brett636
Well-Known Member
As someone who is currently in the market for a new home I have been thinking a lot about where I want to live, and I must be honest every nice home that I see which is located within an HOA subdivision I can't help but feel repelled by the very idea that I could own a home under such conditions. Not that there aren't good HOA's or data to suggest they are good(this I have not researched personally, but there has to be some reason why so many new houses are under HOAs), but I feel that under an HOA you are just one busy body meddler away from getting all sorts of nasty threats in your mailbox on "violations" ranging from the condition of your yard to where you choose to park your car at night. To put it another way if I found two houses that I would consider buying, and both were equal in the qualities that I am looking for except one is located within an HOA and one is not I would go for the non-HOA house everytime. I have seen listings where the non-HOA status of the house is listed as a redeeming quality of the home, and I can't help but wonder do HOA's really do any good? Sure they claim to keep home values up, but as someone who is in the market for a house I am inclined to pay less for an HOA covered house versus one that isn't which in my opinion lowers the values of those homes. I would like to hear other thoughts on this. Do you live in an HOA neighborhood, and if so do you love it or hate it? If you were looking for a new home would an HOA have any impact on your purchase decision? Why would someone feel it necessary to have yet another authority to answer to beyond the existing local, state, and federal governments? Lets hear those opinions.