Current Events > According to this reddit post, HOAs are being normalized.

(+) Yeah! (+)

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I dont know where you live but I vaguely remember it being Texas so heres the Austin page that describes how basically everything you described needing HOAs for as illegal and provides both a form to submit and a number to call to have it enforced. My much smaller city has a similar page, as I imagine most do

https://www.austintexas.gov/department/common-austin-code-violations

HOAs are just an extra entity that enforce these laws in their own way and create an extra barrier and cost to home ownership, in addition to wielding their power to prevent affordable housing from being built

if you have a problem with underfunded divisions in your city not enforcing the ordinances they should be enforcing, imo a private entity is not the solution

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Other than the few that are talking in extremes, I dont think anyone is saying otherwise.

Its like HOAs are the new pit bulls of CE.

bigblu89 posted...

Other than the few that are talking in extremes, I dont think anyone is saying otherwise.

Its like HOAs are the new pit bulls of CE.

To be fair anything housing related is currently an enormous issue. Things that go against affordable housing on the average generally get people heated these days on both sides.

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Not saying you're wrong, but in my experience this is primarily an American city planning thing. Here in Europe it's common to see all sorts of businesses in residential areas. There's roads where pretty much everything is mixed with ground floor commercial units and upper floor apartments, but even in the mostly residential areas you'll find the odd corner shop and even the odd arcade of small shops. These are usually smaller businesses, but there's a surprisingly large variety of uses and it's great for the neighbourhood.

Of course, this is still regulated.

HOA's are a foreign concept in my area because property taxes pay for pretty much everything (as they should). That said, property taxes are rather high compared to most places. For example, a $250K house would have $7K/year in property taxes. But, again, no HOAs because the town takes care of all that.

The nearby city doesn't get involved at all.

Asherlee10 posted...

Would you want to hear power tools all day 10 feet from your living room windows?

we're all getting the power tool treatment.

Euripides posted...

Most people in the "you can't tell me what to do to my house!!!!" crowd don't actually want to do anything to their house, they just want to be able to leave tires in the front yard, fill the lawn with Trump 2024 signs, and not weed their garden

What if the head of the HOA is a Trump supporter that doesn't want a homeowner to put up a pride flag?

GeneSnitsky posted...

What if the head of the HOA is a Trump supporter that doesn't want a homeowner to put up a pride flag?

Tough shit. the HOA's have rules, the president of the HOA can't just arbitrarily make shit up

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

But like, when he does, he has to stop in his own, right?

We tell him no barking and he usually changes to huffing instead.

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...that's what laws and bylaws are for.

(although the US and Canada do need more mixed-use neighborhoods but in a controlled manner of course)

I remember seeing a reddit post with someone who was tearing down their garage and rebuilding, but their neighbours got angry at them saying they were bringing down the value of their properties and reddit was calling the poster an asshole.

HOAs should be illegal.

My HOA is great.

They don't do anything to me at all when I park in front of my neighbor's garage and essentially trap them in their own home. The neighbor has written me notes and explained to me in person that they are wheelchair bound and require some space between my car/the garage to get out of their own home. I'm pretty awful, so idgaf though.

For awhile the neighbor put a traffic barrel in the way to force me to leave some room. The HOA was kind enough to remove it and allow me to continue being a huge jerk. Definitely worth the dues.

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Oh certainly not in America. I think it's a failure of urban planning, but it's also the norm for most US residential areas to be solely residential.

Asherlee10 posted...

Both scenarios include privatized entities, but are regulated through the government. I have lived in places that do not have an HOA and code enforcement practically non-existent for residential areas. They focus on commercial areas. It was a nightmare. I will never live in a place like that again.

If we had a history of code enforcement actually setting up by ordinances and applying them regularly, we wouldn't need HOAs. But that isn't the reality.

Code ordinance is fucking stupid. There's a law that people can't park on the street here at all.

Euripides posted...

HOA's do not own your house

https://news4sanantonio.com/news/trouble-shooters/service-member-facing-eviction-and-foreclosure-over-2500-in-hoa-fees

LightningAce11 posted...

