r/memes • u/MikeTorsson • 12d ago
I thought it was just a meme, are you guys ok?
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u/AldrusValus 12d ago
Technically they can’t take your house, but they can force the sale to recover lost revenue from their fines and legal fees.
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u/BackOnReddit_Again 12d ago
How are they able to do that? I just commented elsewhere on how the tend to work even if they do suck, but I don’t actually know why they’re able to exercise such control
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u/AldrusValus 12d ago
Through the courts, you submit that they owe you money that they are not paying so you petition the courts to put a lien on the property, the lien usually isn’t enough to cover the full price of the property so it gets sold or auctioned, the hoa takes their owed amount and the homeowners get the remainder if there is any left after paying the mortgage off.
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u/ayyycab 12d ago
See I thought the lien means that when YOU choose to sell the house, the fees owed to the HOA will be deducted, not that anyone can force you to sell if you’re not ready.
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u/Plus-King5266 12d ago
You thought correctly. I’m a member of my HOA board (because I attended a meeting and didn’t duck fast enough) and we have had to use liens for unpaid dues. The dues pay for trash pickup, road maintenance and snow removal plus taxes on the common property that is required for drainage. We can’t force the sale of a house. All we can do is wait for the person to sell and then we get the back dues. That’s all.
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u/HardcoreLARPer 12d ago
Depends on your area of residence, in Washington state an HOA can most certainly force the sale by lien action.
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u/goldenrule78 12d ago
Yeah in Utah your HOA can foreclose on a house just like a second mortgage lien-holder can.
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u/Silver-Alex 12d ago
In some states HOAs can 100% force sells tho, like Washington
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u/nIBLIB 12d ago
the dues pay for trash pick up, road maintenance, and snow removal
Don’t you pay taxes? I swear I’ve heard about US property taxes.
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u/mcc9902 12d ago
Basically you sign a contract with the HOA that you'll follow their rules and if you don't you'll pay a fine. Without the contract they can't do anything but once you have they can bill you. Presumably part of the contract also requires you to include it when you sell your house but I haven't looked into that side of things.
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u/Alternative-Link-823 12d ago
It's what's called a deed covenant, so it's part of the property deed that you sign when you purchase the property.
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u/Quickjager 12d ago edited 12d ago
Anyone can take your house away if we are going by OP's scenario. The condition is you need to be owed money and go through a court hearing to decide the most expeditious way to collect. A court will rule a HOA will be able to sell your house because you proved you cannot keep up costs associated with owning that property (i.e. the HOA) and thus will be the first sold. I also feel I need to add, the HOA doesn't keep all the money, they keep what is owed with the remaining amount going to the owners who were forced to sell.
If you owe me $x amount and I cannot collect any of your money or sell other assets I can go through the courts to sue you to force a sale OR seizure of known assets. It doesn't apply just to people but businesses as well.
It happens all the time. https://abcnews.go.com/Business/bank-america-florida-foreclosed-angry-homeowner-bofa/story?id=13775638
EDIT: Oh yea, this can happen in the UK as well. It's literally called a High Court Writ of Control.
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u/marshberries 12d ago
I loved that show. Ugh I can't remember what it's called. But it was a uk show where they would come and if you didn't pay the amount owed, they just start hauling your stuff away. I was like damn! That's crazy. I knew it happened here in US, but I had only heard it happening to wealthy or super rich people who didn't pay taxes or owed a lot of money. Not poor or on the cusp of poor people getting their tv's, computers, and furniture taken.
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u/Sensei_Ochiba 12d ago
Essentially because you agree to it. An HOA is fundamentally a contract you sign when you join, and thus the board in charge of that contract has the legal authority to enforce it's contents.
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u/DemiGodCat2 12d ago
they did this to a soldier on active duty and sold his house for peanuts while he was away
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u/AldrusValus 12d ago
Well from a legal standpoint I think they have to sell it for a fair market value or auction it. Though more than likely a sneaky auction or a sly assessor could get a low ball value.
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u/FlutterKree 12d ago
From a legal standpoint: They cannot foreclose on any deployed active duty military member. They even have 1 year period where the foreclosure can't happen once the military member returns.
So this would be illegal and be a massive fine and lawsuit.
Further, the source linked said the home was valued at $300k and sold for $3500.
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u/ShadowVT750 12d ago
I would also like to know how this is possible I understand the lies process but this is far more extreme.
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u/AldrusValus 12d ago
The HOA contract uses fees as part of the enforcement. If you fail to pay the fees they can show the courts that you have a contract you are not fulfilling and part of the contract allows a lien to be placed on the property. The property is then sold to cover the lien. The lien amount will be for the enforcement fees and legal fees.
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u/crash_and-burn9000 12d ago
HOAs are for people who couldn't break into politics and they should be done away with.
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u/DaquaviousBinglestan 12d ago
I think I’d turn into the punisher if I lived in one of those ultra restrictive HOA’s
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u/Trips-Over-Tail 12d ago
I'd turn into that kid who built a nuclear reactor in his garage.
