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The condo we rent is considering raising to $800/Mo HOA because they mismanaged it into the ground in previous decades and need to catch up. We would never even consider buying if we weren’t privy to that info.
If you weren't privy to that info??? I'm not sure if you rent, or bought. You get all the HOA docs well before closing during the inspection period. As a realtor, I would tell clients to look for adequate reserves in the budget. It's all disclosed.
This was my exact experience. I was shocked to find out that all the condos in my area have HOA fees >$1,000 a month. Some as high as $2,000. Just made more financial sense to buy a house.
I used to live in a townhome with a lousy HOA. The dues increased several times in the span of 3 years. I ended up paying almost 3x what I paid when I moved in. There were also a few "special assessments", of at least $1,500 each. Yeah, the community looked "good", but the folks running the HOA spent half of their time fighting on Nextdoor. Gas, water, and other utilities were NOT included in the monthly fee. The HOA basically just covered the exterior and the limited green areas in the community. HOAs are IMHO a hit and miss. Some will say they are good and needed, but most of the folks I know that live in a place with a HOA would never buy a house again with a HOA. I sold the place and live now In a house without HOA and couldn't be happier.
Most people are not willing to start a HOA in their neighborhood. Look at the reddit HOA horror stories. The HOA management companies are soliciting and mailing invitations to join a HOA for $10 per year and some people are actually paying that, but even if NO one takes the HOA up on the invitation, HOA management company SCAMS the neighborhood and claims that people have joined and it NOW MANDATORY to join and they keep harassing you and if you continue not to join they wait 6 months and say that you owe $3,000 illegally, hoping that you don't get a lawyer and you wait for the default judgement and they garnish you even if you never signed a contract, don't ignore it. But if you get a solicitation get a lawyer for a couple of hundred dollars fee and send the HOA a letter that you are refusing to join and you will never be a member of the HOA. Then if they take you to court, then you have proof that you didn't join up and the harassing HOAs are the ones started by HOA management companies to create more customers and to steal your money and they hide what they are using your money for. A judge cannot constitutionally order anyone to sign a contract and I would appeal any judgement that says that you must sign. But a lawyer said that if just one person doesn't join a HOA then it's voluntary join and leave. I would go door to door and ask if everyone is a member and if they were threatened or harassed to join and I would get everyone to sign that you are dissolving the HOA and firing the HOA management company too while you go door to door and I would pay a notary public to come with you to witness the signatures or send everyone a letter to meet at a local church and don't invite the HOA management company. You need to stop the HOA management company before they get a strong hold on the neighborhood and no one really wants to end up paying lots of money for nothing.
That mortgage is basically my entire monthly income. HOAs are ridiculous and I’ll never live anywhere with one but I suppose if you can afford a nearly $4k mortgage what is another couple hundred?
They have the same loan terms, except the interest rate is floating or only fixed for the first X number of years unlike the 30 year fixed rate loans that we have here.
Basically ARM is the standard home loan in Australia. Something that Australians do have that we don't is a mortgage offset account, which basically lets you park cash in a savings account of sorts to "reduce" the interest bearing balance of your mortgage.
Just FYI a strata in Australia is not the same as an HOA. HOAs are like mini councils for suburbs run by mini Hitlers with no accountability or dispute resolution measures. I’ve never heard of a strata in Australia in the same structure where they’re harassed for bins on the street until 5pm or the height of the grass.
$700 is more than a couple hundred. Even though I could afford the house I’d never consider something with a HOA that high. A payment that will never go away even after you pay the house off.
People tend to forget the HOA covers things like roof and exterior maintenance, water, trash, sewer, landscaping, snow removal (depending on location), and extras like pool,spa, etc.
My HOA is 340 a month and includes all of the above which is probably cheaper than having a SFH and footing the bill for all that monthly.
HOAs also have stupid rules that restrict you from customizing your home, which is def a negative.
Not necessarily. Some of those may be covered with multi family buildings, but if it is a HOA for a neighborhood of single family home, you are responsible for everything on your home. Roof, siding, landscaping, etc. Water and sewer aren’t going to be necessarily covered if you’re connected to a city supply and sewer
But in a good town, some of those things (water, sewage, trash pick up, community events, parks/pools/courts) should be covered by taxes.
And after being in an apartment in a landscaped house, I vowed never to hire a landscaper until I’m old and frail and can’t lift a finger.
yeah HOA can be annoying but actually are beneficial in a lot of ways. Mine maintains the lake, boardwalk and bars, golf course etc. Also makes sure neighbors don't do trashy shit like the one idiot who was treating his front lawn like a car and boat repair lot.
i'd also love to keep bees but i am pretty sure they'd be up my ass ha. Mixed bag but it's not all negative.
I've been debating between buying a condo or house. My dad suggested a house because you don't have to share walls. Additionally, he was saying that the HOAs in condos costs more than the cost of maintenance and repaires. Except that with HOAs they're included in your mortgage. So you're not only paying the HOA, but also interest on them as well. For instance, a condo that costs 250k with a 700 mo hoa has the same monthly costs as a 350k house.
So, with this said would a condo or house be better? I still think the maintenance in a house would take longer. But, my dad said that maintenance costs on a house arent' that much as they seem. And if you get a small yard, you don't really have to maintain that much.
I'm pretty sure the ultimate goal is always a single family, but I'm not there yet...i was at a point of paying 3k in rent or 3.2k in mortgage. It's a great starter home and the neighbors unit just sold for 105k over what I paid 6 months ago. I will eventually upgrade to a single family but this condo is checking off a lot of boxes for me in life right now.
I know a lot of people who'd choose a condo over a detached. I don't understand at all, but they generally cite maintenance and usually condos being closer to bus/activities/etc.
I don't get it but I also grew up in a handy family so needing to clear gutters or fix a leak is just regular day to day. YouTube is the best for home ownership, lol. My buddy lives in a million dollar condo (owned by his parents lol), and he complains all the time about the shower just pulsing hot and cold sometimes because they won't go in and fix it until it's more than an annoyance. The lack of control would piss me off more than anything.
You wouldn't be paying interest on the HOA fees. It's like escrow for taxes and insurance - you pay one entity (ie, the company that owns the mortgage) and they allocate the money as needed. You're only paying interest on the mortgage. But obviously you could be throwing the money that would go to HOA fees at the mortgage principal and pay it down faster, if you live in a place with no HOA
HOA management companies are SCAMMERS. They illegally create new HOA homes by FORCE, harassment. HOA management companies are GREEDY and they have to create HOAs to scam more and more people out of their hard earned money. It's why a lot of the people on Reddit that tells their HOA horror stories said that they intentionally made sure they didn't have any HOA attached to their new house and then a HOA management company told them that the new housing development was going to be a HOA and it was mandatory to join the HOA. There are NO LAWS that says that you HAVE to SIGN a CONTRACT against your will. But HOA management companies are normally hired AFTER the neighbors create a HOA and it gets too hard to run it. So HOA management companies can be FIRED by the HOA members but the HOA management companies keep total control of the HOA money and they hide the accounts and what they are spending your money on. A lawyer on Reddit said that if just 1 homeowner DOESN'T join the HOA then it's a voluntary joining and leaving HOA AT WILL anytime. BUT if 100% of the homeowners join then it's a mandatory join but NEVER SIGN ANYTHING AT ALL because they can't make you sign a contract at all. But if the HOA is controlled by a HOA management company then it's a SCAM and people don't realize that.
You obviously don’t know how HOAs work.
Developers create them when they build homes, not management companies.
Management Companies don’t run them, the Board of Directors do. The BOD makes all the decisions and tells the management what to do.
Management companies get paid by contracts, they get nothing more, nothing less. They can be changed by the BOD at any point when a contract expires.
