S/O HOA Communities

[tvguy]

I absolutely would not live in a neighborhood without an HOA. I like amenities like pools and parks near my home. I like cleanliness and order. I like rules and regulations. I feel like neighborhoods without them always look so run down and you always get those people who just let their house and yard go and look terrible.

We have never owned a home, and maybe never will, but always rent in places with lots of amenities and HOAs. Best of both worlds really. We get the things we want out of it without having to actually BE the homeowner.

We have been in our current rental home for 5 years now and love the neighborhood. The HOA does its job well here. Our pools are always clean, parks are clean, people are respectful in general.

Most folks here that want pools, have pools. I'm the rare person on my street without a pool. HOAs here don't have anything to do with the parks, that's the city. And many HOA's here forbid units from being rented out. Homeowners only.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We didn't seek out an HOA neighborhood but we're content with ours. We just wanted to build a new home--most of those lots we looked at happened to be in newer neighborhoods and newer neighorhoods do tend to have HOAs (not all just they tend to).

I do really like our waterfall feature in our neighborhood, the landscaping done, and the Christmas lights that get put up and line the trees by the waterfall (that is turned off at that time of year) on the hill coming into the neighborhood. I apprecate that there is a park that is in the neighborhood with 3 shelters, a playground and the pool. These are our neighborhood park,shelter,playground and pool rather than a public park though we do have plenty of public parks and pools.

One big thing is the Developer (who is basically the largest in the area) is really big on neighborhood and community-style activities. The amount of things they offer are things you would not likely see in non-HOA neighborhoods unless it was a bunch of neighbors getting together doing things informally. We have sleigh rides for Christmas, Halloween activities, easter egg hunts, movie nights at the pool parking lots during the summer, bbqs at the pool parking lot, food truck events in the pool parking lots (kinda a newer thing), neighborhood garage sales (which can happen without an HOA but an HOA may help get more people involved and pass the word around easier), and other things I'm probably forgetting right now. That's more specific to this Developer but the above items would be a lot harder without the HOA especially without funding (where a portion of our HOA monies goes towards these things).

 

[soccerdad72]

Currently in one. Didn't really go looking to be in a neighborhood with one, but we liked the house when we were looking to build and most new construction was in neighborhoods with HOAs. Overall, we've never really had any issues with ours. The minor inconvenience of having to get things like decks / patio / landscaping approved before we did any work, but nothing too bad.

 

[DuskKodesh]

A million no's. I'm that crazy house that has two wolf gargoyles guarding my porch, blacklights on my porch, and a rainbow flag on my flagpole. I put out my extensive Halloween decorations on September first because I am an adult and no one can stop me. I do maintain my yard, I'm nice to my neighbors, but at the same time give me space to be me.

 

[fla4fun]

We have an HOA, but no amenities like a pool or park. I hate the HOA because they play favorites. They also contradict themselves. For example, if you want to paint your house, you have to go to one specific paint store, find a color scheme in our HOA book, then fill out a form to get it approved. We did that, not because the house needed it, but because we like to keep things looking good. The result? We were refused because “it wasn’t an approved color scheme”. We went back to the store and got a photocopy of the page from the book and submitted that with the form. We were again denied for the same reason. Either the HOA needs to update the book, or they need to stand behind it. Some of our neighbors get tons of nit picky letters and other who have property in much worse shape get none. I don’t know how it is elsewhere, but if someone does not want to comply with the HOA, and they don’t, the worst that happens is a lien is placed on the house. So if they plan to live in it until they die, they just let the liens pile up. The only way to force compliance is if they are doing something that is against county code and you get the county to enforce it. It’s just been a lot of stress all the way round and I will never do it again.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Our development was made in the 70's. There's a tennis court next to one of the houses.

Turns out it's a privately owned tennis court. I guess Nextdoor is good for something

 

[DopeyDame]

Never ever again will I live in a community with an HOA. Our first townhouse had an HOA and it was such a giant pain in the tush.
As a PP said, I'm a grownup, and I'll paint my deck and front door any color I chose on my own private property thankyouverymuch.

I also find it really concerning that HOAs are taking over so much of what should be government functions like road maintenance and garbage disposal.

 

[DisLiss]

My answer depends on the type of HOA. If it's an apartment/townhouse/condo complex and the HOA is in place to take care of all of the public greenspace, plus keeping walkways, driveways, & parking areas clear & in good repair, then I'm fine with it.

But an HOA for a development of single family homes where everyone owns the land around their home individually, then no, I would not be interested in living in a neighborhood with an HOA, even if there too it did also take care of any common area. HOAs can change over time and even if the HOA starts off really only interested in the common spaces, things can change as the people on the board change and you never know when a new rule can affect you and your property.

Where I live, the town responds very well to complaints about anyone not keeping their property maintained and tidy. So I don't require an HOA to do that, and I do not want an HOA that says your house can only be one of these 10 shades of these 3 colors and that your garage doors can only be one of these 6 styles and that your guests cannot park on the road if you have a party.

