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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Some HOAs also provide the maintenance of the streets/sidewalks, which could be off the local municipal route, or even lawns and landscaping. Some may have gates or mailboxes at the entrance as the roads are technically private property. In the case of a condo building, could be the maintenance of the common areas or the building itself.
They’re not for me, but some prefer to ‘pay to not have to deal with XYZ maintenance’. What’s provided vs what’s prohibited varies a lot.
I generally don’t like them, but after living in some trashy neighborhoods I totally get them.
The reason is that the HOA owns part of the house (not a specific physical part but like 10% of it) and they didn’t choose to sell.
When you buy the house you only buy 90% and you can’t sell what you don’t own (that extra 10%).
The 90% passes from person to person but that 10% remains in the hands of the HOA.
Thats like asking why you have to pay taxes to live in the USA and want to own land and have a job
Because that defeats the purpose of the HOA.
*Ideally,* the HOA serves the community, and it requires all the members to participate for that to occur. It’s similar to why you can’t just opt out of paying taxes for the things you don’t use.
A developer can buy land, establish an HOA, then sell lots. The contract you sign when you buy the land is that you will pay a fee to their HOA. You build a house on that lot and it is in an HOA.
Think of an HOA as a mini city. If you choose to live in this city, you pay taxes/fees into a pool of money that elected officials then use to improve and maintain the city. Those officials will also make and enforce laws/regulations that residents need to follow.
You wouldn’t move to a new city and just opt out of paying taxes or following that cities laws, so the same holds for HOAs.
It’s a restriction that runs with the land. Basically, when you buy a piece of property, you buy it subject to any conditions in the chain of title. If the deed says “anybody who owns this property must dance like a chicken during the full moon,” then when you buy the home, you agree to do that. If you don’t want to do that, don’t buy the home.
In some places, the HOA is optional and the HOA is mainly a social thing. My parents home was built in the 50’s, and the HOA sponsored the neighborhood bowling league and an Easter egg hunt.
In other places, the HOA is mandatory and does things like maintain common areas and enforce the community standards that everybody agrees to follow when they bought in (which also run with the land.). My HOA, for example, maintains the fountain in the center of our neighborhood and the community park. It also makes sure that people don’t leave boats on the street, raise chickens (yes, during COVID, some people though that was a good idea) or plant bamboo.
You don’t. But the owner is not able to sell it to you if you do not agree to join. And part of joining is signing the contract giving up your right to sell to buyers who didn’t sign the contract. Your only opt out is not to buy, not because you have had rights taken away from you, but because the seller gave up their rights.
For the same reason you can’t opt out of taxes. You benefit (I’ll leave it to you whether the benefits are real or not) from the services offered.
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