Hellobee Boards

dh wanted to avoid hoa when we were househunting! no HOA here!

Yes we do. We wanted a new build and couldn't find any without HOAs. I hate ours. They are beyond useless. They harass people about things that don't matter AT ALL (omg you have A weed in your yard and your trash can is not exactly where we told you to put it) and they are totally useless on things that do matter (like preventing people from parking on the street when we're getting a ton of snow or keeping our roads plowed). I hate them all.

We do - but we're in a condo townhouse, so it's pretty common. It's a pain when there's something wrong with a common element — we can't do anything about it, but they drag their feet and hem and haw about whether it's up to us to pay for it or whether it falls to them (e.g., our front door has a rust spot starting from the outside, but coming through to the inside, and they're saying we are responsible for the inside, but we can't do anything because the outside of the door is common. Yeesh.)

And, I can't put up a wreath on the door. I don't know why that bothers me so much, but it does.

We have a condo board (I was on it for awhile) and it made me lose what little faith I had in community life haha. I absolutely hate it.

We do not but my mother does and it's obnoxious. They are so picky about how/where you park (in your own yard), what you do to your yard, trash, etc. The positives for her are not having to plow/shovel, or do the exterior maintenance of the home, but I wouldn't be able to do it.

No b/c in our area HOA = townhouses and we want a detached house. My parents however live in a townhouse w/ HOA and they love it b/c although they pay a fee, they no longer have to worry about mowing the lawn, shoveling snow and fixing this & that on their own property! I def would do that when we're too old to upkeep a house and land!

Yes, we have to pay $50/year for maintenance and social activities (one in summer for families, one in winter for adults).

Ours isn't that restrictive, the only one that mattered to us is that fences are not allowed and we have dogs. There were also requirements on building materials/finished on the exterior of the house and they made us add another window on the side of our house.

I like ours. We have two nice playground sets in the middle of the park in the middle of the neighborhood. The social events are great too. It's also nice to have a place to go if we ever have an issue with a neighbor or something.

I do have one, but most areas around me do since they're mostly developments.

I don't mind ours. It pays for trash and snow removal (which we've needed this year!) and the landscaping for common areas.

I also like that it keeps my neighbors from painting their houses in really wild colors or whatever.

Yes we do, but ours isn't obnoxious. It keeps people from leaving toys all over their yard, used cars for sale, trash out for days, etc. Subdivisions without HOAs just look junkier overall. The subdivision next to ours has a pool and playground, and we can use their playground, which is fantastic. It's a couple blocks away!

We don't, but we still have neighborhood rules to abide by. We get fined for grass getting too high, cars being parked outside of designated areas, yard trash (limbs,etc) not being cut to a certain length when by the curb. Our taxes are pretty high, though. I think that makes up for the HOA.

My town is older and there are few developments, so the majority of homes do not have HOAs.

yup. But we live in a condo building so it's inavoidable. We also have an email listserv full of hilarity, so it almost makes paying the fees worth it.

There was the lady who took a picture of trash in the hallway and emailed it to everyone demanding to know the perpetrator.

Another man sent out a long diatribe saying he claimed a coffee table from the trash room (someone else was throwing it out), and put a sticky note with his name, but then someone ELSE took it (Um...maybe the trash people?) He was so steamed, he sent out an accusatory email to all, daring the person to step forward and "return his rightful property". Um, no...I'm pretty sure with trash, it's finders-keepers, not finders-sticky note-keepers.

And the HOA board members "updated" our lobby with new paint, and a new console table and mirror and people lost their SHIZ because every disagreed with what type of console table and mirror should be in the lobby (although the one thing everyone could agree on was that they hated the table and mirror that the HOA board chose).

There were so many "reply all" comments demanding to know which decorator was hired for the job, and then the hapless single-guy HOA president who admitted he just picked it out himself. I don't think he knew what he was getting into when he made that console-mirror decision.

And don't even get me started on the reports of nanny and dogwalker "wrongdoings" that again, are emailed out to us all.

Entertainment for days.

Yes - both for the condo we own and our home. I like having the HOA; neither is obnoxious, but the rules ensure that people's homes and yards are kept up with and clean, etc.

Yes, the fees go towards the street lights and plowing the road. It's pretty relaxed.

Yes. I don't mind them too much because {as someone commented} they help keep the "bad neighbors" from in check.

Yes, and they are so freaking irritating. It's mostly a bunch of older retired ppl here with nothing better to do than measure each blade of grass to make sure it's the proper length. So. Annoying. I totally agree with enforcing rules about tidiness, trash cans, Etc but sometimes they just take it too far

@lilyann: same! we do and it definitely keeps the neighborhood looking nice. ours is interesting because it's NOT a new build community. there is a really nice clubhouse with a gym, pools, tennis courts, and lake that we can use too!

also, they don't seem nitpicky here about stuff (we only moved in Dec.)

No we don't. They are pretty uncommon here unless it is a condo. I think I would have a hard time with one. Our in laws have one and have gotten some of the nasty letters before. I'm shocked because they are very diligent about keeping their yard nice.

Yes but ours is super lax so it's all good.

Our current home - no. I loved not having an HOA and someone telling me yay or nay on something.

Our new home - yes. It's expensive and doesn't cover anything either. WTF?! No common area/club house, no park, no pool. Nothing.

Older neighborhoods don't have HOAs, but nicer/newer neighborhoods do.