Your friend is lucky. Where my mom and her husband lived, homeowners weren’t allowed to park cars in their driveways.
Whoah! This sounds like a recipe for disaster. Why doesn’t local government do all the things necessary to maintain the roads and garbage, etc? Do you have to be subject to local government and a HOA? The only people serving on HOAs would be people with far too much time on their hands - the Gladys Cravitz’s of the world.
I can understand the justification of a HOA in apartment buildings where common areas have to be maintained and a capital fund set aside for regular large tasks like repainting, landscaping, etc.
But for detached houses in a street? Parks and streets here are maintained by local government. Developers have to pay large fees to local government as part of the front end costs of development to cover utilities like this, which they add on to the price of the properties sold, and homeowners pay ongoing rates to local government to cover the ongoing costs.
Fortunately, IIRC the law here does not allow passage of title to be fettered like this beyond the first purchaser. Restrictive covenants bind the first purchaser by virtue of contract law, but not subsequent purchasers. If a person in a flash suburb decides to let the grass grow out, leave wrecked cars on the footpath or the front yard and otherwise bring down the neighbourhood, local government can step in, but generally not for things like paintjobs and leaving the car on the driveway.
The thought of a group of petty neighbours being able to impose a fine and then if it is not paid throw someone out of their house seems…un-American to me.
There’s alot of variation depending on what part of the country you live in. My impression is that HOAs are alot more common in places like Southern California (where housing stock is newer) than in say New England (where most housing stock is older). HOAs didn’t become popular until after WWII.
Ah a bit like a Residents’ Association in the UK.
Here is my last communication I received from one in London: ImageShack - Best place for all of your image hosting and image sharing needs
Extremely uncommon for these to apply to houses though in my experience.
We can’t have trucks, vans, cars that are over 7 feet tall, any work related vehicles, cars can’t sit for more then 48 hours or can be towed, can’t paint a door, even if it’s new, with out permission.
We also pay $5000 a year for snow plowing, which is something like 1/2 mile worth of sidewalks, and they want to raise it. I’ll do it for $5000 a year, even with the 3 feet of snow we got twice this past year in DC. Of which they didn’t even do when they were supposed to, of which we would have been fined for.
I asked once here if an HOA could make you buy a certain type of car, or not have one over a certain age. Never did get an answer about it.
Really? In my experience they are - at least in subdivisions (UK term = estate) in the suburbs of Atlanta. My subdivision has all of those restrictions and many, many more. A few examples: we cannot have any bare earth - all beds have to be covered in mulch; we cannot have annual plants that grow to over 6 feet tall; adjacent houses cannot be painted the same color; basketball hoops cannot be attached to the house.
And contrary to another post, these HOA restrictions are placed on houses, not just/mainly condos.
It is ironic that in the “Land of the Free” many citizens happily band together and impose masses of rules to ensure that we all live as well-behaved Stepford-residents, all conforming to the behavior approved by our HOA Board.
Just to be clear, I’ve never lived in a community with a HOA and I would not want to, for the reasons that have been given in this thread. I was just trying to explain the concept in references somebody who hadn’t encountered them could relate to.
God help me for stepping in to defend the concept of a HOA, because I do despise the excesses to which they can be taken.
The HOA in my neighborhood collects about forty bucks in dues per year. The HOA owns several parcels of land that wrap around our development on three sides and serve as a common area and visual buffer. My dues pay for one of the neighbors to mow these common areas, as well as insurance and electrical/water utilities and landscaping for the common areas. Trash removal and snow removal on the streets are taken care of by the city; the HOA has repeatedly voted down proposals to increase dues to pay someone to plow our individual driveways/sidewalks.
Yes, the HOA has restrictions preventing construction of sheds, planting of gardens in front yards, leaving boats and campers parked outside, etc. I’m not fond of all of the restrictions, but they do prevent the rusted-out-beater-car-on-the-lawn syndrome that I’ve experienced in other neighborhoods. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that the nicely-maintained neighborhood that my house is in will stay nicely-maintained even if the individual owners change. My in-laws, on the other hand, have a home in a fantastic location, with only one adjacent neighbor, and no HOA. The neighboring property changed hands and the new neighbor was a nightmare, putting up spotlights that shone into the inlaw’s house, running ATVs at all hours of the night, leaving junked cars along the property line, etc: all legal according to local statute, mind you. I think that in a neighborhood there can be a reasonable middle ground between “whatever the law allows on my property” and “fascism”.
Incidentally, our HOA was founded in 1996 when the first house went in, and is set to run for twenty years. In 2016, it will automatically renew for 10 more years unless a simple majority of the members vote to dissolve it. I don’t think it can be renewed a second time, though. If we vote to dissolve, the common areas will be sliced up and everybody’s lot will increase in size by a moderate fraction.
The situation with regards to HOAs is complicated, and there are many variations.
First of all, as you say, they are absolutely necessary when the housing consists of multiple units within a single building. It is the financial mechanism by which the common property is maintained.
