I recently found the home of my new dreams after living in the original one I'd built ten years ago. Kids are gone, don't need two stories but my home had an open floor plan and I wanted to stay with that. Found! One house, 1000 sq ft less than my current home, ranch so no second story, an Acre and a Half! Awesome! We currently have a pole barn on our acre so this would allow us to build the same. The house was perfect, the lot was the right size...then I found out that this house, sitting in the middle of a cornfield with 15 other houses in the development, were governed by an HOA that won't even let you sneeze without asking them! And I learned this after reading their 180 page HOA Guidelines Booklet...You could only plant what they told you and only after you asked if you could plant at all, no parking in the driveway, no outbuildings though there were a few already so we figure they paid the president off, no real fireplaces because that means you have to stack the wood somewhere, no this, no that...no wonder the current owners have had the house listed in a market that's been heating up more and more over the past few months, for about as long.

If I'm going to pay 2 or 3 or four hundred thousand dollars for a home, I'd better damned well be able to do what I want with it. Caring for the commons areas, the trash pick up, the roads in winter and such are all fine and dandy, but having to ask when to take a leak? Stuff the HOA!

I hate HOA. I have to get approval to paint the outside of my house with the same color it was approved of before. Have to wait a month til their next meeting to get any approvals of landscape changes, etc.

I will never live in another one of these HOA communities. They pull so many awful shenanigans that I would never have believed possible. They break the law in my state and get away with it since there is no regulatory agency to go after them. The property managers, insurance agents, contractors and attorneys have a great rice bowl in an HOA. You still have to get along with your neighbor and the city or county utility people, and an HOA is a waste if run badly. They allowed people to paint their houses weird colors, too.

We just posted about the Historic Kenwood Neighborhood Association on our Ideabook! Check it out!

It should be used only as a way to maintain a neighborhood park or common areas!

It is interesting that this issue is still be discussed. The conflicting stories bear no merit. HOA's are simple to understand and when you consider a place to live that has them...it is your responsibility to review same and make sure you are willing to live with them. You cannot just create your OWN options to the board....they are only enforcing what is written. As I mentioned before if they are filed legally you will face an up-hill battle. Do your research, read the HOA's, Covenants and By-laws. For many people this is what they want....if it is not for you then move on...there will surely be a lovely place for you to live and you might consider avoiding sub-divisions, condos, etc. that have HOA's.

Our old association was horrible. We didn't renew the contract and have a much better association now. Also had a rather significant change in board members and it's been excellent. Our new management raised the dues $60 for the entire year but that was very affordable each month. They are building our reserves and renegotiating contracts for landscaping, the community areas, individual condo repair and major repairs from storm damage. We are also getting the largest neighborhood turnout at meetings for the first time since 07. People want to come out now because we have a voice within the association and board.

Forgot to mention our dues cover plenty of exterior maintenance for the individual condos and common grounds. We do have a decent size acceptable list of plants and decor that can be added to the landscaping but they must stay in the munched beds. Unfortunately we can't change out the exterior lights but that's a small trade-off. In our area, the HOA is a better choice, just depends on which association you get.

I won't live in an HOA too restricting

My husband and I could never live in an HOA, it is too restrictive for us. Where we live in Florida there are countless HOA and deed-restricted communities and they are fine for those who like them and enjoy whatever rules they must abide by. My in-laws enjoy their gated, golf course HOA although several times my mother-in-law's gorgeous flowering plants have raised the ire of neighbourhood busybodies.
We live in a historic district and belong to an informal neighbourhood association. This means that those interested can join for $10 per year and participate (if one wants, no pressure), in monthly meetings, monthly porch parties, 4x a year neighbourhood trash clean ups, etc.
Ours was a significant historic and culturally-rich area that was virtually destroyed in the 60s by interstate highway systems. Out of those ashes, a resurgence and interest in the old homes has been building. This attracts a wide range of people from all socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, wide age ranges and the like.
Personally, as long as I have to live in a city this is the only type of neighbourhood I can live in. We feel very blessed to be in such an interesting and dynamic community with lots of motivated and unique neighbours.

I'm happy to live in a community with an HOA. I do not want to look at open garage doors, garbage cans, unkempt yards, etc. I do not want to hear barking dogs or to have dogs relieving themselves in my yard.

Neighborhood associations are only as good as the people running them. Where I live now, the board is only interested in the betterment of our community. That's as it should be. I came here from a neighborhood where people on the board were mean-spirited and rode around on golf carts with clipboards and cameras looking for any tiny violation. Nevermind, that they may have stumbled upon a work in progress that would be remedied before they even made it home. HOA's work when they are used correctly and protect everyone from people who should be living on acreage in the country where their mess wouldn't bother others.