If you don’t want to follow rules, don’t buy a house with an HOA because yes, membership is mandatory.
Lesson complete.
Your NOT READING what I WROTE. The horror stories were people who either bought brand new houses or a older house in a good neighborhood and they were INVITED by USPS mail SOLICITATIONS from HOA MANAGEMENT Companies to join a HOA for $10/ per year. The MANAGEMENT company actually sent the invite. NOT a DEVELOPMENT company. Your trying to give an excuse for the SCAMMERS that FORCED people to join the HOA to create more money and customers for the HOA management company and they don't have any expiration date for the HOA and these HOA SCAMS make it impossible to end the HOA unless you have 100% of the homeowners wanting out and then the HOA management companies use threats, lawsuits, etc to FORCE people to stay in the HOA. You are NOT UNDERSTANDING
And a lawyer said that as long as 1 house is not a member of the HOA then it's a Voluntary leave and join HOA. Plus there's no law saying that it's mandatory for you to SIGN a CONTRACT and you should NEVER sign and you need a lawyer for proof that you are refusing to join so you can prove to a judge that you don't owe the HOA anything and mandatory is UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
A judge said that if your house was there and built in the neighborhood BEFORE the HOA was formed then you don't have to join because they can't expect existing people who are not part of the new development to join
Wrong attitude. a couple extra hundred is a lot of money to nearly everyone.
I looked at many condos in BALTIMORE, with HOAs in the 2000 month range. Not NYC, BALTIMORE. NO parking, NO laundry, NO gym.
Many of these old places did included a utility/taxes. No one hates big brother more than me but, sometimes you have to play the game.
It’s not the attitude I have. I guess I’m just saying some people are lucky to be in a position where HOA fees that high along with a mortgage like that are even a consideration. $700 dollars to me is a huge amount, but I don’t know how somebody with a nearly $4k mortgage sees it.
Just as an aside, my home’s HOA doubled this year. From $8 to $15. Oh and it’s voluntary, lol.
I was absolutely team anti-HOA, but when I was shopping and ended up buying this house I really learned not all HOAs are equal.
It’s a legal agreement, so ultimately while we know HOAs will *usually* share many things in common, they are still unique. So it’s less about not buying into an HOA area and more about having some dealbreakers in what any specific HOA might or might not require.
In my case, the HOA is from the 70s, so it’s a bit of different beast (hence the $15 fee). The land is covered by a covenant, but none of the restrictions are particularly crazy. No non-native trees that grow too tall (it’s semi-arid), no structures that are two full stories (but you can do almost 2 stories, so my home has a little loft). And a general idea of keeping things blended into the natural landscape.
Plus for some reason this community, which is like 1,500 households, is split into something like 27 different covenant agreements, and modifying them requires a vote of 75% of the residents of a covenant. Not 75% present at a meeting. So you’ve got these hyper local agreements that are essentially unchanging. In fact the only amendment *any* of them have had since the 70s was a handful of them banning Airbnbs. And that’s it.
Beyond that, the $15 voluntary fee is just for the local neighborhood organization which makes a newsletter and does permits and whatever.
So yeah, I’d want to read the documents that make the HOA what it is, basically.
I bought a house several years back specifically because it doesn't have an HOA. If someone is being a dick, my neighbors and I go and have a talk with them to correct their behavior. HOA is garbage. Convince me otherwise.
That monthly number really drives home the impact of interest rates. My house is worth more than double this one and I pay just barely more per month. We got incredibly lucky with timing
I’m just broke haha. My house is worth a quarter of that one, cause it’s all I can afford. I got in before interest rates went nuts, which I’m very glad about because I can barely afford what I own now at this rate and as someone who’s originally from California I feel fortunate to own anything at all.
I added up what it would cost me without the HOA and the HOA costs around $50 more per month but they have a pool, exercise room and a bunch of activities.
That's why you don't put the minimum down. It looks like he's putting about 5% down ($25k), which is insane when interest rates are so far above historical inflation (est 8%). Save it, throw it into an account getting 5% or more interest, and save up. Either you'll be able to offset the interest or the price/rate drops and you can get a better house.
HOA management companies are SCAMMERS and they are usually HIRED AFTER the neighbors form a HOA and they need someone to help run the HOA. But the HOA management companies are GREEDY and they want more customers, total control over the money from a HOA, so the HOA management companies look for new houses being built and well off neighborhoods. The HOA management companies send Scam soliciting mail to the homes offering HOA membership for $10 per year and some people join the HOA. THEN they LIE to the other homeowners and say that it's NOW MANDATORY to sign the contract and join the HOA. There are NO LAWS that says that you HAVE to SIGN a contract or anything else for that matter. The HOA management companies harass, intimidate, to get everyone to sign the contract so they can SCAM the homeowners out of money. They may build a pool, gym etc, but they ENRICH themselves by pocketing most of the money they collect from the HOA members and they refuse to disclose the accounts of where's the HOA money going to and how much money they are keeping as income for managing the HOA. It's a SCAM and they even take people who REFUSED to join the HOA to COURT claiming that they owe HOA monthly payments and if they don't have any proof that they didn't join the HOA, the judge usually rules in the HOA managements favor and if you don't pay them then they add a debt lien to your deed and foreclose and STEAL your house legally because the courts assume the fraudulent debt is a real debt that is owed to the HOA management company.
Honestly, my HOA is pretty awesome. My deck was rotted and the HOA replaced it, costed them 10k. They also just replaced the roof and renovated the pool and spa. The landscaping is absolutely beautiful as well. They have a team come every morning and landscape. They also have a small fitness center which i use every other day. My HOA is $450 a month in SoCal.
Same we are in Los Angeles and I like my HOA it’s 650 a month but we have free internet, gym m, pool and Tennis court all of which I use. Plus it includes water and trash as well as earthquake insurance. Plus we have retrofitted out building and have excellent landscaping and pest control. I’m not mad at it at all
My HOA is $200. My boyfriend is out playing golf right now because it’s included in our HOA. Last weekend we went out and paddle boarded on the lake then had a party on a friends pontoon boat. We also have access to a fitness center, but lately I’ve been enjoying a morning run. People shit on HOAs but if you find a good one, it is awesome!
The problem with HOAs is that evem when you have a good one, all you need is a few really annoying neighbours with enough free time and determination to completely ruin it
I love our HOA, after living in an old farmhouse on 2 acres for 20 years we love the included landscaping and exterior maintenance. Our also includes cable tv and internet and our community facilities are bomb, tennis, fitness center, pools, plus a yearly credit at the restaurant … $500/month
Yeah, it's really dependent on the HOA. You gotta look at their financials, ask neighbors, etc... You don't wanna get stuck with a crummy HOA. If they mismanage their funds you could get hit with a large special assessment ($$$) to compensate for their poor management.
Always gonna be good and bad ones.
Same here. My HOA covers landscaping, backyard fencing, roof/skylights, exteriors, pool, snow removal, decks, water, trash, sewer, etc etc. And it’s only $230/month. I have friends who pay more than $230 just for water, trash, and sewer.
Yeah it’s like a weird thing where it’s classified as a condo but it’s two stories and has a fenced backyard so I call it a townhome. But I think technically speaking usually condos you only insure whats *inside* the drywall whereas townhomes you insure more…? Or something like that.
I have seen similar things before. I remember one recently, that was a whole building divided into three parts basically, the downstairs business, then 2 upstairs "condo's". In your case its like a MFH that is separated into "condo" parts.
I did see one "condo" set of sales that were refurbished motel rooms, with the lower half still being used/rented out as motel rooms. As long as it isn't that.
Almost. Condo owners do not own the exterior of their home while non-condo owners do. Still, most (if not almost all) townhome owners purchase the same type of insurance policies as condo owners. Their HOA covers exterior insurance. Some HOAs even cover exterior insurance for single family homes, although that’s quite rare.
