I am involved with HOA's and it seems that many moving into the area are not accustom to them, especially when it comes to the covenants. Anyone care to share their thoughts on this subject?
They are becoming known countrywide now. I love our HOA but at times they can be a PITA. I admire them for the long hours and dedication. Ours has done a wonderful job. Our covenants are strict but I knew that when I bought and I agree with most of them. PM me if you want to network with some others in different subdivision who are on the HOA. Good luck, Sherry
It is often a thankless job, being on the BOD that is. Many do not understand that they are volunteers and do indeed dedicate many hours to serving their HOA.
The HOAs are only as good as the ability for oversight. Too many who are involved believe they have ultimate power, which is not always the case, and try to exercise that power. Some do not understand the covenents filed with the county must be enforced as they are written, not as they now wish to be defined unless there is a legal vote and the change duly filed with the county. There needs to be an oversight by the local government as these are psuedo-governments, which are easily converted into personal fiefdoms by some. Most homeowners do not have the knowledge, resources, nor will to take on the HOA, much less know when they they can win. Many attroneys do not want to become involved in most of the HOA cases because of the civil agreement support given by the court system for so long. So, they are good when operated properly and bad when not.
Personally I have never been a fan of HOA, but there are those that like it. Lived in one before many years ago and did not like it at all. Wanted to plant some shrubs in my yard and was told I couldn't, wanted to put one of those decorative yard lights in my yard, was told no, so....I swore that if I could help it at all, I would not live some place where this is a HOA.
Many buyers do not even hear of the covenants until the closing. At that time it is a little too late.
My only complaint with my HOA is I have called and emailed with questions....and all I get are "crickets". Communication is horrible...
You are so right. Many self managed HOA boards let the power go to their heads. Some covenants are vague and left open for interpretation. Some boards abuse their power by allowing personal feelings to come into play.
This is an unforunate truth. Some (not all) realtors will do whatever they have to do or say to sell a home. The covenants are often slid in under the radar. It should be set up at a closing that the homeowner has to acknowledge they have read and understand the covenants.
Funny you bring this up...my cousin is actually in town visiting this week from out of state, and just put a purchase offer in on a house. While looking around, she started learning a lot about these things, HOAs, that is. (she's a lot younger than me, and doesn't know much about buying a home) So I was trying to explain to her the pros and cons of living in a neighborhood with an HOA. But if I weren't here to talk to, I don't know if she would have known, because she didn't even know what covenants were, so I guess the realtor didn't take the time to explain it to them, and they wouldn't have thought to ask since they had no idea they existed!
I agree that you should find out about the HOA before buying a home in the subdivision. When we were looking to buy we only looked at homes that had HOA. The reason being that we were moving from a home that we loved but we ended up with neighbors that had no respect for others. We wanted to find somewhere that our property value was protected. We did read the HOA before buying our home. You just need to find someplace that fits your families needs. Some neighborhoods are fine with the HOA. I also agree that some HOA can get out of hand. We have had no problems with our HOA. We knew the rules when we moved in and were willing to follow them.
My thought on this is that many out of staters aren't quite sure what they are. I moved here in '96 from upstate NY, I have never lived in a subdivision with a HOA, nor had any of my friends. They all lived mainly in neighborhoods, a bunch of streets not a subdivision persay. I think this maybe where some folks moving into the area are not understanding things here. Alot of those northern states don't have these, like I said, there are a lot of neighborhoods but they aren't anything like subdivisions.
A good realtor will let you know about these things,:mrgreen: but this is also a case of the buyers needing to be informed as well. You actually need to READ the covenants when they are given to you, not just skim over it and throw it in a drawer somewhere. I'm dealing with one now that restricts the type of dog you can own, this was very nearly a deal breaker. I personally won't live in a s/d with them, but my lifestyle is not compatable with one. We don't live in a dump, but we have at any given time, a truck, 2 cars, a motorcycle and a travel trailer. Throw in the occasional extra vehicle from DH's work and it gets to be a bit much for some place like Riverwood or Glen Laurel. :mrgreen:
My previous HOA was still developer controlled and they stopped fighting with me after the second time. They resorted to leaving a message with my son to at least give them some notice when I wanted anything, please. The current HOA has not been organized enough to fight over anything yet, but I do have my ammunition ready. They have covenants on file, which I asked for copies before we bought, but they have a "playbook" they developed later (after the developer turned over the HOA) on what they expected to enforce and how. I gave notice to the last leadership that would not fly because the legal documents did not reflect their "new ideas" copied from the covenants of another local development. There has to be an election with a majority of the voting lots approving any changes, with those changes being recorded at the courthouse too. Nothing of that nature has been done since the developers were in charge because I checked. There are also several violations which have never been addressed nor is there any mechanism for the board to provide any waiver for those rules. They have been discussing fines for some time, but that will get nasty fast when it comes out they are not enforcing all of the rules equally and have only fined some violators. I suggested they needed to have all of the "extra" rules on a ballot with those already on file and have the owners vote on it, but that did not seem popular.