I used to live in a HOA. Now the neighborhood I Iive in is a non-official HOA type.
I have found that when I was part of an official HOA that some of the neighbors would not keep up to date with what was going on. These neighbors would the proceed to make my life hell by complaining about a change that in which was already approved by trying to fight it, even when I was half way through the project making me halt everything.
The current "non-official" HOA I am currently residing in is a double bladed sword. Neighbors typically will go through one man for common knowledge and agreement/settlements for improvements. Other times they will start up on a project out of the blue without consulting anyone, such as cutting down trees for a better view that included some that were passed my property line that I used for privacy. However, I found that with my ragtag HOA, most neighbors are friends and their influence extends passed the area into town. (small story time) I live in a dark-sky city ordinance town, which means that we have minimal lighting due to several reasons: there is an observatory nearby that needs certain conditions at night, national forest surrounding the town that needs to be preserved in as many ways as possible, it cuts down on electricity, and naturally see the night sky with no restrictions. We live on a hill that gives us a complete view of the town. Using our neighbors influence, we banded together in instances to reduce lighting in nearby businesses that were too bright. If you can guess where we are, we are the only town to have a green McDonalds due to city ordinance.
Conclusion and opinion to the HOA / non HOA, it depends who is a part of the neighborhood and/or group. Many personalities can clash or even come together for a common goal. I'm going to use a quote from a fun movie, life is like a box of chocolates.

Yes our community has an association of sorts. I live in an area of older homeowners that are retired or retiring, some second and third generation owners, as well as some first time buyers who expect to move on to their dream homes. The association is loosely based and is a non-conforming informal association that organizes information meetings with police and fire officials (safety), Public Works officials and at times our governmental representatives. It is only as strong as the present leaders being able to give time and attention. In the past it has been very effective, but presently it is almost non-existent because our most strong supporters have moved on or passed away.

No, we have no HOA but we do have a road association. Each home owner on our lane owns part of the lane and pays every year to a fund for road maintenance. We have yearly meetings.

Well hoas are all different, but I would think twice about living in a neighborhood that didn"t have an association. I don"t want to live in an environment where nobody cares about appearances. nuf said.

Can someone tell me if a one bulb ,125 watt (4600K) is the same as natural sunlight? I can't get an answer from anyone? 10 hrs. A day. 1&1/2 " from bulb. Please tell me if I'm getting enough light to my Meyer lemon tree 2' tall & 3 yrs. old please tell me.?

Thankfully no! My daughter does and she told me about some of the dumb rules they have to follow. I know they do not want people to neglect their property or paint their house purple but they do go too far at times.

Before the stock market crash we planned on building a home on a lakefront lot. My wifes pension was reduced to $100 a month. My Teamster pension was reduced to $600 per month. So we keep the lot and take up a travel trailer for the summer. We keep the lot clean, safe, and it's mostly hidden by trees. Because the existing neighbors claim their property values would be ruined by our summer visits. I discovered they have an ordinance that travel trailers can only stay for 30 days at a time then move it out and you can bring it back for another 30 days. Then one more time and take it home. After expensive property taxes we discover we have a wetland and probably can't even build if we wanted to. The HOA people are using anything they can find to ruin our summer lot. What can we do? No lawyer in the family.

Being in a wetland area would affect other people, too, not just you. How were your neighbors able to build? Secondly, if it was designated as wetlands when you bought it, that should have been disclosed to you. If it wasn't, you probably have legal recourse. We have something similar going on with land in another country. There is a buried sewer line crossing the property that the owner knew nothing about even though her family has owned the property for 75 years. We had verbally agreed to pay her a price for constructible land, but if it's not constructible, the value of her property has fallen by probably 90%. We didn't sign anything, so we are out only the cost of surveyor's fees. For avoidance of doubt, I am not a lawyer.

The association is needed. Sometimes it's an extra hassle but well worth it overall.

Yeah well, this weekend my daughter and son-in-law had an experience with an HOA board member who complained about a car driven by a visiting long-distance relative parked beside their driveway in the front yard. No friendly visit, nothing - just a rather snotty letter (and the HOA board has not been exactly welcoming since d/s-i-l moved in). Thing is, there is NOTHING in the HOA covenant signed by them at purchase forbidding the parking of cars in the front yard. My daughter answered the letter with her attorney's card, asking them to speak through him for any further such communications.

In their front yard????

@smileythecat, yes. There was no other place, as there are 2 driving/working teenagers + a driving mother-in-law in residence as well. It's a cul-de-sac, and there was no street parking room. Where else could visitor have parked?

The HOA I live in has guest parking available just for that circumstance. The guest has to be called in through the guard gate and issued a parking pass. It's an easy process. My neighbor has a conniption if even the food delivery guys park in front of my place for more than 3 minutes.

