The Glade 4.0

The homeowners association, and the rules that go along with it are the main reasons I gave up having a house with a yard, in trade for a condo with some rules.

The residents of the condo are required to comply with the association rules if they want to continue to live here. I agreed to them as did everyone else when they moved in.

Some of the rules?

*Only one unit in the complex can be rented out at a time (its 30 units)

*Parking in designated spaces only (no homeowner parking in visitor spaces)

No undrivable vehicles on the premises for extended time (more than a week or so I think)

No trash/junk/car parts, broken down furniture, etc.. outside of the unit

Pets on a leash only (no free roaming cats or dogs, etc...)

The result of these rules is a quiet, clean, crime-free complex. I've been here 6ish years now and love it.

I pay ~$250 a month, which covers grounds and yard maintenance, roof cleaning, city water and sewer, property insurance for the exterior of the building (I only have to insure the stuff inside). Exterior lighting maintenance and operation and a few other odds and ends.

The property is managed by a company contracted by the association in accordance with their by laws.

The house I lived in prior to this had noisy neighbors, with barking dogs. It was only a few years out from needing a new roof and siding, and I do not miss doing the yardwork. =)

Wait, you guys have Homeowner's Association for Houses?

Unless thats not what Farsky bought, which is what I thought he bought... I need more coffee...

Yes, I have a homeowners association on the house that I am in the process of buying (2 weeks and two days!). It is $30 a month. Mostly it is for maintaining community property. They also prevent people from doing stupid stuff like parking junkers in their front lawn, or letting their grass grow to two feet. Some HOAs are strict, some aren't.

Ah so this is for a community (walled in complex with lots of houses) not just any house on the side of the road right?

It's not necessarily for gated communities, there are plenty of places that have home owners associations in an open neighborhood. I actively avoided those neighborhoods when looking for a house, personally.

Well, walled in complexes with lots of houses typically do have HOAs at a higher rate, but even houses on the "side of the road" do. Not all, or even most, but lots do. Especially the higher you go in price range. I just looked at a list of 35 houses that my realtor had sent me a while back while I was still looking. Priced between $180k and $250k, 34 houses, all but 3 have a homeowners association. Most were about $30-$50, though there was one at $110 a month. Usually those that expensive take care of other stuff, like front yard maintenence.

My HOA is actually for a condo complex, not a house-with-a-yard type of thing.. With the condo, I only technically own the inside of the unit. The exterior of the building, the property, driveway, etc.. are all owned by the association.

I'm only use to these type of associations (we call them Strata) within complexes, apartments or units. By law, anything on a private property (crappy cars, awful looking gnomes, half naked hot chicks, etc) are the owner's provogative. You can only complain to the cops (or council) about things which actually matter (like loud music at 2am, domestic abuse, illegal additions/transations, etc).

May I just say that the idea a bunch of people have a nose in private property maintenance/upkeep/looks makes my head explode.

It can be a good thing, or it can be a bad thing. Having a neighbor do stuff like that can drastically affect your property values. Losing $50k because your neighbor treats his front yard like a trash dump sucks. It is entirely volutary by living there. But it can definitly be a bad thing too, if the HOA are a bunch of Nazis. A friend of mine had some people over, and someone's car leaked a few drops of oil onto her driveway. Within a few days she had a notice from her HOA telling her to clean it up.