In my town, I can think of homes that are green, red, blue, pink, purple, salmon, yellow, and I love that. They are all lovely. Some of victorians and some are Craftsman and some are farmhouses and a few are Spanish style, etc., and I like that too. I like that people can hang laundry out to dry, or literally put a bed in their flower bed, LOL! I don't mind if someone's growing veggies in the front yard or if I can see their swing set from the road. And many HOAs start to take away some of those choices, which is why I wouldn't want to live in a neighborhood that had one.

 

[Disneybuckeye]

We have an HOA with our main home and our lake home. We love them and I would be hard pressed to live in a neighborhood without one.

 

[RedAngie]

It's difficult or impossible to find newer communities without HOAs in this area, those build after the late 90's or so. My HOA is pretty relaxed, as long as you don't do anything outrageous they leave you alone. Fence types, backyard sheds, major landscaping changes, swimming pools, etc. must be approved, but you can paint your house as you like within reason, build flower beds, have a flagpole or portable basketball thing in your driveway, pick your mailbox, etc.

There are parameters when holiday decor can be displayed, but they're generous. Overnight street parking is OK. The standard HOA dues cover the use of a clubhouse, tennis court, playground, other recreational activities, but the swimming pool has an extra fee. We pay the per-use fee on the one or two times we use it per summer.

I wouldn't want to live in a Stepford HOA community, however.

 

[Colleen27]

I wouldn't. I think town ordinances are plenty to keep a community from getting run down or neglected without getting overly nit-picky or restrictive about how people can enjoy their own property. I have vegetable gardens and a big wooden playset and a covered sandbox in my yard, I like to line-dry laundry on nice days and let the kids draw hop-scotch courses on the sidewalk with chalk, and my husband's company provides him with a van that we want to be able to park at our house when he gets home from work. And I like the less homogeneous look of a mixed-age (both in terms of architecture and occupants) neighborhood, as opposed to the cookie-cutter character of most of the planned communities in my general area.

But our small town has a lot of the amenities traditionally associated with HOA communities, so that aspect was never a temptation. We have a public beach and a city pool, two very nice playgrounds within a few blocks of our house, an ice rink in the winter, shuffleboard and pickleball and basketball courts in a park about a half-mile away, a riverfront pavilion we can reserve for parties, etc. In suburbia, it seems like the only way you get those things is if you are willing to accept living under an HOA.

 

[Kestryl]

For a house, absolutely not. Even if I was ok with the HOA rules dues at the point of purchase, nothing prevents the rules from changing later.

ETA: We bought a house last year. We almost automatically eliminated every house with an HOA. There was only one we half-considered, but then we saw that every single house in the neighborhood was identical, and we did not like the cloned aesthetic.

 

[DLgal]

Most folks here that want pools, have pools. I'm the rare person on my street without a pool. HOAs here don't have anything to do with the parks, that's the city. And many HOA's here forbid units from being rented out. Homeowners only.

No one here has yards big enough for pools...

 

[sam_gordon]

All depends on the HOA and the rules attached to them. Some are strict, some are not. Both of our houses have had HOAs. One time (and we've been in houses for about 15 years) the HOA has come to us because the bushes in the front of our house were getting overgrown. I couldn't argue with them because they were. So we cleaned up the bushes and have been done.

I'd prefer people not run businesses with lots of foot traffic out of their house.
I'd prefer people not park on the street long term.
I'd prefer people keep their houses in good shape.
I don't mind them requiring in ground pools.
I don't mind them requiring out buildings to have the side facing the street to match the house outer look.
I like not seeing chain link fences

YMMV

 

[Christine]

I live in a fairly populated, urban area. I wouldn't live in a neighborhood without an HOA. We have a few. They look AWFUL. Ramshackle, low property values, people doing really crazy stuff. I just think it looks horrible and would hate looking at the side of a home with a rainbow mural on it.

Now if I were on several acres in a rural area, nope, wouldn't need it.

 

[Katie Dawn]

I know some HOAs have issues with kids having their own playground equipment, which we have.

You're saying some HOAs don't allow families to have playground equipment/play structures in their backyard???

 

[sam_gordon]

You're saying some HOAs don't allow families to have playground equipment/play structures in their backyard???

I think some HOAs limit the KIND of playground equipment. For example, it would need to be one of the wooden "playsets" vs the old metal "swingset". I'm just guessing though.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

You're saying some HOAs don't allow families to have playground equipment/play structures in their backyard???

Ours have to be made out of cedar. Cedar doesn't weather as quickly, has more moisture resistence and doesn't rot the same among many other good features. Any decks have to be cedar and any stairs leading out to your backyard also have to be cedar. All for the same reasons.

There are still people that let their playgrounds get to the point of weathered, about to fall down but at least having them start as cedar helps out dramatically. I honestly don't find such rule an issue.

 

[kirstenb1]

We live on 3 acres in an HOA. It's pretty chill. We don't have rules about the color of your house, or swingsets, etc. Mainly rules like no above ground propane tanks, no livestock, keep your grass cut, etc. It maintains the common areas, including 2 ponds.

Unless I were buying an amazing historic home, or one that was truly unique, I'd look at neighborhoods with HOAs first. Around here, they help you maintain your property value. At the end of the day, that's really my bottom line concern.

 

[tvguy]

No one here has yards big enough for pools...

The lots in my subdivision are .17 (as in 17/100th) of an acre. A pool takes up the entire backyard, but people put them in.