Moved into a HOA community when I was 52. Enjoyed it for about 2 years. Several older people would walk the streets every couple of weeks looking for any little infraction. They wouldn't stop and talk to you about it, they would send a registered letter. At 55 I retired and spent several hours a day in my garage. Car maintenance, wood working projects, etc. Got a letter that my Garage door could only be open during ingress or egress. Hung a for sale by owner sign out and was gone in 6 weeks. Rented a trailer for a year. Bought a couple of acres outside of town and built a house. Chickens roaming the back yard, 2 horses, mow the grass when I feel like it, and leave the Garage door open all day. Nice.
Nice! I would never, ever buy and live in an HOA community. Bought a 5-acre lot (wooded with a creek, momma cows in back) in a rural area, built a house, sold my city house (not HOA) and paid off the construction loan with the proceeds for a free and clear home in retirement.
I'm glad that HOAs don't exist in Australia. Nor can one exist, at least in the USA style. I'm not certain why not, but I believe that they're regarded as an attempt to circumvent the authority of local government. You can't have a private road leading to properties owned by completely unrelated owners in Australia. The road must either be a right-of-way where the owner of the land the road is on is responsible for maintaining the road and keeping it open to the other people, or the road must be a public road, owned and maintained by local government. There's a minor exception for flats (what the USA calls apartments) and similar, but the powers of the company which maintains shared infrastructure in the building are strictly limited.
depends on the HOA, mine is a breeze. only eight 5+ acre homes with just 2 rules. All buildings on your property must match in whatever color of your choosing, and we all use the same trash service to minimize heavy truck traffic on the private asphalt roadway in the neighborhood. Since it's private the upkeep falls on us home owners yet out dues are only $800 annually.
If you ever had a neighbor that turns the property into a trash dump. They have crap everywhere. You’ll never have that in an HOA. That’s the only benefit.
@@dubious6718 Though I don't like or agree with HOAs. Waiting for the city / county / state to enforce clean up of a neglected properly can take years. If the HOA's rules were reasonable they wouldn't be so bad. But half of them create ridiculous rules just to have the ability to fine the home owners.
Every week shown to all ppl in the HOA my dad knows a guy who was part of a HOA never late on anything why was he kicked out? Overgrown yard because he had surgery and had hired someone to take care of it they didn't and none of his lazy neighbors or the HOA told him about it TILL HE WAS KICKED OUT and one of the laws? They had to give you warnings where did they leave it? Mailbox/door instead of calling him knowing he was not going to be home for 4-6 months he had some kind of surgery forget that also had to have therapy with it
@@neilkurzman4907 HOA's didn't put up money for the home so they shouldn't be entitled to a lien on it. If they want a monetary interest on the home they should buy it for the owner and the "owner" can rent it from the HOA. As for fees for services rendered, they can do like any other business that didn't get paid for their services, take the customer to small claims court.
Well yeah dude because squatters are usually Democrat The poor victim Democrat is obviously being oppressed by everyone around him so like we all have to take pity on him and give him free stuff
So actually googled this because I've never heard of it and it seems to be that in most places it's considered a do-it-yourself eviction and that's why it's illegal.
@@Kr0n1kTh3Kl0wnNO ONE should've liked this comment but unfortunately today's world likes to make EVERYTHING political. Learn how to think for yourself
@@dingoberry5252 WORD IS GETTING OUT!!!!!;-----ONCE HOA NEBORHOODS SEE THEIR HOUSEING VALUES PLUMIT BECAUSE NOBODY WANTS TO LIVE THEIR;---OOOOOOO RELIGON WILL COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm going through a HOA NIGHTMARE as I type. First 2 1/2 years of being in my townhome they told me to paint the entire house or they would fine me and shut off my water. I was stressed out I didn't have the money to paint it cost everything I had to buy the house all my savings are gone. They started sending threatening letters. So I pressured washed an touched up the paint with the little money I borrowed. That wasn't good enough they threatened a lien and had a lawyer call me. I Painted my whole house, then my refrigerator went out my brakes on my car had to be replaced. I have no savings I am down to $300 in the bank. I racked up fines for $6,100. I don't have it. I want to move I hate where I live now. It once was my dream home, now it's a nightmare thanks to them. I am so depressed at 62. I made a mistake buying into a HOA community!!
organize everyone in your HOA neighborhood, you can hold discussions WITHOUT the board, just have it at your house or someplace else. bring up your story, ask others to share theirs, after enough people are clearly angry? suggest that you vote to dissolve the HOA entirely if you have a certain % majority, you can do it WITHOUT the hoa even knowing, look up the laws in your state and county.
@@FractalPrism. If you can hold is discussion without yoru board. SHOW UP THE THE DAMN HOA MEETINGS!!!! Be board members! Being in an HOA is the most basic form of democracy. You get a say on property. Changing the covenants.
Excessive fines by HOAs are often an indication that the HOA board are misusing funds, as in using the money for their own personal benefit or are embezzling the money. I've heard the same thing many times and most of the time the HOA board is misusing funds.
@@1-Wheel-Drive We have a $300 annual fee and we have private paved roads and a private paved airfield. But we'll need to get an assessment for the money needed to repair the shrinkage cracks in the runway. Much of the maintenance on the community is done by members. It's cost effective, as in no cost. The president runs his tractor to plow snow. His only compensation is he pays no annual dues.
Just charging someone for anything to do with parking when they don't have anything which could be "parked" should be grounds to investigate the HOA and the board members for deliberate fraud. Threatening to "foreclose" on their house should be investigated as extortion.
It's the governments fault that gave them power to run peoples lives on behave of themselves. This are the issues we need to ask those governs when ever they want your vote.if there's a petition to stop buying houses in hoa area then they will rethink this crap I'm tired of the I have they do nothing in the area but harassed certain individuals
My only experience with a HOA was when a toddler was walking the area on New Years Eve. We tried to find the parents, but finally had to call the police. The next morning the HOA President was trying to tell me I should have called him first. Told the little Nazi to get off my property.
No. Just don't buy a home where a home owners' association has any power or jurisdiction over you. If someone else wants to subject himself to this kind of abuse, that's his business.
@Qrayon the problem is there's too many communities with HOAs and just about every new community being built has an HOA now it's effecting the home buyers market because if they want to live in a nice new neighborhood they have to be subjected to the HOA and a lot of these HOAs are scam artists who steal the money for themselves I've read countless articles about HOAs being sued and people ultimately being imprisoned for it
Maybe not that extreme, but there should be lot more restrictions placed on them. The biggest thing would be to disallow them from foreclosing on the home for unpaid dues/fines.
When shopping for a house, make it clear to your agent that you will NOT consider any property with an HOA. If they take you to such a property, drop them like a bad habit.
@@cropduster123 Sadly, not anymore. Every new development has an HOA, and older homes and neighborhoods without one are being replaced with new neighborhoods with HOAs. Their power has to be limited without a doubt, but I think we should still keep them as there are a few good HOAs to take examples from/
Foreclosure on homes for 2K in fines when the average home in the US is 450K? That is crazy. I would never buy a home with HOAs since this seems to be the new norm.
I would sue the HOA over that and say "The foreclosure is illegal unless they give me the whole difference in the cost between the value of the home and the fines!"
@@christopherkidwell9817 There's the rub...they foreclose and auction (not well advertised) and sell your $500K house for $25K and keep the difference for "processing".
I recently served on an HOA board. In Texas, the HOA cannot foreclose on fines. They can only foreclose on non-payment of the HOA annual assessment fee (sometime called "dues"). Best to check on one's State laws. @jetjan
Not only would I never live in a HOA community, but I wouldn't even want to own a home with another tenant. I bought my single-family home in 1997 for $149K, that was the going price then, not a steal by any stretch, and folks told me I should've bought a two-family and rented the other out as it would pretty much pay the mortgage for me. Not interested. I don't want a neighbor in the same structure and I don't want to be a landlord. Paid the mortgage off in 21 years on what was a 30-year fixed and all I pay now is insurance, taxes and the occasional upkeep.
Yeah it’s in the sale contract. A lot of the smaller details are buried/never mentioned but they (some) pressure people to sign with a sense of urgency or threat of penalty
We are living in our 3rd purchased home. In each case we told the realtor: Under NO circumstances will we consider a home with an HOA. If enough people do this the HOA neighborhoods will be ghost towns and the HOAs will starve. Can't collect dues from an empty house.