I remember seeing a reddit post with someone who was tearing down their garage and rebuilding, but their neighbours got angry at them saying they were bringing down the value of their properties and reddit was calling the poster an asshole.

I don't believe this one.

Revelation34 posted...

https://news4sanantonio.com/news/trouble-shooters/service-member-facing-eviction-and-foreclosure-over-2500-in-hoa-fees

That doesn't disprove what I said.

I repeat: HOA's don't own your house

Euripides posted...

That doesn't disprove what I said.

I repeat: HOA's don't <u>own</u> your house

That news article literally disproved you.

Asherlee10 posted...

This was discussed previously in the topic.

Ordinances are almost always about safety and precautions. When code enforcement does not actually enforce those ordinances (which many are used in HOAs), then it becomes a problem. Everywhere I've lived has had that problem which is why I won't live in an non-HOA neighborhood again.

It's dangerous to park on the street because it makes it unsafe to drive and it's hard for drivers to see people or animals crossing the road.

If they didn't want anybody parking there then they should have painted the curb red.

Revelation34 posted...

There's a law that people can't park on the street here at all.

On like residential streets? That's kinda weird.

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In most HOAs I know of you have that lien on your property regardless of debt. It's basically insurance for them that you follow the rules, or you lose your house.

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The legal action is typically part of purchasing the property and the contract therein to actually buy the house in the HOA.

Source being my grandparents who purchased a house with no mortgage in an HOA and still had one.

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To put it more accurately: They literally would not sell my grandparents the house outright. They had to agree to a debt(don't remember the amount precisely, think it was 10%?) so the HOA would allow them to live there. Otherwise they were just not going to sell.

Mind it never caused them problems but it's still an incredibly shit tier thing to do.

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I'm not even going to attempt to put the correct legal terms into this discussion since that's not my area of expertise.

But what the other user is getting at is when you are closing on a home in many HOA controlled areas, part of the closing legal documents include you signing a legal document that allows the HOA to out a lien on your home if you don't pay the HOA dues.

So I think the disconnect in this conversation is that, but I think both of you are essentially in agreement.

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The clown who bought the house in the front of my neightborhood is the perfect example.

He bought a weirdly shaped lot and because it has almost no parking, blocks the entrance to the neightborhood with three gigantic pickups.

His driveway is empty at all times.

Even if an HOA followed through on a lien against a property, the HOA doesn't "own" the house if the homeowner loses it.

Euripides posted...

Even if an HOA followed through on a lien against a property, the HOA doesn't "own" the house if the homeowner loses it.

I suppose it depends on the amount of the lien but yeah a lien is collateral. They kind of do own it in the extreme case where they ran up a huge bill and then enacted the terms of the lien.

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You don't need an HOA for that. Zoning and anti-nuisance laws already prohibit that shit (though the cars shit is rarely enforced, sadly)

divot1338 posted...

I suppose it depends on the amount of the lien but yeah a lien is collateral. They kind of do own it in the extreme case where they ran up a huge bill and then enacted the terms of the lien.

What would they own, the mortgage? If a home owner owes the bank $400,000 on the house but loses it via lien, do you think the HOA is just going to own that mortgage and keep paying it?

Euripides posted...

What would they own, the mortgage? If a home owner owes the bank $400,000 on the house but loses it via lien, do you think the HOA is just going to own that mortgage and keep paying it?

Not sure how whatever the HOA would use would work, but a simplified (and as a disclaimer to be safe, likely not wholly accurate) way of how a mechanics lien works in such a case is: Mortgage is still in effect, the lien stays attached to the title until it is paid(usually by either title insurance if ownership is transferred), or factored in to the next sale price. Mechanics liens are involuntary unlike mortgages though, as said, not entirely sure what kind a HOA would use.

Edit: A cursory Google, looks like most of them are literally an agreement that the HOA can sell your house if violate rules/don't pay dues. Would wager unless it's pretty severe this isn't particularly common though. Still find it relatively fucking weird though.