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Location: Lakewood NJ/Murrells Inlet SC/ N. Naples FL/Swainton NJ
4,026 posts, read 6,540,797 times
Reputation: 3531
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Now I know many of you "would not live in an HOA community", so please spare me the "I told you so". It works for us for a variety of reasons.....
We have a townhouse in Park West, Murrells Inlet. It is not gated and has no on-site maintanence staff. Our HOA covers the usual: common areas, outside insurance, the pool, landscaping, basic cable, water & sewer. There is no club house or other facilities other then the pool area. The HOA fees have remained the same since we purchased 3.5 years ago. Now they are going up 12% to $986.26 per quarter. We are very unhappy with the increase.
If you live in an HOA community in a condo or townhome, how does both the amount and the frequency of increases compare?
I used to be the treasurer for the townhouse community where I lived, for about 4 years or so. It was a much smaller development and older as well. When I took over as treasurer, I was sure I would be able to reduce monthly dues ($85) but was shocked when I discovered how expensive the insurance policies are, and what we paid a landscaper. The dues did not cover cable, water or sewer but covered everything else you mentioned. I'm sure you have regular pool maintenance, ours was covered by a licensed pool operator who also happened to live there. We paid him much less than your HOA pays an outside company. Have you looked at the books? You have the right to do so, and question expenditures. It is much higher than what we paid but you are getting much more than we did. The monthly dues where I lived were $70 a month for years, they had just increased a year before we bought there. HTH.
Now I know many of you "would not live in an HOA community", so please spare me the "I told you so". It works for us for a variety of reasons.....
We have a townhouse in Park West, Murrells Inlet. It is not gated and has no on-site maintanence staff. Our HOA covers the usual: common areas, outside insurance, the pool, landscaping, basic cable, water & sewer. There is no club house or other facilities other then the pool area. The HOA fees have remained the same since we purchased 3.5 years ago. Now they are going up 12% to $986.26 per quarter. We are very unhappy with the increase.
If you live in an HOA community in a condo or townhome, how does both the amount and the frequency of increases compare?
This is exactly why I am totally AGAINST HOAs, it's just another way to rip people off. These small little fees they push at first seem okay, however people don't realize that can change at any given day to anything they want it to be. If I was you i'd prepare for future raises, I guarantee in another 3-6 years it will go up even more. I have no experience with them, but opted out of a townhouse after doing some home work on them, and hearing about all the 1,000s of dollars people have had to pay at the drop of a hat, because there simply just wasn't enough money to do whatever they wanted to do. I'm hoping when my husband and I are closer to our move date we can find a home WITHOUT HOAs because I refuse to be part of that rip off. The more I hear about HOAs the more I see what a rip off it is. We don't really have anything like that here in the state in which I live. My husband and I had never heard of such a thing before SC. My husbands father even bought and paid to have his own rather large home built, and he don't pay any HOA fee. No one of my families side pays HOAs either.I don't really have any advice to you on your problem, hate I can't be of help to you. However for anyone reading this, considering a home or townhouse with HOA fees, do your homework first! I know I am glad my husband and I researched before we bought. You know they make these fees seem so cheap when you are buying but it's funny how those cheap fees, turn into very expensive fees.
It's not a rip-off at all, it's just a different living situation that works for many people. You do realize that these fees cover some things you will be paying for no matter where you live? I don't care where you live, you still need to pay basic cable, insurance, and water and sewer fees. And you say you guarantee that the fees will increase in 3-6 years? Well,of course they will!! Don't you expect that your water and sewer bill, your cable and insurance bills, ALL your bills will increase in the next 3-6 years? An HOA needs to have a certain amount of reserve funds to pay for things as well. ANd if anyone is considering buying property (townhouse, condo, house) that does have HOA fees associated with it, they can find out what the fees are beforehand and how long they have been in effect for. You make it sound like a property owner will get slammed with "secret" HOA fees once they buy. It's not exactly "bait and switch" at the car dealership, it really doesn't work like that. And they don't change to what an HOA board wants it to be at any given day. If there have been large increases in insurance bills, pool maintenance, etc., sometimes the dues need to be increased a bit to cover an unplanned expense. It's not really all that different from a homeowner prudently setting aside a little extra money for increases in bills they pay themselves. Increases are usually voted on at an annual homeowners' meeting. HOA boards are elected by the homeowners' themselves, they pay dues too. It's not like it's some secret, backroom meeting with a bunch of thugs trying to rip people off. The board members have to pay the same amount as everyone else, they want to keep dues as low as possible. They also will intervene when you are trying to keep your property well-maintained and your neighbor wants to have a car on blocks in the driveway all summer. It works for many people who do not want to do their own yard work, who want access to a pool without the headache of upkeep, and for many other reasons. It may not be what you want, but it's not a "rip-off".
The HOA in our single family home development at $54 per month/$162 per quarter in Lafayette Park (Little River) covers trash pick up, common area landscaping, burm landscaping between yards, pool and tennis court maintenance. We have to pay our own cable. I am happy to pay these minimal fees for the lifestyle we want. I am guessing that perhaps the development TMOZER is in does not have as many sold units in order to better spread the costs. We also own a vacation condo nearby on a golf course and that monthly fee is about $250 per month, including cable-still a bit less than TMOZER is being billed. As Chilibeaney has stated, these fees are not a rip off, just the cost of having the Association handle items that are being done for the common good.
