HOA question

[grove rat]

i doubt i will ever buy a house out of dallas, but if i do i sure as fuck won't be buying one in a HOA! just from the horror stories from this board alone is enough to convince me they aren't worth shit

[BajaBob]

You have obviously never seen some of this states finest white trash. I am very happy to have an hoa that keeps the neighborhood nice, maintains the pools, multiple parks and ball fields, and keeps the trash out. Now if you want to park your shitty boat, RV, and build a barn in the backyard with your cars parked in the front yard...go without the controls.

X2.... I know my next door neighbors dead lawn and half closed cockeyed garage door is going to make my house worth less when I sell. I'll be going HOA in the future. I do not like living around lazy people.

[Forever_frost]

HOA's: For when you don't have enough government in your life

[dcs13]

ESPECIALLY if you're a car guy. You have no freedom to do anything.

HOA's are hell bent against car guys...

Get on the board, that's your best defense...

[Vertnut]

It all depends on your situation and what you're wanting/expecting from your neighborhood. I've lived with them and without them, and had good and bad both ways. I prefer living without one, but in an area that has tight restrictions on what is built in the area. To me, that's more important than an HOA.

[Chas_svo]

HOAs suck, but they can help to keep your property value, as stated above. I've already went rounds with mine over BS. I went, got every member's name and address and drove/walked by every property. They don't follow any ordinance better than the people they bitch about. The worst thing ours has done is to not force collection of dues, meaning they were $.75 million in the hole. Honestly, I can't make the math work to ever get that far in behind if no one was paying.

Crazy.

[FATHERFORD]

Fuck HOA's..

That is the main reason I'm moving right now. Like the house and location. I live on nearly 1/2 acre and those fuckers won't let me build a 26x36 garage in the back yard...

Bought a house on 2 acres in a non HOA and already have a 60x40x16 building lined up.

[Roscoe]

1. No
2. No

In 1999 I bought a house in Round Rock. There was no HOA and even on my paperwork at closing it said "Not required to join HOA should one form".

Guess what - one formed 2-3 years later and I started getting bills in the mail for their dues of $100/year. We got nothing from this at all. No community area, people's houses still looked like shit, etc. For four years I didn't pay them a dime.

In 2006 I had to sell my house and guess what - they had filed for a lien on the property because I hadn't paid dues to them. They made me pay just over a grand to them for bullshit reasons. I dropped the check to them personally and when I got the letter of release, I literally yelled to them, in their office, to go fuck themselves.

Now - the subdivision I live in now has an HOA and I'm quite pleased. I've had to call them twice in the past year because of cocksuckers that won't mow their yards. Don't know what it is about Indians (Hindus, not Cherokees) that don't believe in mowing their yards, but I've reported them several times and the next week, that shit is taken care of.

It all depends on the HOA and if they believe in providing a service for the money they take or if they just care about the money.

[dee]

I know nothing of HOA's ,but if they don't really provide any services or perks what do the dues you're paying in go towards?

[Broncojohnny]

Many have rules that allow you to vote them away with a vote of at least 50% of members. I have one in my neighborhood and they do things like mow the common areas and plant flowers. They also throw block parties twice a year. All of the neighbors get along though. It works pretty good, the dues are about $200 a year.

If you buy in a neighborhood without one just make sure your house is expensive enough that the shitbags can't afford to buy anything close to you. To me that means at least $250K for the house.

[red95gts]

Also keep on mind that due to the lack of zoning laws in most parts of Texas, the HOA/Covenants are the ONLY thing preventing your next door neighbor from moving out and turning his house into a halfway house for child molesters, an auto salvage yard, or doing all sorts of other shit that you wouldn't want to live next to.

I'm not a huge fan of HOAs, but when the majority of people out there lack the common courtesy to keep up their yards and not leave trash all over the place - they are a necessary evil.

[Dacotua]

Dont buy a house in a HOA.

[2011GT]

It seems some complaining must have a front yard full of shit. I can't stand some peoples homes the way they up keep them. People parking boats/cars in the front lawn. It's an eye sore. Little shit like a tree house to me just makes the neighborhood more homely. Whoever made that bylaw must have had a shitty childhood.

[Sgt Beavis]

While I generally don't like HOA's, I really don't have a problem with ours. Enforcement wise, the worse they ever do is tell you to mow the lawn or kill off your weeds. Folks in our neighborhood do all sorts of things that would get a rise out of some HOAs. Things like mis matched fences or changing the landscaping without permission. Our HOA just lets those things go without comment. But they do keep people from parking big ass boats in the street (or drive way) for long periods of time (a weekend is permitted). They also don't fuck with anyone working on a car.

I'd say an HOA is what you make if it. The best way to deal with one is to get elected to it. However it can still be a roll of the dice because you there is always a chance you'll get some asshole busy body that wants everyone to do thing their way. That's why I will avoid an HOA for my next home....

[Ruffdaddy]

All of his issues with the HOA probably wouldn't have come up if he had just filed an application to build the structure. Tell him to take it down, apologize for the ignorance of the proper process, submit and app, then rebuild it.