4 ms·

The reason people like them, I've heard, is they help keep the value of your property high. I prefer doing what I want with my property, so I won't buy a proper

The reason people like them, I've heard, is they help keep the value of your property high. I prefer doing what I want with my property, so I won't buy a property in a HOA. >Americans That's quite a large and diverse demographic to make generalizations with. >Then you invent HOAs to remove those same freedoms, levy fees instead of taxes, provide services that really should be handled by the city, and are more oppressive? I just don't understand. I can live in that same city without an HOA. I can't live in that same city without the high taxation and oppressive government. It's about options, I suspect.

morkalork 3y ago
I don't completely buy the property value argument. Cities like them being high too because it means more tax revenue and they're not afraid of making bylaws to enforce it. So for example, when one gets a building permit to an exterior renovation, the city will calculate the square footage of siding vs brick before and after, with the requirement that the amount of brick doesn't decrease. Because any less lowers the property value.
- Clubber 3y ago
  Not all cities are like that. The one I'm in isn't. There are also laws in many cities where they can't reappraise the tax value of the home without a significant renovation. This is to keep elderly people in their homes who are on a fixed income. It's a lot more complicated than, "tax good," but yes, that's the gist.
plagiarist 3y ago
I don't mind a city fining for unkempt lawns, and I think people who cannot abide by that should find a different city. The benefit of the municipality doing it is that they're more accountable in court and the polls. How does one contest an HOA fine?
- vel0city 3y ago
  How do you think people get on the boards of HOAs? They're elected by HOA members. Who are the members? The people who live in the HOA. The people running the HOA almost always are accountable by polls, even more local polls than municipal elections.
  - plagiarist 3y ago
    What is the process to challenge an HOA fine?
    - vel0city 3y ago
      What's the process to register a car? What's the process to challenge a service contract? How do I reserve a room at the municipal activity center? How do I challenge a water bill? It probably varies from places to place, doesn't it? You'd have to check the bylaws of a given HOA. There's probably some address you're supposed to write a letter to explaining the challenge, then it gets reviewed, etc. Eventually courts could get involved. But I doubt one could give a specific set of steps that applies to every HOA.
      - plagiarist 3y ago
        Seems like you need to bring up several unrelated issues to pretend you have a point. The HOA is a contract which may include binding arbitration. You might not be able to bring it to court or appeal.
        vel0city 3y ago
        I bring up all those other things because there isn't a single "well you just do x dummy!" answer to any of those in the same way there's no single answer to how do you challenge an HOA fine. Maybe there's binding arbitration. Maybe there isnt. You'd have to look it up, you can't say that's the process every time. And hey, you can lobby your neighbors to change it, it's not set in stone. Just like if your city has some dumb ordinance nobody likes. There wasn't any binding arbitration clause in any HOA bylaws for any house I was looking at buying, so suggesting that's some standard thing doesn't seem accurate to me. I've got a super basic question. I'm sure you can give an exact answer to. What time does the restaurant close?
isk517 3y ago
>The reason people like them, I've heard, is they help keep the value of your property high. I'm starting to feel like treating homes like a investment that will continue to accumulate value instead of a place to live that everyone requires is starting to backfire.
- kube-system 3y ago
  That's unfortunately not a choice that can be made either way. If something has demand, can be bought and sold, and has value, there is inherently an economic market for it.
Eddy_Viscosity2 3y ago
The irony I see is that in order to keep property values high, you need people to want to buy them. Since pretty much everyone I've ever met and everyone on the comment thread hate HOAs, then people are buying these house despite they're being in an HOA and not because of it. It would seem non-HOA houses would be MORE valuable because they lack something most buyers hate.

morkalork 3y ago

I don't completely buy the property value argument. Cities like them being high too because it means more tax revenue and they're not afraid of making bylaws to enforce it. So for example, when one gets a building permit to an exterior renovation, the city will calculate the square footage of siding vs brick before and after, with the requirement that the amount of brick doesn't decrease. Because any less lowers the property value.

Clubber 3y ago
Not all cities are like that. The one I'm in isn't. There are also laws in many cities where they can't reappraise the tax value of the home without a significant renovation. This is to keep elderly people in their homes who are on a fixed income. It's a lot more complicated than, "tax good," but yes, that's the gist.

plagiarist 3y ago

I don't mind a city fining for unkempt lawns, and I think people who cannot abide by that should find a different city. The benefit of the municipality doing it is that they're more accountable in court and the polls. How does one contest an HOA fine?

vel0city 3y ago
How do you think people get on the boards of HOAs? They're elected by HOA members. Who are the members? The people who live in the HOA. The people running the HOA almost always are accountable by polls, even more local polls than municipal elections.
- plagiarist 3y ago
  What is the process to challenge an HOA fine?
  - vel0city 3y ago
    What's the process to register a car? What's the process to challenge a service contract? How do I reserve a room at the municipal activity center? How do I challenge a water bill? It probably varies from places to place, doesn't it? You'd have to check the bylaws of a given HOA. There's probably some address you're supposed to write a letter to explaining the challenge, then it gets reviewed, etc. Eventually courts could get involved. But I doubt one could give a specific set of steps that applies to every HOA.
    - plagiarist 3y ago
      Seems like you need to bring up several unrelated issues to pretend you have a point. The HOA is a contract which may include binding arbitration. You might not be able to bring it to court or appeal.
      - vel0city 3y ago
        I bring up all those other things because there isn't a single "well you just do x dummy!" answer to any of those in the same way there's no single answer to how do you challenge an HOA fine. Maybe there's binding arbitration. Maybe there isnt. You'd have to look it up, you can't say that's the process every time. And hey, you can lobby your neighbors to change it, it's not set in stone. Just like if your city has some dumb ordinance nobody likes. There wasn't any binding arbitration clause in any HOA bylaws for any house I was looking at buying, so suggesting that's some standard thing doesn't seem accurate to me. I've got a super basic question. I'm sure you can give an exact answer to. What time does the restaurant close?

isk517 3y ago

>The reason people like them, I've heard, is they help keep the value of your property high. I'm starting to feel like treating homes like a investment that will continue to accumulate value instead of a place to live that everyone requires is starting to backfire.

kube-system 3y ago
That's unfortunately not a choice that can be made either way. If something has demand, can be bought and sold, and has value, there is inherently an economic market for it.

Eddy_Viscosity2 3y ago

The irony I see is that in order to keep property values high, you need people to want to buy them. Since pretty much everyone I've ever met and everyone on the comment thread hate HOAs, then people are buying these house despite they're being in an HOA and not because of it. It would seem non-HOA houses would be MORE valuable because they lack something most buyers hate.