How Homeowners Associations Took Over American Neighborhoods

More than 80% of newly-built single-family homes sold in 2022 belonged to an HOA, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. HOAs tout themselves as a value-add to homeowners, specifically when it comes to maintaining high property value, but not everyone is pleased with HOAs. Fifty-seven percent of homeowners surveyed said they disliked living in an HOA with more than 3 in 10 homeowners saying they feel like the HOA has too much power.

Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction
01:06 — One HOA experience
05:46 — Benefits of HOAs
08:18 — Power dynamics

Produced, Shot and Edited by: Charlotte Morabito
Additional Camera and Color Correction: Mark Licea
Editorial Support: Juhohn Lee, Jack Hillyer
Animation: Christina Locopo
Supervising Producer: Lindsey Jacobson
Additional Footage: Getty Images, Jewel Inostroza, Jessica Navas

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How Homeowners Associations Took Over American Neighborhoods

[DEINFAMOUS]

I have told this many times. I had an HOA advise me that they had voted my property into their HOA and that I had 30 days to come into compliance. I sent a response that I was not part of their HOA. 30 days later I started receiving violation notices in my mailbox. I sent a cease and desist letter. A month later, I received a notice of intent to seize my property if I was not in compliance in 10 days. Two weeks later I received notice of a scheduled hearing. At the courthouse, the attorney for the HOA recognized me and asked if I represented the homeowner, and I told him that I was the homeowner. I told him that I was not part of the HOA and they had been advised of that in writing several times. In court, the HOA president told how I had ignored all notices and refused to pay fines. When it was my turn, I asked her how long the property had been a part of the HOA, she gave the date they had voted my property in. I asked her if she had membership documents signed by me. She said "No, you refused so we voted you in" The judge, and their attorney both said HUH ? ? ? I then asked her about putting violation notices in my mailbox and she said that was the only way since I refused to install a notice box at my garage door. I asked her if she realized that putting main in a US mailbox was a federal crime. She said "not in a HOA" I saw their attorney shake his head. The judge asked her how she thought that the HOA could vote someone in without their consent, she said the annexed the property according to their by-laws. I asked the judge for a judgment as a matter of law, and consideration of my counter-claim. The judge said "granted to both, state your counter-claim" I outlined my compensatory damages, and then asked for putative damages in the amount of $5000 per violation notice, and an additional $10, 000 for the frivolous case. The judge granted $350, 000 in putative damages, and just over $50, 000 in actual damages for time, and earnings lost responding and researching their claims. HOA woman said that the HOA could not pay the judgement. I told the judge that I would accept the vacant 20 Acres of association property adjoining my property with the release of HOA claims. The HOA voted the next week to release the property and remove Caren (Yes her name is Caren) as HOA president. I found out that she wanted my property as access to the additional acres the HOA had purchased to build additional homes to sell. Subsequently, the members of the HOA voted to dissolve the HOA as without the additional anticipated acreage income, they could not continue to fulfill the HOA obligations. The entire neighborhood (save a few) is much happier with the HOA gone.

[djp]

How is HOA not tanking home values? Who in their right mind would want to pay money for some Karen to tell them how to live? Sounds like a living hell to me.

[genesisg]

My wife and I purchased our house in 2001.
We refused to consider one that had a HOA!

HOA is like living in an apartment, someone telling you what you can and can't do with your house!

[deluxeof]

The federal government needs to step in and HEAVILY regulate the existence of HOAs limiting their abilities such as handing out fines and placing liens on people’s homes.

[DiamondDazzle]

My father in law got on the HOA board when they moved to AZ. When my husband and I visited them we took a walk. My husbands mother made a big deal because some man had his garage door open. I asked her what the big deal was. She said, well, burglary. I said that's his problem. What she really meant is that everyone was supposed to have the doors closed. For a uniform appearance. I think board members are people that need their little bit of power. I'd NEVER live with a HOA

[seaneaston]

"No HOA" is a huge selling point for real estate listings. We specifically bought our house because it was NOT in an HOA. Our neighborhood is cool because every house is different and most owners take pride in maintaining the neighborhood. We don't want to pay $200 monthly to a faceless company to manage our landscaping. We'll look after it ourselves, thank you.

[CameronFussner]

The issue is that either the renter or the owner must in some way pay insurance and property taxes if they want a "permanent roof" with utilities like electricity, gas and water. Because of this, many people—at least in California, where I currently reside—are living in tents. No taxes, rent, mortgages, or insurance. The number of people who tell me they live in their car that I meet amazes me. Its crazy out here!

[Dvco]

Homeowner: "I just paid off my house, yeahhh
HOA: *"Not so fast."*

[MrsMathews]

I had no idea that HOA’s had the power to garnish your wages or foreclose on your home over petty fees. That’s horrible.

[jer]

There should definitely be more laws regulating HOAs.