I did the same thing and every house I found that I loved was immediately off the list when I found out they had an HOA. No way in hell I'm paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to be controlled by Karens who in the end will steal my property I paid for after making my life miserable over the stupidest little shit ever. If a home is in an HOA it's value is literally ZERO dollars to me. I don't want it. If it was offered to me for free, I would most likely take it to 'try' to profit from it, but I would still have to 'consider' it before doing so because of all the issues, time, and money it may cost me to deal with it before I get it sold. So much for maintaining home values which was their original purpose. smh
Actually, HOAs can't _just_ collect dues from an empty house, they can fine you the millisecond anything is posted on the door, the grass gets a tiny bit too high, if you're not maintaining it to the HOA standards, and even if any signs of emptiness imply that the neighborhood isn't desirable to live in. As long as you own the house, even if you can't sell it, the HOA has power over you and exists solely to grow its funding and power. When I was looking for my home, I was shown a home in an HOA which prohibited the posting of for sale signs because it might make the neighborhood look undesirable. I recommend anyone having problems with their HOA study for and get their Amateur Radio license. It's cheap and far easier than fighting HOA Fascists. Then, give the HOA notice that you're going to install a 40 to 60 foot antenna tower (assuming you don't have overhead power in the neighborhood). Include lots of pictures including the really big Yagi antennas and guy lines to show them the kind of installation you're considering. Thanks to federal law, HOAs are powerless to restrict HAM radio towers. If you bargain down their harassment vs. the tower you're gonna install, you can do a lot.
Except that many cities and counties REQUIRE them for all new construction, as they do not want to bear the burden of supporting roads, water and sewer lines. So that push that expense onto HOA's, while still charging property taxes.
@@nunya3163 That would also change real fast if people refused to buy them. When a city requires it and nobody agrees to buy in the city, they will rethink their bullcrap requirement and possibly even reverse it to the opposite direction of banning them. One, the city won't get new residents and therefore won't be able to survive, and two, the construction companies will petition the city to change their rules or will stop building there. People need to vote with their dollars instead of accepting nonsense situations. As long as you keep giving your dollars to what you do not want, it will never change because as long as they keep getting their money, 'all is well' in their world.
The funniest part is HOAs aren't even necessary. My neighborhood doesn't have one and the city is very responsive to any blight neglect dead trees etc...
HOAs in America is starting to look increasingly illegal or unconstitutional as lawyers would put it. They look like an illegal way for cities to circumvent their legal obligations. Think of it as a corrupt scam by corrupt politicians. Because HOAs haven't been ruled illegal yet, most cities have been requiring HOAs for every new housing development. HOAs in their current form need to be banned. Perhaps reduce them to neighborhood associations to pool money to maintain the neighborhood gardens or even pay for a community center but that's it.
I’m so grateful my grandma got lucky with her hoa. Apparently it’s power is limited to maintaining the neighborhood road. She got annoyed when the road widening killed a couple trees, but on the other hand when her husband was dying of cancer and we fell behind on keeping the shrubs along the road trimmed, instead of fines they used discretion and had volunteers trim back the overgrown shrubs so they didn’t hang over the road. A neighbor had a tree fall across the road in a storm and they called together people in the neighborhood to use chainsaws to clear it while the storm still raged.
Sue the HOA for harassment and send a copy of the lawsuit to very member of the HOA, so they know what the HOA board is doing with their money. Also, as a part of the lawsuit, demand an outside audit of the HOA's use of funds.
@@jimmyday9536 That's why I specified that they should send every member of the HOA, not just the board members, a copy of the lawsuit so they know what their board is doing and how much it will cost them.
I was in real estate for years and always strongly advised buyers to avoid any property with a HOA. I even had a waiver I had a lawyer draw up when buyers were still interested in proceeding with a purchase of a HOA property because I worried I could be held liable later on if there were problems. The waiver was about how I fully advised the buyer about the terms of the HOA and how they could affect them and that I would be held harmless in the future if any issues arose. HOAs had some good intentions but have gotten way out of hand and have far too much power.
I had this problem. They would ticket us as the closest house without checking that this was our car (it was not). I had to dispute every single one. One month I got three tickets for the same car on the street (which the city owns and is not marked no parking ). I was able to work with the board president to get our property manager fired because they were the problem
it is illegal inmost states as well, the water is NOT property of the hoa it is city property, a guy did this out here and got 40k fines and 2 yrs and the judge ordered restitution and water to be turned on.
The town did because the town was owed money the HOA did it in this case and they did not have a legal standing to do so as they were not old any money. It's not even clear if she owed anything water not the water company @@jimmyday9536
I remember when the Real Estate agent mentioned how great the HOA was and we both yelled "Stop the Car". We live in Central California and a Team of Clydesdales couldn't drag us ito an HOA. I have my Own Swimming Pool and Spa. I don't want you in mine and I promise that I won't use yours. My next-door neighbor built their house in 1988. I've only spoken to them 6 times in 36 years and that was about replacing the shared fence. We live in a fairly large subdivision with 8,000 sq ft lots and 1,700-2,100 sq ft single story houses. I really don't care what color you paint your house and the city ordinances don't allow you to raise Goats in the back yard. HOA's remind of those High School Clubs and who was running for President.
I can't comprehend why anyone would want to buy a home with hoa. I would never risk my home with such stupidity. At one time some of my neighbors wanted to bring in an hoa, the neighborhood showed up for the meeting and we made sure that they never attempt that stupidity again. They literally got scared for their lives in that meeting, they got run off for good and we had a great laugh. Our subdivision is the only one in the town we are living in that has no hoa.
A lot of homes are in an HOA before you buy them. If you need to be in a specific area for your child’s school district, or your work, or some other reason then sometimes homes in an HOA are the only viable option. It’s terrible. And a lot of people go into it thinking it won’t really be that bad because there aren’t many rules… but then they go and make more rules later… and then they’re kinda trapped
@@RachelAmmonspeople need to realize if they make a child it’s your responsibility to teach them 🤦🏽♀️. So u move to a hoa for a school when the hoa can come up with any rules out their ass to take one of the biggest investment in most people lives.
@@toddaulner5393 to keep blacks out of the community. It’s kind of biting everyone in the ass now. Now they are harassing everyone no matter what color.
People...stop buying these homes with an HOA, I don't care how nice the house looks, you're eventually asking for a problem. I have a friend with an HOA and she told me that they sent her an email warning that she left her garage door open several times within a 2 month period. WTF
... and then there was that one HOA who tried to force residents to leave garage doors OPEN all day long. The lame excuse for that was "so they could check to make sure nobody was living in the garage"
@@jamielpatterson2576 yes, they couldn't keep anything in the garage, and had to ensure that the interior door was solid and lockable. I think the homeowners may have had to go to court on that.
@@ralphm6901 Go to teh damn HOA meeting. Vote out the president. Vote in someone else. Change the damn covenants if necessary. Being in an HOA is the most basic form of democracy.
@@freeisalwaysme yes, they definitely should do that. Not my immediate problem, though. There's a voluntary HOA where I live that hasn't met in about 10 years. Some idiot tried to resurrect it to get money to remove an old tennis court. Nobody joined in.
Years ago I owned a condo with a pretty good HOA. It was 28 units and our board of 3 was run by 3 tenants. Dues were low and the property was kept in pristine condition. Unfortunately, some of the other owners weren’t happy with $100/month HOA fees and a clean property. Eventually the HOA had to transferred to a property management company. The dues immediately went up to $150/month and were about $175 when I left. The last that I heard the dues were $350/month.
@Kr0n1kTh3Kl0wn that's not always true. I live in an hoa, but I own all underground utilities in my yard and have my own direct payments for water, trash, recycle, sewer, electric, fiber internet, and pest control. The street is even city property. My HOA also has no board or president at the moment, which is very nice.
@@dsc420247 Ha! I was going to say the same thing. When you have to pay the government their annual "rent" in the form of property taxes, and they can take your home away from you if you don't, then you don't actually ever own your home.
Not all that different from any municipal organization. Miss your property taxes and they will take it. Don't adhere to codes that they set and they will fine you until they can take your home for missed payments. Outside of all of that, multiple govt agencies constantly write new codes that they then use to trespass and order you about on your own property, with the idea that they, too, can seize your land. Until all property taxes are abolished and all levels of govt are forbidden to make laws about how you use the land that you own then you never own your land or home.
