Buying a house with h.o.a... Yes or no

[svauto-erotic855]

I guarantee you no one on this fucking board likes the thought of a dog less than 20 feet from their bedroom window barking all fucking night long. How fucking stupid do you have to be?

I would just turn my dog loose on the offending dog. She is an alpha female and knows how to take care of business.

In the words of the great svo: "Fuck dogs!"

Fuck dogs? I like dogs and have mine with me nearly 24/7.

I am dealing with some BS from an HOA right now. A new guy moved in and is throwing a fit about me having too many cars. I guess that I should not have felt up his very willing wife in front of him......

[Denny]

Fuck dogs... like, fuck them. You know, fucking dogs. Fuck a fucking dog!

[mikeb]

I lived in Stonebridge ranch in McKinney for many years. I was "that" neighbor that was always working on cars in the driveway and had car parts hanging from the front tree on coat hangers drying from being painted. Strangely enough, our HOA never hassled me about that, but my next door neighbor got hassled for having a few weeds around their tree in the front yard.

I think that the difference was that I was always helping my neighbors with various things and my next door neighbor wasn't.

Research the HOA that controls the neighborhood and see how they do things before buying a house.

[Roscoe]

Where I live right now is part of an HOA. They aren't great. They sent a letter recently for us having a vehicle parked in the street. The street is 3 times wider than any other neighborhood I've ever lived in. They can suck a dick. There is also a greenbelt behind the house that they are supposed to mow, but they aren't consistent about it. And, instead of weed eating along the back of everyone's fences, they put roundup down so they don't have to mess with it for a while. Our house has an aluminum (looks like wrought iron) fence, so it's open to the greenbelt. When they spray their roundup, it leaves a nasty yellow stripe at the base of the fence where grass should be. Lazy assholes.

I'm moving to CO next week, and bought a place on the side of a mountain. We have 1.5 acres, and there are maybe 20-30 houses spread out on the side of this mountain, and down at the base, that are all part of an HOA. Most of the houses have around an acre, and they are spread out pretty good, nothing like a typical neighborhood.

Anyway, the HOA fees are right at $1000/year, but we get private fishing access to a world class trout fishing river at the base of the mountain, a private pond stocked with tons of huge trout, a large picnic pavilion area with a huge fire pit, etc. There's one way in and one way out over a cool little bridge that they maintain. They plow all of the roads up to everyone's driveway throughout the winter, which is crucial, because there are some steep switchbacks to get up where my place is. They treat those same roads (all unpaved rock) with some stuff to keep the dust from flying up during the rest of the year. We're on a shared community well, so no water bills. They have hiking groups every week, a group every morning that walks down and feeds the fish in the pond, a big cookout/pot luck every two weeks at the pavilion, etc.

Some of the rules are a pain. I can't park any kind of trailer outside. I can't erect any kind of building that isn't attached to the house. Any improvements I want to the outside of the house, I have to get permission. That kind of stuff. I don't have to worry about yard work, though, as they don't have "yards" up there. It's literally just wilderness, and you're supposed to leave it natural.

But I tell you what - the mountain on the other side of the main road doesn't have any kind of HOA, and it's not nearly as nice. Old trailers, scrap wood and metal in yards, and just not as visually appealing in general. There's a clear difference when you drive through both sides. So far, the HOA seems like it's going to be a good thing, but I guess I won't know for sure until we get settled in.

Now that sounds like something to get used to.... Enjoy it!

[whitetrash]

I've looked at a few homes in HOA's that were nice and had a fair amount of amenities but everyone of them have a no trailer addendum. Kills it for me.

My sister has lived In 3 different HOA's and two sucked. The first wasn't bad, keep your house reasonable and they left you alone. The 2nd one would try to ding them about trash cans constantly. My sister had some health issues for awhile that kept her from moving them and her husband was a fire fighter so if he was on shift for trash day they would sit out until he got home. They went to the board a few times with no results until he got some buddies in the local fd threaten to stop running calls for the area. Obviously a bluff, but it worked. The 3rd the guy across the street would call every time they had guests. Which mind you was only family for holidays and maybe 2-3 cookouts in the summer. The house was in a curve on the smaller side so we would have to park in front of another house or two in clouding his and he would go apeshit over it. No cars were ever there more than a few hours. He would also call in everytime my brother in law would have his trailer there overnight. Never more than one night, just to load up and leave out the next morning, or unload at night and return it to storage in the morning.

As far as homes being kept up based on value, I live in an area where the average home is 100-140k, out side of a few trees that could be trimmed a little better everyone keeps their homes pretty well kept. I have one of the worst yards on the street but it isn't from a lack of effort. I have cut trees, fertilized, ect trying to keep my front lawn alive. It dies every summer and comes back in the fall. My street is also 30% or so renters.

