"29% of the US population lives in a Community Association. And it's actually increasingly hard to find a home that doesn't come with one. Out of all the new single-family homes sold in 2021, 82 percent were in an HOA, that's up from around just 40% in 1990, which is pretty remarkable given that when one local station asked viewers how they felt about their HOA the results were nearly universally negative...
'Every HOA is just one vote away from hellish nightmares'...
You can find HOA rules like homes may display a maximum of two exterior decorative objects or all garage doors must be painted Benjamin Moore mayonnaise OC-85. And one Arizona HOA required that front yard landscaping must contain a minimum of one 36 inch box tree, one 24 inch box tree, 10 5 gallon shrubs and ten one gallon shrubs...
You might not know that you are dealing with a bad HOA until it is too late as in most places you aren't legally required to be granted access to all of its rules until after you are offered to buy a home is accepted"
John Oliver claims that for-profit companies are incentivised to fine residents to raise money, which creates perverse incentives. But that would suggest that governments shouldn't fine people either, because of the same.
Also:
Why do HOAs have so much power? How HOAs and condo boards took over housing.
"There are few things more delicious than a homeowners association horror story. All over the internet, you can find tales of people getting fined for parking their vehicles in their own driveways or having a potted tomato plant on their back porches or leaving a bottle of Gatorade out for one day. In Tennessee, a man returned from vacation to discover his car was missing; he thought it had been stolen, but in reality, his HOA had towed it because it had a flat tire. A Maryland HOA fined a homeowner $40,000 because the fence she built was 8 inches too long. A Missouri HOA threatened a family with jail time because they’d put up a play set that was — gasp! — purple.
It’s easy to laugh at the inanity of so much of it ... until you find yourself peeking through your curtains trying to catch your neighbor putting her trash can out five minutes early because last year she reported you to the HOA for leaving up your Christmas lights past the New Year...
“Real estate developers and cities see dollar signs with private governments. If you create a private subdivision or ideally a condominium, you can get much greater density, and the developers can get more houses on less land,” McKenzie said. “Cities love this because they get a whole bunch of new taxpayers paying a full property tax and they don’t have to provide the services to them they have to provide to everybody else.”
The deal is supposed to be good for homeowners, too. People get some rules of the road, like that their neighbors won’t be blasting music at 3 am, and get access to that private pool if there is one. HOA-governed properties can also be worth more — one 2019 study found that houses in such subdivisions are worth at least 4 percent more than similar houses outside of them.
“Being in an HOA actually makes your housing value go up,” said Wyatt Clarke, one of the authors of the paper. However, he acknowledged most of that value is captured by the developer, and that over time, that extra value diminishes as properties age and houses start to turn over. “The fact that you’re in this unit, over time, becomes less and less valuable,” he said...
Part of the philosophy here is that “the market” is supposed to address the problem on its own and will punish HOAs with bad rules or overzealous enforcement because people will not buy in those communities and will flee. But that’s not how it works in practice. A lot of the time, buyers don’t fully know the consequences of buying in a development ruled by an HOA or even see the rules and regulations ahead of time. Buyers trying to sell might not be so open about the association, nor will the broader community trying to keep property values up. And in many communities, HOAs are the only game in town. In New York City, for example, you’ve practically always got to buy an apartment in a condo or co-op building — and in a co-op, the board can turn prospective buyers down.
“Courts tend to take the view of, look, if you don’t like it, you can leave, or you can work within the community to change things, exercise your voice,” Pollack said. But it’s not so easy to pick up and go; it’s financially and emotionally costly to move. Being on an HOA isn’t a particularly rewarding or fun job, either. It’s unpaid, thankless, and can be a lot of work. Sometimes, the people on the boards are the ones who are most eager to impose rules on their neighbors. “That creates the sort of predictable consequences that we see, which are boards of similar compositions remaining in place with pretty unhappy communities,” he said...
HOAs can do a lot of things that government can’t do. They can tell you what signs you can and can’t put outside of your home, because the First Amendment protects your right to free speech from being infringed upon by the government but not by a private entity. They can tell you that your truck has to be parked in the garage or not parked at all because they don’t want the neighborhood to look too “working class.” They can’t overtly say they don’t want people of color in the subdivision, but they can make it very hard for people of color to get in...
To put it short, these unaccountable little governments could stand to be held a little more accountable. “The only way to make it work in the long term is a little bit more assertive role of government,” McKenzie said. “But this really just epitomizes the whole era we’ve been in for the last 40 years: privatize everything, the market solves all our problems. I’m sorry, no.”"
