Florida HOA help!

[aprilgail]

We've lived in 3 Florida locations with HOAs. IMO, you should stay away from condos, if you live on a budget. They can be a money pit. It appears to be a good buy in price, but the HOA fees go up on a fairly frequent basis. When there are major problems with any of the buildings, everyone usually gets a rate increase.

When looking for a home, ask them to provide the rules & regulations & how often the fees tend to go up. Avoid HOAs that dictate what you do to your home inside & out. Some HOAs require you to pre-approve appliances & paint colors on the inside. I would never buy a home in one of those subdivisions. Pre-approved paint colors on the outside are fairly normal. Older subdivisions are usually easier to deal with.

Our previous HOA paid helicopters to fly over homes to determine who needed a new roof. If you didn't replace the roof, you are fined. We also had retirees with way too much time on their hands walk by with a clipboard looking for violations on the outside. Anything they didn't approve of had to be corrected within a month or you were charged a daily fine. Our new HOA is much easier to work with.

When looking at homes, ask the neighbors about the HOA. Most of them will be honest with you. Look for owners in your same demographic (age, kids, etc.). They can probably give you better info for your situation. Don't buy into a neighborhood, without knowing exactly what to expect from the HOA & how often the rates can increase.

Not that you asked, but we've moved several times. We normally visit the area in advance & stay in a hotel for at least a long weekend. Everywhere we go, hotel, restaurants, stores, etc., we ask people what neighborhood in the city or nearby suburbs they would prefer to live in. It may feel awkward at first, but everyone has been willing to talk to us about it. That usually gives us a general area to look in. We rent in that area for 6 months to a year & tour all the nearby neighborhoods. That helps us to know where we'd be willing to buy a home. I personally would never buy a home without knowing the area well, but many people do. It comes down to what you're comfortable with.

My friend moved from Long Island NY to Florida and into a HOA community- she regretted it the first week! Any little thing they could find they nit picked- as far as I am concerned HOA's are just run by power hungry people with no life. Since they moved their one of their kids got her license and a car, well now it seems they are "over the vehicle limit per house"- there are 3 adults and 2 teens so there are 5 cars, apparently you are only allowed 4 cars so they are having issues with that. They put the house up for sale to get out of there but not selling fast enough for them!

 

[Pooh2]

We would never choose to live in an HOA neighborhood. We've lived in our neighborhood for 30 years. It never bothered me in the least that two of our neighbors keep up their Christmas lights all year, the young couple next door are slowly renovating their siding and porches as their budget allows. We've parked cars on the front lawn for several weeks at a time while selling them, often had 6-7 cars parked all over the yard and drive when the kids were all home. Never notice how high someone's grass grows or if they leave out their garbage can too long or toys in the yard.
We live on a beautiful country road with a good variety of homes in different sizes, colors, states of repair with kindly neighbors who watch out for each other.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

My friend moved from Long Island NY to Florida and into a HOA community- she regretted it the first week! Any little thing they could find they nit picked- as far as I am concerned HOA's are just run by power hungry people with no life. Since they moved their one of their kids got her license and a car, well now it seems they are "over the vehicle limit per house"- there are 3 adults and 2 teens so there are 5 cars, apparently you are only allowed 4 cars so they are having issues with that. They put the house up for sale to get out of there but not selling fast enough for them!

None of the communities we've lived in restrict number of cars, but they have to be parked in your garage or driveway. Street parking is allowed for a few hours for guests to park for a party or something like that, but never overnight. You could get away with having guests park on your grass for a week, if it was a rare occurrence. You couldn't have a car parked on the grass long term. If your friends can't sell their home, they could look into whether or not their HOA & city would allow yard to be removed to add additional driveway space. I can't remember seeing anyone with 5 cars, so it's probably not that common. Most homes can accommodate 4 cars. Some of the older communities allow parking on the grass, street or anywhere else you can stick a car, but they may not want to live in those areas. Naturally, without know what area of FL they live in, it's hard to say what their options may be.