Actually that's not entirely true technically you do own the home but the HOA retains ownership of the foundation that it sits upon So like theoretically if you had enough money you can find a way to lift the house off the foundation and take it with you... But it's literally cheaper to build a brand new house from scratch in most cases
We were moving as I'd started a new job 15 years ago. We had hoped to move into new developments in DuPont, WA, so I could bike to work when the weather was nice. Everything available was in an HOA. Only one car allowed in the driveway, street parking for no more than 2 hours, park your second car in the garage. No antennas allowed except a satellite dish. So we moved in 10 miles from work. No HOA, nice neighborhood. Two 2 car garages for my workshop and electronics lab, two cars parked in the driveway, and street parking.
Ten miles from work isn't so bad, except in bad weather. We don't have any HOAs in my area, but it's nothing for people to spend up to an hour getting to work.
I get that people want some structure in their lives but allowing these common people to dictate how everyone should live in an HOA just seems unrealistic. Most of the times these HOA members are nothing but bullies.
I'll never live in an HOA again. Major scams! I moved in to a brand new neighborhood and the HOA spent money to resurface the streets. They had tar spayed down and topped with gravel. Prior to that the streets were smooth and new. Then they claimed they overspent on snow removal and increased dues. The streets were only plowed twice that whole winter. I built a beautiful garden with trees and a pond with water fall, but the HOA would have to come through the house or fly overhead to see it. Then the housing market flipped and I would have had to give the bank over $110k just to take it off my hands. I let it go into foreclosure. During that a tornado took out much of the neighborhood including my (former) home. Karma for bad HOA dues. It's usually someone with serious mental power and control issues who 'manage' HOAs, but they manipulate you and hide nefarious intentions with overly cheerful smiles a phony personalities. I'd rather string a hammock between trees than live in another HOA.
An hoa can foreclose on your home for something that the government can't--even when it would be illegal for the government to do it, hoa can. Mini nazi government with zero oversight.
Over many years of my professional career, I've had to work with all levels of government. My conclusion early on was that the closer you get to local government, the worse they are to deal with. An HOA is for all intents and purposes, a local government. You get petty bureaucrats that suddenly realize that they have these new super powers and they take out that hammer and scour their domain looking for nails to hammer down. Admit their mistake ? Gawd forbid.
If they fined him for other people parking in front of his house, I would hire people to park their cars in front of the HOA board members' houses. That s**t would stop!
That is how I got our guard president to fire the property manager! I told him I was going to park a junker in front if his house so he could see how it felt to get a ticket when it wasn’t his car. That did the job
In Florida you can file a law suit against the HOA officers as private individuals. To pay something you do not owe is just side stepping your responsibility as a good citizen. Go after the HOA for damages and court costs .
Exactly. I'm pretty sure it's against the law to actually fine them for a vehicle that isn't theirs if they haven't first contacted the individual about it or local law enforcement.
@@maryricketts7337 , These cars were illegally parked as per the citations, and HOA rules/bi-laws. Yes! They can definitely tow or boot when rules/laws visibly posted. Different states probably do have different rules/laws on city property parking although private property parking HOA property is usually fairly straightforward.
Why are the names of the individuals on these HOA boards, the people making these calls to scam these poor homeowners, not being publically named by the media?
So many people are saying that HOAs are nearly impossible to avoid, but I'm in my 4th house now and I've never been in an HOA. I filter them out during a home search and still have many great houses to choose from. Maybe it's just where I live (Hampton Roads Virginia)
In many cases people don't have a choice, especially if you want newer construction. Yeah, HOAs can be terrible, but I've never had an issue with any of my properties.
@@markfeemster8135 Get over yourself. We have an HOA because the county in its wisdom decided all the roads in the subdivision are "private," which means they won't pay for maintenance. So our subdivision has to. And we formed an HOA whose main job is to make sure the roads are maintained. We don't poke in peoples' business, we just take care of the roads. Try doing that without an association.
@@markfeemster8135 Nothing in life is without risk. Sure, there are always choices, but insisting on non-HOA properties can result in huge compromises for many. If one is looking for new construction, it's almost impossible to not have a HOA. Like everything else in the news, negative experiences get amplified. The worst thing a HOA did was to accuse me of illegally charging my car from a community power outlet. They dropped it as soon as I pointed out the car was actually a neighbor's and it wasn't even parked my assigned spot.
I live in an HOA and received a warning for overgrown grass. My lawnmower broke and was under warranty thru Sears. Well Sears closed and I had to take it 200 miles to another city for repairs if I wanted it covered under warranty. It took a month to get it back. To avoid HOA fine, I had to write a detailed explanation as to why my lawn was overgrown including future steps I will take to make sure it doesn’t happen again 😳
Sadly, in many places, that is just not possible, as local governments refuse to add new roads and utilities to their obligations, so that mandate an HOA to support the roads and other infrastructure, all while still colleting property taxes. It's literally double taxation.
Many years ago I used to work at an HOA as a security guard. The majority of the board members kept a very tight reign on the CC&R's. As a security guard I was provided a multiple page list of possible write-ups to turn in on a daily basis. One day the president of the board had me actually write up the treasurer of the board for a HOA violation! This was how petty the board president was on a regular basis. If the security guard did not fine violations they replaced the security guard. I lasted as long as their security guard as long as I could tolerate the BS involved with playing their games. You could say that I was NOT a very popular person to some of the residents. I was thrilled to be reassigned elsewhere!
Who has time for that childish HOA tyranny crap? Why should I have to "get involved" with anybody to live in my home??? Governments need to outlaw HOA's. As for the shared grounds on the streets - tree belts, fountains, etc. Let the final acts of the HOA be the dismantling of all this communal crap and the sale or gifting of the association property to the adjacent landowners. Will there be some pains to this land title transfer? Sure. But not any more pains than the HOA's inflict on everyone right now.
One reason for the proliferation of HOA communities is that local governments are happy to get out of having to maintain the roads, lighting, etc. within the development to the point of requiring it in nearly every case. So, if you don't like it, get on your local government to stop doing that. Make your property tax go to maintaining all roads which, of course will cost everybody more instead of making subdivision residents pay for it
I live in a neighborhood and it was also my childhood home I now live in with my kids. We have always had HOA. Never had a single issue. Our hoa covers the amazing playground basketball court and baseball field. The neighborhood block party, when Santa and Mrs claus come to visit and give every child a gift and our Easter egg hunt and the up keep of the common grass and trees. Nothing else. They don’t care what color your house is what your yard looks like. One person ended up sick and was out of work and a lot of people rallied and helped anyway they could and their hoa fees were waived while they were out sick and also another 6 months.
How many more reasons do people need to not buy in an HOA until there are firm ironclad laws put in place against their overreach. When we were home shopping, a couple agents told us all we would be able to buy would be in an HOA or a condo, I told them I'd live in a tent first. That those fees could go towards the principal on our mortgage, We did buy a home NOT in an HOA, not even 100 feet from my property is a 5 are piece of land with a barn on it with horses and llamas. We have overpaid the principal ever since the first payment was due and knocked like 5 years off the life of the mortgage so far. AND we have the double homestead exemption. Saves a fortune in property tax AND when we hit 65 in a few years. ZERO property tax. Plus there are several other types of homestead exemption for other types of people.
"Richest country in the world"!?! Certainly not the USA. Country is bankrupt. Out of control government debt at ALL levels: Federal, state, county, municipal. Politically bankrupt. Education system has become third world.
The water company itself will not. She was actually getting water from the HOA somehow. Condos etc may have a central water meter for the entire area and the HOA pays the water bill. So by not paying her dues she was not paying her water bill either. The other side to that is why should I have to pay someone else’s water bill? If a person doesn’t pay then their bill has to be covered by the rest of us
You are wrong as what you are dealing with is Marxxism; aka: Communism. No such event happened in Spain, Italy or Germany. No ban me for 24 hours Dummies.
Unfortunately a lot of people live near a city or suburb. Even in rural areas you may not want to go near anything that says "subdivision". If a realtor even hints at the word HOA... pull a 180 and dont look in the rear view.
@@machupikachu1085 That's not a reason. They're are plenty of areas that don't have them. I'm asking for why someone would choose a neighborhood like that.
The HOA in my neighborhood fined a home owner for having 20ish kids' bikes on the lawn. The home is feet away from the school bus stop. Kids didn't have any other place to put their bikes. The home owner was happy to let the kids keep the bikes on his lawn. The fine was dropped.
