My neighbors routinely tell me how much they like my house and all of the eclectic things I’ve done with it. I’m pretty sure it would be a hanging offense in most HOAs, though.
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Who the ever-loving fuck can afford those sort of fees, on top of all of the other monthly outgoings?
Thankfully, here in the U.K. HOA’s are virtually unknown.
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What the deeded rights of the HOA are to control is the big thing that makes them different. And, run don’t walk away if the deeded rights are that they get to vote on whatever rules they want, changing the boundaries of those rights.
When we moved from a state where everything was in a town and the town maintained all the public infrastructure, mostly, to a state where most things are in unincorporated county land and a HOA maintains lots of stuff, it was a bit of a shock to us. We managed to find a house not in an HOA by luck.
Your example lake is a good one. I had one once that maintained a drainage pond the town didn’t want to take as part of approving a development. Nice clearly defined neighborhood infrastructure that for whatever reason isn’t able to be transferred to a government. Something with a clear, distinct, and limited purpose. A purpose that was spelled out in the deed, not just that there was an HOA.
Those ones where they want to mange the “look and feel” of the neighborhood all sound like disasters. That’s not some clear limited purpose, that’s just getting all up in someone’s business.
While I don’t subscribe to @anon29537550 view of how far away the neighbor should be. We like to be able to walk into town and for the kids to walk to friends. I do enjoy that good fences make good neighbors. Along with solving walking the dog at 3:00 AM. The fence rules on many of the HOA near us were immediate show stoppers.
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There’s a lot of shitfuckery that goes into the rules. Key thing to remember is the board makes the rules including the rules on who can be on the board. It’s really easy for mini dictators to get power and hold on for dear life.
It doesn’t take a whole lot to do either. I’ve seen an HOA board stay in power unchecked for a few years because they voted to only have a meeting if a quorum of 30 lots are present. They then scheduled the annual meeting a 40 minute drive from the neighborhood and at a time when most residents were picking up their children from the elementary school near by. All because the was a guy trying to get on the board because the management company thought that solar panels broke the rules.
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Still better than the Texas school of thought for some, which is “if you can see your neighbor, them’s fightin’ words”.
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This. There are some types of common property that are virtually impossible without an HOA. Lakes, swimming pools, creeks, etc. The liability insurance is too expensive unless it’s spread out over at least dozens of homes.
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Not necessarily. If the HOA has a CC&R, it can restrict the ability of the board to change the rules. If the CC&R makes the rules for how the board is elected and makes it difficult to change the CC&R, then it’s difficult for HOA dictators to lock in their rule.
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Isn’t this what towns and cities are for? I have lots of nice water features, parks, and two rivers in my town. All are maintained by the local government that I pay taxes to and is elected and accountable.
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If those features are public, then definitely. If those features are private, then, yeah, there needs to be liability insurance.
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So if you privatise local government you can do an end run around the constitution?
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Unfortunately, yes.
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I guess I don’t think lakes and rivers should be private. Maybe that’s my Canadian speaking.
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I get the feeling the lower the HOA fee the better (at least for HOA’s with respect to single family units). Condos are a different beast altogether if yard decorations are important to you don’t live in a condo. The fees should be much higher but then you shouldn’t be responsible for repairing things like roofs, garages etc.
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You and me both, but in the meantime between now and that ideal state, I can understand the need for HOAs.
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Condo owner responsibilities are “from the paint in”. HOAs pretty much handle buildingwide infrastructure which may even include 24 hour door people and on call maintenance
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I haven’t been in a condo very long, but make a point of reviewing the budget, projects list, and infrastructure aging reports every year. At the community meetings I’m now known as the resident who always has a lot of questions, and I try to suggest ways to reduce costs*. We’ve had two special assessments, both due to the pandemic. One was because it made maintenance companies and materials more scarce/expensive. The other was due to backlogs in the usual processes for collections for overdue accounts so our reserve funds were too low.
Your fees and annual percentage increases both sound excessive. Fees here are less than a third of what you’re paying and we have a pool, tennis courts, and common meeting rooms in each building as amenities. They’ve also done roof & balcony maintenance work as well as elevator and trash compactor replacements (buildings are just over 30 years old). Some residents are focused on projects to keep resale value high, while others are concerned engineering & infrastructure because they aren’t planning to move or flip units. If you decide to sell and your state has real estate regulations about disclosing those fees in detail, it might be helpful to have some explanation for the fee (and any expectations for a decrease in the future 
) to share with potential buyers.
*Two examples of waste were in attorney fees, because they were inviting the association lawyer to speak at meetings. He wasn’t saying anything a board member couldn’t have said, and no one raised any legal questions. After I asked what his billing rate was per hour, and who invited him to read a statement during one gathering…I haven’t seen him (or his firms line item for meeting fees in the budget) since. The other was printing fees. They ask all residents for an email address. They were emailing and printing out copies of documents and putting them on everyone’s doorstep. Hundreds of copies + time for staff to print and deliver them ended after I pointed the absurdity and expense of that practice, too.
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The Canadian geese around the pond by my mom’s house don’t seem to care who it belongs to. /s
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The lake was apparently dug and built (has a nice little sitting dock, a fountain in the middle for some reason) by the developer. The HOA does all the landscaping on the area around it, which passes ~40 houses, plus maintains the lake, the subdivision sign and accompanying greenery, and trims the trees nearby. We get one nice letter in February with a list of what they paid asking for next year’s bills. Considering it looks great and its a negligible amount of money, it works for me.
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Mosquito control.
It’s the same reason you see fountains in lots of water run off ponds that always have water in them. It keeps the water moving on the surface. Stagnant water encourages mosquito breeding.
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