How Much Is TOO Much For HOA Fees?

How Much Is TOO Much For HOA Fees?

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[SherryEllesson]

I lived in a townhome for a couple of years that had a resident-run HOA who apparently had no lives of their own. We were at the edge of a reservoir and these snoops would walk along the back fences, peeking over into each postage-stamp-sized back yard to see what we had or were doing. I had two Siberian Huskies who howled at them, and they tried to complain that I had "dangerous breeds of dogs." Needless to say, selling and moving out to the ruburbs where there were no HOA busybodies was a relief.

[Wythaneye]

One dollar given to an HOA is one dollar too many. I've heard rumors of HOAs that are well managed and don't rip off their residents. I have yet to actually see it.

[things]

I once looked into buying a condo in Hawaii. The HOA fee was higher than the mortgage 😂

[Fiery]

Lived in a Tower style condo. Huge special assessments for the elevator, repeatedly. Later the building started to sink. Glad we didn’t buy!

[zruthl]

I live in an hoa which was orginaly run by retirees. They made me paint a falling fence. Then a hoa management company took over and no crazy things happen anymore. Way better if it is a HOA management company.

[eatenvegan]

Don't buy a home in an HOA. We will never do it again.

[mantisman]

I would never buy with a HOA. Its not worth paying or having someone tell you what to do on your own property.

[theforeignerinamerica]

Buy a house with no HOA. Then, you are free to make changes as you see fit. Condos are mandatory so you don’t have a chance. Usually it is a hundred or two a month.

[musicmaneanda]

HOA fees and property taxes: Two things that say, YOU DON'T OWN YOUR OWN PROPERTY.

[matthewferrick]

I live in a nice gated community in Phoenix where 1BR condos are about 300K our HOA is professionally managed and is only $185 per month. Every few years we might get special assessment of something like $500 if the roofs need replaced or the pool needs resurfacing and furniture. Not bad at all. I go to all of the meeting to listen to the budget to see where every dime is going.

[bunacat]

Whether the HOA fees are worth it depends on what you get for your money. If your place has pools, gym, rec center etc., that all requires maintenance. We bought in a community that doesn't have any of that for that reason. We have lived in our place for almost 25 years and have never been assessed. In California HOA's are required to have an outside company to do a review of your records and rate you on how well you are funding your accounts for upcoming repairs (roof, paint, roads, pool etc). If you are buying into an HOA situation (which I hope to never do again) make sure you check their progress. I would NEVER buy into a high rise. In San Francisco there is a high rise that is sinking and the people there can't sell their apartments. They bought these apartments for over a million and are stuck.

[detonationpyrotechnics]

No HOA!!!! Who on earth wants to be told what to do with their own property?

[backtoasimplelife]

Are you kidding? No way am I paying anything to an HOA! No one needs to tell me what I can do and have on my property.

[randy]

I would learn how to research HOA's myself- Our real estate agent told us a lake amenity was part of our HOA, but we learned after the fact that our home was not inside the geographic boundaries to join the club.

[ZacharyBuhler]

I pay $78 for my HOA and that includes all lawn maintenance, snow removal and garbage. That’s definitely worth it to me. But a lot of HOA’s around me are more like $200 and that’s definitely too much.

[djpuplex]

% of renter occupied vs owner occupied can create nightmares. The HOA fees will go up and never go down.

[Teamshmo]

There was a town house community I saw around me with no yards or driveways that were asking $1000 a month in HOA. A mortgage on the entire property would only be about $2200 a month. What is the money possibly going to? lol

[devinfromheaven]

Please America, let's OUTLAW HOAS!! Unconstitutional!!!

[gipnor]

What he is looking for and Dave kind of describes is a disclosure. W/regards to avoiding an assessment for something like a parking lot, you're looking for a "Reserve Study." Laws vary by state... in a nutshell you want to make sure the HOA has enough in reserves/savings to cover the cost of repairing or replacing common assets (like the parking lot, rails, siding, etc).

I would be very careful with these items when buying into a condo or HOA with significant assets (like a pool/clubhouse/private lake with a dam/etc)- during the recession, folks found themselves being assessed a disproportionate amount of money after their neighbors were foreclosed upon, filed for bankruptcy, or walked away from their homes.

[Salvaging-in-Az]

“ They are run like a junior high student body”. Absolutely nothing more accurate!!!!