 

[sam_gordon]

My friend moved from Long Island NY to Florida and into a HOA community- she regretted it the first week! Any little thing they could find they nit picked- as far as I am concerned HOA's are just run by power hungry people with no life. Since they moved their one of their kids got her license and a car, well now it seems they are "over the vehicle limit per house"- there are 3 adults and 2 teens so there are 5 cars, apparently you are only allowed 4 cars so they are having issues with that. They put the house up for sale to get out of there but not selling fast enough for them!

Did they read the covenants before buying the house? Or did they think "oh, they won't enforce this"?

 

[aprilchem]

We lived in a place with an HOA when we first moved to Va. It was extremely strict - no flags outside the house, no decorations at all, you had to get any and all plantings outside your house approved by the board (even if you wanted just a pot with flowers in it). The worse part is they routinely came inside everyone's fenced-in backyards (we all had privacy fences) and looked for anything that was left outside of the sheds and fined you for it. The justification was that the next door neighbors could see into each others' back yards from the second floor and they wanted to maintain a "tidy" environment, which to me seemed weak.

We only got fined once, which was when I was staining our deck and couldn't get it all finished in one day, so I left it half done and finished it the next day. The HOA folks came into our back yard, saw the half-finished deck and the cans of stain, and issued a fine. We ended up moving out of that subdivision (and into a place with no HOA) in less than 2 years after we bought the place.

 

[nkereina]

I am another one who lives in an HOA, but not in Florida. We DO have petty bickering but it's easy to stay out of it - stay off the Facebook group! I actually do still belong to it because it can come in handy for recommendations, missing pets or packages, garage sale coordinations, and also neighborhood watch stuff (we had teens causing issues, coyotes in yards, etc.). But when a topic comes up that gets controversial, I just ignore the thread. I also opt not to attend the meetings and send in my votes via proxy.

Our rules are in line with any other HOA. While they may seem strict such as the type of fence you can put up, the color house you can have, etc. it's all meant to help keep up the value and appearance of your home and neighborhood so they are good rules IMO. It hasn't been a hassle for us to follow them, and the board members have given us no issues with approvals we've requested for our deck, fences, and sheds. We just make sure to adhere to the rules and guidelines. Those that have issues with the rules are the ones who want to do something outside the rules, and that's their fault for not familiarizing themselves with the rules before moving there.

 

[paisleys]

I've lived in three HOA communities, one condo one up north and two houses in Florida. The condo one was a HORRIFIC experience until we voted out the bad egg president. The house ones down here have been fine. You can read the documents prior to buying to know what you're in for. I've only gotten two violations here and each time they enclosed a photocopy of the HOA doc section I was violating (two many garden flags one and the other our roof rightfully needed a cleansing). I feel that's fair. We did have one issue (in ten years) with a board president in our last community. He had the landscapers come and chop down everyone's privacy ficus, even though they were on our property. We had an emergency vote and tossed that guy. and our ficus grew back. There is always one bad, bored old egg on every board but most people are normal and will band together against people like that. I have a private vendetta against the person I know reported me to our management company due to the extra flag. He used to walk around with a clip board and then report people he doesn't like. Luckily that management company person got fired and we have a new one who is ignoring him (he posted this on our site wanting to get the new person fired but everyone else likes the new person). Aside from the occasional bad apple, I like that we are overseen and kept neat. Some of the neighborhoods down here without associations look pretty bad. Homes covered in rust, weeds, boarded up windows from storms a over year ago and dilapidated cars on lawns. Give me an HOA here anyway over that.

 

[Fldisneyfamily4321]

Like I said I’m my other post I do live in a HOA ( the one that was all over the news for the “ mailbox flag and the vet “ ) I noticed that a lot of people commented online on that story without the entire picture .. it was a mailbox magnet of a flag , he actually was able to fly a regular flag without issue .. we fly a thin blue line flag without issue also .I do think some of the rules are odd but I knew them before I moved in and signed the paper saying that .
I don’t agree with all of it but most of the rules keep the neighborhood very nice and the homes don’t loose value like most in town and people know when or if they sell they will actually make a profit on their home .

 

[MillauFr]

I would never chose to live in a HOA. Never know when some crazy board members are going to take over and force you to leave your garage door open all day long.

 

[sam_gordon]

I would never chose to live in a HOA. Never know when some crazy board members are going to take over and force you to leave your garage door open all day long.