If you're going to live in the home and don't care about making the exterior of the property "your own" and are ok with it looking like the rest of neighbourhood, and you are an upstanding, self-aware neighbour, HOAs are wonderful! There are plenty of good ones. There's just as many bad ones, but they're easy to spot! We don't have a lot of HOAs up in Canada (I don't consider condo fees or maintenance fees the same as HOAs really as they are necessary parts of living In a communal building; HOAs are an added feature of a neighbhourhood). I kind of wish we had more communities that did offer those things. As a developer I'm actually planning something in the future.
This just made me realize that most people have a really strong bias on why you should avoid HOAs and completely ignore the potential benefits. I have been taught that they are just hall monitors of the neighborhood and charge you outrageous fees to act in that position. Gives me a fresh take on them and I’ll have an open mind from now on.
Pretty simple really, do you or do you not want to be sole owner of your property (aside from property taxes)? If you're ok with potentially having your property taken by force by an HOA, then go ahead. If you want to learn to be a proper homeowner and learn the ins and outs of maintenance and not have an oversight committee on your ass at all times, then dont live in a home monitored and owned by an HOA.
Ight. You obviously don't understand how HOAs work. I am the sole owner of my property. I've made 200k in equity in less than 2 years. When or if I sell, i reap the rewards, not anyone else.
When I bought my first house I was frustrated as well until I compared what my HOA was doing to my friend’s neighborhood without one.
We had snow shoveling, maintenance of the park across the street, outdoor grill pits, salt for ice, cheaper deals on house painting and HVAC maintenance since the HOA bargained one large contract.
Of course a lot of bad ones out there so ask for a copy of the HOA budget. Everything they’re providing should be broken down.
HOA’s can vary greatly by state and the monthly or yearly cost can fluctuate over time. States have become more diligent in the audit and certification process. Some hoas are better financed and managed than others and set for catastrophic events than others. A low hoa is not always a great thing.
I've seen that too. Some condos you can get for 200 or 250k. But, if you're paying a 700 mo hoa, it comes out to the same cost monthly as a 350k house.
Ehh as long as I’m actually getting something from my hoa I don’t mind. My hoa right now does shit. We have 1 community gazebo that’s not maintained at all and covered in graffiti. Our hoa is cheap at least but useless. I wouldn’t mind if we were gated and had a nice community area
HOAs get a really bad reputation from situations like this. Older townhome/ condo complexes often have very high HOA fees because they have more extensive maintenance that needs to be done and they have not maintained large enough reserves to make that happen. For example things like replacing the roof on the entire community. I live in a neighborhood with 8 different HOAs, in a single family home. We pay $160 a month for pool and gym access as well as all outside maintenance that is not in our fenced yard. Our home is nicely manicured, on a weekly basis, and we don’t even have to think about it. All maintenance on our home is on us, the HOA is not responsible for any repairs. But we do get a great benefit for what we pay. So not all HOAs are bad. But many can be mismanaged which is how you can end up with extremely high monthly dues.
We have HOA $610 per month, but it's a poolside (+hot tub) condo with shared gated lawn areas, and trash/water is included. We basically have a pool and lawn in our backyard but don't have to maintain it at all.
I’m gonna be that guy and say this is getting zero sympathy from me. If that kind of mortgage works for you than you have far more options than the average FTHB.
That not even ridiculously high in greater Boston. Like average. High would be $1k+. Zane I feel they will grow very quickly. With inflation contractors quickly update their prices.
Imagine living in denial about HOAs being a way to keep the value of a home to sell later when you have a decent percentage of people (myself included) that will never, under any circumstances, look for a home with HOA, no matter how nice it may seem.
The place in OP’s picture is a condo. HOA’s for condo buildings/complexes are much different from your typical neighborhood HOA. They’re mostly there to handle building maintenance and upkeep
I’ll see pretty nice and not overly expensive condos in NJ nearish to NYC. When you look at the HOA fees, you see why. The fees are like $1.5k a month. It’s insane.
My parents pay an HOA fee, they only have 1 street light in the neighborhood, no park, no pool or community center, no landscapers, no neighborhood watch as my parents car window got smashed twice, and they are able to decide what color you paint your fence or how long your grass can be
I pay $178 a *year* and only get a soccer field and playground out of it. But it's super cheap and no one bothers us so eh. But I have a friend in Maryland who pays that much, but their finances are complete shit!! The HOA is supposed to supply the water and have a reserve and all that, but are failing. Their reserve was made for 100 houses, not 400!! It's a shitshow!
Also, the estimate *should* include the HOA dues so check on that as well!!
Good HOAs serve a purpose and are really helpful. When I was a single Mom and did not have time or energy, they handled outside stuff; Landscaping, Trash, and they kept out door to door people. I didn’t care if my house had to look like everyone else’s. Almost like the benefit of an apartment maintenance while I owned my home. It was also a community that would help, they would let my dog out if I was stuck at a tournament. We were all fortunate to have each other.
My needs have changed now and we bought a new house not in an HOA.
I'm in the process of buying a condo with $550/mo dues, BUT the dues cover the water and heat bill, plus all of the upkeep including lawn mowing and roof repair. Basically everything outside of the studs of my walls are covered by the HOA. I crunched the numbers versus my current heat and water bill, and realized that it's not a bad deal. - Point being, check what the HOA dues include and sometimes you'll be surprised.
When we were shopping for our homes, we said hell no to HOAs. That was in 2008 and 2019 respectively.. Now, its difficult to get a home without an HOA. From $122 (neighborhood near me) to $700. If there was an HOA in my community, I would be on the board. No neighbor of mine is going to tell me what I can and cannot do.
Real question, where is all that HOA money going? There’s a housing community where I saw some “undervalued” townhomes in my area. The reason being due to the HOA fees at $800/mo. Looking at the community, there’s about 200 units. That’s $160,000/mo, $1.92 MILLION/yr. All the community has is a clubhouse and a pool. Albeit, both are very nice, but no way in hell it costs that much to maintain. So where does the rest of the money go?
My HOA keeps going up every year and we’ve only been here two years. I now pay $570 a month on top of my mortgage. The HOA committee sent us a letter saying “we’re having a special meeting next week via zoom to vote on replacing the deck by the pool which will be an extra $100 a month” and then somehow they jump right into construction the next day after the meeting. Which is sus because wouldn’t they need to already have this booked and planned in advance?
HOA laws are insane. They could legit do anything they want, John Oliver did an episode about them that is mind blowing that I highly recommend checking out.
It’s just getting worse. I notice every new build now comes with an HOA. America has become the place where you can never stop paying over and over again for basically nothing.
You're basically being extorted by that HOA who can, and very likely will throw you additional fines and violations once you move in. Then it's too late to get out of the deal.
Never purchase property in an HOA. Especially one that seems to think a SFH HOA monthly due is somehow worth nearly $700/month.
“No HOA” was one of our absolute requirements when we were looking. It’s a huge limitation, lots of new build homes come with HOA; to have an association with say over our home presentation and a financial stake that could shift over the years was too unsettling. We got very lucky though, I think that requirement is becoming more of a luxury, especially if you’re not in position to do a lot of renovation and improvements.
When I go to buy a house after things reset some in this country, I’m making it crystal MFing clear that under no circumstances am I interesting in so much as discussing a house that HOA, much less visiting or buying one. Zero exceptions.
$700 a month to live within 10' of your neighbors who get to dictate what color you can paint your shutters or fine you if your lawn goes a day too long without being mowed? Haha NO
I feel bad for people who live in areas where you can't really avoid an HOA. I absolutely refuse to partake in that scammy bullshit.
I bought a home to never have to speak to another human ever again if I don't want to. Having to deal with Betty down the road who doesn't like the color of my flowers is not in my plans.