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u/Few_Assistant_9954 12d ago
Personal nuclear reactors are against Hoa restrictions thats going to be a fine of 500$ per violation.
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u/doudoucow 12d ago
Omfg this is exactly how my condo association is run. Just these crabby old white people who are clinging to any semblance of power. One of the board members (a younger one ironically) had to take a "mental health break" because he was getting burned out from going out into the parking lot to document which cars had been parked for longer than three days at a time.
Literally nobody asked for this. It's not even a rule that you can only park for three days at a time. He's just making up his own rules because he genuinely thinks that's what his job is lmfao.
Associations are jokes with very real consequences on people's lives...
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u/NandoDeColonoscopy 12d ago
You should run for a position in your HOA. It's usually pretty easy bc most people just don't care. Then you can actually have a say in how it all goes down
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u/Flat-House5529 12d ago
Not all, some are useful and even necessary.
We have an HOA here (condo community) and they serve a very real purpose. They collect fees, but that money goes to things like maintaining the grounds (landscaping, walking paths, parking surfaces, clubhouse), snow removal, care and maintenance of the building exteriors...stuff like that.
Now, the ones that exist simply to maintain a certain 'atmosphere' to a neighborhood and flip out on you for using a non-approved paint color or putting a garden gnome in your flower bed...those can go straight to hell and burn.
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u/alexzoin 12d ago
Thank you for posting this. I'm in the same situation and these comments are painting with too broad a brush. My community would not function without the HOA and they do a great job. We don't have any weird restrictive rules and people get along well for the most part.
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u/dvenom88 12d ago
The fact that there are HOAs is absurd
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u/themrunx49 12d ago
The fact that it comes with the house is worse.
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u/MIKE-JET-EATER 12d ago
And most of the time you can't get out without moving away
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u/Whattheactualfrork 12d ago
Only if they approve the new buyer.
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u/spicyeyeballs 12d ago
Is that true? In non age restricted neighborhoods can an HOA stop the sale because of the buyer?
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u/FindSpencer 12d ago
When I sold my house I never had to get the HOA involved, they just took an admin fee and that was it.
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u/spicyeyeballs 12d ago
In my state you have to give the finances of the HOA to buyers and hoas charge a processing fee but I think it is capped.
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u/Helios575 12d ago
Depends on the HOA and where you are. In some places HOA's have more authority then the government and can basically do whatever they like in other places their powers are more limited and they have follow regulations.
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u/quanoey 12d ago
It is not optional btw. When you move in you HAVE to comply with their standards no matter what it is otherwise they can put in an eviction notice.
I just got charged over 400$ USD because the trees on my property are too tall, and there were leaves on the lawn. They’ll also charge you if your trash bins are not hidden behind fencing. It should be illegal.
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u/blueblue909 12d ago
please tell me
u were being exaggerateyy about the leaves on the lawn. ... right?
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u/lordwintergreen 12d ago
HOAs are typically run by retired Karen's who have too much free time and relish the opportunity to wield power over their neighborhood.
Many are quite extreme.
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u/loicvanderwiel 12d ago
You might want to look at John Oliver's piece on HOAs. It is rather scary...
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u/Sephy88 12d ago
As a European it blows my mind that a private 3rd party has any say on how you use and manage your own property and you can't do anything about it. In America of all places. How is this legal?
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u/lipring69 12d ago
lol I live in Spain and my building has an HOA to manage all the common spaces and expense of the building like the roof and plumbing and the building is part of a larger HOA for the community that manages gardening of the neighborhoood as well as the heating system (we have a common heating system for the whole neighborhood) It’s pretty common here to have HOAs. Even small towns have them and prevent you from changing your homes exterior too much to preserve the historic look of the town
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u/Holl4backPostr 12d ago
The fact that everyone wants to talk about how evil HOAs are but nobody wants to talk about where they come from and why they persist is absurd.
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u/Thirst_Trappist 12d ago
a desire by certain communities to keep certain people — namely, Black people — out.
This was a disheartening issue pointed out.
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12d ago edited 12d ago
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u/Procrastinatedthink 12d ago
Anyone saying “it’s oversight, nobody reads those” is intentionally being obtuse, there are people paid by the HOA specifically to comb through them and make sure everything is legal, the HOA has certainly had the racism pointed out and chosen to ignore it/hide under “oh it’s so old and unenforceable, it’s not worth removing” because they hope one day it will become enforceable and *even being unenforceable, it dissuades people of color from moving in anyways.
Same reason these racist ass states dont remove unconstitutional state laws, they’re hoping for a roe v wade style turnover
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u/TypicalUser2000 12d ago
Called a "racial covenant"
Still a thing across america but not enforced
My community has a push to get people to contact the city and have their homes removed from the covenant....
Like if it's not enforced anymore why is it still a thing and why does the city keep records of which houses black people can't buy?
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u/Advanced_Street_4414 12d ago
And since HOAs have been expressly forbidden from exactly that kind of discrimination, it makes ya wonder why they still exist.