[Cooter]

Dogs bark. It's kind of what they do.

that's like saying people talk

if somebody sat there talking to nobody all day and night, you'd probably have them locked up in an asylum

my dog very rarely barks, but, as a white man, I also keep him inside... where he doesn't bark...

but when he does chill outside, he doesn't bark either

[CexMashean]

that's like saying people talk

if somebody sat there talking to nobody all day and night, you'd probably have them locked up in an asylum

my dog very rarely barks, but, as a white man, I also keep him inside... where he doesn't bark...

but when he does chill outside, he doesn't bark either

Your dog isn't doing what it's supposed to do. It may be defective. Is it still warrantied?

[Ruffdaddy]

that's like saying people talk

if somebody sat there talking to nobody all day and night, you'd probably have them locked up in an asylum

my dog very rarely barks, but, as a white man, I also keep him inside... where he doesn't bark...

but when he does chill outside, he doesn't bark either

Good analogy. Ive always thought the dogs bark excuse was such a weak ass argument too. Yeah they bark that doesnt mean youre clear to leave them outside disturbing the peace all day. Just like you said...if i sat there and screamed at your window all day would that be fine?

My dog also doesnt bark when we let her hang outside..even with an open iron back fence facing the green space and other houses.

[Baron Von Crowder]

they make bark collars for a reason. We got a new pup that would bark at the other dogs (while they were barking, cause they never shut up) so we put a bark collar on him. He doesnt bark anymore.

[ceyko]

I did not read all the posts, but in my experience there are 3 types of HOAs...

1. Is similar to what Ruffdaddy posted on the first page. HOA runs the community items and sometimes there are a lot of them. They provide value from that aspect. Whether they are dicks otherwise is unknown.

2. Then there is the old HOA I had an even worst. They drove a lot of people out and had nothing better to do than uphold the rules - regardless of how minor. i.e. they approved one thing I was doing, but then reported me to the city. Ultimately my fault, but the city unofficially advised to not worry about it prior. Another was when I was moving out, I bought an enclosed trailer 1.5 weeks before my last day in the house and they were fining us. Pictures and all - oh and still whining about 4-5 weeds in the yard.

That HOA was mid range, they get a lot worst and we were paying like 300 a year - no community anything.

3. My current HOA, meets like once a year. No community services, they make sure the roads gets paved/repaired and take care of the community decorative fencing. These are custom homes/build on your own lot places - they do approve/review all plans before building starts.

The only hype I've heard from them is some of the vacant (but owned) lots had really high grass, so they put out a deadline to cut them. Otherwise, no notices. Mind you, earlier this year I had....
2 Grills
1 Firepit
1 boat trailer
1 utility trailer
my Dad's dump trailer
trash cans and other junk
Multiple cars since I have a lot of friends/family stay with me

...all in the front
Not one complaint. We've cleaned it all up but it all happened at once, but they did not harass us and we were a problem in my opinion.

It's a minor/minimal HOA that I can deal with. They are not all the same, try to do your homework. Some people LOVE the strict ones, most do not - but it's your call.

[abecx]

Aside from going door to door, how can you figure out if an HOA is shit or not?

[ceyko]

Aside from going door to door, how can you figure out if an HOA is shit or not?

In my hood it's fairly rural, we talked/met the neighbors prior to starting and they are all laid back folks. I did just ask them.

Also, the covenant is like 9 pages long as opposed to the books in a lot of HOAs. If the HOA has a book of rules, I'd just assume they are going to not be laid back.

Most of those 9 pages are talking about what lots can have horses and not...things like that, where to place house on the lot...etc...etc.

[bcoop]

Aside from going door to door, how can you figure out if an HOA is shit or not?

I think it's always wise to talk to neighbors in the area you're looking to buy. You can ask them about HOA, crime, and problem neighbors. You can get a good feel on lots of things that way.

[Ruffdaddy]

Aside from going door to door, how can you figure out if an HOA is shit or not?

Being shit or not depends on what you want. As you can see in here some people dont hold the same values as others. I prefer strict HOAs if im going to live in a neighborhood with small (<.3 acre) lot sizes.

You start by driving through the neighborhood. If its a cookie cutter with all yards mowed and edged...its strict. If the common areas are well maintained its also adding value.

But the next and even more important step is reading the rules of the HOA.

Asking people is highly subjective, but beneficial after understanding the first two. For example...if someone in my neighborhood said the hoa sucked because they fine you for dogs barking (thats what dogs do right), then im going to like the HOA even more because thats actually what i want.

[Ruffdaddy]

Also, there are a lot of facebook pages and forums for different neighborhoods...check those.