Is your HOA worth the money that you pay every month?

Do you think HOA worth the money you spent every month at your community?

  • Yes

    Votes: 5 14.3%

  • No

    Votes: 23 65.7%

  • Sometimes.

    Votes: 7 20.0%
  • Total voters
    35
I

irvinebullhousing

Well-known member
By all mean, this is no small amount of money. What is the pro's and con's of having an HOA at your community and do you think they are doing a decent job for the residents where you are at?
 
It's never worth the money  :p

The concept essentially is to keep neighborhoods looking clean and in unison.  They set restrictions on everything...how long you can keep your trash can out, how tall your tree can be, if you can park your car somewhere and give warnings and fines if you are outside the rules...it works if you have neighbors who don't follow rules but most people do anyways

My parent's home is in Northwood, built in the 1970s, before HOA's and MR existed so it's up to the homeowners to keep the image up and they do a great job.  So I don't think HOA's are needed...but don't worry we'll keep paying them for the next 100 years  >:D
 
At least there's transparency in HOA (if you care to read the reports).  Try to do that with MR.
 
Haha  Already got letters from the HOA about trashes being out too long, newspaper needing to be off the driveway within days, and I have shouldn't park on the street if there is space in my garage or driveway to park cars. 
 
It totally depends on what you get for your money and how it's managed. One of the questions I get asked the most frequently by potential buyers in the community I work for is: "Why are the HOA dues so high?" They literally ask me this while we're standing inside the marble foyer of a very large clubhouse full of amenities. Yes, the dues are high enough to give me a nosebleed. But that's the lifestyle these homeowners choose. I do agree, however, for those who don't take advantage of all that their money gets them, there are better options in other communities that make more sense financially.
 
People tend to think that it prevents neighbors from painting their house a bright yellow or parking a junker on the front lawn.  Most cities actually have exterior paint color ordinances and prohibit 8-12in tall weeds.  HOA is only valuable if it offers another service other than enforcing bylaws such as security in a high crime area or a community pool. 
 
Aside from the amenities, it also helps enforcing the look and feel of a community (property value).

Instead of having 8 months to submit, 12 months to finish, you'd have many houses with dirt lots for the longest time...
 
I think if  it's around $100 or so.. good amount to keep the streets clean and the neighborhood looking nice.  Unfortunately I've lived in some communities with some high HOAs... ie Summerplace in West Irvine!!!
 
I am not a bit surprise at the poll results with the majority of the votes are dissatisfied with HOA and their hefty fees and ever increasing.

I lived and owned in both HOA neighborhood and NON HOA neighborhood within Irvine. HOA community has ballooned in size over the last 40 plus years from 10,000 to more than 320,000 today. That is a staggering number, yet most of these homeowners are unhappy while paying an increased amount of dues years after years.

It is not true that only HOA community will have streets clean and bushes cleared. In West Irvine, lucky for those who bought into a small pocket of NON HOA neighborhood, it is a great place. Street and parks are well maintained by the City of Irvine. It is well kept neighborhood, as well as Northwood as other member posted earlier. There is a few and far neighborhood in Irvine that has NON HOA. Take a look at the coastal community in OC where there isn't any HOA, a few example would be Laguna beach, Newport beach, Newport Heights, corona del mar to name a  few examples and do you think that those homes are neglected and the streets are not well kept?

What I find disturbing about HOA is that not only residents are overwhelmingly dissatisfy with the HOA, HOA operate on a dictionary thick equivalent guidelines that lack of freedom for owners to improve on the aesthetics of their home. There is a huge difference between gaudy bad taste and an improvement to the home that bring appeals to the overall architecture styles of the home. The exorbitant fees spent is not at the community where the residents paying for, it is big fees for the administrators, and big fat fees for attorney that raise the cost of HOA. When was the last time that HOA did something for your neighborhood that is really worth the money you pay. Another negative aspect of HOA is that there is rules, but in many cases HOA carries their authority and power too far and it seem as though even when we paid our mortgage and owned our home, the decisions of how the improvements, is not done by owners. And to slap additional fines when they think is fit is an outraged. Rules and regulation is good, however, the power of governing is sometimes leads to abuse if homeowners are not voicing their concerns and rights.


 
As long as one thinks that the home value goes up more than the total HOA yearly fee.  My current place is old part of Irvine and HOA is only $50.  So if the house value goes up by $600 (because of maintaining association and provide park/pool), it may be very worth it.

New neighborhood and gated community with $300 ~ $500 ($4k to 6k per year) may be a wash or not so worthwhile but you don't have any choices if you buy or live in a particular neighborhood, right?  I never heard the residents made HOA to go down or got rid of it.
 
Compressed-Village said:
I am not a bit surprise at the poll results with the majority of the votes are dissatisfied with HOA and their hefty fees and ever increasing.

