Originally Posted by juniorbean

Well, there are pluses and minuses of each. When we lived in our townhouse in NY there was an association, and it was expensive... like $230/mo. But, we got almost everything done for us. Lawn was mowed/edged/blown, outsides were powerwashed once a year, irrigation was winterized, in the winter our driveways and walkways were shoveled, plus all of the grounds were maintained (check out the community on my site... www.juniorbean.net and check out the Past Homes section). Additionally the clubhouse was huge, had a full olympic sized pool, kids pool, and playground. Inside the clubhouse was a full gym with trainers, locker rooms with saunas, 60" TV with surround sound, DVD player and cable box (they had a movie every Friday, plus you could use it when it was available), indoor basketball court, and section with a full kitchen that you could rent out for parties and such. They had no control over what we did inside the house since we owned the inside, and even on the outside they weren't bad. It kept people from putting up anything obnoxious and kept everything looking nice nice. But, since it was a townhouse community and everything needed to look the same, there were restrictions on what you could do outside (like no flags, only a certain storm door could be installed, etc).

That said, I wasn't a huge fan of the HOA. When we moved to NC, our community has an HOA, but it's mainly for architectural review... which is nice. For example, we needed to submit the plans for our pool, but the approval process took one day and was no big deal. But we maintain everything on the house ourself.. lawns, landscaping, everything... as if there was no association at all. I like this association b/c it prevents people from putting up ugly fences and stuff like that. We pay $425/year which is pretty much for the landscaping of the entrance, around the pond and around the pool... plus the maintenence and operation of the community pool itself. I love this association b/c it's completely hands-off, but at the same time they keep the community looking very nice.

So really, what I am trying to get at is that it depends on the HOA

Originally Posted by mamboking

That's more like the quintessential HOA that I am used to. But an HOA that tells you that you can put hardwood floors on your own house/condo? fuck them. I mean, I would have checked the covenant/rules even before buying the house/condo.

Originally Posted by mt6forlife

I own a house w/o an association. Even if there were an association, they sure wouldn't be mowing my lawn. But you can bet they'd be threatening me if my grass was 1/2" too long.

The city has rules against parking RVs on residential streets. I'm not sure it its an outright ban or if it falls under the 72 hour rule that applies to cars.

I'd rather put up with a pink house on my street than a bunch of nazis looking in my windows trying to determine if my blinds are the approved shade of beige.

Originally Posted by mt6forlife

I'd rather put up with a pink house on my street than a bunch of nazis looking in my windows trying to determine if my blinds are the approved shade of beige.

Originally Posted by doopstr

HOAs become a real problem once the community starts to age. If you decide to buy into a townhouse that is around 15 years old, watch out. By the time its 20 your HOA will be up 50-75%.

Originally Posted by Lord Helmet

That's not the first time I've heard that either. Not only will it go up but they'll do less I've heard... And seen...