Next, even when the units are individual houses, in some developments there is still common property to be maintained. For example, a recreation center or a swimming pool. HOAs are used for that as well.
Next, the division of utilities among the homeowners is very varied. In my complex, for example, garbage fees are paid by the individual homeownwer as part of our annual property tax bill, but water fees are paid by the common property as a whole (the meter is at the point where the pipe branches off the main into our development) so it is paid by the HOA and in turn we pay for it as part of our HOA fees.
Next, the few roads inside our development are part of our common property and hence maintained by the HOA, and paid for out of the HOA fees. The city doesn’t maintain them because they are our combined private property.
I won’t go into the issue as to whether HOA boards sometimes act “anally” or not. That’s another issue, although my experiences haven’t been bad. I just wanted to explain the financial aspects more clearly.
That story is infuriating. It makes me want to go find those HOA bastards and kick their asses on that family’s behalf.
Another reason to despise both Texas and “small government” values.
Not all HOA’s are horrible. Mine hasn’t been too bad. We pay $200 a month in a townhome development for which we get snow removal, upkeep of common grounds and swimming pool, garbage, sewer, some light security and other things.
The rules are not terribly taxing and mostly reaosnable. Keep your yards looking decent, don’t block or park in other people’s driveways, don’t let your house look like shit. Don’t have loud parties like an asshole.
There are a couple of fussy rules about replacing front doors and deck doors (I guess they want them all to look uniform), but we haven’t had any conflicts with anyone, and no one in the association is a dick about things.
I think it’s just a mater of luck, though. You can just as easily (and maybe this is more the norm) get control freak little Caesars. I think they count on people blowing off meetings and votes. I should probably start going to the meetings, but I never remember when they are.
The particular HOA in this story sounds like they went beyond just being nipicky little rules nazis and actively tried to take advantage of a vulnerable family. Karma can’t hit those bitches back hard enough. I hope some judge can really slam it to them for the fraud.
San Diego, CA resident chiming in.
Our HOA fees are based on square footage with a 2,150 sq foot house having fees of $37 a month. This fee has not increased in 10 years and I have to say ours is a double edged sword.
On the one hand, I like that they have been diligent about people not crappifying their houses and property. This was particularly a problem in the Southern California region before the housing bubble burst where people bought invest properties, then rented them out. Renters want to save money so they don’t pay for a gardener, don’t water, etc. and the exterior of the house starts to look like crap pretty quickly. I like that they harass these people to take care of that and keep the neighborhood looking good. We also have a lot of ‘pocket parks’ and greenbelts not maintained by the city, which are paid for out of these dues, along with extra security. Comparable neighborhoods only two miles away of equal age, but without the HOA, look like crap and their housing prices reflect that.
On the other hand, no one goes to the meetings, and lately we have two strange things going on due to militant board members. The first is a prejudice towards solar panels. Anyone who wants to install them has to jump through numerous hoops to get approval because they are seen as detracting from the appearance of the homes they are on, which seems strange. We also have a board member whose son was killed when he darted out into the street and got hit by a motorcyclist, who was also badly injured in the crash. She has been going nuts trying to get the speed limits lowered all over the community as a result, which everyone else feels just creates extra traffic. Meanwhile, no one wants to go through the trouble of attending the meetings and voting her out, so she tends to get her way. Plus, no one wants to be the one who looks like the jerk who appears to not care about her dead son by suggesting her ideas about speed limits are dumb.
Remember that HOAs are composed of the people who live there. It’s not an outside organization dictating rules to homeowners. It’s self-governance. If the people who live there don’t like the rules, they can change them. The board of directors is elected by the homeowners. My experience is that most homeowners don’t give a shit and don’t participate, but then they are the first to whine when something doesn’t go their way.
HOAs are like everything else. Problems are few but publicity is big on those few problems, giving a distorted view on how they normally run. For the most part HOAs are concerned primarily with maintaining property values for their owners. Therefore they have rules that regulate the appearance and maintenance of homes.
There was a big flap in a Maryland suburb here not too long ago where the HOA prohibited commercial vehicles from being parked in the neighborhood overnightbecause they didn’t want it to look like an industrial park. There are definitely two sides to that story, it’s not a simple matter of a few Neighborhood Truck Nazis imposing their will on the rest.
Another case here was a man who built a 21-foot flagpole in his yard without permission. The restriction he violated was a straightforward and clear one against building permanent structures, but unfortunately the situation deteriorated into a silly and bitter debate on patriotism.
There are a couple of things to remember. First, HOAs are controlled through state laws so for every question there are at least 50 answers.
Second, HOAs are usually based on private contracts. Contracts each homeowner freely agrees to and signs when they buy a home. They are not forced to agree to the contract-they can always buy a home somewhere else. And the detailed wording is publicly and freely available-usually down at the courthouse. So the lawyers are quite happy, everyone’s rights are protected.