Location: Lakewood NJ/Murrells Inlet SC/ N. Naples FL/Swainton NJ
4,026 posts, read 6,540,797 times
Reputation: 3531
Two items, I was told, went into the increase: Problems blamed on the builder (Beazer) that were to be paid by the builder but, apparently, are not going to be builder funded. And empty forclosed unit that are not contributing their HOA fees. While understandable, I am mainly upset that there was no other option but to raise the rate 12%. I would rather opt out of things like power washing and dryer vent cleaning and, perhaps, some of the landscaping services then have an increase. At least an increase that large.....
As far as the "builder problems" go, they are with the original units. There is nothing wrong with our unit and the surrounding property. I don't feel that we should have to pay for other owners problems. They should have known the situation when they purchased. We paid for an inspection before we closed and knew exactly what we were getting.....
Has the board put a lien on the foreclosed property? If so, whomever purchases it will have to pay the back HOA fees at closing. But only from the day the lien is put in place, so the sooner they do it, the better. Don't you guys vote on board proposed increases? Seems like if enough homeowners are willing for forgo having your dryer vents cleaned and extra services, you should be able to vote down such a large increase. The Beazer thing sounds kinda fishy. I agree, it doesn't seem like you should be responsible for other owners problems. How many units in total at Park West?
It's not a rip-off at all, it's just a different living situation that works for many people. You do realize that these fees cover some things you will be paying for no matter where you live? I don't care where you live, you still need to pay basic cable, insurance, and water and sewer fees. And you say you guarantee that the fees will increase in 3-6 years? Well,of course they will!! Don't you expect that your water and sewer bill, your cable and insurance bills, ALL your bills will increase in the next 3-6 years? An HOA needs to have a certain amount of reserve funds to pay for things as well. ANd if anyone is considering buying property (townhouse, condo, house) that does have HOA fees associated with it, they can find out what the fees are beforehand and how long they have been in effect for. You make it sound like a property owner will get slammed with "secret" HOA fees once they buy. It's not exactly "bait and switch" at the car dealership, it really doesn't work like that. And they don't change to what an HOA board wants it to be at any given day. If there have been large increases in insurance bills, pool maintenance, etc., sometimes the dues need to be increased a bit to cover an unplanned expense. It's not really all that different from a homeowner prudently setting aside a little extra money for increases in bills they pay themselves. Increases are usually voted on at an annual homeowners' meeting. HOA boards are elected by the homeowners' themselves, they pay dues too. It's not like it's some secret, backroom meeting with a bunch of thugs trying to rip people off. The board members have to pay the same amount as everyone else, they want to keep dues as low as possible. They also will intervene when you are trying to keep your property well-maintained and your neighbor wants to have a car on blocks in the driveway all summer. It works for many people who do not want to do their own yard work, who want access to a pool without the headache of upkeep, and for many other reasons. It may not be what you want, but it's not a "rip-off".
It is a rip off you are made pay for things you shouldn't have to pay for. What is I choose not to have cable TV in my home, what if I want to part of the pool. I'd rather be responsible for my own property and others be responsible for what they bought. i don't like the idea that other people have to take care of my home and bills for me. I want to pay my insurance, or others bills on my own. If something is wrong I prefer to fix it with MY money, not money someone else put into a fund to "take care" of other peoples homes for them and I for sure HATE the idea of paying for other peoples bills. If I want to cut my lawn I'll decide when and I'll put my husband out there to cut grass, we are not too good to be able to take care of our own home. It's a total rip off, I do not like the idea of taking care of others peoples property. They paid for it, they take care of it. I can see a small fee for roads and pools but a SMALL fee not a $300.00 monthly fee after all how many times do they need to pave a road, not yearly that is for sure and how much is pool chlorine I guarantee it don't cost as much as that. When my husband and I moved where we currently lived I paid a one time $95 amenity fee, I don't have to pay them monthly to take care of things and it still gets handled. The pool gets taken care of along with the roads and landscaping. I was raised to take care of my own things, not have a group take care of each other. I just don't approve of it, I think it's a rip off and totally awful that everyone has to be responsible for everyone else. I was lead to believe that for example if someones roof gets damaged or if someone needs new siding and there isn't enough in the fund to pay for it you can be hit up for several 1,000 at a time...whatever it takes to fix whatever problem someone somewhere has. I'm sorry but i'm not a money tree and I flat out refuse to give someone 1,000 just because they say so because someone somewhere needs something...this aint walfare, go get it on your own. I've heard one too many HOA horror stories to know better then to get involved in that joke. I also refuse to pay a HOA that was once a low $25.00 fee then it tuns into a $300.00 a month fee or even higher....rip off. I can see a 2-3 dollar raise every five years or so due to inflation ...but some of the figures I have seen are just way off the mark. I'll never get hooked into a HOA fee, I flat out refuse. I've got better things to spend my money on, like MY home, not someone elses! If you enjoy throwing money away and you have it to burn, by all means have at it. However I choose to make smarter choices with my money, not just throw it away at the drop of the hat.
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