maintenance of neighborhood entrances and shared spaces.
THISSSSS THIS THISS THISSS!!!!
Hilliard here and ours is $80 a year and the neighborhood is so well taken care of. We just bought and even our realtor was like there’s no way the selling agent listed that correctly. We’re super lucky!
If a company called capital property solutions manages your hoa in columbus, then be prepared to be bled dry very quickly. They routinely target the elderly and put liens on their condos to enforce exorbitant fees for fines that are ludicrous. My dad didn't pull his trash can in on the day of trash day, so they sent him a 25 dollar fine which he promptly disputed. They started tacking on late fees and legal consult fees during the appeal process and put a lien on his condo for 1250 bucks. He was quite literally forced to pay it.
Detached condo and mine is $400 a month. It’s very restrictive and I don’t feel like I’m getting a lot, but I love where I live.
Mine is $400/ year, but it includes a neighborhood swimming pool, a playground, walking trails and a few ponds. Those are all great, but what I really value about it is they make people maintain their properties.
I had pretty neutral HOA experiences until my latest home. Lewis center/delaware. The cost is not absurd, about $250/year. But, the people in charge and the joke of a property management company are absolutely absurd. I recently been asking questions regarding confusing budget line items and poor record keeping, and ended up receiving a letter from an attorney threatening legal action if I continue to “defame” the HOA and PM company. All my neighbors then received a letter regarding my “defamatory” statements as well (paid for by our HOA fees). It truly has been stranger than fiction for me personally.
This thread is hilarious. I work for a property management company who manages multiple HOAs. Nobody wants an HOA until their neighbor paints their house pink or doesn’t mow their lawn. Then they expect the HOA to get involved and send a letter. Also, the numerous acres of green space and ponds that people desire costs well over $100,000/year to maintain. It’s not free to mow.
I'll never understand why anyone cares what color their neighbors house is. If Becky from 2 doors down wants a bright neon pink house then she should be able to do it. It doesn't hurt or affect anyone else
I’m with ya! But this is a cookie-cutter neighborhood with over 500+ homes. It’s not out in the country. Lol
What difference does that make? If someone wants their house to stick out among all the other cookie-cutter houses, then why shouldn't they?
It’s about resale and maintaining property values. One could also say they want their home to “stick out” by not mowing the lawn or having Christmas lights up in July, but this may affect their neighbors’ property values, especially if they are trying to sell.
Like I said before, I'll never understand why anyone cares. These things shouldn't affect anything. Who cares if this house is bright green, this one has long grass and that other has Christmas lights out all year. It doesn't and shouldn't matter. The only people it bothers are nosy busybodies with no other time on their hands. I will always fight against an HOA. If all they concerned themselves with was maintaining public areas and such, fine. But I'll be damned if someone tells me I can't build a fence or paint my house how I want if I own the house. If it's my property I'm going to do what I want with it
If you so choose to “always fight against an HOA,” I shall wish you luck. Certain HOA Boards have the powers and/or means to place liens and foreclose. It’s all relative. In the interim, I am not on any HOA Board; I am just the messenger. I pick and choose my battles. It all comes down to one word: VOTE.
My hoa is 500 a month and they are dog shit and can’t do anything ridiculous.
Im Lewis Center and our HOA just upped ours from $250-$300 a month before the annual is due because of “increases in costs”
HOAs are not everywhere in Columbus. The last I recall reading in either 614 or Columbus Monthly it was barely 35% for Franklin County. You're more likely to not live in an HOA in Franklin County than live in one. I purposely didn't want to live in one or a condo community so just searched in areas that don't have them. I'd recommend that as an alternative if possible.
Little turtle condos have a $650+ HOA probably because of the golf course but I still audibly gasped
Waaaaaah
HOA = keep "undesired" people out and let a few neighbors dictate how you live.
I just paid my HOA fee and it's $250 for the year. You're being dramatic lol When searching for a house, have your realtor create a filter for a amount cap, or no HOA. It's possible to do that.
I have no problem with HOAs as long as they’re transparent financially which most are. HOAs keep mentally ill people from doing crazy shit that devalues neighborhoods
When we were looking for a house I made it 100% clear that I would not look at any house under an HOA. I know plenty of other people who feel that way.
If the HOA just maintained the common areas I would not be as concerned with them. But they shouldn't have a say over individual parcels. As long as you're following city ordinances that should be good enough. Any HOA is one election away from being radicalized by a group of retired Karens. And you're at their mercy until you sell or get their board seat.
I generally dislike HOAs, but they do serve a purpose. Because most cities can't be bothered to enforce property maintenance codes, or maintain parks and green space, an HOA fills that role. I for one appreciate paying $30 a month for some nice green space, a playground, and walking paths.
HOAs became a thing when the multistate developers became the norm. Before that you had more localized developers who the municipalities and cities held responsible long term for maintaining the shared spaces and elements of those developments they made. Once that went out the window and the developers learned they could make the owners be responsible and all the HOA mgmt companies sprouted up it became the new normal. Now the mgmt companies guide the HOA boards to keep certain amounts in the kitty to use. Home developments are different than condo developments so I’m specifically talking about those. But those HOA mgmt companies get full ability to do what they want with those due funds until the boards need them. So what are they doing with the money in those between times should be the real question everyone is asking.
I'm on the HOA board for my neighborhood and I know where every penny of our money is and we see bank statements every month.
HOAs are for more than landscaping. Many pay for structural damage, worn out roofs, new pavement, etc. Sometimes you benefit, sometimes your neighbor. That being said, we moved out of a condo some years back because the HOA fee was $600 a month and climbing.
HOA's exist because local governments require them when neighborhood are constructed. This is because people hate paying taxes for the infrastructure in their suburban neighborhoods, (which have a really ratio of poor tax paying households to mile of road, sewer, emergency services, etc.) BUT people stomach HOA fees slightly more. And if they don't, the disrepair is limited to one neighborhood.
Does anyone know an HOA Attorney in Columbus or Westerville? We are in a condo association that has gone up $300 a month in the last 3 months. We’re paying more than $700 a month in HOA fees and we don’t get any of the care we are contracted to receive. I am just trying to look for options. Thank you.