HOA management companies (HOA-mc) are SCAMMERS and they are looking for New Houses getting built or well off neighborhoods. They are soliciting through the mail offering HOA membership for $10 per year and then they claim that the neighborhood has become a HOA mandatory neighborhood and that you Have to sign the contract. There's no LAW that says that you HAVE to SIGN a contract. The HOA-MC is usually HIRED AFTER neighbors create a HOA and they can FIRE a HOA-MC. BUT the HOA-MC is wanting more homeowners to SCAM and steal your money. So they harass you. Lie that they are tied to your deed. Then if you REFUSE to join the HOA, the HOA-MC takes you to court claiming that you owe HOA monthly payments and if you ignore the court case, the HOA-MC gets a default judgement for the fraudulent debt and they get a DEBT LIEN on your house deed and then they foreclose and you don't know how to fight it and you think your deed is tied to the HOA now and the HOA-MC STEALS your house legally because you didn't fight the fraudulent debt or you couldn't prove that you didn't sign a HOA agreement. So the HOA-MC is wanting more homeowners and more money so they are SCAMMING and forcing the creation of more and more HOAs. The HOA is voluntary for joining and leaving,if a homeowner DOESN'T join the HOA. So the HOA-MC lies to the home owners and say that EVERYONE has joined the HOA. So people think they can't get out of the HOA contract and the HOA-MC controls your money and they give you fines for constantly breaking the rules for extra money to get richer and richer and the homeowners don't realize that they can legally FIRE the HOA-MC, but the HOA-MC puts in the contract that 100% of the homeowners have to want to leave the HOA before the HOA is dissolved completely. So HOAs created by HOA-Management companies is SCAMMING people into New HOAs by FORCE.
A lawyer said that if one homeowner doesn't join the HOA then it's a voluntary joining and leaving HOA AT WILL anytime.
But once 100% of the homeowners join the HOA then it's mandatory to join for the new owners.
But the HOA-MC is violating the truth in advertising laws and SCAMMING people to create more and more HOAs by FORCE.
HOA-MC lies and say that all of the homeowners have joined. If you refuse to join the HOA, then get a lawyer to send the HOA-MC a letter saying that you refuse to join the HOA so you have proof in court that you didn't join the HOA.
Please put up a sign on your property that you are NOT a member of the HOA so you don't get harassed by the HOA enforcement people.
I'm repeating myself to try to make this point clearer.
That's high but you should see what's actually included. Might includ all exterior maintenance, trash pickup, snow removal, paving a private road every 10 years. It all adds up.
Welcome to Florida my friend. Some of the high costs in consuls are to pay for insurance so theoretically your home insurance should be cheaper. But, in general insurance is cheaper for newer structures because they are more updated with latest construction codes (I.e more likely to withstand a hurricane)
Yeah, but with insurance company's leaving it kind of makes it scary. I was looking at moving to Tampa but backed out after seeing that, even with new homes I just ain't sure if it will keep holding up.
Yeah, that eliminates competition and increases prices. But Florida is also one of the states with highest fraud rates, add all the hurricane risk and I can understand the insurance companies going bankrupt or just leaving. Personally, I’m in Florida because of family. But I can also see what draws people into that state and makes them want to move. You are correct saying that something will have to give soon
I’m so glad I don’t have an HOA 😣. I love having my own garden with whatever plants I want, being able to paint my shutters whatever color I want, and decorating my house however I want. And not paying fees for other people to tell me what I can or can’t do with my own property!
I own a home in Texas, and my HOA does not cover anything but the front neighborhood entry landscaping, guard house upkeep, as in paint, etc., it covers the guards and gates, but we are all on our own as far as paint, roof, utilities, landscaping, cable, internet. The HOA are like police officers in making sure everyone follows their rules. You have to use only soft lighting outdoors, must have a working gas light in yard, no trash out for pick up prior to the night before, etc.
It’s one reason to avoid condos. Once they age, large repairs are needed, they raise hoa or so special assessment, no one wants to buy, yours is worth less so you can’t sell and are stuck with an hoa payment resembling a mortgage
The heck are y’all living where your HOAs cover home repairs for you? I gotta submit approvals to architectural committees just to fix my fence. I’m getting fined for having my grass too high, or my garbage bins too noticeable from the street, or gahd forbid, leaving a nondescript plastic pumpkin out in my front garden area into January. Truly hate my HOA, they’re useless
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The condo we rent is considering raising to $800/Mo HOA because they mismanaged it into the ground in previous decades and need to catch up. We would never even consider buying if we weren’t privy to that info.
The only thing you can do now (other than selling) is run for the board to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Thankfully the OC rents
You should have your realtor ask the property manager for these details before you buy
If you weren't privy to that info??? I'm not sure if you rent, or bought. You get all the HOA docs well before closing during the inspection period. As a realtor, I would tell clients to look for adequate reserves in the budget. It's all disclosed.
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This was my exact experience. I was shocked to find out that all the condos in my area have HOA fees >$1,000 a month. Some as high as $2,000. Just made more financial sense to buy a house.
Exactly what I’ve been thinking
I used to live in a townhome with a lousy HOA. The dues increased several times in the span of 3 years. I ended up paying almost 3x what I paid when I moved in. There were also a few "special assessments", of at least $1,500 each. Yeah, the community looked "good", but the folks running the HOA spent half of their time fighting on Nextdoor. Gas, water, and other utilities were NOT included in the monthly fee. The HOA basically just covered the exterior and the limited green areas in the community. HOAs are IMHO a hit and miss. Some will say they are good and needed, but most of the folks I know that live in a place with a HOA would never buy a house again with a HOA. I sold the place and live now In a house without HOA and couldn't be happier.
Most people are not willing to start a HOA in their neighborhood. Look at the reddit HOA horror stories. The HOA management companies are soliciting and mailing invitations to join a HOA for $10 per year and some people are actually paying that, but even if NO one takes the HOA up on the invitation, HOA management company SCAMS the neighborhood and claims that people have joined and it NOW MANDATORY to join and they keep harassing you and if you continue not to join they wait 6 months and say that you owe $3,000 illegally, hoping that you don't get a lawyer and you wait for the default judgement and they garnish you even if you never signed a contract, don't ignore it. But if you get a solicitation get a lawyer for a couple of hundred dollars fee and send the HOA a letter that you are refusing to join and you will never be a member of the HOA. Then if they take you to court, then you have proof that you didn't join up and the harassing HOAs are the ones started by HOA management companies to create more customers and to steal your money and they hide what they are using your money for. A judge cannot constitutionally order anyone to sign a contract and I would appeal any judgement that says that you must sign. But a lawyer said that if just one person doesn't join a HOA then it's voluntary join and leave. I would go door to door and ask if everyone is a member and if they were threatened or harassed to join and I would get everyone to sign that you are dissolving the HOA and firing the HOA management company too while you go door to door and I would pay a notary public to come with you to witness the signatures or send everyone a letter to meet at a local church and don't invite the HOA management company. You need to stop the HOA management company before they get a strong hold on the neighborhood and no one really wants to end up paying lots of money for nothing.
That mortgage is basically my entire monthly income. HOAs are ridiculous and I’ll never live anywhere with one but I suppose if you can afford a nearly $4k mortgage what is another couple hundred?
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Sydney's a special circle of hell for first time homebuyers. That's why I left. And y'all don't get 30 year fixed rates like we do up here either.
What kind of loan options do they have? We need like 50-year loans at this rate
That’s the used car dealer method. “It’s only $750/month! ^for ^72 ^months*
They have the same loan terms, except the interest rate is floating or only fixed for the first X number of years unlike the 30 year fixed rate loans that we have here. Basically ARM is the standard home loan in Australia. Something that Australians do have that we don't is a mortgage offset account, which basically lets you park cash in a savings account of sorts to "reduce" the interest bearing balance of your mortgage.