Related:
Neighbors rally for senior who just wants somewhere to sit - "There are more than 9,000 HOAs managing Arizona neighborhoods, and with every HOA comes a governing board and a set of rules. Among other things, they're supposed to help maintain a certain quality standard. But one group says their HOA, the Bethany Villa Association, isn't standing by one of its longest and oldest residents. Tanya let me know about her 92-year-old neighbor Ted and a bench he owns outside his front door... He received notices from his HOA saying simply, "remove your bench from the common area... or it will be removed by the Association." "I think that's rotten. What's he going to do, stand? Sit inside all day? It's taking his life away from him," says Steve, a former neighbor. Ted says while he was on the Bethany Villa Association board for 28 years, the HOA did not give him a reason for removal. They told us the bench "is in violation of the CC&Rs" regarding items placed "on any patio, balcony, common area." "I could always bring a chair out here," he says. But Tanya won't have it. "How is he going to carry a chair out? That alone can cause him to fall," she says."
Homeowner faces ‘artificial turf war’ with HOA - "A homeowner in Arizona installed artificial grass to her front and back yards in an effort to cut down on her water bill. “I’m trying to save water. We are in a drought situation in Arizona,” homeowner Sherry Lund told KTVK. “We are saving $1,100 a month in water bills, my house alone.” Lund has lived in her home for nearly 15 years. What she thought was a good idea has quickly turned into a turf war with her homeowners association. “He said we are an elite community, and we don’t want artificial turf,” Lund said... “One of the people that testified in our committee said if a home has grass, 90% of their water usage is for watering the grass, so it is a tremendous draw on a limited and decreasing water supply”"
HOA told Texas family it was too early to decorate yard for Christmas - "A Texas family who received a letter from their homeowners' association requesting they remove holiday decorations from their yard until closer to Christmas has responded by adding more decorations — including a Grinch. San Antonio couple Claudia and Nicolaas Simonis say they decorated early this year because Claudia is pregnant and due on Christmas, and she wouldn't be able to move as much as she approaches her due date. So they placed a snowman, a Christmas-themed helicopter and a reindeer on their front yard Nov. 1... "This week, our neighbors put up their stuff, they're putting their lights out," said Nicolaas. "They don't care, they support us. They're mad at the HOA." The Simonis family has also added more decorations, including an inflatable Grinch holding up a sign that says "I am your HOA.""
Green Valley Ranch homeowners targeted with 'bogus' HOA fines - "Residents in Green Valley Ranch said that they are being targeted and bullied with bogus fines by their HOA, which is resulting in some families being displaced from their homes... Leaving trash cans out, broken blinds, weeds in their yards are all things that residents in Green Valley Ranch said they've been fined for... "I don't know if they just enjoy preying on people," Nowak said. "When you receive a violation for a tree not being 'tree-shaped,' it boggles your mind." She said that she won the court case that involved her tree when a judge couldn't find anything in the bylaws that showed she was violating a rule. Then, she was summoned to court for another issue, a temporary fence she set up for her small dogs... She said she lives in fear each day. "When my doorbell rings, I'm afraid to answer it," she said. "I don't know if it's going to be another person trying to summon me again for violations I don't know about.""
HOA Fires Back at Fla. Man Who Said He Was Fined $5K Short Trees - "After a Florida man says he was fined $100 a day, or $5,000, for having two Magnolia trees that were too short, his homeowners association is defending itself, saying it's not just the height that's the problem, but the number of trees."
What's wrong with this house? Homeowner fined thousands by HOA in North Carolina - "Debra got a letter from her HOA letting her know she did not follow her HOA covenants when it came to the plum color she just painted her shutters. According to her HOA covenants, she was supposed to get prior approval of the color choice. "It was a complete shock to me, but I immediately apologized, and they asked me to go through the ARC approval process, and I did that within two days," Debra said. However, things didn't go so well for Debra. Her HOA's Architectural Committee denied the color change and asked her to pick another color. Debra went around to her neighbors and had each neighbor either approve or disapprove of the plum shutters. She had more than a dozen signatures of approval from her neighbors, but her request for plum shutters was still denied. "People are entitled to their opinions, but I haven't seen any facts. They've accused me of devaluing homes, they've accused me of destroying the aesthetic of the neighborhood and I think one good look at this house would rapidly convince people that that is indeed not the case, it is purely opinion," Debra said. If Debra didn't change the color of her shutters, she would face steep fines. The fines were $25 a day, which adds up to more than $9,000 a year, for keeping her plum shutters. Debra paid the fines, totaling more than $1,000. However, it didn't stop with the fines. "The threats had started coming about placing a lien against our house and forcing our home into foreclosure," Debra said. Debra eventually took down her plum shutters to try to work something out, but that only made things worse. Taking down her shutters was met with an immediate response. Debra showed us letters where the HOA was now going to fine her for being in violation of taking the shutters off her home. A frustrated Debra reached out to her neighbors to find she wasn't alone in her fight against the HOA and that other homeowners had experienced being fined and threatened with legal action... Following state laws, Debra and 14 people in her neighborhood signed a petition requesting a special meeting. Even though they were following state statute, Debra showed us a letter from the HOA attorney threatening to take action if they moved forward with their special meeting. "We got a letter from the HOA attorney threatening all fourteen of us with a personal lawsuit and restraining order for conducting a completely lawful meeting," Debra said. Debra refused to be intimidated, the group had their special meeting and got enough support from the neighborhood to make a change. The past board was removed from office, and new management is in place."