I owned four investment townhomes in a covenented community. I was even president of the HOA for a while when residents got sick and tired of the tyrants running things and elected me to stop the bs. One board member told me I should not even be eligible to vote, let alone be on the board or president since I didn't live in the community! My father and mom lived in an HOA community in FL and were constantly subjected to the tyranny of that group of HOA 'officers'. HOA's are ridiculous and should not even be allowed 1/10 of the powers that they've been granted by covenant. Their ridiculous egomaniacal tyrants who mismanage the monies entrusted to them more than half the time.
As a Swede I always think it's funny when I see the Swedish word "Ombudsman" in English. We have a lot of loan words from English, but that's one that English has got from us.
HOA is alive because of these home owners. HOA is minimum 350 includes water, trash, sewer and exterior maintenance But they shld not have power to dictate owners
I lived most of my life not in an HOA, moved to an HOA five years ago. I can’t build the fence that I want, I can’t put up a small shed, I can’t build the sun porch that I want. So I’m not doing a damn thing to improve the property, just maintaining it. Probably move in another five years.
From Google: The primary responsibility of the HOA is to protect property values and provide maintenance for all common elements within the community. To work effectively, the homeowners' association may collect regular assessments from homeowners according to the annual budget set by the board of directors. So it's literally pointless to the modern homeowner - a group made for the people who have old money, basically.
Looking from the outside, not living in the USA it seems these HOA appear to have way too much power. They should have no legal power to force a homeowner to do anything. They should have to go thru the courts system to enforce any claim, not arbitrarily enforcing fines or anything else without the authority of the Court. That way they would have to deal with home owners in a more flexible manner.
So who did own the vehicles that were ticketed? Once that is determined, it should be easy to make a connection to a homeowner in the neighborhood. The reporter only asked if the homeowner owned the car(s). He said , no. She never asked the next obvious question which was did he know WHO did own the cars.
I was on the board of several HOA and condo communities. The basic issue is, these are run by volunteers who often have an axe to grind, and often have little or no business knowledge. But the real kicker is, they are on these boards because they were ELECTED BY THE OWNERS. The vast majority of people simply do not read their ByLaws, they don't attend meetings, they don't vote. And then wonder why things are the way they are.
I remember a neighbor getting a huge fine cause some kids had littered and the trash blew onto her yard so she was then ticketed. Trash wasn’t even there long, they jumped on it. HOA would peek over fences looking for things to ticket for cause it turned out they were corrupt and pocketing the money. What a surprise! 🙄
Moved into a HOA community when I was 52. Enjoyed it for about 2 years. Several older people would walk the streets every couple of weeks looking for any little infraction. They wouldn't stop and talk to you about it, they would send a registered letter. At 55 I retired and spent several hours a day in my garage. Car maintenance, wood working projects, etc. Got a letter that my Garage door could only be open during ingress or egress. Hung a for sale by owner sign out and was gone in 6 weeks. Rented a trailer for a year. Bought a couple of acres outside of town and built a house. Chickens roaming the back yard, 2 horses, mow the grass when I feel like it, and leave the Garage door open all day. Nice.
Nice! I would never, ever buy and live in an HOA community. Bought a 5-acre lot (wooded with a creek, momma cows in back) in a rural area, built a house, sold my city house (not HOA) and paid off the construction loan with the proceeds for a free and clear home in retirement.
Send them a registered letter with just a photo of the view from your front porch, with an inscription on the reverse reading "Suck it!" 🤣🤣
Congratulations on regaining your freedom. Smartest move you ever made getting out of there.
living the dream. i'm envious.
I'm glad that HOAs don't exist in Australia. Nor can one exist, at least in the USA style. I'm not certain why not, but I believe that they're regarded as an attempt to circumvent the authority of local government. You can't have a private road leading to properties owned by completely unrelated owners in Australia. The road must either be a right-of-way where the owner of the land the road is on is responsible for maintaining the road and keeping it open to the other people, or the road must be a public road, owned and maintained by local government.
There's a minor exception for flats (what the USA calls apartments) and similar, but the powers of the company which maintains shared infrastructure in the building are strictly limited.
What do people need to know about living in a HOA community? 1) don't do it!
2) always refer to rule 1.
depends on the HOA, mine is a breeze. only eight 5+ acre homes with just 2 rules. All buildings on your property must match in whatever color of your choosing, and we all use the same trash service to minimize heavy truck traffic on the private asphalt roadway in the neighborhood. Since it's private the upkeep falls on us home owners yet out dues are only $800 annually.
100%
Yes.
@@tylermallory2504 You pay 800.00 a year for what? Sounds like they don't do anything for you.
You act like they have a choice. LOL!!!
You know something? I've never heard a single good thing about a HOA.
You know something? Your comment is stupid AF.
If you ever had a neighbor that turns the property into a trash dump. They have crap everywhere. You’ll never have that in an HOA. That’s the only benefit.
@@lolly1405 The city/county/state has laws against that, so you don't need a HOA to fix it.
@@dubious6718 Though I don't like or agree with HOAs. Waiting for the city / county / state to enforce clean up of a neglected properly can take years. If the HOA's rules were reasonable they wouldn't be so bad. But half of them create ridiculous rules just to have the ability to fine the home owners.
I've worked in several HOA's and neither have I.
The HOA is like the adult version of a bully stealing your lunch money.
Amen to that!!!
It is.
Except you signed a contract to allow the bully to steal your lunch money, and pay him for doing it. 🤣🤣
HOA's should be required to have their accounting audit every six months. Most HOA's are corrupt.
Every week shown to all ppl in the HOA my dad knows a guy who was part of a HOA never late on anything why was he kicked out? Overgrown yard because he had surgery and had hired someone to take care of it they didn't and none of his lazy neighbors or the HOA told him about it TILL HE WAS KICKED OUT and one of the laws? They had to give you warnings where did they leave it? Mailbox/door instead of calling him knowing he was not going to be home for 4-6 months he had some kind of surgery forget that also had to have therapy with it
Never buy a house in the area that has HOA. This will cause the value of the houses in that area to drop and people rise against HOA.
They must be very profitable businesses because they are in every new development.
No HOA should have the ability to put a lien on someone’s home for anything.
A lien and a foreclosure are not the same thing.
@@neilkurzman4907doesn’t change it. HOAs should not be allowed to put liens on homes.
@@reeddeer793
So you saying, HOA’s can’t collect fees or fines they’re optional?
@@neilkurzman4907 HOA's didn't put up money for the home so they shouldn't be entitled to a lien on it. If they want a monetary interest on the home they should buy it for the owner and the "owner" can rent it from the HOA. As for fees for services rendered, they can do like any other business that didn't get paid for their services, take the customer to small claims court.
@@neilkurzman4907no one except a duly elected public government should collect fines. Period.
You can't cut off water on a squatter, but an HOA can cut off water on a homeowner?
Well yeah dude because squatters are usually Democrat
The poor victim Democrat is obviously being oppressed by everyone around him so like we all have to take pity on him and give him free stuff
So actually googled this because I've never heard of it and it seems to be that in most places it's considered a do-it-yourself eviction and that's why it's illegal.
@Kr0n1kTh3Kl0wn
🐊 🐍 🐦⬛ = you
HOA can literally force you out of your home. They can sell your house out from under you if you have a lot of fees. It’s insane.
@@Kr0n1kTh3Kl0wnNO ONE should've liked this comment but unfortunately today's world likes to make EVERYTHING political. Learn how to think for yourself
Avoid HOA homes at all costs.
I will live in a cardboard box before I'll ever live underneath any Godforsaken HOA!
It’s not easy. Over 90% of homes have HOA. Look it up
@@dingoberry5252 WORD IS GETTING OUT!!!!!;-----ONCE HOA NEBORHOODS SEE THEIR HOUSEING VALUES PLUMIT BECAUSE NOBODY WANTS TO LIVE THEIR;---OOOOOOO RELIGON WILL COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@dingoberry5252 I do not believe that.
REALLY hard, these days - unless you want to live in the middle of nowhere.
If the HOAs are so nosy how come they don’t know this guy doesn’t own a car?
Because they are just being complete assholes for the pure joy it gives them.
profits
They don't care. Its like what causes most problems in this world, power and money.
The know the home owner does not own a car but they just don't care because they are entitled little tyrants.
The HOA doesn't care if he owned a car. The HOA probably needed the money for refreshments at the next HOA meeting.