I lived and owned in both HOA neighborhood and NON HOA neighborhood within Irvine. HOA community has ballooned in size over the last 40 plus years from 10,000 to more than 320,000 today. That is a staggering number, yet most of these homeowners are unhappy while paying an increased amount of dues years after years.

It is not true that only HOA community will have streets clean and bushes cleared. In West Irvine, lucky for those who bought into a small pocket of NON HOA neighborhood, it is a great place. Street and parks are well maintained by the City of Irvine. It is well kept neighborhood, as well as Northwood as other member posted earlier. There is a few and far neighborhood in Irvine that has NON HOA. Take a look at the coastal community in OC where there isn't any HOA, a few example would be Laguna beach, Newport beach, Newport Heights, corona del mar to name a  few examples and do you think that those homes are neglected and the streets are not well kept?

What I find disturbing about HOA is that not only residents are overwhelmingly dissatisfy with the HOA, HOA operate on a dictionary thick equivalent guidelines that lack of freedom for owners to improve on the aesthetics of their home. There is a huge difference between gaudy bad taste and an improvement to the home that bring appeals to the overall architecture styles of the home. The exorbitant fees spent is not at the community where the residents paying for, it is big fees for the administrators, and big fat fees for attorney that raise the cost of HOA. When was the last time that HOA did something for your neighborhood that is really worth the money you pay. Another negative aspect of HOA is that there is rules, but in many cases HOA carries their authority and power too far and it seem as though even when we paid our mortgage and owned our home, the decisions of how the improvements, is not done by owners. And to slap additional fines when they think is fit is an outraged. Rules and regulation is good, however, the power of governing is sometimes leads to abuse if homeowners are not voicing their concerns and rights.
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I came from West Irvine.  They non HOA places are fine.  The HOA areas are nicer with more trees.  The area off Robinson is great with a small HOA fee of $55 or something.  Unfortunately I was in the pocket of one wall attached units and our HOA there sucked!
 
I know exactly the plan and the location of Summerplace in West Irvine.

I do agree with you that if HOA in the low 100.00 that it seem like a good values. Unfortunately, we have no control of the increase, or DO WE? Often when I go out dinning, if services by hostess or waiter/waitress great, I often feel compel to give more because they shows the attentive and good services. On the other hand if HOA does little or lack of providing residents with services, they can continue to collect and increase. Some may offer reasons and explanations. Most don't. Where is the services in that.

The city of Irvine conveniently pass on the duty of up keeping streets and parks to the HOA and in many HOA they uses Park West. They do seem to overwhelm with the amount of works. I can count 3 times the number of times they comes around my area to clean up the HOA responsible common area in front of my house. Where is the service in that. I on the other hand paid $30 dollars a month twice a month for my gardeners. There is a huge disparity in services and the amount of money that is paid to HOA.

The point here HOA suppose to serve the community, some power hungry HOA turn it into a witch hunts to prove their existence. It is not about how to dismantle an HOA, it is more about getting your money spent wisely and serve the residents.
 
Compressed-Village said:
I know exactly the plan and the location of Summerplace in West Irvine.

I do agree with you that if HOA in the low 100.00 that it seem like a good values. Unfortunately, we have no control of the increase, or DO WE? Often when I go out dinning, if services by hostess or waiter/waitress I often feel compel to give me because they shows the attentive and good services. On the other hand if HOA does little or lack of providing residents with services, they can continue to collect and increase. Some may offer reasons and explanations. Most don't. Where is the services in that.

The city of Irvine conveniently pass on the duty of up keeping streets and parks to the HOA and in many HOA they uses Park West. They do seem to overwhelm with the amount of works. I can count 3 times the number of times they comes around my area to clean up the HOA responsible common area in front of my house. Where is the service in that. I on the other hand paid $30 dollars a month twice a month for my gardeners. There is a huge disparity in services and the amount of money that is paid to HOA.

The point here HOA suppose to serve the community, some power hungry HOA turn it into a witch hunts to prove their existence. It is not about how to dismantle an HOA, it is more about getting your money spent wisely and serve the residents.
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I think it gets out of control when you have that crazy HOA person who has nothing better to do with their lives.  That's why the neighborhood has to come together to make sure they don't get on the board. 
 
Some communities I lived in were worth it.

Back when I lived in Woodbridge, HOA was less than $50 per month and that included access to all the pools and lakes.

I think I paid $100+ for another community and they just had a single pool for everyone.
 
I think Stonegate is fine too.. $100 or so.. no clubhouse but the area looks  great with pools.  PS is good for the SFR  units.. $135 I think with bunch of parks,pools, etc. 
 
PP is not that great.. they keep fluctuating the monthly because of build out of other communities.. So you have no idea what's coming month to month. 
 
jmoney74 said:
PP is not that great.. they keep fluctuating the monthly because of build out of other communities.. So you have no idea what's coming month to month. 
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Don't worry J$ wait until they build the Spa in BP, it'll all be worth it.  See you there with towels on.
 
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