[TKNi]

My wife and I recently bought our first home and the one thing we both agreed on was no matter how perfect the house may be if it is in an HOA we pass. Fortunately, where we live there are plenty of older neighborhoods without any of that BS. Everyone around us takes care of their home out of pride of ownership not because someone will fine you if your grass is too long.

[Ganzuri]

My wife and I are currently living in a hell HOA Community… We keep in mind that we are only leasing a unit there and are fully responsible for taking care of everything there. We both work 7am-5pm and come home to eat, shower, relax and watch tv. On some days we get home and go to church since I’m an active music player there. To make it short my wife and I are only home for a few hours. On our first week there, we got a “noise violation” because we were cleaning and painting the “Good Job” the management did. Somehow they listed 3 things. Loud Music, Slamming Doors, and Jumping?!?! We live on the first floor !!! And we had no music at all!! Then a month goes by and we get the same complaint… At this point we feel targeted by the community taking note that we are the only Hispanic Couple living there. We raised our concerns and it seemed to help for two months. Then two weeks ago a neighbor who, keep in mind was just opening his garage came out and told my wife if he could “leave” since my truck was pulling out and it’s a one lane road to get out. My wife was literally getting on the truck and his car was still in his garage without the ignition on!!?? How does that make sense ??? He wanted to say something… then he told us “Do you guys live here” ?? NO DUHH! and then he yelled at my wife pointing his finger in her face saying we can’t park in our driveway because it’s illegal and my wife told him to back off and then we just left. We sent a message to HOA and they never replied to our concerns. So then we put light bulb cámaras which keeep in mind are supposed to be camo cámaras meaning you can only know it’s a camara if you see it up close. 3 days go by and we see a neighbor causally standing outside our garage at 7pm!! The next day we get a message saying we violated HOA for cámaras !! We called and explained that we felt threatened and why it takes a violation for them to reach out right away ! They said we had two options… LEAVE OR FILE A POLICE REPORT !!!! How is this normal!?!?!? And to the ones saying HOA is not for irresponsible owners SHUT UP Because until you are in our shoes you will know why there are people who dislike HOAs…

[georges.]

So many real estate listings make it a point to say "NO HOA" when applicable. Obviously "NO HOA" is a selling point.

[bluejedi]

I'd rather pay an extra $500 a month on my mortgage payment to NOT BE part of an HOA than deal with HOA BS

[dianajohnson]

Unfortunately, not everyone has the option of not having an HOA. I currently live in Hawaii, and to the best of my knowledge, all townhouses and condominiums have an HOA, and at the moment, that is all that I can afford. When I first moved in, the fees were reasonable. But now, it has gotten out of control. What I pay in monthly maintenance fee, would pay for a two bedroom apartment or even a mortgage on the mainland. To make matters worse, we do not have any kind of amenities that would justify the fees we pay. No swimming pool, rec center, or even a park for goodness sake. What really takes the cake is that we have elderly people who are on a fixed income, and this is not even taken into consideration. I now totally understand why we have so many homeless people here who actually do have a job. It's totally crazy.

[garrettlundy]

When we bought our house in 2019 the first thing we told the realtor was “No HOAs”

No regrets about that

[Reggieprince]

I lived in An HOA years back and i can tell you I hated it so much. The lady was right it’s like signing over your rights. You’re essentially letting people who did not contribute into buying your house have full power over what you with your own property. From what color your house is to what sign you have in your yard or windows or where your trash can is sitting it’s crazy.

[neonshadow]

Our HOA just sent us a notice about a car parked illegally on the road, and said we would need to rectify this violation within 10 days. -- We responded by informing them there is no such car at our residence and that they should at least know who's house is who's and that we expect them to rectify this mistake within 10 days.

[ivanp]

HOA is the worse. I just sold my home 6 months ago and moved into a traditional clean neighborhood with no HOA. Although I was fully aware of the HOA when I first bought my previous home, the rates just went up insanely. I started at $80/month and within 3yrs I was paying $300/month. Their justification was always landscaping cost for which we didn't even have grass. We had a bunch of cheap bushes. We had 1 pool and a very small playground for the kids. No gym, no cleaning crews on-site. In fact the HOA was sold to different agencies and in the end the agency was "managing" us from a city that was over 50miles away. They rarely answered calls or emails. When we sold our home they charged us 3k to transfer the HOA to the new owners. It was the a horrible experience considering how expensive they are and how much control they have over your home.

[cheezykrafts]

My HOA decided to reseal the roads in our neighborhood with no notice. We do not have sidewalks, so there was literally no way to get to the main road without walking over people's lawns and driveways. I was post surgery, temporarily disabled, and could not handle the ups and downs of curbs. I called and they told me to get a friend to help me since they trapped me in my house. I should have called the Office of American Disabilities for them trapping me in my house when I had to work.