gigemJTH12 said:
I have done both sides...trust me...if you are someone who takes care of your stuff...having an HOA is way better than not having one.
its one of those things that you dont appreciate until its gone.
Yep. HOA's are only bad when the people that run them make them bad and when the people that let those run them bad dont' do anything about it.
We didn't have an HOA growing up in our neighborhood. Our neighbor across the street violated several city ordinances when his wife kicked him out of their other house. Apparently she didn't appreciate the fact that the babysitter suddenly turned up pregnant and he was the culprit. Ooops. He and his lovely new bride to be moved into the house across the street, which was a rent house he marginally took care of to begin with. He ran his tree service business out of that house, complete with using the driveway and garage to store things like engine blocks and stump grinders, all of which leaked copious amounts of oil. The yard was relegated to vehicle storage and parking, as was the street in front of his house. It was awesome. So awesome that every single neighbor save for 1 holdout moved within a 5 year period, all of them selling their houses for noticeably less than comparable sales 1/4 mile down the street. All because of this neighbor and his private property rights.
When mom and dad sold the house and moved, they took about a $40k hit on sales price because of him. I know the board is nothing but BMA's, so that probably wouldn't affect anybody here. But it wasn't enjoyable to them.
I have an HOA now, and while they have pissed me off on more than one occasion - given the choice between having an HOA with limited power and who's main purpose is to make sure your neighbor doesn't run a mechanic shop or pig farm out of their home or not having an HOA at all and rolling the dice with the single biggest investment outside of my retirement - I'll complain about the HOA on occasion and contemplate becoming a board member if it gets bad enough all day and twice on Sundays.