I'm going through a HOA NIGHTMARE as I type. First 2 1/2 years of being in my townhome they told me to paint the entire house or they would fine me and shut off my water. I was stressed out I didn't have the money to paint it cost everything I had to buy the house all my savings are gone. They started sending threatening letters. So I pressured washed an touched up the paint with the little money I borrowed. That wasn't good enough they threatened a lien and had a lawyer call me. I Painted my whole house, then my refrigerator went out my brakes on my car had to be replaced. I have no savings I am down to $300 in the bank. I racked up fines for $6,100. I don't have it. I want to move I hate where I live now. It once was my dream home, now it's a nightmare thanks to them. I am so depressed at 62. I made a mistake buying into a HOA community!!
organize everyone in your HOA neighborhood, you can hold discussions WITHOUT the board, just have it at your house or someplace else.
bring up your story, ask others to share theirs, after enough people are clearly angry?
suggest that you vote to dissolve the HOA entirely
if you have a certain % majority, you can do it WITHOUT the hoa even knowing, look up the laws in your state and county.
@@FractalPrism. If you can hold is discussion without yoru board. SHOW UP THE THE DAMN HOA MEETINGS!!!! Be board members! Being in an HOA is the most basic form of democracy. You get a say on property. Changing the covenants.
They will get what's coming to them. Sooner than they think
Stay stong friend
What the hell did you join one for on the first place
Excessive fines by HOAs are often an indication that the HOA board are misusing funds, as in using the money for their own personal benefit or are embezzling the money.
I've heard the same thing many times and most of the time the HOA board is misusing funds.
@@1-Wheel-Drive We have a $300 annual fee and we have private paved roads and a private paved airfield. But we'll need to get an assessment for the money needed to repair the shrinkage cracks in the runway.
Much of the maintenance on the community is done by members. It's cost effective, as in no cost. The president runs his tractor to plow snow. His only compensation is he pays no annual dues.
Just charging someone for anything to do with parking when they don't have anything which could be "parked" should be grounds to investigate the HOA and the board members for deliberate fraud. Threatening to "foreclose" on their house should be investigated as extortion.
It's the governments fault that gave them power to run peoples lives on behave of themselves. This are the issues we need to ask those governs when ever they want your vote.if there's a petition to stop buying houses in hoa area then they will rethink this crap I'm tired of the I have they do nothing in the area but harassed certain individuals
It's intimidation to force out people they don't want.
@@AbsaalookemenschA private air field? That's kinda throwing it in these people face .
My only experience with a HOA was when a toddler was walking the area on New Years Eve. We tried to find the parents, but finally had to call the police. The next morning the HOA President was trying to tell me I should have called him first. Told the little Nazi to get off my property.
What the heck is the HOA president going to do different that we wouldn't be able to do ourselves?
Power-hungry wannabe found his niche
@@benwagner5089He needs to be investigated. He might like much younger humans then normal.
@@kitsiewr BINGO!
So my HOA isn't the only one that residents call Nazis! Good to know.
HOA's should be banned in America
No. Just don't buy a home where a home owners' association has any power or jurisdiction over you. If someone else wants to subject himself to this kind of abuse, that's his business.
@Qrayon the problem is there's too many communities with HOAs and just about every new community being built has an HOA now it's effecting the home buyers market because if they want to live in a nice new neighborhood they have to be subjected to the HOA and a lot of these HOAs are scam artists who steal the money for themselves I've read countless articles about HOAs being sued and people ultimately being imprisoned for it
Maybe not that extreme, but there should be lot more restrictions placed on them. The biggest thing would be to disallow them from foreclosing on the home for unpaid dues/fines.
@@Qrayon What fantasy world do you live in? They are everywhere...all new developments have them. You can't find homes without one.
@@frankb6333 That's BS. There are plenty of homes without them. Maybe get out of your fantasy world bud.
I really got lucky. The HOA where I bought my house went bankrupt 2 weeks after the closing on my house. We have lived free ever since.
I have a feeling HOAs are often slowly and methodically destroyed from within by covert means.
@@mikerope5785 They were mean to keep out black, brown and poor people.
@@freeisalwaysme They were meant to keep property prices from falling.
When shopping for a house, make it clear to your agent that you will NOT consider any property with an HOA. If they take you to such a property, drop them like a bad habit.
Good tip
Just make sure that you get language in the agreements that they make you sign, to allow you to fire them.
bad habits are hard to drop though
@@nunya3163 You're not forced to work with any realty agent. They can be fired at any time.
@@ladylily Unless you sign an agreement. And many will not show you a home without one.
I would never buy a home in an HOA community.
You took the words right out of my mouth!
🎯
Good luck with that sadly every where they have hoa
About the only HOA rule I would want is "No barking."
@@cropduster123 Sadly, not anymore. Every new development has an HOA, and older homes and neighborhoods without one are being replaced with new neighborhoods with HOAs. Their power has to be limited without a doubt, but I think we should still keep them as there are a few good HOAs to take examples from/
Foreclosure on homes for 2K in fines when the average home in the US is 450K? That is crazy. I would never buy a home with HOAs since this seems to be the new norm.
I would sue the HOA over that and say "The foreclosure is illegal unless they give me the whole difference in the cost between the value of the home and the fines!"
@@christopherkidwell9817 There's the rub...they foreclose and auction (not well advertised) and sell your $500K house for $25K and keep the difference for "processing".
@jetjan It's a wonderful way for HOAs' to fund the board members' private yachts!
@jetjanwhat a suprise, red states not protecting citizens.
I recently served on an HOA board. In Texas, the HOA cannot foreclose on fines. They can only foreclose on non-payment of the HOA annual assessment fee (sometime called "dues"). Best to check on one's State laws. @jetjan
Imagine paying someone money to tell you what you can and can’t do on your own property
Wow, it’s almost like living in a town or a city.
It's not your property they own the land the house in on.
@@jadonmesfun6479
Property covers a lot more than just land.
And sorry look up men can take your property for a multitude of reasons
@@jadonmesfun6479 your right but not all HOAs are like that
I prefer freedom myself. At least as much as I can get. It's really strange to me that ppl actually want to pay someone to tell them how to live.
Not only would I never live in a HOA community, but I wouldn't even want to own a home with another tenant.
I bought my single-family home in 1997 for $149K, that was the going price then, not a steal by any stretch, and folks told me I should've bought a two-family and rented the other out as it would pretty much pay the mortgage for me. Not interested. I don't want a neighbor in the same structure and I don't want to be a landlord.
Paid the mortgage off in 21 years on what was a 30-year fixed and all I pay now is insurance, taxes and the occasional upkeep.
HOA's need to be prevented from ever foreclosing on a home.
They need to go the way of the dinosaurs.
HOAs need to be disbanded their ridiculous these days
Hoas do not increase property value
as long as something is profitable, they will be around. why can't people see this?
Why do they have the power to foreclose on a owner’s house. They are not the bank. Residents should start lawsuits against them.😡😡
Free house and money
It's in the contract when you buy the condo or house.
Yeah it’s in the sale contract. A lot of the smaller details are buried/never mentioned but they (some) pressure people to sign with a sense of urgency or threat of penalty
HOAs have a lot of power and the courts allways uphold the contract that they sign.
Or claim the property is already in the HOA 'jurisdiction', when it is not.
We are living in our 3rd purchased home. In each case we told the realtor: Under NO circumstances will we consider a home with an HOA. If enough people do this the HOA neighborhoods will be ghost towns and the HOAs will starve. Can't collect dues from an empty house.
I did the same thing and every house I found that I loved was immediately off the list when I found out they had an HOA. No way in hell I'm paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to be controlled by Karens who in the end will steal my property I paid for after making my life miserable over the stupidest little shit ever. If a home is in an HOA it's value is literally ZERO dollars to me. I don't want it. If it was offered to me for free, I would most likely take it to 'try' to profit from it, but I would still have to 'consider' it before doing so because of all the issues, time, and money it may cost me to deal with it before I get it sold. So much for maintaining home values which was their original purpose. smh
Actually, HOAs can't _just_ collect dues from an empty house, they can fine you the millisecond anything is posted on the door, the grass gets a tiny bit too high, if you're not maintaining it to the HOA standards, and even if any signs of emptiness imply that the neighborhood isn't desirable to live in. As long as you own the house, even if you can't sell it, the HOA has power over you and exists solely to grow its funding and power. When I was looking for my home, I was shown a home in an HOA which prohibited the posting of for sale signs because it might make the neighborhood look undesirable.