Not in my front yard

Just another reason why I'm very happy I'm moving to an HOA development where I can't see my neighbors homes (or the cars parked in their front yard). :-)

Well, there is no 'guest parking' available in this neighborhood, there was no other place for the car to park, and they wanted their relative to stay long enough to make her drive worthwhile. I don't know what you people (or the HOA) expected, but there was nothing about it in their rules and covenants. And if "see[ing] ...cars parked in their front yard" is such a bother, I wonder you live on less than 2 acres anyway. Why in the world does it bother people so much to see a car parked, not up on cinder blocks or anything, just parked neatly beside a driveway where there was no more room?

You’re right. That does make sense.
But, I am happy to be moving to where I can’t see any other houses, and they can’t see mine. No worries about what I want in my yard or what the neighbors want in theirs.

When people start parking their cars in the front yard, you know the neighborhood is going downhill[ in a hurry]

Maybe that's what you want, @smileythecat, but our family tends to put people above grass.

I have seen cars parked in front yards only in areas that already had a lot of other issues with general upkeep and tidiness; never in well-maintained developments. Especially when you pay for landscaping, lawn maintenance, watering, who's going to destroy their lawn by parking on it?

So. It seems only our family has ever had the occasional visitor where all the parking space in the garage and driveway is taken up? Two working parents + 2 working teenagers + one live-in in-law all with cars, a one-car garage...and then company arrives. What would you do? Seriously, what would you do? Their portion of the cul-de-sac curb isn't big enough for much of anything - they got the "small pie" lot. I just don't understand you people at all. But at least there's nothing about it in their HOA, so moot point, I guess.

Nancy, it really sounds like your daughter & son-in-law need to find a home with parking that would accommodate their family vehicles. HOA's are known to be sticklers for the rules. With as many vehicles as your daughter has (5), and only a one-car garage, perhaps they need to be in a non-HOA community with more parking space.

I don't even know if we have HOA's here in Australia (sure, there are "strata councils" which are kind of like condo councils when there is shared property involved (mostly units or houses with shared driveways), and I suppose there must be HOA equivalents for gated communities, but certainly not for the average house in the average town.

I don't particularly want to live in a neighborhood that limits the type of house you can build, the color you can paint it, or what kind of light fixtures you can have. Variety, not conformity, is the spice of life, after all. Speaking of which, where we used to live, one of the neighbors did in fact paint his house purple - it was a grand old Edwardian house with lots of fretwork and huge gardens, full of palms and bushes with purple flowers - his purple house (two tones of purple) fitted beautifully into its setting. When we we moved to our new town, I was delighted to see that a small cottage, probably from the 20s, on the next street over, was in the process of being painted purple as well. Makes a nice change from all the boring, regimented sameness of some of the redevelopment underway in the area.

Oh, and there's one house in the middle of our block street - a share house occupied by a lot of young people - which regularly has six cars parked in the carport, driveway and on the lawn. Hasn't impacted property values at all for the rest of us - in fact, the street is being redeveloped and values are going up, not down.

I'd personally rather take my chances with the odd neighbour being, well, odd, than have to deal with a whole extra layer of bureaucracy about what you can and cannot do with your own property.

If it was a short term thing and your daughter's front yard and not the neighbor's then they should have just left her alone.

I think you mean Home Owners' Association, right? We have Neighborhood Associations and that have absolutely zero say over what anyone does.

I think most of the comments here reference HOAs, not NAs, even though the original question was about the latter, not the former. And all the complaints and gripes are about the former, not the latter. HOAs certainly seem to touch a nerve, among both the pro camp and the anti camp :)

@Denita, I thoroughly agree with you, and this year one teenager is moving out while next year the other will. That will help. They bought here to accommodate daughter's new job with State of SC, as son-in-law's retirement from the Air Force after his 20 years and with 100% disability made living hear her job the priority. They do plan to build more to their liking out of city limits in the future.

I think there is something seriously wrong with people who want to control other peoples lives. Housing associations are nothing more than an excuse to be in control of other peoples business. They use the premise that they want the neighborhood to stay clean and proper. I can understand being concerned against blight and such but other than that you all need to mind your own business and learn to live and let live. If you attended to your own business you wouldn't have time to interfere with mine. Nobody is in charge of my life or how I chose to live. I think that is a arrogant way to live. We pay taxes on property and others want to tell us what to do with it. I hope you all move into your gated communities and choke on your anti social behavior. Nuff Said.

