It seems like I’m always hearing people complain about their homeowner’s association, or HOA. Complaints of the HOA fees and overstepping their boundaries are rampant. Maybe they’re restricting what type of plant is allowed in the landscaping bed, or telling you where you can, or cannot park your car in your own driveway. Sometimes the argument AGAINST an HOA seems obvious.

HOWEVER, there IS another side to this argument, I mean, you SIGNED UP for the HOA. You spent a lot of money to buy that home and I’m betting you were are aware of that homeowner’s association. So today we’ll be looking at the PROS and CONS of homeowner’s associations. Stick around til the end here, because you may not have considered a couple of these, and they’re NOT listed in any particular order.

Pros of HOAs

Let’s start right off with the pros of homeowners’ associations and THEN we’ll get to those cons. After all, you pay for them, so there should be some pros, right? The first, and perhaps most common pro is that the resale value is often protected as the HOA ensures that your neighbor isn’t painting his house pink, yellow, or purple. The HOA is ensuring that the neighbor keeps his lawn mowed, and maybe the landscaping beds free of weeds, ensuring that the overall appearance of the area is kept up.

Earlier this year I helped a seller sell his home that was in an area that used to be an HOA. It was great because nobody here had to pay that HOA fee anymore. As such, there was still a good bit of conformity in the neighborhood, it was a nice neighborhood in Deltona, Florida where I’ve sold a lot of homes over the years.

It was a decent 3/2 pool home on a quarter acre. The seller was motivated to sell and was realistic when considering the comparable homes in the neighborhood and priced his home to sell. The problem was his neighbor, whose grass was like 12 inches tall, the fence was literally falling over (at least what was left of it), and there were two or three broken down cars in the driveway. This home ended up selling for about $10,000 LESS because of that neighbor.

The seller offered to paint the neighbor’s home and clean up the yard, but the homeowner refused, leaving the seller and I both a bit frustrated. This situation reflects what can happen when there is not an HOA present. Just down the street, similar homes had an HOA of around $30 per month, and they just didn’t have this concern.

Another pro of a homeowners’ association is the amenities that they can provide. Amenities like swimming pools, fitness centers, maintenance of picnic areas and playgrounds, utilities, and much more are another apparent advantage of an HOA. Sometimes, these amenities can be quite inexpensive, too. One local HOA gets you a really nice swimming pool, cable TV, high speed internet, water for irrigation, tennis and pickleball courts, and access to several community centers with pools for under $200 per month.

Forget the utilities and everything else here, just considering the expense, weekly maintenance and hassle of a swimming pool makes this a real pro of an HOA. Some HOAs even include lawn maintenance and exterior maintenance of the building, including the roofs. Of course, these will likely cost you more, but in some circumstances, an HOA can be a great thing. I’ve heard of homeowner’s associations providing emergency services, too. So it’s pretty clear that a homeowner’s association can have some advantages, but whenever there’s a pro, there’s usually, a con.

Cons of homeowner’s associations

I’m betting that some of you are just rolling your eyes or getting red in the face, because you HATE your HOA. Look, I get it. I live out in the sticks, and I’ve said myself that I’d NEVER be part of a homeowner’s association. I love being left alone to do what I want to do.

I’m grateful that there’s nobody telling me what I CAN, or CAN NOT do with my own home, which is likely the most common CON of a homeowner’s association. Think about it. It’s natural. Our kids don’t like to be told what to do and neither do we.

There are all sorts of horror stories out there about HOAs behaving badly. Some good friends of mine recently had their vehicle towed away after leaving it parked in front of their home for one night. They had no idea that it was even a rule there. They didn’t make a thing of it because they never read all the rules and regs of their HOA, but that doesn’t mean they were happy about it.

Mismanagement of HOAs can be nothing but another tax on living in an area. One neighborhood in Lake Mary, another city on the north side of Orlando, has a beautiful swimming pool and clubhouse, but it’s been closed FOREVER, but those HOA dues have NOT stopped. That pool and clubhouse are nothing but an eyesore and a reminder of wasted dollars on their HOA.

Homeowners’ associations can place all sorts of rules such as when and how you can decorate for holidays. They may restrict when you put out your trash and pick up those cans, disallow hoses and toys to be left in the driveway, and annoy you with seemingly trivial matters. HOA’s can restrict what breeds, size, and how many pets you can have, too. One customer of ours recently sold their home in an HOA after being told that they could not make even minor repairs to their vehicle in their driveway.

The State of Florida recently passed legislation to protect homeowners from their homeowners’ associations. The new laws restrict an HOA’s ability to restrict a few things like prohibiting work vehicles and back yard gardens, so even the government is concerned about the power of homeowners’ associations.

Homeowners’s associations can cost a lot of money to manage, too. They’re often responsible for things we don’t even think of, like that sign out front, the streetlights, and mowing of common areas. This money can be mismanaged. HOA members are often voted on because they’re likeable people, or many they’re just the only ones that signed up, but they may be poor money managers, or improperly or unethically handle the money that is intended to help the homeowners in that community.

However, I’ve heard stories of professional management companies doing a poor job of management, too. If you live in one of these communities with poor management, an HOA could be a disaster. Homeowner’s associations often have the right to place a lien on your home, too. If you don’t pay the HOA dues, which could potentially rise without apparent cause, a lien could be placed on your home.

If you fail to keep that lawn mowed, you could get fined. Sooner or later that HOA will likely get their money, too. Now, you may be thinking, so what? I’ll just pay it when I sell my home. The problem with this thinking is that by then you could have hundreds or thousands of dollars of interest or penalties for non-payment. HOA’s are really just another government that provides oversight.

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Published on December 10. 2024 / no comments.