I recommend anyone having problems with their HOA study for and get their Amateur Radio license. It's cheap and far easier than fighting HOA Fascists. Then, give the HOA notice that you're going to install a 40 to 60 foot antenna tower (assuming you don't have overhead power in the neighborhood). Include lots of pictures including the really big Yagi antennas and guy lines to show them the kind of installation you're considering. Thanks to federal law, HOAs are powerless to restrict HAM radio towers. If you bargain down their harassment vs. the tower you're gonna install, you can do a lot.
There's the irony. An HOA is supposed to keep up the value of a property but I'm pretty sure being in an HOA must drop several thousand off the price.
Except that many cities and counties REQUIRE them for all new construction, as they do not want to bear the burden of supporting roads, water and sewer lines. So that push that expense onto HOA's, while still charging property taxes.
@@nunya3163 That would also change real fast if people refused to buy them. When a city requires it and nobody agrees to buy in the city, they will rethink their bullcrap requirement and possibly even reverse it to the opposite direction of banning them. One, the city won't get new residents and therefore won't be able to survive, and two, the construction companies will petition the city to change their rules or will stop building there.
People need to vote with their dollars instead of accepting nonsense situations. As long as you keep giving your dollars to what you do not want, it will never change because as long as they keep getting their money, 'all is well' in their world.
Never, ever buy a home with an HOA. Crazy jerks are always on the board.
The funniest part is HOAs aren't even necessary. My neighborhood doesn't have one and the city is very responsive to any blight neglect dead trees etc...
HOAs in America is starting to look increasingly illegal or unconstitutional as lawyers would put it. They look like an illegal way for cities to circumvent their legal obligations. Think of it as a corrupt scam by corrupt politicians. Because HOAs haven't been ruled illegal yet, most cities have been requiring HOAs for every new housing development. HOAs in their current form need to be banned. Perhaps reduce them to neighborhood associations to pool money to maintain the neighborhood gardens or even pay for a community center but that's it.
I’m so grateful my grandma got lucky with her hoa. Apparently it’s power is limited to maintaining the neighborhood road. She got annoyed when the road widening killed a couple trees, but on the other hand when her husband was dying of cancer and we fell behind on keeping the shrubs along the road trimmed, instead of fines they used discretion and had volunteers trim back the overgrown shrubs so they didn’t hang over the road. A neighbor had a tree fall across the road in a storm and they called together people in the neighborhood to use chainsaws to clear it while the storm still raged.
Just sounds like good neighbors to me! They're priceless!
HOA: a tree fallen by the storm? I'd fine you for that. You should have removed it minutes after it fell!!! 😆😆😆
HOA: a tree fallen by the storm? I'd fine you for that. You should have removed it minutes after it fell!!! 😆😆😆
Sue the HOA for harassment and send a copy of the lawsuit to very member of the HOA, so they know what the HOA board is doing with their money. Also, as a part of the lawsuit, demand an outside audit of the HOA's use of funds.
Not a bad idea. I'm not sue happy but that might just shut them up.
Suing your HOA or condo association is like shooting yourself in the foot. LOL. Who do you think has to pay the legal costs? That's right, YOU. 😎
@@jimmyday9536 That's why I specified that they should send every member of the HOA, not just the board members, a copy of the lawsuit so they know what their board is doing and how much it will cost them.
@@jimmyday9536 So sue then move the hell out. You don't want to live there anyway.
@@jimmyday9536you realize that’s how court works right?
foreclosing on a home, which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars for an amount of money that won't buy a 40 year old running car.
that is INSANE.
I was in real estate for years and always strongly advised buyers to avoid any property with a HOA. I even had a waiver I had a lawyer draw up when buyers were still interested in proceeding with a purchase of a HOA property because I worried I could be held liable later on if there were problems. The waiver was about how I fully advised the buyer about the terms of the HOA and how they could affect them and that I would be held harmless in the future if any issues arose. HOAs had some good intentions but have gotten way out of hand and have far too much power.
I had this problem. They would ticket us as the closest house without checking that this was our car (it was not). I had to dispute every single one. One month I got three tickets for the same car on the street (which the city owns and is not marked no parking ). I was able to work with the board president to get our property manager fired because they were the problem
The lady who got her water cut off, WTF???
In England that is 1,000% illegal for a water company to do that.
it is illegal inmost states as well, the water is NOT property of the hoa it is city property, a guy did this out here and got 40k fines and 2 yrs and the judge ordered restitution and water to be turned on.
I had properties in the Midwest, and yes, the town DID turn off water, and lock it, for non-payment.
The town did because the town was owed money the HOA did it in this case and they did not have a legal standing to do so as they were not old any money. It's not even clear if she owed anything water not the water company
@@jimmyday9536
@@jimmyday9536the HOA had the water turned of because she was behind on her HOA bills. Not behind her water bill.
@@charliedulinbut was water included in the HOA?
I remember when the Real Estate agent mentioned how great the HOA was and we both yelled "Stop the Car". We live in Central California and a Team of Clydesdales couldn't drag us ito an HOA. I have my Own Swimming Pool and Spa. I don't want you in mine and I promise that I won't use yours. My next-door neighbor built their house in 1988. I've only spoken to them 6 times in 36 years and that was about replacing the shared fence. We live in a fairly large subdivision with 8,000 sq ft lots and 1,700-2,100 sq ft single story houses.
I really don't care what color you paint your house and the city ordinances don't allow you to raise Goats in the back yard.
HOA's remind of those High School Clubs and who was running for President.
💯
I can't comprehend why anyone would want to buy a home with hoa. I would never risk my home with such stupidity. At one time some of my neighbors wanted to bring in an hoa, the neighborhood showed up for the meeting and we made sure that they never attempt that stupidity again. They literally got scared for their lives in that meeting, they got run off for good and we had a great laugh. Our subdivision is the only one in the town we are living in that has no hoa.
A lot of homes are in an HOA before you buy them. If you need to be in a specific area for your child’s school district, or your work, or some other reason then sometimes homes in an HOA are the only viable option. It’s terrible. And a lot of people go into it thinking it won’t really be that bad because there aren’t many rules… but then they go and make more rules later… and then they’re kinda trapped
Maintain "Property values". Lamest excuse ever
@@RachelAmmonspeople need to realize if they make a child it’s your responsibility to teach them 🤦🏽♀️. So u move to a hoa for a school when the hoa can come up with any rules out their ass to take one of the biggest investment in most people lives.
I really do not see why they exist but Karen's Inc. Right? They should be cops if they like paperwork so much.
@@toddaulner5393 to keep blacks out of the community. It’s kind of biting everyone in the ass now. Now they are harassing everyone no matter what color.
People...stop buying these homes with an HOA, I don't care how nice the house looks, you're eventually asking for a problem.
I have a friend with an HOA and she told me that they sent her an email warning that she left her garage door open several times within a 2 month period. WTF
... and then there was that one HOA who tried to force residents to leave garage doors OPEN all day long. The lame excuse for that was "so they could check to make sure nobody was living in the garage"
@@ralphm6901 Oh, that's a big invitation for theft of anything in the garage.
@@jamielpatterson2576 yes, they couldn't keep anything in the garage, and had to ensure that the interior door was solid and lockable. I think the homeowners may have had to go to court on that.
@@ralphm6901 Go to teh damn HOA meeting. Vote out the president. Vote in someone else. Change the damn covenants if necessary. Being in an HOA is the most basic form of democracy.
@@freeisalwaysme yes, they definitely should do that. Not my immediate problem, though. There's a voluntary HOA where I live that hasn't met in about 10 years. Some idiot tried to resurrect it to get money to remove an old tennis court. Nobody joined in.
Years ago I owned a condo with a pretty good HOA. It was 28 units and our board of 3 was run by 3 tenants. Dues were low and the property was kept in pristine condition. Unfortunately, some of the other owners weren’t happy with $100/month HOA fees and a clean property. Eventually the HOA had to transferred to a property management company. The dues immediately went up to $150/month and were about $175 when I left. The last that I heard the dues were $350/month.
At what point does this harassment become criminal!
When laws are put in place to stop this from happening.
If a landlord can’t turn off the water how can an HOA?
Because in an HOA you own the house above the ground and they own the pipes below the ground
@@Kr0n1kTh3Kl0wnBut, by law, it makes it uninhabitable.
