HOA Fees

While I have an HOA fee, it has remained static the past 2 years, and the HOA/neighbkrs don't impose unrealistic rules. I'm fortunate, but I know many deal with issues. Also, my HOA fee is reasonable, in that it doesn't cost more than the FMV of services covered. Not as cost-free as the Muddy WalMart parking plan, but reasonable nonetheless.

Mine is just under $500. I balked at it when I first bought the place, but it has actually come down a bit. It's paid for some nice improvements to the outside, like a fence that stopped all kinds of trash from blowing into the property, security cams, and things like that. The board is also forbidden from turning a profit on it and has to provide detailed financial records. 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.

%#*? HOA fees. I have two, because I live in a community within a community so to speak. Gotta pay Barney Fife to drive around at night.

I had a condo decades ago, and HOA was $95/month, and today based on inflation would be $300/month. The house we built in 2008 is 3,800 sq ft, slab-on-grade, 5 acres, HOA=$120/YEAR, and the HOA is very moderate.

In my 82 years I have owned 8 houses and occupied 6 of them. I have always hated and avoided HOAs but my last and final home that I live in has an HOA. I hate some of the silly restrictions but understand that they are in place to keep property values up. My house has actually tripled in value since I bought it 8 years ago. 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.

No HOA on my home, but I do have one on the rental house I bought last year after I finished paying off the mortgage on my home. Luckily it isn't that bad and is just over $1100/year per 1/2 acre lot. Since the house is on a double lot (1 acre) I pay $2200/year but since it is a rental property I just factored that into the rent price. 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.

bought a new house in the in the greater Phoenix area back in 1996 and had to pay HOA fee of like $75 a month... it took care of the common areas... My two brothers on the other hand have townhouses and their HOA fees are ridiculous. One of them pays like 400 a month and the other is paying over 500 a month. at least there are no mortgages on their places. and when I sold mine it was still 75 a month... where I live now is definitely no HOA fees

I didn’t br have a mortgage, pay $200/mnth in property taxes and $100/month to insure. The $35/month I fork over for HOA fees is rather negligible, and they take care of the weeds accumulated after a wet winter. Not too bad considering my taxes/insurance and HOA fee all in is lower than those you’ve mentioned with outrageous HOA condo, and I have a backyard with view and very few neighbors. Yeah, not moving.

Nobody likes HOAs but they’re there for a reason. As long as the people on the board of them aren’t morons everything should go smooth for the most part. This prevents your neighbor from putting a beat up car on cinder blocks in his driveway, keeping their lawn decent. On the other hand we all know some HOAs are psychotic and unreasonable. 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.

In a condo, property taxes are split between the association and the individual owners, so owner payments to the association have to cover its share of the taxes. Most people (dumbly) think they don't need to pay attention to what's going on with the association. I knew someone who had a condo, and a roofer got 2 employees and one of their spouses on the 5 member board of directors. Soon after, all the condos got new roofs. Guess who was hired to do it.

The reason why HOA fees are exploding in most areas or the main reason.... 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.

In my area most homes are in private HOAs or POAs, the homes In these areas are generally kept in good condition and much of the maintenance is pooled to save costs. Where I live we pay about $1200. Quarterly, they cover landscaping, entrance gate, amenities (community pool, gym, clubhouse etc. ) they also provide property management, insurance, the HOA also accumulates funds to be held in reserves to cover longer term expenses like roads painting and repairs of common assets. 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.

@twentyfive is right, you generally get what you pay for. You want amenities, more modern buildings, etc you will pay for them. They can't turn a profit and have to disclose their financials. 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.

Big difference in HOA cost with Condo vs. Cluster homes.

Yup, I've had double digit increases in my condo fees the last 5 yrs or so after several pre covid yrs. of flat or moderate single digit increases.

My HOA fees went down this year, from $240 to $233 -- for the whole year, not per month. No explanation was given for the decrease, and I didn't bother to ask why.

@EastCoaster - I'm curious, what do you get for $233 a year? Mine is $240 a month and all we get are the basics. Landscaping, snow plowing, building maintenance. That's about it.

What is a HOA fee?

@londonguy -- HOA is the Home Owners Association for a local neighborhood subdivision. The fee covers various things, as described in posts above. @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.

@EastCoaster - Wow that's a low cost. Do you have individual houses where you're responsible for everything yourself? Mine is all one large building, so there's a lot of shared HOA expenses. A roof that cost $250k to replace last year, common areas that need cleaning and painting and carpeting, plumbing such as the main sewer lines which are the HOA responsibility, fire alarm systems, elevators, etc. But the good news is there's not that much I have to worry about. Mostly just what's inside my unit.

I live in a van down by the river. No mortgage. No HOA fees. See me for more money saving tips.

@misterorange: I just returned to my computer because I realized that you may be living in a common building -- and I see that you are. Yes, my neighborhood is all individual houses, and the owners are responsible for all the costs of maintaining their own houses. That's certainly a huge difference! My HOA fees are dirt cheap. I pay very little and get very little in return! My apologies for not realizing that difference sooner. You were right in asking me for the clarification.

Muddy: I saw your money numbers in the 6 years leading up to covid, One of the major issues was some extreme snow removal and the entire condominium complex being on private roads. At the time, the location was perfect for work travel and our turn key and go existence. Presently, I pay 33 percent of that cost monthly and use a mower and snowblower when necessary!

Stand alone 1800 ft2 Cluster here; a flat $140 a month for the last 10 years..... BUT it only takes care of grass, snow, trash and original landscaping... you are responsible for everything else.... just like owning a house. I personally like this arrangement.

If you're in FL, specifically South Florida, the homeowners insurance and car insurance has jumped significantly. My HOA per year is about the same as my homeowners insurance, and this is not my primary residence! If you follow the FL news about housing and condos, it's out of control. The Lawyers and contractors got greedy after Hurricane Andrew and messed it up for everyone. If you live close to the water, add flood insurance. At least in my place in FL the cost of the HOA fees is reasonable as the place is well kept, 24 hour security, gated community and more (no golf course, thank goodness!).

I don't want to live in a HOA community anymore. I bought a house in one when I was younger, I thought it was a mistake shortly after as I hated the HOA rules. But, now that I use it as a rental property I like it. The rates have gone up from around $100/mo to about $500/mo over the last 10-15 years or so, so pretty significantly. But like sushi mentioned, they do all the lawn maintenance, gated security, pool, fitness room, vollyball/pickleball/tennis/basketball/soccer fields, etc. I can charge a premium on rent, and all the rules and shit attract tenants who like that sort of regulation and shit. I've had the same family in there for like 8yrs. They know they can't afford to buy it or anything like it, but they have no problem covering the rent. 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.

My condo fees were $155/Month in 1987-1994 for my first townhouse that included a nice pool that was only open and managed 10 weeks a year.

These fees seem awful. You all should consider moving to America. Over 40 years of seeing people's financial statements and only condo people have fees, not single family, duplex, 3 deckers etc. Have yet to see a HOA in this land of single family homes.

My condo association fee in Aspen is around $950, but we have a private strip club in the basement. My fee at Sunday River is about $600, but it includes a year-round outdoor pool. My NYC co-op has a maintenance component of just $150. My suburban Worcester HOA is $90. My estate in Haiti is considered forfeit at this point.

If you haven't paid off your car, the lien holder will require you to insure it. I know it's all a work of fiction up in here, but blatant plot holes are still bad.