Except that's not how it usually works. I think most HOAs are set up so if a change to the covenants is requested, a majority of homeowners would need to agree to the change. At least that's how ours is set up.

 

[Fldisneyfamily4321]

Except that's not how it usually works. I think most HOAs are set up so if a change to the covenants is requested, a majority of homeowners would need to agree to the change. At least that's how ours is set up.

That is how ours is.. have to vote but ours is opposite..we have to keep our garage closed but they actually don’t really enforce it strictly.

 

[Christine]

I would never chose to live in a HOA. Never know when some crazy board members are going to take over and force you to leave your garage door open all day long.

If your covenants don't require the garage door to be open, then they can't make you. It takes a lot of time, effort, and money to change a covenant.

If you move into a neighborhood and "leaving garage doors open" is in your covenants, then you were warned.

 

[aprilgail]

Did they read the covenants before buying the house? Or did they think "oh, they won't enforce this"?

one of the adult kids moved back in after they moved there so it brought the car total up

 

[Minnesota!]

I am just perplexed at all the people who think that if you don’t have an HOA, it means everyone is going to have trash neighborhoods? No HOA here, our neighborhood is just fine!

FWIW – our first home was an HOA and never, ever again. We paid $225/month (in 2002) for a teeny, tiny townhome. Ridiculous.

 

[Christine]

I am just perplexed at all the people who think that if you don’t have an HOA, it means everyone is going to have trash neighborhoods? No HOA here, our neighborhood is just fine!

FWIW – our first home was an HOA and never, ever again. We paid $225/month (in 2002) for a teeny, tiny townhome. Ridiculous.

I think times have changed to some degree.

I grew up with HOAs not even being a thing. People took pride in their homes and we rarely had incidents of what I see now. As with everything, I don't think society as a whole cares about their impact on others. Or you have people who move into homes but cannot afford to maintain them. I do think there is more situations of people letting things go or not following even county/city ordinances. Certainly it's not the majority and I do think you can "luck out" and move into an area where everyone takes care of their homes and does what they should do.

 

[sam_gordon]

I am just perplexed at all the people who think that if you don’t have an HOA, it means everyone is going to have trash neighborhoods? No HOA here, our neighborhood is just fine!

I don't think no HOA automatically means it's a rundown neighborhood. Just like living in an HOA neighborhood doesn't necessarily mean there's a bunch of nosy busybodies examining your backyard and what kind of carpet you have in your living room.

 

[tvguy]

I know everyone is harping on HOAs, but sometimes city ordinances are the problem. For example, the city of Apopka has very strict street parking regulations.

True, but often HOA's tend to take it to the next level.
We have one development where no cars are allowed to be parked on the street or in a driveway after 8 pm. They have to be in the garage until 6 am. Guests have to park in the garage, or in a parking lot outside the development

 

[jodifla]

None of our Florida SFA homes had a true HOA. We had one with a neighborhood association, dues were like $45 a year, and mainly they had block parties and put out newsletters.

Now my dad's condo: That's a whole other matter and was just as bad as you hear about.

 

[Fldisneyfamily4321]

Unfortunately in our area to have a nicer neighborhood it means a HOA.. otherwise you get people that just won’t or can’t keep up their homes , we lived on a nice two acres in a 4 be house but moved into town on a small lot and 3 bedroom house ( but bigger ) to a neighborhood with the HOA.. I loved the other house but our neighbors would NOT clean their yards .. it was a private maintained road ( dirt ) that NO ONE would ever help take care of and unfortunately in Florida there are plenty of private owned roads .. well we just got tired of no one helping and tearing up our cars on the road .. now we may have rules but we have a new “ green home “ , nice roads and sidewalks , parks , golf courses and beautiful pools ... it’s definitely worth the 600.00 a year and some rules ... we even were able to get my daughter into the school here which is wonderful ( and a 2 minutes drive ) !
There can be some perks along with headaches ..

 

[diznygirl]

True, but often HOA's tend to take it to the next level.
We have one development where no cars are allowed to be parked on the street or in a driveway after 8 pm. They have to be in the garage until 6 am. Guests have to park in the garage, or in a parking lot outside the development

You missed the point.

The rules are everywhere. Not just with HOAs. An informed home buyer needs to check local ordinances as well as HOA covenants.