@Kr0n1kTh3Kl0wn that's not always true. I live in an hoa, but I own all underground utilities in my yard and have my own direct payments for water, trash, recycle, sewer, electric, fiber internet, and pest control. The street is even city property. My HOA also has no board or president at the moment, which is very nice.
Never live anywhere there is a HOA. You never actually own the home.
Now do property taxes!!!!😂😂😂
@@dsc420247 Where I live certain type of people are EXEMPT, SO YES, WE do INFACT OWN our HOMES.
@@dsc420247 Ha! I was going to say the same thing. When you have to pay the government their annual "rent" in the form of property taxes, and they can take your home away from you if you don't, then you don't actually ever own your home.
Not all that different from any municipal organization. Miss your property taxes and they will take it. Don't adhere to codes that they set and they will fine you until they can take your home for missed payments. Outside of all of that, multiple govt agencies constantly write new codes that they then use to trespass and order you about on your own property, with the idea that they, too, can seize your land. Until all property taxes are abolished and all levels of govt are forbidden to make laws about how you use the land that you own then you never own your land or home.
Actually that's not entirely true technically you do own the home but the HOA retains ownership of the foundation that it sits upon
So like theoretically if you had enough money you can find a way to lift the house off the foundation and take it with you...
But it's literally cheaper to build a brand new house from scratch in most cases
WHY do people buys homes in HOAs? My daughter was thinking of buying there and I told her NO! What positivity comes out of living in one?
We were moving as I'd started a new job 15 years ago. We had hoped to move into new developments in DuPont, WA, so I could bike to work when the weather was nice.
Everything available was in an HOA. Only one car allowed in the driveway, street parking for no more than 2 hours, park your second car in the garage. No antennas allowed except a satellite dish.
So we moved in 10 miles from work. No HOA, nice neighborhood. Two 2 car garages for my workshop and electronics lab, two cars parked in the driveway, and street parking.
Ten miles from work isn't so bad, except in bad weather. We don't have any HOAs in my area, but it's nothing for people to spend up to an hour getting to work.
They can't legally enforce that " no antennas" rule
I am 61 years old and cycling 10miles is the fastest way to get to work. Door to door 25 minutes.
They can't ban TV, Radio, or satellite antennas. Americans have the right to receive radio signals for communication, education, and entertainment.
@@greggv8 They can't ban rights in the amendments. Yet, that is exactly what they are trying to do.
HOA personnel need to be held legally liable for mismanagement
The American dream is over .
And home owners should be held liable for not knowing whats in their bylaws lol
I get that people want some structure in their lives but allowing these common people to dictate how everyone should live in an HOA just seems unrealistic. Most of the times these HOA members are nothing but bullies.
Narcissists are attracted to become HOA members so they can worm their way in to control & bully people
Isn't it 100% of the time?
There's only one type of person that would be on a HOA board.
I'll never live in an HOA again. Major scams! I moved in to a brand new neighborhood and the HOA spent money to resurface the streets. They had tar spayed down and topped with gravel. Prior to that the streets were smooth and new. Then they claimed they overspent on snow removal and increased dues. The streets were only plowed twice that whole winter. I built a beautiful garden with trees and a pond with water fall, but the HOA would have to come through the house or fly overhead to see it. Then the housing market flipped and I would have had to give the bank over $110k just to take it off my hands. I let it go into foreclosure. During that a tornado took out much of the neighborhood including my (former) home. Karma for bad HOA dues.
It's usually someone with serious mental power and control issues who 'manage' HOAs, but they manipulate you and hide nefarious intentions with overly cheerful smiles a phony personalities. I'd rather string a hammock between trees than live in another HOA.
NEVER buy a home in an HOA. I have met many new home buyers who will NEVER even look at a home in an HOA.
All HOA's need to be outlawed. There is just to much abuse by those in charge.
an hoa should never be able to foreclose on a home.
I agree but they all do it.
An hoa can foreclose on your home for something that the government can't--even when it would be illegal for the government to do it, hoa can. Mini nazi government with zero oversight.
Anyone that has a lien on a property is legally able to foreclose.
Over many years of my professional career, I've had to work with all levels of government. My conclusion early on was that the closer you get to local government, the worse they are to deal with. An HOA is for all intents and purposes, a local government. You get petty bureaucrats that suddenly realize that they have these new super powers and they take out that hammer and scour their domain looking for nails to hammer down. Admit their mistake ? Gawd forbid.
If they fined him for other people parking in front of his house, I would hire people to park their cars in front of the HOA board members' houses. That s**t would stop!
That is how I got our guard president to fire the property manager! I told him I was going to park a junker in front if his house so he could see how it felt to get a ticket when it wasn’t his car. That did the job
In Florida you can file a law suit against the HOA officers as private individuals. To pay something you do not owe is just side stepping your responsibility as a good citizen. Go after the HOA for damages and court costs .
WOULD NEVER BUY A HOME IN ANY COMMUNITY WITH HOA.
Boot or tow the car so the actual owner has to pay to have it removed.
Exactly. I'm pretty sure it's against the law to actually fine them for a vehicle that isn't theirs if they haven't first contacted the individual about it or local law enforcement.
You can’t just have a car towed that is legally parked.
@@maryricketts7337 , These cars were illegally parked as per the citations, and HOA rules/bi-laws. Yes! They can definitely tow or boot when rules/laws visibly posted. Different states probably do have different rules/laws on city property parking although private property parking HOA property is usually fairly straightforward.
Want to live in 1930s and 40s Germany, move somewhere with an HOA
I don’t think they had HOA’s back then.
@@jayhache5609 No but the HOA board members do act like the Gestapo
@@mikeydude750 I disagree.
@@jayhache5609 Sounds like you're one of them then
@@mikeydude750 Actually I think the HOAs are worse
Why are the names of the individuals on these HOA boards, the people making these calls to scam these poor homeowners, not being publically named by the media?
So many people are saying that HOAs are nearly impossible to avoid, but I'm in my 4th house now and I've never been in an HOA. I filter them out during a home search and still have many great houses to choose from. Maybe it's just where I live (Hampton Roads Virginia)
Never ever purchase a home with an HOA, why do people keep doing this?
If you buy a house with an HOA, you are a fool.
In many cases people don't have a choice, especially if you want newer construction. Yeah, HOAs can be terrible, but I've never had an issue with any of my properties.
@@bikeman7982 you always have a choice.
@@markfeemster8135 Get over yourself. We have an HOA because the county in its wisdom decided all the roads in the subdivision are "private," which means they won't pay for maintenance. So our subdivision has to. And we formed an HOA whose main job is to make sure the roads are maintained. We don't poke in peoples' business, we just take care of the roads.
Try doing that without an association.
@@markfeemster8135 Nothing in life is without risk. Sure, there are always choices, but insisting on non-HOA properties can result in huge compromises for many. If one is looking for new construction, it's almost impossible to not have a HOA. Like everything else in the news, negative experiences get amplified. The worst thing a HOA did was to accuse me of illegally charging my car from a community power outlet. They dropped it as soon as I pointed out the car was actually a neighbor's and it wasn't even parked my assigned spot.
@@demophys4883 just the roads, for now.
I live in an HOA and received a warning for overgrown grass. My lawnmower broke and was under warranty thru Sears. Well Sears closed and I had to take it 200 miles to another city for repairs if I wanted it covered under warranty. It took a month to get it back. To avoid HOA fine, I had to write a detailed explanation as to why my lawn was overgrown including future steps I will take to make sure it doesn’t happen again 😳
damn...I don't know why people would pay $ to add more stresses to their lives.
Soo...just like in elementary school?
200 miles x 2.. to fix a used lawnmower?? Couldve got a local hs kid or handyman cheaper than 100$ in gas.
You pay for the ability to be fined over cutting your own grass at someone elses discretion?
Niceeeeeeee , do you tip them at the same time ?
How about this? Don't move to an HOA community!
Sadly, in many places, that is just not possible, as local governments refuse to add new roads and utilities to their obligations, so that mandate an HOA to support the roads and other infrastructure, all while still colleting property taxes. It's literally double taxation.
Many years ago I used to work at an HOA as a security guard. The majority of the board members kept a very tight reign on the CC&R's. As a security guard I was provided a multiple page list of possible write-ups to turn in on a daily basis. One day the president of the board had me actually write up the treasurer of the board for a HOA violation! This was how petty the board president was on a regular basis. If the security guard did not fine violations they replaced the security guard. I lasted as long as their security guard as long as I could tolerate the BS involved with playing their games. You could say that I was NOT a very popular person to some of the residents. I was thrilled to be reassigned elsewhere!