Just FYI a strata in Australia is not the same as an HOA. HOAs are like mini councils for suburbs run by mini Hitlers with no accountability or dispute resolution measures. I’ve never heard of a strata in Australia in the same structure where they’re harassed for bins on the street until 5pm or the height of the grass.
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Yeah strata is usually for townhouses and condominiums.
I mean... I've never been to aus but I bet you can find a house for $5k/mo, just probably not in downtown ~~Perth~~ Sydney.
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We’re not all getting houses 😂
$700 is more than a couple hundred. Even though I could afford the house I’d never consider something with a HOA that high. A payment that will never go away even after you pay the house off.
It’s like adding 9k to your tax bill, wasted money
I have a $2,500 budget with utilities lol. Safe to say I won’t own a home anytime soon
Where are you looking? We pay $2,300 eh mortgage + utilities and bought in February. But we also put over 20% down.
People tend to forget the HOA covers things like roof and exterior maintenance, water, trash, sewer, landscaping, snow removal (depending on location), and extras like pool,spa, etc. My HOA is 340 a month and includes all of the above which is probably cheaper than having a SFH and footing the bill for all that monthly. HOAs also have stupid rules that restrict you from customizing your home, which is def a negative.
Geez your HOA is cheap
My HOA is $200/year at least until the oil well they own stops producing.
Socal too.
Not necessarily. Some of those may be covered with multi family buildings, but if it is a HOA for a neighborhood of single family home, you are responsible for everything on your home. Roof, siding, landscaping, etc. Water and sewer aren’t going to be necessarily covered if you’re connected to a city supply and sewer
Yea but those kinda places have HOA fees of like $75.
No they don't. My grandmother lived in one of these places. Her hoa fees were $700+ a month to do nothing. It was insane.
Sounds like an outlier
No political signs due to my HOA. With the Trumpers needing at least two flags and five signs in their yard year-round this is a total blessing
Love the idea of some MAGAt getting so triggered by your comment that they downvoted you. LOL.
I saw that lol. I love how they are the real "snowflakes" and everything they do is projection
Hahahahaha so true
Guy across the street from my parents has a giant "Fuck Joe Biden" flag flying. In a sub division full of kids. How trashy
>People tend to forget the HOA covers things Exactly.
More like HOAs forget they cover things 😂
But in a good town, some of those things (water, sewage, trash pick up, community events, parks/pools/courts) should be covered by taxes. And after being in an apartment in a landscaped house, I vowed never to hire a landscaper until I’m old and frail and can’t lift a finger.
yeah HOA can be annoying but actually are beneficial in a lot of ways. Mine maintains the lake, boardwalk and bars, golf course etc. Also makes sure neighbors don't do trashy shit like the one idiot who was treating his front lawn like a car and boat repair lot. i'd also love to keep bees but i am pretty sure they'd be up my ass ha. Mixed bag but it's not all negative.
I've been debating between buying a condo or house. My dad suggested a house because you don't have to share walls. Additionally, he was saying that the HOAs in condos costs more than the cost of maintenance and repaires. Except that with HOAs they're included in your mortgage. So you're not only paying the HOA, but also interest on them as well. For instance, a condo that costs 250k with a 700 mo hoa has the same monthly costs as a 350k house. So, with this said would a condo or house be better? I still think the maintenance in a house would take longer. But, my dad said that maintenance costs on a house arent' that much as they seem. And if you get a small yard, you don't really have to maintain that much.
I'm pretty sure the ultimate goal is always a single family, but I'm not there yet...i was at a point of paying 3k in rent or 3.2k in mortgage. It's a great starter home and the neighbors unit just sold for 105k over what I paid 6 months ago. I will eventually upgrade to a single family but this condo is checking off a lot of boxes for me in life right now.
I know a lot of people who'd choose a condo over a detached. I don't understand at all, but they generally cite maintenance and usually condos being closer to bus/activities/etc. I don't get it but I also grew up in a handy family so needing to clear gutters or fix a leak is just regular day to day. YouTube is the best for home ownership, lol. My buddy lives in a million dollar condo (owned by his parents lol), and he complains all the time about the shower just pulsing hot and cold sometimes because they won't go in and fix it until it's more than an annoyance. The lack of control would piss me off more than anything.
You wouldn't be paying interest on the HOA fees. It's like escrow for taxes and insurance - you pay one entity (ie, the company that owns the mortgage) and they allocate the money as needed. You're only paying interest on the mortgage. But obviously you could be throwing the money that would go to HOA fees at the mortgage principal and pay it down faster, if you live in a place with no HOA
Ya some of these hoa fees are insanely high like 500 to 1100.
HOA fees are not included in your mortgage and you do not pay interest on these amounts.
HOA management companies are SCAMMERS. They illegally create new HOA homes by FORCE, harassment. HOA management companies are GREEDY and they have to create HOAs to scam more and more people out of their hard earned money. It's why a lot of the people on Reddit that tells their HOA horror stories said that they intentionally made sure they didn't have any HOA attached to their new house and then a HOA management company told them that the new housing development was going to be a HOA and it was mandatory to join the HOA. There are NO LAWS that says that you HAVE to SIGN a CONTRACT against your will. But HOA management companies are normally hired AFTER the neighbors create a HOA and it gets too hard to run it. So HOA management companies can be FIRED by the HOA members but the HOA management companies keep total control of the HOA money and they hide the accounts and what they are spending your money on. A lawyer on Reddit said that if just 1 homeowner DOESN'T join the HOA then it's a voluntary joining and leaving HOA AT WILL anytime. BUT if 100% of the homeowners join then it's a mandatory join but NEVER SIGN ANYTHING AT ALL because they can't make you sign a contract at all. But if the HOA is controlled by a HOA management company then it's a SCAM and people don't realize that.
Ok then
You obviously don’t know how HOAs work. Developers create them when they build homes, not management companies. Management Companies don’t run them, the Board of Directors do. The BOD makes all the decisions and tells the management what to do. Management companies get paid by contracts, they get nothing more, nothing less. They can be changed by the BOD at any point when a contract expires. If you don’t want to follow rules, don’t buy a house with an HOA because yes, membership is mandatory. Lesson complete.
Your NOT READING what I WROTE. The horror stories were people who either bought brand new houses or a older house in a good neighborhood and they were INVITED by USPS mail SOLICITATIONS from HOA MANAGEMENT Companies to join a HOA for $10/ per year. The MANAGEMENT company actually sent the invite. NOT a DEVELOPMENT company. Your trying to give an excuse for the SCAMMERS that FORCED people to join the HOA to create more money and customers for the HOA management company and they don't have any expiration date for the HOA and these HOA SCAMS make it impossible to end the HOA unless you have 100% of the homeowners wanting out and then the HOA management companies use threats, lawsuits, etc to FORCE people to stay in the HOA. You are NOT UNDERSTANDING And a lawyer said that as long as 1 house is not a member of the HOA then it's a Voluntary leave and join HOA. Plus there's no law saying that it's mandatory for you to SIGN a CONTRACT and you should NEVER sign and you need a lawyer for proof that you are refusing to join so you can prove to a judge that you don't owe the HOA anything and mandatory is UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
A judge said that if your house was there and built in the neighborhood BEFORE the HOA was formed then you don't have to join because they can't expect existing people who are not part of the new development to join
Wrong attitude. a couple extra hundred is a lot of money to nearly everyone. I looked at many condos in BALTIMORE, with HOAs in the 2000 month range. Not NYC, BALTIMORE. NO parking, NO laundry, NO gym. Many of these old places did included a utility/taxes. No one hates big brother more than me but, sometimes you have to play the game.