HOA buys home through foreclosure for $3.24
Arizona HOAs foreclosing on a record number of homeowners - "HOAs are foreclosing on a record number of homeowners for as little as $1,200 in missed maintenance payments, according to an Arizona Republic investigation. And homeowners who thought only their mortgage lender could seize property are losing their houses at sheriff’s auctions, sometimes for just $100 more than they owe... Some homeowners fighting desperately to keep their homes find HOA balances often don’t match amounts listed in court filings, making it difficult to learn how much they really owe — and impossible to catch up. Phoenix lawyer Jon Dessaules, who represents homeowners fighting foreclosure, called the process “a cash cow for lawyers... The nation’s 350,000 HOAs and community managers are largely unregulated. Some states, though not Arizona, require them to disclose financial statements and personnel information, but little else."
Homeowners share cautionary tales of HOA nightmares - "She said she contacted the HOA Board to see why she is getting fined, yet other homeowners in the neighborhood continue to park outside of their driveways and she says not get fined. She took some photos to document her concerns. HOAs can take it much further than just fining you for violations. HOAs can actually boot you from your home. Roger and Clara Dunlap learned that the hard way. After living in their home for 29 years, their HOA in their Raleigh neighborhood foreclosed on them... According to Roger, he and his wife are 100 percent disabled and his wife has dementia. When the HOA was taking action against him, Roger said his wife was in and out of the hospital after suffering a stroke and also battling throat cancer. He said he didn't realize how serious the problem was when it came to his HOA. He said he made several improvements that the HOA asked for, but he said it was never enough."
Home Owners Association Uses Google Map Satellites To Find Violat - "A home owner was threatened with fines and even a lien on his property from his neighborhood HOA (Home Owners Association) for having a shed in his backyard that wasn't approved by the association. They said they were performing random audits and that's when they became aware of the shed. He asked how they knew about it because you can't see it from the street or anywhere from the front of the house. The HOA used Goggle Maps to find it. The story gets worse. The owner bought the property three years ago and the shed was already there. That's right he purchased the home with the shed on the property, but the HOA didn't care"
John Carona's Steady Climb to $1 Billion - "Developers like creating the associations because it gives them more control over their projects and allows them to put in common facilities such as clubhouses, tennis courts, and swimming pools, Cheung says. It is cheaper than putting all the amenities in every home. Cash-strapped municipalities like them because developers build roads and parks and pass the costs along to the homeowners, Cheung says. Cities also like the fact that homes in HOA communities improved property values by 13 to 18 percent, one study notes... According to a 2018 CAI survey, 85 percent of residents rate their overall community association experience as positive, refuting “the unfounded and unsubstantiated myth that the community association model of governance is failing to serve the best interests” of its members."
Property Management, Association Management,Homeowners Management, HOA - "non-CAI sponsored surveys have a very different outcome. For example, a survey of 3000 found that 2/3 of the people living in homeowner associations found them "annoying" or worse. At least 19% have been in a "war" with their HOA. The survey also revealed that 54% of the respondents would rather live with a sloppy neighbor than deal with an HOA. Only 24% responded positively about an HOA. These results tend to paint a far less rosy picture than the CAI sponsored surveys. Advocates often maintain that people choose to live in HOAs, but some note that "choice" is misleading. In reality HOAs have been mandated by municipalities for decades either directly or indirectly. This is often accomplished by conditioning plat or other approval on the creation of amenities such as roads, open areas, greenbelts, retention basins, etc. and an obligation to maintain them. Certainly a large percentage of the population has no choice but to live in an HOA. Finding a non-HOA neighborhood of homes built in the last several decades is virtually impossible. The choice for most buyers seeking a newer home is not HOA or non-HOA but which HOA. The imposition of an HOA accomplishes several benefits for the municipality. First, these amenities may be burdened with property taxes which would not be the case if the amenities were owned by the municipality. Thus the mandated private amenities are cash generators for the municipalities. Second, the municipalities bear no obligation to maintain the amenities given that they are owned by the HOA."