I will be happy to help the homeowner to go against the HOA ‼️
This is why HOA's should not exist.
The real problem is homeowners don't vote the board out because no one else runs. You gotta get involved people.
Everyone has time to complain, but no one has time to serve on their board. Shrug.
@@jimmyday9536then get rid of it!
Who has time for that childish HOA tyranny crap? Why should I have to "get involved" with anybody to live in my home??? Governments need to outlaw HOA's. As for the shared grounds on the streets - tree belts, fountains, etc. Let the final acts of the HOA be the dismantling of all this communal crap and the sale or gifting of the association property to the adjacent landowners. Will there be some pains to this land title transfer? Sure. But not any more pains than the HOA's inflict on everyone right now.
One reason for the proliferation of HOA communities is that local governments are happy to get out of having to maintain the roads, lighting, etc. within the development to the point of requiring it in nearly every case. So, if you don't like it, get on your local government to stop doing that. Make your property tax go to maintaining all roads which, of course will cost everybody more instead of making subdivision residents pay for it
I live in a neighborhood and it was also my childhood home I now live in with my kids. We have always had HOA. Never had a single issue. Our hoa covers the amazing playground basketball court and baseball field. The neighborhood block party, when Santa and Mrs claus come to visit and give every child a gift and our Easter egg hunt and the up keep of the common grass and trees. Nothing else. They don’t care what color your house is what your yard looks like. One person ended up sick and was out of work and a lot of people rallied and helped anyway they could and their hoa fees were waived while they were out sick and also another 6 months.
What do people need to know if they're considering moving into a community with an HOA?
Don't. That's it.
How many more reasons do people need to not buy in an HOA until there are firm ironclad laws put in place against their overreach. When we were home shopping, a couple agents told us all we would be able to buy would be in an HOA or a condo, I told them I'd live in a tent first. That those fees could go towards the principal on our mortgage, We did buy a home NOT in an HOA, not even 100 feet from my property is a 5 are piece of land with a barn on it with horses and llamas. We have overpaid the principal ever since the first payment was due and knocked like 5 years off the life of the mortgage so far. AND we have the double homestead exemption. Saves a fortune in property tax AND when we hit 65 in a few years. ZERO property tax. Plus there are several other types of homestead exemption for other types of people.
You would have to have rocks in your head to buy a house in an HOA neighborhood 🙄
Over here in the UK they are not allowed to cut off your water as it is a human right. How can the richest country in the world do this to people?
Unfortunately we decided money is worth more than human life over here.
Greed for money.
... the richest country where the top 5% control 90% of the wealth. That's how they can do this.
"Richest country in the world"!?! Certainly not the USA. Country is bankrupt. Out of control government debt at ALL levels: Federal, state, county, municipal. Politically bankrupt. Education system has become third world.
The water company itself will not. She was actually getting water from the HOA somehow. Condos etc may have a central water meter for the entire area and the HOA pays the water bill. So by not paying her dues she was not paying her water bill either. The other side to that is why should I have to pay someone else’s water bill? If a person doesn’t pay then their bill has to be covered by the rest of us
No car, but parking tickets equals greed and taking advantage of people too afraid to fight back.
My hoa charges $65.00 a quarter. We have hundreds of homes and no-one hates them. The lady in charge is awesome. No complaints…ever.
He should tell them he’s not paying any parking fines, and they can tow the car away for scrap.
Great idea.❤❤❤
You are wrong as what you are dealing with is Marxxism; aka: Communism. No such event happened in Spain, Italy or Germany. No ban me for 24 hours Dummies.
He doesn't own a fucking car
So stop i'll reporting you.
Unfortunately a lot of people live near a city or suburb. Even in rural areas you may not want to go near anything that says "subdivision". If a realtor even hints at the word HOA... pull a 180 and dont look in the rear view.
Why would somebody want to to live in a HOA neighborhood?
Because that's most new houses in America?
@@machupikachu1085 That's not a reason. They're are plenty of areas that don't have them. I'm asking for why someone would choose a neighborhood like that.
I wouldn't live in a HOA if someone gave me the house!!
The HOA in my neighborhood fined a home owner for having 20ish kids' bikes on the lawn. The home is feet away from the school bus stop. Kids didn't have any other place to put their bikes. The home owner was happy to let the kids keep the bikes on his lawn. The fine was dropped.
I live in an HOA community. Not by choice, it was the only thing could afford. My HOA is actually pretty good. Thank goodness.
I owned four investment townhomes in a covenented community. I was even president of the HOA for a while when residents got sick and tired of the tyrants running things and elected me to stop the bs. One board member told me I should not even be eligible to vote, let alone be on the board or president since I didn't live in the community! My father and mom lived in an HOA community in FL and were constantly subjected to the tyranny of that group of HOA 'officers'. HOA's are ridiculous and should not even be allowed 1/10 of the powers that they've been granted by covenant. Their ridiculous egomaniacal tyrants who mismanage the monies entrusted to them more than half the time.
As a Swede I always think it's funny when I see the Swedish word "Ombudsman" in English.
We have a lot of loan words from English, but that's one that English has got from us.
"Rachel, what should people know before moving into an hoa?" Sadly, Rachel missed the answer....the correct answer is "DON'T!"
Hoa is a police state you ignorantly buy into. I would never do that to myself.
In Texas, Real Estate ads actually emphasize that a property does not have an HOA associated with it. So a property with an HOA loses value in Texas.
Why would anyone ever live in an HOA home, Lets buy a house so someone else can own it..
Years ago, someone brought up the idea of a HOA in my subdivision during a party. Everyone else resoundingly said "No!".
When I was house hunting in 2002, the #1 thing I required was NO HOA. They're just a haven for petty tyrants.
HOA is alive because of these home owners.
HOA is minimum 350 includes water, trash, sewer and exterior maintenance
But they shld not have power to dictate owners
Thanks for the information!
I lived most of my life not in an HOA, moved to an HOA five years ago.
I can’t build the fence that I want, I can’t put up a small shed, I can’t build the sun porch that I want.
So I’m not doing a damn thing to improve the property, just maintaining it.
Probably move in another five years.
From Google: The primary responsibility of the HOA is to protect property values and provide maintenance for all common elements within the community. To work effectively, the homeowners' association may collect regular assessments from homeowners according to the annual budget set by the board of directors.
So it's literally pointless to the modern homeowner - a group made for the people who have old money, basically.
Don't be surprised when a home-owner 'twists off' and goes 'postal' in an HOA meeting. Anyone who purchases a home with an HOA is an idiot.
Looking from the outside, not living in the USA it seems these HOA appear to have way too much power.
They should have no legal power to force a homeowner to do anything. They should have to go thru the courts system to enforce any claim, not arbitrarily enforcing fines or anything else without the authority of the Court. That way they would have to deal with home owners in a more flexible manner.
If the man doesn't own a vehicle, why was he assessed fines? Is the homeowner responsible for anyone who happens to park in front of his house?
What needs to be done is HOAs should be illegal
With neighbors from hell caused me to leave an HOA and will never go through the hassle of one of those properties again.
So who did own the vehicles that were ticketed? Once that is determined, it should be easy to make a connection to a homeowner in the neighborhood. The reporter only asked if the homeowner owned the car(s). He said , no. She never asked the next obvious question which was did he know WHO did own the cars.
Work, home, life.... Its all just High School all over again. Always that one group making everyone's life miserable.
This is why I'll NEVER live in an HOA
Time to fight back and sue the HOA !!!
Best way to avoid HOA BS is never buy into a HOA
I was on the board of several HOA and condo communities. The basic issue is, these are run by volunteers who often have an axe to grind, and often have little or no business knowledge. But the real kicker is, they are on these boards because they were ELECTED BY THE OWNERS. The vast majority of people simply do not read their ByLaws, they don't attend meetings, they don't vote. And then wonder why things are the way they are.
I remember a neighbor getting a huge fine cause some kids had littered and the trash blew onto her yard so she was then ticketed. Trash wasn’t even there long, they jumped on it. HOA would peek over fences looking for things to ticket for cause it turned out they were corrupt and pocketing the money. What a surprise! 🙄
Just being under HOA control must cut the property value in half. I would walk away from a house if I didn't know it was HOA already. Incredible.