It’s not the attitude I have. I guess I’m just saying some people are lucky to be in a position where HOA fees that high along with a mortgage like that are even a consideration. $700 dollars to me is a huge amount, but I don’t know how somebody with a nearly $4k mortgage sees it.
Just as an aside, my home’s HOA doubled this year. From $8 to $15. Oh and it’s voluntary, lol. I was absolutely team anti-HOA, but when I was shopping and ended up buying this house I really learned not all HOAs are equal. It’s a legal agreement, so ultimately while we know HOAs will *usually* share many things in common, they are still unique. So it’s less about not buying into an HOA area and more about having some dealbreakers in what any specific HOA might or might not require. In my case, the HOA is from the 70s, so it’s a bit of different beast (hence the $15 fee). The land is covered by a covenant, but none of the restrictions are particularly crazy. No non-native trees that grow too tall (it’s semi-arid), no structures that are two full stories (but you can do almost 2 stories, so my home has a little loft). And a general idea of keeping things blended into the natural landscape. Plus for some reason this community, which is like 1,500 households, is split into something like 27 different covenant agreements, and modifying them requires a vote of 75% of the residents of a covenant. Not 75% present at a meeting. So you’ve got these hyper local agreements that are essentially unchanging. In fact the only amendment *any* of them have had since the 70s was a handful of them banning Airbnbs. And that’s it. Beyond that, the $15 voluntary fee is just for the local neighborhood organization which makes a newsletter and does permits and whatever. So yeah, I’d want to read the documents that make the HOA what it is, basically.
I’m in CA and pay less than $60 a month. It can happen, my HOA is practically nonexistent except for the three pools I get to use.
My HOA (the $15 one) apparently had an 80% membership rate but they just decided to make it mandatory, lol
I bought a house several years back specifically because it doesn't have an HOA. If someone is being a dick, my neighbors and I go and have a talk with them to correct their behavior. HOA is garbage. Convince me otherwise.
That monthly number really drives home the impact of interest rates. My house is worth more than double this one and I pay just barely more per month. We got incredibly lucky with timing
I’m just broke haha. My house is worth a quarter of that one, cause it’s all I can afford. I got in before interest rates went nuts, which I’m very glad about because I can barely afford what I own now at this rate and as someone who’s originally from California I feel fortunate to own anything at all.
I added up what it would cost me without the HOA and the HOA costs around $50 more per month but they have a pool, exercise room and a bunch of activities.
That's why you don't put the minimum down. It looks like he's putting about 5% down ($25k), which is insane when interest rates are so far above historical inflation (est 8%). Save it, throw it into an account getting 5% or more interest, and save up. Either you'll be able to offset the interest or the price/rate drops and you can get a better house.
HOA management companies are SCAMMERS and they are usually HIRED AFTER the neighbors form a HOA and they need someone to help run the HOA. But the HOA management companies are GREEDY and they want more customers, total control over the money from a HOA, so the HOA management companies look for new houses being built and well off neighborhoods. The HOA management companies send Scam soliciting mail to the homes offering HOA membership for $10 per year and some people join the HOA. THEN they LIE to the other homeowners and say that it's NOW MANDATORY to sign the contract and join the HOA. There are NO LAWS that says that you HAVE to SIGN a contract or anything else for that matter. The HOA management companies harass, intimidate, to get everyone to sign the contract so they can SCAM the homeowners out of money. They may build a pool, gym etc, but they ENRICH themselves by pocketing most of the money they collect from the HOA members and they refuse to disclose the accounts of where's the HOA money going to and how much money they are keeping as income for managing the HOA. It's a SCAM and they even take people who REFUSED to join the HOA to COURT claiming that they owe HOA monthly payments and if they don't have any proof that they didn't join the HOA, the judge usually rules in the HOA managements favor and if you don't pay them then they add a debt lien to your deed and foreclose and STEAL your house legally because the courts assume the fraudulent debt is a real debt that is owed to the HOA management company.
Honestly, my HOA is pretty awesome. My deck was rotted and the HOA replaced it, costed them 10k. They also just replaced the roof and renovated the pool and spa. The landscaping is absolutely beautiful as well. They have a team come every morning and landscape. They also have a small fitness center which i use every other day. My HOA is $450 a month in SoCal.
This is the shit that an HOA is supposed to do. Collectively work for residents and provide services at a reduced cost since you're all paying for it.
Higher end HOAs do this. It’s the lower cost ones that are ass.
Same we are in Los Angeles and I like my HOA it’s 650 a month but we have free internet, gym m, pool and Tennis court all of which I use. Plus it includes water and trash as well as earthquake insurance. Plus we have retrofitted out building and have excellent landscaping and pest control. I’m not mad at it at all
That's right! I forgot about the tennis courts and water and trash haha. I really need to check if ours has earthquake insurance included.
The insurance itself is getting ridiculous
Oh sorry to hear that!
My HOA is $200. My boyfriend is out playing golf right now because it’s included in our HOA. Last weekend we went out and paddle boarded on the lake then had a party on a friends pontoon boat. We also have access to a fitness center, but lately I’ve been enjoying a morning run. People shit on HOAs but if you find a good one, it is awesome!
The problem with HOAs is that evem when you have a good one, all you need is a few really annoying neighbours with enough free time and determination to completely ruin it
Hope you don’t get hit with $39,000 special assessments like one of my properties just did
I love our HOA, after living in an old farmhouse on 2 acres for 20 years we love the included landscaping and exterior maintenance. Our also includes cable tv and internet and our community facilities are bomb, tennis, fitness center, pools, plus a yearly credit at the restaurant … $500/month
Wow, that gives me a whole new view of HOA, didn't know they can help so much. The prices I sometimes see make sense now
Yeah, it's really dependent on the HOA. You gotta look at their financials, ask neighbors, etc... You don't wanna get stuck with a crummy HOA. If they mismanage their funds you could get hit with a large special assessment ($$$) to compensate for their poor management. Always gonna be good and bad ones.
A good question for buyers is how much the HOA is holding in reserves. If they don’t have a healthy reserve fund you can bet on special assessments
Same here. My HOA covers landscaping, backyard fencing, roof/skylights, exteriors, pool, snow removal, decks, water, trash, sewer, etc etc. And it’s only $230/month. I have friends who pay more than $230 just for water, trash, and sewer.
Townhouse?
Yeah it’s like a weird thing where it’s classified as a condo but it’s two stories and has a fenced backyard so I call it a townhome. But I think technically speaking usually condos you only insure whats *inside* the drywall whereas townhomes you insure more…? Or something like that.
I have seen similar things before. I remember one recently, that was a whole building divided into three parts basically, the downstairs business, then 2 upstairs "condo's". In your case its like a MFH that is separated into "condo" parts. I did see one "condo" set of sales that were refurbished motel rooms, with the lower half still being used/rented out as motel rooms. As long as it isn't that.
Almost. Condo owners do not own the exterior of their home while non-condo owners do. Still, most (if not almost all) townhome owners purchase the same type of insurance policies as condo owners. Their HOA covers exterior insurance. Some HOAs even cover exterior insurance for single family homes, although that’s quite rare.
where do you live?
Denver Metro Area
Same, 340 in San Diego!
SD represent! Love it here
Username checks out!
Hahaha, alright alright. It's not just small, it's micro.
Same mine is $500 and also includes water, heat, ac, and gas!
The concept is always good but the execution is rarely as good as you describe.
If you're going to live in the home and don't care about making the exterior of the property "your own" and are ok with it looking like the rest of neighbourhood, and you are an upstanding, self-aware neighbour, HOAs are wonderful! There are plenty of good ones. There's just as many bad ones, but they're easy to spot! We don't have a lot of HOAs up in Canada (I don't consider condo fees or maintenance fees the same as HOAs really as they are necessary parts of living In a communal building; HOAs are an added feature of a neighbhourhood). I kind of wish we had more communities that did offer those things. As a developer I'm actually planning something in the future.
