Question for those living in a community with HOA

[Mskanga]

How much do you pay in fees and what do they include?
We pay $135 a year , I know it's not a lot , but we think it is because absolutely NOTHING is included there. We don't have amenities, no garbage pick up, sewer or anything like that , and the township takes care of the roads. No lights in the streets either, so basically is just to pay for the HOA service, for someone to make rules and regulations and have a site coordinator drive around and see what people do on their own properties.
Nine years ago when we bought into this community , the roads were private and the maintenance was paid by us , but three years ago the roads were paved and turned over to the township, now the township takes care of them ( much better ) but we continue to pay for HOA fees in the same amount.

 

[Bob Slydell]

I think we pay $210 a year. It pays for very little except maintenance of common area and operation of the community pool and party room.

 

[Mskanga]

Bob , that is what they tell us , operationof the common areas...what common areas? the mail pavillion? we don't have anything else! There is no lights there either, just a cluster of mailboxes.

 

[Annette_VA]

I live in a very small neighborhood - only 26 houses. No pool, playground or anything. We pay $110 a year, which mostly goes to maintaining the bushes, mulch, trees, etc at the front of the neighborhood. Oh, and to pay for the power that shines light on the sign w/ the name of the development

 

[dianeschlicht]

Seems like you are paying for nothing there except for "big brother", Mskanga!

We have always lived on our own acreage, so have no experience with HOAs, but our DD lives in a condo and pays about $150 a month for maintenance fees for pools, grounds etc. This year, they had a problem with the pools and have not opened them. DD is trying to get a temporary reduction in their fees because of it.

 

[CEDmom]

We pay $120 but for the past couple of years our HOA has offered a 10% discount if you pay all at once so that's what we do. Anyway, our fee includes garbage pickup, snow removal (including driveways and sidewalks), lawn care, general commons area maintenance/enhancements (we got a beautiful new playground a few years ago and the tennis courts were redone). It also takes care of big ticket things like new driveways, garage doors and shutters. All in all I'd say our HOA does a good job.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Originally posted by Mskanga
Bob , that is what they tell us , operationof the common areas...what common areas? the mail pavillion? we don't have anything else! There is no lights there either, just a cluster of mailboxes.

We have some fairly large stretches of green space in a couple different areas in our development. They have sprinkler systems and other landscaping to maintain there.

Mostly, though, I assume the money goes towards the pool (lifeguards, maintenance, etc.) for the summer. The HOA, while it can be a PITB from time to time, is pretty well run and we get an annual statement yearly detailing where all the funds are going. Actually, right now the homebuilder is making up the deficit between dues received and expenses. Once the HOA is turned over to the homeowners, we'll probably end up paying more.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I am a trustee on my HOA.
We pay $100.00 per year, .

Lets see this year....we have insurance on our common areas, 2 monuments about $15,000 a piece, electricity, lightbulbs, fencing in which the teens like to rip up, website, $$$ for newsletters, water bill, irrigation sytem for common area (just fixed it, cost $1000.00) mowing the common areas alone is $575.00 per month, we have 4.
We just got a summons for one of our common areas (a detention pond, which is a dry pond) in which it will cost us up to $7000.00 to repair...ick.
We also host an annual garage sale and block party.
There is also an issue with another common area but haven't deleved into that one YET!

Not to mention we need to make changes to the indentures (neighborhood laws), so we had a lawyer look them over and for each indenture we want to rewrite it will cost anywhere from $300-$800 to do. And there are 2 we NEED to rewrite. Then we have to get people to vote on it. That will cost more $$$ to do THAT!

Not to mention fielding complaints and talking with neighbors.
Oh this is a volunteer position...now why did I do this???

 

[Mskanga]

Diane , that is exactly how we feel . But when the community gets up and says we don't need a HOA, then they come up with this stupid excuses to not disolve it, yet they cannot justify what people are paying for other than the office and administration expenses.

