Edit just to clear up: I don’t have a positive or negative opinion on HOAs. I know next to nothing about them. They’ve just been mentioned to me a few times by family members recently and I asked about aspect I didn’t understand
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The HOA doesn’t want there to be an opt out, so they don’t offer one.
Part of the promise of the HOA is that you’ll get to live in a neighborhood where everyoen maintains their yard and whatnot to certain agreed upon standards. If people are allowed to opt out, that doens’t really work.
Also, if the HOA needs to collect dues for communal goods such as building paths, it isn’t very fair to be able to opt out of paying the cost but still benefit from the work.
For the record, I hate HOAs and when I bought my house it was a hardline no item for my husband and I. But it does make sense why they’re required in a neighborhood if you’re going to have it at all.
Because that defeats the purpose of an HOA. The whole point of the HOA is everyone joins into it, pays into it, and shares the benefits of the system.
When you buy a house in an HOA, you are contractually agreeing to the HOA. If you don’t want to be part of an HOA, then you cannot buy a house in an HOA.
The whole point t of an HOA is that the homeowners in an area have agreed to certain standards that everyone in the neighborhood has to meet for the benefit of everyone. If people could just move in and opt of out that, it ruins the whole system.
Being able to opt out of an hoa defeats the purpose of an hoa. When you’re selling your house, you’re not just selling your personal lot, you’re also selling your location and the state of your neighborhood. (All that factors into the price of the house. You know what I mean.)
I don’t live in an hoa, and I prefer it that way, because my house is a place to live for me and not (quite as much) a financial investment. Some people prefer to live in a neighborhood where if their neighbor doesn’t mow their lawn, or wants to paint their house a tacky color, or does something that may make a future buyer reconsider buying, they can do something to stop them.
If only half the neighborhood is under an hoa, then the hoa isn’t effective.
The fees aren’t usually very high. If you buy a new or newish home in a newish subdivision they are soooooo common. They get kind of a bad rap in my opinion. If you’re a nonconformist don’t buy in an HOA.
HoAs are *generally* set up by the company that initially builds a group of homes, and are there primarily to ensure the value of those properties stays stable until the construction company has recovered it’s investment and profit from the sales. Because they own the property at the time of sale, they can mandate participation in the HoA as a condition for the sale, and usually do so in such a way that the HoA has the ability to repossess the house and evict the owner if they begin doing things the HoA doesn’t like, usually by giving them some form of stake in the home’s ownership.
HoAs, being governing bodies with a stake in the ownership of the property, can mandate this setup be perpetuated even after the construction company is long done with it, and people who enjoy having the ability to exercise power over their neighbors usually have a significant vested interest in ensuring they do.
Edit: right, actual ELI5; the person who builds the house says the first person to buy it has to be in the HoA, or they won’t sell them the house. The HoA then says that the new owner can’t sell the house to someone who won’t be in the HoA, and because the owner is part of the HoA, they’re legally bound to that.
The point of HOAs is to allow municipalities to build underperforming low density housing without having to maintain their infrastructure. You have to pay for the infrastructure instead of the city and so you can’t not be in the HOA.
Because membership in an HOA is a requirement that’s written into the land title/deed. It’s legally considered a covenant that “runs with the land.”
Because there are common expenses that have to be paid for, by everyone that benefits from them. That and keeping everything looking nice is the best way to keep up the value of your house. Very few of them are bad.
It’s a contract. You can try to negotiate, but if the other side won’t do so, then there is no deal.
Especially doesn’t work in condo/townhome places where the buildings are physically connected and outside maintenance of roof, garbage, siding etc, will be needed at some point and everyone will have to pay.
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