Homeowners Associations: Why I’ll Never Associate with One
A homeowners association is a governing body in a housing development that creates covenant, rules,and restrictions regarding what people can and can’t do with their homes. Having a homeowners association protects against having the neighbor with a collection of junk or a proliferation of weeds. It can also protect against things like the wrong color of shutters or type of tree. Oh, the horror.
One pet peeve of mine is the law of diminishing returns when it comes to lawn ornaments and other cutesy hangings, flags, and borders. By law of diminishing returns I mean that someone will put out a few things and it will look nice. They add a few more cute things and it looks charming. But there is a point at which enough is enough. Each new added thing starts to make things look worse, not better. Would I like to have rules and fines to regulate this? You bet my garden gnome I wouldn’t.
Some outrageous things decreed by homeowners associations include telling you what color your house must be or outlawing plastic flower pots. One homeowners association in Ocala, Florida even forbade residents from taking in hurricane victims.
In an unspoken way, rules by homeowners associations “keep out the riffraff”. A lot of these heavyhanded groups seem to be in more expensive neighborhoods. Also, once people form groups and committees and start making rules, the result is seldom one of equanimity. Cliques form and grudges fester. I don’t want that type of thing telling me what I can’t do with my property, then charging me money if I unknowingly cross a line. On top of all this, you have to pay fees to the homeowners association for the privelege of being told what to do.
If you do consider buying a house that has a homeowners association, research the kind of regime you’ll be living under before you buy.
In my opinion, the ideal situation is one in which neighbors make an effort to keep things nice but aren’t overly anal. I don’t care for having a bunch of rules to be followed, and especially dislike the thought of having to pay fines for not following them. I would feel wary of buying a house that is in a homeowners association for those reasons. Does that mean I’m the “riff raff” that needs to be kept out? Well, if “riff raff” means I can make my own decisions like an adult, then I’ll happily stay out.
Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeowners_association
blogcritics.org/archives/2005/09/08/193537.php