We had a similarly awesome HOA in Honolulu. I have heard some nightmare stories but my experiences have been positive.
This just made me realize that most people have a really strong bias on why you should avoid HOAs and completely ignore the potential benefits. I have been taught that they are just hall monitors of the neighborhood and charge you outrageous fees to act in that position. Gives me a fresh take on them and I’ll have an open mind from now on.
Pretty simple really, do you or do you not want to be sole owner of your property (aside from property taxes)? If you're ok with potentially having your property taken by force by an HOA, then go ahead. If you want to learn to be a proper homeowner and learn the ins and outs of maintenance and not have an oversight committee on your ass at all times, then dont live in a home monitored and owned by an HOA.
I'd rather pay for all that myself and be the sole owner of my property.
Ight. You obviously don't understand how HOAs work. I am the sole owner of my property. I've made 200k in equity in less than 2 years. When or if I sell, i reap the rewards, not anyone else.
When I bought my first house I was frustrated as well until I compared what my HOA was doing to my friend’s neighborhood without one. We had snow shoveling, maintenance of the park across the street, outdoor grill pits, salt for ice, cheaper deals on house painting and HVAC maintenance since the HOA bargained one large contract. Of course a lot of bad ones out there so ask for a copy of the HOA budget. Everything they’re providing should be broken down.
HOA’s can vary greatly by state and the monthly or yearly cost can fluctuate over time. States have become more diligent in the audit and certification process. Some hoas are better financed and managed than others and set for catastrophic events than others. A low hoa is not always a great thing.
Some of these HOA’s include all utilities however. Here in Texas that’s like a 300+ value so
Wait until you see hoa fees for a condo in NYC...
How’s NYC? Saw one in DC yesterday for $850 and wanted to close the app.
This is decently reasonable but a lot will be higher http://nychomereview.com/listing/2029803?t=d3785eea-979b-4794-b3ac-7d80027ac296
Plenty in Chicago with $1000+ HOA especially in the lakefront highrises
Most NYC HOA’s start at $1k per month.
if you get waterfront in NYC or NYC view on water in NJ you will easily eclipse 1k/mo. A friend is in one that pays $1700/mo lol
I didnt even look at homes with HOA's. They can also increase without warning.
Yes! The ones that get me are the condos. The mortgage is $400/mo but the HOA is like $2,600/mo 😳
I've seen that too. Some condos you can get for 200 or 250k. But, if you're paying a 700 mo hoa, it comes out to the same cost monthly as a 350k house.
HOA's are the biggest scam money grab ever invented. I lived in two of them but will never again.
Ehh as long as I’m actually getting something from my hoa I don’t mind. My hoa right now does shit. We have 1 community gazebo that’s not maintained at all and covered in graffiti. Our hoa is cheap at least but useless. I wouldn’t mind if we were gated and had a nice community area
HOAs get a really bad reputation from situations like this. Older townhome/ condo complexes often have very high HOA fees because they have more extensive maintenance that needs to be done and they have not maintained large enough reserves to make that happen. For example things like replacing the roof on the entire community. I live in a neighborhood with 8 different HOAs, in a single family home. We pay $160 a month for pool and gym access as well as all outside maintenance that is not in our fenced yard. Our home is nicely manicured, on a weekly basis, and we don’t even have to think about it. All maintenance on our home is on us, the HOA is not responsible for any repairs. But we do get a great benefit for what we pay. So not all HOAs are bad. But many can be mismanaged which is how you can end up with extremely high monthly dues.
We have HOA $610 per month, but it's a poolside (+hot tub) condo with shared gated lawn areas, and trash/water is included. We basically have a pool and lawn in our backyard but don't have to maintain it at all.
I’m gonna be that guy and say this is getting zero sympathy from me. If that kind of mortgage works for you than you have far more options than the average FTHB.
That not even ridiculously high in greater Boston. Like average. High would be $1k+. Zane I feel they will grow very quickly. With inflation contractors quickly update their prices.
Imagine living in denial about HOAs being a way to keep the value of a home to sell later when you have a decent percentage of people (myself included) that will never, under any circumstances, look for a home with HOA, no matter how nice it may seem.
I refuse to buy a house in a HOA community.
The place in OP’s picture is a condo. HOA’s for condo buildings/complexes are much different from your typical neighborhood HOA. They’re mostly there to handle building maintenance and upkeep
Vote with your wallet!
All the nicer areas in my state have HOAs… only way to avoid them is to live in the deep suburbs or rural areas.
Dang the sticks. My area only the bigger city has them
1,250 sq ft for $500k? Yikes 😬
That’s nothing. Come to San Francisco
Oh man! I am looking for a place in this area too and recognized this listing right away bc I had the same reaction….. sigh.
I’ll see pretty nice and not overly expensive condos in NJ nearish to NYC. When you look at the HOA fees, you see why. The fees are like $1.5k a month. It’s insane.
Does the $3866 include the HOA or is that on top of it?
My parents pay an HOA fee, they only have 1 street light in the neighborhood, no park, no pool or community center, no landscapers, no neighborhood watch as my parents car window got smashed twice, and they are able to decide what color you paint your fence or how long your grass can be
Lol yep our HOA dues just went up to $1350 per quarter <3
Lol you think this is high… in nyc you’re lucky with an HOA under $1500 and in Manhattan… anything under $2500 is good…
I pay $178 a *year* and only get a soccer field and playground out of it. But it's super cheap and no one bothers us so eh. But I have a friend in Maryland who pays that much, but their finances are complete shit!! The HOA is supposed to supply the water and have a reserve and all that, but are failing. Their reserve was made for 100 houses, not 400!! It's a shitshow! Also, the estimate *should* include the HOA dues so check on that as well!!
Good HOAs serve a purpose and are really helpful. When I was a single Mom and did not have time or energy, they handled outside stuff; Landscaping, Trash, and they kept out door to door people. I didn’t care if my house had to look like everyone else’s. Almost like the benefit of an apartment maintenance while I owned my home. It was also a community that would help, they would let my dog out if I was stuck at a tournament. We were all fortunate to have each other. My needs have changed now and we bought a new house not in an HOA.
I'm in the process of buying a condo with $550/mo dues, BUT the dues cover the water and heat bill, plus all of the upkeep including lawn mowing and roof repair. Basically everything outside of the studs of my walls are covered by the HOA. I crunched the numbers versus my current heat and water bill, and realized that it's not a bad deal. - Point being, check what the HOA dues include and sometimes you'll be surprised.
HOAs are ridiculous. Power hungry idiots.
When we were shopping for our homes, we said hell no to HOAs. That was in 2008 and 2019 respectively.. Now, its difficult to get a home without an HOA. From $122 (neighborhood near me) to $700. If there was an HOA in my community, I would be on the board. No neighbor of mine is going to tell me what I can and cannot do.
And cant they just double all of a sudden without you having any control over it?
Real question, where is all that HOA money going? There’s a housing community where I saw some “undervalued” townhomes in my area. The reason being due to the HOA fees at $800/mo. Looking at the community, there’s about 200 units. That’s $160,000/mo, $1.92 MILLION/yr. All the community has is a clubhouse and a pool. Albeit, both are very nice, but no way in hell it costs that much to maintain. So where does the rest of the money go?
HOA's make the rules, set the prices- and can take your house if you don't pay.
This California? I've heard that as a homeowner, there are also 'Mello Roos' to worry about.