The Public Role in Establishing Private Residential Communities: Towards a New Formulation of Local Government Land Use Policies That Eliminates the Legal Requirements to Privatize New Communities in the United States - "local governments on a broad scale and independent of market forces, effectively have required developers of new subdivisions to create community associations to operate and maintain the subdivision in lieu of the municipality providing traditionally municipal services to the subdivision, including such services as street maintenance, sewer service, water supply, drainage, curbside refuse collection, parks, and even traditional police patrols of public streets. Local governments have been able to achieve this purpose-with virtually unfettered discretion and in the absence of judicial review-through a robust application of their traditional land use powers: i.e., the power to zone and the power to approve the establishment of new subdivisions. Viewed from the narrow economic perspective of a local government experiencing rapid growth, a regime of privatization of new communities constitutes an extremely attractive policy option. The establish ment of community associations to operate and maintain traditionally public infrastructure represents a seemingly ideal response to countervailing pressures to accommodate development and to restrain the growth inmunicipal outlays. Stated differently, the establishment of a community association allows local government to reap the benefit of an increased tax base without the need to provide certain traditionally municipal services that are instead provided by the community association. The interest of municipal cost minimization, however, does not necessarily correspond to the public interest... substantial evidence suggests that subdivision developers are often being required to establish a community association as a condition of subdivision approval... Among the most important adverse effects of public service exactions are the following. First, public service exactions make the most affordable form of market-rate new housing development-i.e., cluster housing-more expensive by saddling home-owners with the cost of operating and maintaining traditionally municipal infrastructure. Second, public service exactions subject a large number of homeowners to a private land use regime thatmany neither desire nor understand and, related to this, deny homeowners the option of purchasing a home free of a complex private servitude regime and the obligations and conditions that are imposed by that regime. Inmany housing markets (particularly in the Sunbelt), housing consumers have no choice but to accept that regime because of the lack of alternatives. Third, public service exactions encourage the establish ment of gated communities, which have been identified with adverse social and political effects on the body politic and civil society. Fourth, public service exactions give rise to many larger territorial community associations that are the functional equivalent of municipalities, but courts generally do not recognize these community associations as "state actors," thereby depriving residents and nonresidents alike of a constitutional remedy for abridgment of fundamental rights by such associations... "[HOAs are] the most significant privatization of local government responsibilities in recent times.""
HOA uses residents' HOA fees to threaten them over negative posts - "we approached Director Todd McCoy. "I'd like to ask you a couple questions," said Polom. "I have no comments for you, get away from me, get away from me," shouted McCoy. After being shoved, Polom reiterated to McCoy that the community is very upset with the board’s actions to which he replied, "I don't care." The board president refused to leave the building and answer questions"
Ex-HOA board members at Val Vista Lakes in Gilbert sue fellow residents - "The HOA’s attorney in January threatened to fine residents as much as $250 per day over their social media comments. The board later walked back that threat, saying it would not pursue the fines but warned against negative online posts about the neighborhood or board... Steven Nielsen, another defendant, is a former board member who most recently served as president for 2018 and half of 2019. He had hoped the recall would start a "healing process" for the community he's called home since 2009, but instead division has continued. "We’ve gone through this very tumultuous and turbulent year filled with anger and frustration over the lack of transparency, fiscal accountability, excessive closed-door meetings and attempts to thwart public input or criticism of certain board member actions,” he told The Arizona Republic. “This lawsuit is frivolous. It is meant to harm and retaliate against those that wanted to see a better functioning board.”"
Texas bans HOAs from making anti-Section 8 rules - "Texas lawmakers this year outlawed a form of discrimination that allowed homeowners associations to ban some tenants from their neighborhoods... The Providence Homeowners Association enacted a rule last summer that barred landlords from renting to Section 8 tenants, which would have left the town of Providence Village — a town of about 7,700 people about an hour’s drive north of Dallas — mostly off-limits to those renters"
Joining an HOA? There Will Be Hell to Pay - WSJ - "There is a reason why many people who buy a condo vow never to do it again. That reason is the Homeowners Association... like any humans given power over others, HOA boards inevitably get drunk on the stuff, so HOA rules and fees proliferate like perfectly fertilized weeds."
Of course, car haters who promote dense living and hate on HOAs pretend that apartment living doesn't come with similar rules too.
Americans hate government and taxes, but you still need to work and pay for the common good. So they invent a new form of government and taxes, which is worse in some ways.