@Ron - I seriously LOL at your post. Thanks for my morning chuckle.
I’ll stick to my nice community, you are welcome to do as you please. I’ve lived next door to neighbors that did just what they pleased with their property - to the extent of having 3 trashed tubs in their front yard, discarded mattresses, 20 huge signs posted on their political beliefs, etc. Never again. I think it’s quite “arrogant” of you to judge how we choose to live. It is a CHOICE. If you don’t want to live in an HOA community there are tons of areas for you to live. Those of us that do, have every right to do so - and expect those that have “signed on” to live by what the deed restrictions state.

Ron, if people were community-minded, we wouldn't need HOAs. Sort of like speed bumps, we wouldn't need them if people obeyed the law, but they don't. That brings up an issue in my community. We have a traffic circle (roundabout) that is at the top of the development on a hill. It is a one-way system as prescribed by state law. People drive the wrong way on it, risking a low-speed crash. The HOA has done nothing about it in three years despite my asking them to. The president didn't want to dictate to residents how to drive, didn't want unsightly signage either, so the issue remains status quo. It's just as bad having an HOA board that won't do anything as it is having one that is power-crazed.

I have lived in a HOA community for 15 years. I did not have a good experience. These "board members" loved to vote on how to spend the HOA fees frivolously resulting in constant increases in the HOA fees. I now live in a community with no HOA. Heaven! And I have not had a negative experience with neighbors around me. They keep up with their properties. Speaking from experience I would never live in an HOA again.

I stand by what I said. You can't even see my place. You have to go thru the woods to see what I am doing. People are just nosy and can't mind their own business. Lynda Lynda Lynda I just said there was no blight. No mattresses or any of that other stuff you mentioned. And an HOA is useless. It's the township/city/county that handles that. Why do you use that as a reference for HOA's. . I said there was NO BLIGHT. Do I have to repeat everything for you? . You think your place is higher in society than mine? You are the poster child for Home Owner Controlled Neighborhoods. You should live in Condo's. Leave the countryside for us. Jim, you can bump your butt over your "speed bumps" and drive thru your European traffic circles. You sound like HOA material too. Good luck with trying to run the lives of others by putting down carpet laws that restrict our freedoms. I'd rather have an old mattress next to me than have you for a neighbor.

Ron - you enjoy that mattress. Funny, how it bothers you so much that others like to live in an HOA community. I don’t begrudge anyone else choosing not to live in one. But, if folks do choose to purchase a home in a deed restricted community, I think it should be expected that they follow the restrictions. The community I’m building in is actually a very easy going HOA with very few restrictions. Really just things that most would probably consider common courtesy type stuff. It’s unfortunate that we even need the restrictions, but I’ve lived in enough places to realize that some just don’t care about their property or how it might affect the value of their neighbors property. But, again, It’s a free country. We can live wherever we choose - HOA or not. You live in your non-HOA community, I’ll live in my HOA one - we’ll both be happy :-)

Okay, I have a question in relation to what Jim Collier wrote above. Now, as I've mentioned earlier, HOAs aren't all that common here in Australia, and there's certainly not one where we live. We do have speed bumps in front of the school, one-way streets around the school to reduce traffic, and roundabouts (very common in Australia). All of them are policed by traffic cops or by "rangers" (rangers police local by-laws - ie leash laws for dogs, parking, minor traffic infringements, garbage on the boulevards, etc). So, I'm puzzled as to why an HOA is needed or responsible for things that ought to be the responsibility of the local government.

I'm not challenging the right of people to live in homogenous communities if that's their wish, but I am questioning whether or why HOAs should be responsible for enforcing/imposing traffic regulations.

If you like others deciding what you can and cannot do with your own property that is your choice. Sounds like a Liberal Agenda. Wanting others to live as you do. The only authority I respect is the police and the code enforcement officer . You know the people "who's job it is." Not an HOA . Good Luck, sorry Clinton lost the election and if Russia had a hand in it, Thank You Putin from the bottom of my heart. I am a Veteran who fought for our freedom. I sure won't allow other people to tell me how to live . As long as you are not bothering your neighbor you should be able to live as you wish. I am also pro gun. Does that get your britches in a bundle? What really concerns me is the massive amount of people who have no common sense and want to live like sheep. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1euSA6WA5k

@Ron - really? You probably shouldn’t be assuming anything. I am also a veteran, as is my husband, who is retired military. I’m a conservative, and I have a license to carry - and I do. So, no “britches in a bundle” here. :-) I guess you were wrong on all counts?

I just believe we should have a choice to live in a HOA community if we like. It’s as simple as that.

Oh, and I love that video lol.

I respect your time in service. I just have never met anyone with those credentials that like others to control their life. I stand corrected. Learn something everyday.

Before I close my pie hole I'd like to thank all the Australians who fought along side us in Vietnam. JMM 1837