How Homeowners Associations Took Over American Neighborhoods

How is HOA not tanking home values? Who in their right mind would want to pay money for some Karen to tell them how to live? Sounds like a living hell to me.

There should definitely be more laws regulating HOAs.

I have told this many times. I had an HOA advise me that they had voted my property into their HOA and that I had 30 days to come into compliance. I sent a response that I was not part of their HOA. 30 days later I started receiving violation notices in my mailbox. I sent a cease and desist letter. A month later, I received a notice of intent to seize my property if I was not in compliance in 10 days. Two weeks later I received notice of a scheduled hearing. At the courthouse, the attorney for the HOA recognized me and asked if I represented the homeowner, and I told him that I was the homeowner. I told him that I was not part of the HOA and they had been advised of that in writing several times. In court, the HOA president told how I had ignored all notices and refused to pay fines. When it was my turn, I asked her how long the property had been a part of the HOA, she gave the date they had voted my property in. I asked her if she had membership documents signed by me. She said "No, you refused so we voted you in" The judge, and their attorney both said HUH ? ? ? I then asked her about putting violation notices in my mailbox and she said that was the only way since I refused to install a notice box at my garage door. I asked her if she realized that putting main in a US mailbox was a federal crime. She said "not in a HOA" I saw their attorney shake his head. The judge asked her how she thought that the HOA could vote someone in without their consent, she said the annexed the property according to their by-laws. I asked the judge for a judgment as a matter of law, and consideration of my counter-claim. The judge said "granted to both, state your counter-claim" I outlined my compensatory damages, and then asked for putative damages in the amount of $5000 per violation notice, and an additional $10,000 for the frivolous case. The judge granted $350,000 in putative damages, and just over $50,000 in actual damages for time, and earnings lost responding and researching their claims. HOA woman said that the HOA could not pay the judgement. I told the judge that I would accept the vacant 20 Acres of association property adjoining my property with the release of HOA claims. The HOA voted the next week to release the property and remove Caren (Yes her name is Caren) as HOA president. I found out that she wanted my property as access to the additional acres the HOA had purchased to build additional homes to sell. Subsequently, the members of the HOA voted to dissolve the HOA as without the additional anticipated acreage income, they could not continue to fulfill the HOA obligations. The entire neighborhood (save a few) is much happier with the HOA gone.

The issue is that either the renter or the owner must in some way pay insurance and property taxes if they want a "permanent roof" with utilities like electricity, gas and water. Because of this, many people—at least in California, where I currently reside—are living in tents. No taxes, rent, mortgages, or insurance. The number of people who tell me they live in their car that I meet amazes me. Its crazy out here!

I had no idea that HOA’s had the power to garnish your wages or foreclose on your home over petty fees. That’s horrible.

My father in law got on the HOA board when they moved to AZ. When my husband and I visited them we took a walk. My husbands mother made a big deal because some man had his garage door open. I asked her what the big deal was. She said , well, burglary. I said that's his problem. What she really meant is that everyone was supposed to have the doors closed. For a uniform appearance. I think board members are people that need their little bit of power. I'd NEVER live with a HOA

The federal government needs to step in and HEAVILY regulate the existence of HOAs limiting their abilities such as handing out fines and placing liens on people’s homes.

My wife and I purchased our house in 2001. We refused to consider one that had a HOA! HOA is like living in an apartment, someone telling you what you can and can't do with your house!

"No HOA" is a huge selling point for real estate listings. We specifically bought our house because it was NOT in an HOA. Our neighborhood is cool because every house is different and most owners take pride in maintaining the neighborhood. We don't want to pay $200 monthly to a faceless company to manage our landscaping. We'll look after it ourselves, thank you.

We are basically giving control of our homes over to a corporate board staffed by Karens. How are the American people allowing this? We’ve definitely gone soft.

fear a housing crash due to people buying homes above asking prices with little equity. If prices drop, affordability and potential foreclosures may arise, worsened by future layoffs and rising living costs. I want to invest more than $300k, but I'm not sure on how to mitigate risk.

Homeowners sold their souls to avoid lawn maintenance, snow removal, and fear of a neighbor painting their house hot magenta.

I bought a beautiful first floor condo in 2013 as my first home. Lots of really cool older folks lived there. Even older residents sat on the board and kept re-electing themselves regardless of what the bylaws said. I’m a USMC vet and the rules said I could fly a flag. I chose a Marine Corps flag and was promptly sent a photo of my balcony with said flag and a warning to remove my flag as it offended other residents. My neighbors above and next to me asked why I took it down and I showed them. They insisted that I fly it again and started paying my fines for me while raising hell with the board. Long story short they rallied the other residents up and got me elected as Vice President of the board which in turn gave me more leverage to get a couple other younger residents on it. We removed them, found out they stole a bunch of money, the courts seized their units and we changed a bunch of rules and made it a fun place to live.

I'd rather pay an extra $500 a month on my mortgage payment to NOT BE part of an HOA than deal with HOA BS

When we sold our last home in Dallas in 2021 our realtor specifically listed "No HOA" as an amenity. She told us that 65%-70% of her clients ask to see only listings with no HOA's. We had a contract 12 hours after listing our home for full asking price.

Homeowner: "I just paid off my house, yeahhh HOA: "Not so fast."

So many real estate listings make it a point to say "NO HOA" when applicable. Obviously "NO HOA" is a selling point.

As soon as I find out a home is part of an HOA, I immediately lose interest in the property. Why would I to live in a community that tells me what color I am allowed to paint my house or what kind of pets I can own? It's ridiculous. Imagine spending half a million dollars for less freedoms than you have when renting.

HOA is the worse. I just sold my home 6 months ago and moved into a traditional clean neighborhood with no HOA. Although I was fully aware of the HOA when I first bought my previous home, the rates just went up insanely. I started at $80/month and within 3yrs I was paying $300/month. Their justification was always landscaping cost for which we didn't even have grass. We had a bunch of cheap bushes. We had 1 pool and a very small playground for the kids. No gym, no cleaning crews on-site. In fact the HOA was sold to different agencies and in the end the agency was "managing" us from a city that was over 50miles away. They rarely answered calls or emails. When we sold our home they charged us 3k to transfer the HOA to the new owners. It was the a horrible experience considering how expensive they are and how much control they have over your home.

My HOA decided to reseal the roads in our neighborhood with no notice. We do not have sidewalks, so there was literally no way to get to the main road without walking over people's lawns and driveways. I was post surgery, temporarily disabled, and could not handle the ups and downs of curbs. I called and they told me to get a friend to help me since they trapped me in my house. I should have called the Office of American Disabilities for them trapping me in my house when I had to work.