HOA Fees
Muddy
USA
Yeah I guess it's less maintenance. But some of these fees are $5, 6, 7 hundred dollars. Fuck that, who spends that on maintenance every month? What do you live in Stalingrad circa 1943? WTF. Also at that point do really even own the place if your fee is approaching what normal rent used to be.
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Not as cost-free as the Muddy WalMart parking plan, but reasonable nonetheless.
I'd rather ply my trade to make a few more bucks and pay someone who knows what they're doing, then try and do it myself and fuck it up.
Fortunately I have a great mortgage so it's not a financial strain.
The $250/year pays for the upkeep on the common areas in my subdivision of 150 senior citizen homes that are all owner occupied. Since I paid cash for the house. I don't have any mortgage payments and my upkeep is cheap.
It is a private lake community and the HOA provides security guards at the entrance gate, a safety patrol boat and lifeguards during the summer as well as maintaining the roadways, pavilions, ballfields, basketball court, tennis/pickleball court, disc golf and other common areas around the lake as well as the maintenance of the actual lake.
They can backfire too. For example there’s a neighborhood in my town that is mostly all old Victorian homes that go for 1 million plus. Someone moved in and put chickens in the front yard and chicken wire all around their property which is small, probably .15 of an acre. All the neighbors went crazy but there was no mention of chickens in the covenants. The neighbors threatened to take the chicken owner to court over it and a severe backlash occurred. Several people in this neighborhood were local business owners and since I live in a liberal town many locals threatened to boycott those businesses because they didn’t want chickens in their neighborhood. The neighborhood backed down and a decade later there’s still chickens running around.
INSURANCE. I know fuck the man. But with building costs skyrocketing, labor costs skyrocketing, etc. Insurance has to go up and amount of coverage on buildings go up. Hence insurance is going up. I know many HOA's will put a % increase each year. WELL the past 5 years or so we have see double digit inflation in certain area's so HOA's took extreme measures to get "ahead" in the game....ie: Jumped up 30% and I have seen 50% in one year.
If your HOA's are a condo type and they haven't raise the deductible on the insurance talk with them. Also for anyone who has a CONDO and they have huge deductibles. Look at your own personal policy you have on your condo. I know every state is different. But your personal policy might have a clause in it where it will help with your deductible on the actual condo building itself. Mine is called Loss Assessment clause. I can purchase up to $50K in coverage. What this does if the HOA comes knocking for my share of the deductible this clause can kick in.
Example.... My HOA has a $25K deductible per building and the units are 5 in each building.... So $5K deductible is owed by each unit owner. My personal policy I have $25K coverage in that Loss Assessment clause. My personal deductible is $1K. So what will happen is I will pay the $1k and the loss Assessment clause will kick in and pay the $4K balance.
Something to check out and see if you have that on your personal polices. NOW THIS IS JUST FOR CONDO and TOWNHOME type situations. HOA for neighborhoods and homes. I have not clue.
Without the HOA the costs would probably be tripled for individual homes and property owners in this community which is fairly common throughout upper class neighborhoods in this area.
If you live in a community with a HOA you can and should be a part of it, it’s beneficial to participate and get involved.
It's not just about saving money it's about saving time. I don't have the expertise to fuck around with every mode of home improvement.
@misterorange -- For $233 a year I get the basics you described -- minus the snowplowing, which is almost never needed in the state where I live. When it *does* snow, it's every man for himself -- until the next day or so when the snow inevitably melts and disappears.
The condo HOA situation is another animal altogether. Many of those buildings are raising rates sky high and/or doing special assessments after the Surfside collapse. Many, many people are underwater on the mortgage & the increased HOA/insurance/assessments are more than they can cover.
Actually, I know at least a couple strippers renting some of those condo's that people have walked away from and are now in the process of being foreclosed. One girl said her landlord's management company called her one day and said they no longer manage the place returned her rent check, she's been living there the better part of a year rent free and still hasn't been told she needs to get out. She's so fucking happy, but still dumb. Instead of saving up a little money, at least like first/last/security for a new place, she went out and bought a 7yr old benz and that's how she spends what used to be her rent money. She has no insurance on the Benz, cause she can't make the payments for both & they'll repo it if she doesn't pay the car note.