 

[dizagain]

We pay $250 every February for...not much. The two entrances are maintained, decorated for holidays, etc. There are two block parties each year (which noone goes to). A few newsletters go out a year reminding us all of what we're doing wrong. That's about it. It's not a happy day when I write that check!

 

[Jeanny]

ours covers:
Lawn maintenance (the guy & 2 kids are here for 15 minutes tops), no new mulch this year- it's expensive to do it every year.
Snowplowing, (haven't been here long enough to see what that's like) but I've been told I'll have to still shovel off my front stairs and in front of my garage to get my car out.
Master insurance.
Outdoor maintenance... let's see, I'm paying my next door neighbor to paint an octogon window which is peeling and my front door & molding because it's all banged up and to stain my front stairs and deck, because someone decided a couple of years ago, that each homeowner would be responsible for maintaining them.

Remind me ~I'm paying fees for what?? I moved into this townhouse because it was "maintenance free" --- I guess maintenance free for the HOA.

 

[Galahad]

We pay almost $500 a year, but we get:

1) Snow removal
2) maintenance of common areas, street signs, etc
3) 24 hour/hourly neighborhood patrol (even will personalized it and the patrol will check your house while your away)
4) maintenance of lake related things....boat docks and stuff
5) The usual big brother stuff

For another $400 a year we can get access to the pool, tennis courts, etc.

 

[Feralpeg]

I pay $650 a year. This includes care of the pool, tennis courts, soccor field, bandstand, common areas (large parkways), boatdock and subdivision entrance. The city provides trash pickup twice a week. Right now, the builder is taking care of the streets, installing street lamps and mail boxes. Once the subdivision is finished, I assume that the city will be responsible for street maintenance.

 

[Mskanga]

Man, everytime I feel more like they are ripping us off.
We have a sign at the community entrance that has a light , that's it! no common areas to maintain , no pools amenities or anything like that, no roads to maintain ( they are all township ) , no garbage pick up ( we pay for that ) , in other words NOTHING is included.

 

[barbeml]

Let's see, $214 PER MONTH goes to the Condo Association, and another $89 per quarter goes to the Property Owners Association. Our development of 1500 homes is mixed--townhomes, flats and single family.

For my $2,900+, I get structure insurance, landscaping, exterior maintenance PLUS the things I should be getting from the township for the $3600+ in property taxes I pay: trash collection, street lighting and snow removal.

Oh, I must not forget "special assessments" to pay for the constant damage to the pool, tennis courts, lamps, signs and benches caused by the children in the neighborhood who are "bored" with their beautiful homes, yards, decks, motorized scooters, cars, computers, video games, etc.

Once I am out of NJ, I swear I will never live under HOA rule again--just another layer of government run by power-hungry people with too much time on their hands.

 

[ZachnElli]

We just moved and I wanted a neighborhood like this on purpose and I have to pay for it and I'm not complaining. We pay $215 quarterly. We have a neighborhood pool, clubhouse, basketball courts, tennis courts, playground, several ponds (they call them lakes) with waterfalls, several walking paths, common areas (with sprinklers and landscaping), and lots of really beautiful landscaping. We can fish in our "lakes" too. Our last neighborhood was $250 a year of the usual holiday lights, taking care of common areas and a gazebo with a pond that soaked up most of the money for insurance because they made the stupid pond 20 feet deep. I've never heard of trash or snow removal being part of the fees, that's separate.

 

[Christine]

I pay $300 per year. This covers:

Trash Removal (which is MUCH cheaper when we all pool together)
Maintenance of the common areas (the entrance to our community which as a sign)
Insurance for accidents that may occur on the common area
Snow Removal contract

 

[Rutt and Tuke]

We pay $240 per month in our development. That includes water, garbage, sewer, exterior upkeep, pest service (mostly exterior), pool upkeep, road upkeep, insurance on structure and probably more that I'm forgetting.


ETA landscaping, a reserve fund for problems later on.

 

[tar heel]

$300 a year for pool, tennis courts, maintenance of common areas and sometimes a few other things. For example, the city mandates street lights but installs the big ugly ones. The HOA installed decorative ones instead.