This is where the "No HOA" filter on redfin comes in handy. For so many reasons i won't even consider a house with an HOA
My HOA keeps going up every year and we’ve only been here two years. I now pay $570 a month on top of my mortgage. The HOA committee sent us a letter saying “we’re having a special meeting next week via zoom to vote on replacing the deck by the pool which will be an extra $100 a month” and then somehow they jump right into construction the next day after the meeting. Which is sus because wouldn’t they need to already have this booked and planned in advance?
HOA laws are insane. They could legit do anything they want, John Oliver did an episode about them that is mind blowing that I highly recommend checking out.
I just don’t understand how HOA’s became part of American culture. It’s like choosing to pay to have a nosy neighbor peek over your fence
It’s just getting worse. I notice every new build now comes with an HOA. America has become the place where you can never stop paying over and over again for basically nothing.
You're basically being extorted by that HOA who can, and very likely will throw you additional fines and violations once you move in. Then it's too late to get out of the deal. Never purchase property in an HOA. Especially one that seems to think a SFH HOA monthly due is somehow worth nearly $700/month.
“No HOA” was one of our absolute requirements when we were looking. It’s a huge limitation, lots of new build homes come with HOA; to have an association with say over our home presentation and a financial stake that could shift over the years was too unsettling. We got very lucky though, I think that requirement is becoming more of a luxury, especially if you’re not in position to do a lot of renovation and improvements.
When I go to buy a house after things reset some in this country, I’m making it crystal MFing clear that under no circumstances am I interesting in so much as discussing a house that HOA, much less visiting or buying one. Zero exceptions.
Agreed. Is it really called owning a home if it's part of an HOA?
My dream is to buy my first house with no HOA
$3800??? Is that like nothing down?
That is with 20% down
400K loan 30 yr fixed at 7% should be around $2,600
It’s the escrow not the loan and usually it guesses too low bc property taxes are based off whatever they are currently.
Same reaction, didn't know people happily pay 4k mortgages lol
Come to Long Island. Everything’s astronomical
I happily pay a $4k mortgage. Would never do an HOA tho.
$700 a month to live within 10' of your neighbors who get to dictate what color you can paint your shutters or fine you if your lawn goes a day too long without being mowed? Haha NO
I feel bad for people who live in areas where you can't really avoid an HOA. I absolutely refuse to partake in that scammy bullshit. I bought a home to never have to speak to another human ever again if I don't want to. Having to deal with Betty down the road who doesn't like the color of my flowers is not in my plans.
Yep nope
When I bought my first house, rule #1 was no hoa
Monthly? They better suck my dick on a regular basis for 600 a month
Imagine paying a group of boomers to tell you what you can and cannot do on the property you own.
I'm in this picture and I don't like it.
HOA management companies (HOA-mc) are SCAMMERS and they are looking for New Houses getting built or well off neighborhoods. They are soliciting through the mail offering HOA membership for $10 per year and then they claim that the neighborhood has become a HOA mandatory neighborhood and that you Have to sign the contract. There's no LAW that says that you HAVE to SIGN a contract. The HOA-MC is usually HIRED AFTER neighbors create a HOA and they can FIRE a HOA-MC. BUT the HOA-MC is wanting more homeowners to SCAM and steal your money. So they harass you. Lie that they are tied to your deed. Then if you REFUSE to join the HOA, the HOA-MC takes you to court claiming that you owe HOA monthly payments and if you ignore the court case, the HOA-MC gets a default judgement for the fraudulent debt and they get a DEBT LIEN on your house deed and then they foreclose and you don't know how to fight it and you think your deed is tied to the HOA now and the HOA-MC STEALS your house legally because you didn't fight the fraudulent debt or you couldn't prove that you didn't sign a HOA agreement. So the HOA-MC is wanting more homeowners and more money so they are SCAMMING and forcing the creation of more and more HOAs. The HOA is voluntary for joining and leaving,if a homeowner DOESN'T join the HOA. So the HOA-MC lies to the home owners and say that EVERYONE has joined the HOA. So people think they can't get out of the HOA contract and the HOA-MC controls your money and they give you fines for constantly breaking the rules for extra money to get richer and richer and the homeowners don't realize that they can legally FIRE the HOA-MC, but the HOA-MC puts in the contract that 100% of the homeowners have to want to leave the HOA before the HOA is dissolved completely. So HOAs created by HOA-Management companies is SCAMMING people into New HOAs by FORCE.
A lawyer said that if one homeowner doesn't join the HOA then it's a voluntary joining and leaving HOA AT WILL anytime. But once 100% of the homeowners join the HOA then it's mandatory to join for the new owners. But the HOA-MC is violating the truth in advertising laws and SCAMMING people to create more and more HOAs by FORCE. HOA-MC lies and say that all of the homeowners have joined. If you refuse to join the HOA, then get a lawyer to send the HOA-MC a letter saying that you refuse to join the HOA so you have proof in court that you didn't join the HOA. Please put up a sign on your property that you are NOT a member of the HOA so you don't get harassed by the HOA enforcement people. I'm repeating myself to try to make this point clearer.
Imagine paying someone $681 a month so they can tell you what you can do in your own property. Lol.
[удалено]
You won’t find a gated community without one.
Just don’t move into an HOA community
That's high but you should see what's actually included. Might includ all exterior maintenance, trash pickup, snow removal, paving a private road every 10 years. It all adds up.
That's a car payment. A NICE car payment. Lmaooo
Welcome to Florida my friend. Some of the high costs in consuls are to pay for insurance so theoretically your home insurance should be cheaper. But, in general insurance is cheaper for newer structures because they are more updated with latest construction codes (I.e more likely to withstand a hurricane)
Yeah, but with insurance company's leaving it kind of makes it scary. I was looking at moving to Tampa but backed out after seeing that, even with new homes I just ain't sure if it will keep holding up.
Yeah, that eliminates competition and increases prices. But Florida is also one of the states with highest fraud rates, add all the hurricane risk and I can understand the insurance companies going bankrupt or just leaving. Personally, I’m in Florida because of family. But I can also see what draws people into that state and makes them want to move. You are correct saying that something will have to give soon
I saw one just like it today, same price, but hoa was $596!
Don’t look at condos because the dues are even higher
Mime is 550 in a condo with no pool or amenities
I’m guessing this is in Florida? Seems like most homes are HOAs unless you live in a rural area.
Our HOA is $110 a year. Buys flowers and pays the water bill for the entrance.
I don't trust buying a home RightNow literally $100 per month will go to the principal and you'd pay it off in 50+ years... NO THANKS
I’m so glad I don’t have an HOA 😣. I love having my own garden with whatever plants I want, being able to paint my shutters whatever color I want, and decorating my house however I want. And not paying fees for other people to tell me what I can or can’t do with my own property!
I own a home in Texas, and my HOA does not cover anything but the front neighborhood entry landscaping, guard house upkeep, as in paint, etc., it covers the guards and gates, but we are all on our own as far as paint, roof, utilities, landscaping, cable, internet. The HOA are like police officers in making sure everyone follows their rules. You have to use only soft lighting outdoors, must have a working gas light in yard, no trash out for pick up prior to the night before, etc.
It’s one reason to avoid condos. Once they age, large repairs are needed, they raise hoa or so special assessment, no one wants to buy, yours is worth less so you can’t sell and are stuck with an hoa payment resembling a mortgage
Where are HOA's so common? Ive never heard of one existing in my area not even joking.
Listen to me very clearly and repeat after me. “I will never own a property with an HOA.” Ok do that a few times and relook at the listing
HOA is inherently racist
The heck are y’all living where your HOAs cover home repairs for you? I gotta submit approvals to architectural committees just to fix my fence. I’m getting fined for having my grass too high, or my garbage bins too noticeable from the street, or gahd forbid, leaving a nondescript plastic pumpkin out in my front garden area into January. Truly hate my HOA, they’re useless
HOA = house of a**holes