And also remember that HOAs are usually set up by the developer, who at the beginning conveniently owns all the property so 100% of the homeowners agree to the terms. In some cases it takes another 100% of the homeowners to change the terms (this varies by state).
So, very troubling and onorous clauses are agreed to with some HOAs. The clause may be stupid and one-sided, but the judge will note that you freely signed the private contract when you bought the home. And now you are trying to get out of the deal?
A well-written HOA is a great protection for the property owners in a community. Few HOAs and covenants are well-written.
There is a whole town (not an HOA, a government unit) in Maryland that not only couldn’t you park in front of your house (in this case the street), you couldn’t even own a pickup. They didn’t blend well with the upscale community. I think they backed off when the publicity hit.
I like my HOA. Its very reasonable and we get a lot of turnover in our board members as a lot of different people are interested in helping keep our community clean and enjoyable for everyone, which of course keeps property values high as well as makes homes here more desirable.
My HOA fees are about $800 a year (I live on a double lot so I pay a bit more than most). The cool thing about my neighborhood is that it isn’t a typical suburban subdivision…all the houses are unique, no cookie cutters. We’ve got mansions, a-frames, log cabin-esque homes, regular vinyl-sided homes…
We also have six lakes/ponds, lots of parks, a pool, a golf course, our own police force, we own our own water utility (which keeps prices quite low) collectively, etc.This also pays for snow removal (we have our own fleet of maintenance vehicles/trucks) and common area mowing and upkeep, and on and on.
I like it. Check it out: http://www.hiddenvalley-lake.com/
We have an HOA- it’s nothing. We each pay $50 year to pay for liability insurance over the open space (about 14 acres) that we have. The best part is that no one can develop the open space without HOA approval and one nay vote has veto power.
It’s supposed to enforce some basic rules, but never does.
Remember that a huge part of the US has no local government other than the counties. Rural counties may provide no services other than a few arterial roads, schools, and basic policing. Even incorporated municipalities may limit services to keep taxes low.
HOAs provide a way for subdivisions to be built and sold with a higher level of amenities: water and sewer service, curbside garbage pickup, parks and golf courses, community pools and clubhouses, paved streets that are cleared of snow, private security, etc. Since rural counties or small municipalities may exercise only minimal planning or zoning control, HOAs also provide a way to enforce standards of property use, upkeep, and appearance.
I’ve lived in a few HOA’s, including where I currently own a house, and they have upsides and downsides. The best part is that they help to maintain the common areas (non-government parks and walking paths) and front yards, which gives the whole neighborhood a well maintained look.
Like other have said, they tend to attract old, power hungry people with too much time on their hands. My only experience so far has been when they denied a permit for me to extend a fence in a small section of a side yard (about 40 sq ft), to stop kids from making it into a bike jump. After some (I think excessive) legwork I finally found out when a HOA meeting was going to take place and I went to go state my case, only to find that the average age of people there was 60+, definitely not representative of the neighborhood overall. They debated ridiculous things like colors of flowers to plant near the entry of the neighborhood, lawn gnome policy (not kidding) and how to deal with kids longboarding down a hill (on a public street). After finally giving my proposal and rationale, I was again denied a permit because it “would add excessive value to the property”. I left thinking ‘WTF?’, but after I told one of my neighbors about it he explained that all three board members live in one section of the neighborhood that has smaller lots and houses, and they actively work against things that they see as diminishing their property values in comparison. And I thought a rising tide lifts all boats?
I decided to just drop it for the time being, but I still get a little frustrated by the picking and choosing, I noticed they don’t put nearly as much emphasis on enforcing the “No onstreet parking” and “Garages should be used primarily for parking vehicles, not simply storage” rules, because the board members only have one car garages and don’t find those rules expedient.
It’s tempting to try to organize the rest of the neighborhood to take a few seats on the board and restore some fairness to it, but most people seem too busy with kids, work, ect. I can’t hardly bear the thought of wasting another two and a half hours listening to old people whine about lawn decorations. Oh well, at least they keep the litter picked up and the grass in the park mowed.
Texas has some really odd laws conserning collections of money.
For example in Texas they can’t sieze your salary for collection of a debt (does not apply to things like child support).
So if you charge up your credit cards and won’t pay and you live in Texas the bank issuing the credit card is out of luck.
Well sort of…
The flip side of this is in Texas it’s incredibly easy to sieze a bank account and attach it.
Usually in most states it’s just the other way around. You have to get all sorts of judgements and go through the courts to get a bank account attached. Not so in Texas, it’s very easy.
See in most states, it’s easy to garnish a wage and hard to attach a bank account. In Texas it’s impossible to garnish a wage (again, except for child support and the like) but easy to attach your bank account.
This is a warning as many online banks are based in Texas. If you are in trouble with finances make darn well sure NONE of your bank accounts are in Texas, online or brick and mortar.
Maybe mention that if a kid is injured on the ‘bike jump’ the HOA may be sued for damages – especially after the plaintiff’s lawyer discovers that the issue was brought up to them and they denied a remedy. 