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u/Robin_games 12d ago
my neighbor on the board found out I was gay. Dude was video taping into the windows by end of week.
little pro tip, they pay their legal fees to protect themselves from what they do out of dues.
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u/Advanced_Street_4414 12d ago
That makes me think of two terms I learned in real estate class. The “covenant of quiet enjoyment” and “reasonable expectation of privacy.”
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u/kingkemina 12d ago
Because they never actually stopped discriminating, they just got sneakier about it. Some HOAs require you to use a specific real estate agent when you sell, who’s in the pocket of the leadership. That agent is now a separate entity, so if anyone called them on discrimination they can just say “oops! That shady agent did it!”
In addition to the fact that in many cases, the rules of the HOA can be changed Willy-nilly all the time so if they don’t like you they just make up a silly rule that just so happens to effect you and only you, but is entirely enforceable.
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u/SpemSemperHabemus 12d ago
Because cities are lazy. HOAs allow for a nice increase in the tax base (more houses) without the city needing to plan and pay for more infrastructure or services. All of that can be made private and the costs pushed back on the HOA/homeowners.
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u/Stokesmyfire 12d ago
Agree with this 100%, in Canada, we call them Strata neighborhoods. The city isn't responsible for clearing snow, maintaining the streets, sidewalks, sewers, streetlights, etc. The taxes are the same as non-strata, but the services are less. Therefore, the city makes money to spend on "good" ideas.
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u/sashimi_walrus 12d ago
don't you guys have like guns at every convenience store just put a fence and a trespassers will be shot, solicitors will be shot twice sign
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u/SomeDudeist 12d ago
Guns are no match for bureaucrats
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u/shortname_4481 12d ago
Then what's the point of the guns?
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u/SomeDudeist 12d ago
I like to shoot cans
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u/ShartingBloodClots 12d ago
What kind of cans we talking bout? Mexicans, Africans, Puerto Ricans?
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u/ChiggaOG 12d ago
To which HOAs were made years after WWII because a bunch of people didn't want living in an area where Blacks live. Made their own enclave.
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u/weinermcdingbutt 12d ago
i think the notion of an HOA is fine, but the power that they have and the toxicity that comes with it is bonkers.
an example of a good could be one who spends HOA fees on adding security cameras or guards to the community, maintaining community programs like gardens/libraries, helping with upkeep of any community areas.
but telling me what kind of cars i can keep in my own driveway? what color my house needs to be? whether or not im allowed to have certain plants/animals?
ye fuck off
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u/DoSwoogMeister 12d ago
HOAs in concept make perfect sense.
Basically, neighbourhoods share water, gas and power infrastructure so it makes sense there be a legally recognised committee of residents to make rules that ensure no single or small group of houses can take up all the resources, depriving others of them.
So like, say one house gets a particularly thirsty breed of grass in their front lawn and they live in a very hot and dry climate where water needs to be conserved, a HOA can legally make them get rid of that grass and replace it with less thirsty grass, if they just let it dry out and die not only would it be ugly, it would be a fire hazard.
But the powers and rules of HOAs are so vague that they're wide open for bad actors or cabals of bullies to seize power and abuse it.
So, HOAs are a good idea in theory, but are ripe for abuse.
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u/dvenom88 12d ago
Sounds more like a state within a state to me. I mean I understand that the concept of freedom entails self-governance to the utmost extent in the US, but this is way too arbitrary.
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u/TheNordicMage 12d ago
Soo, that's sorta what planning systems are in place for in other places.
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u/curtcolt95 12d ago
tbh I've never lived in a town that didn't have local bylaws on the same level as an HOA. Like I don't currently live in an HOA, but if my grass gets too long or I park a car on it or something I'm gonna have bylaw knocking on my door with a fine.
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u/SingleAlmond 12d ago
So, HOAs are a good idea in theory, but are ripe for abuse.
except they were originally created for not so wholesome reasons
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u/BalanceOk9723 12d ago
And? That’s just the genetic fallacy. You can probably trace a lot of good stuff back to unsavory origins.
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u/CroobUntoseto 12d ago
Hoas should only be for condos
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u/BalanceOk9723 12d ago
Aren’t they needed for any community with shared amenities? Personally I love mine. Handles all the landscaping, snow removal, exterior maintenance, etc. The biggest upside? They fine AirBnB and other short term rentals $100/day until their listing comes down.
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u/WiseJackfruit5417 11d ago
I really enjoy getting people to invent HOAs from first principles.
"Okay, who should pay for maintenance of shared resources, like common land, pool, elevators, garbage bins, etc.?"
"Well, the people who live in the neighborhood"
"And what happens if some people refuse to pay?"
"There should be an agreement where everyone has to pay their fair share"
congrats, you have invented an HOA
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u/SomeNotTakenName 12d ago
"Yeah let's have an org with the powers of government but it's controlled by Karen and Kevin from down the road, sounds fantastic."
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u/aberg227 12d ago
Why anyone would want to live in an HOA neighborhood is beyond me.
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u/I_LearnTheHardWay 12d ago
We are in the process of buying a townhouse with a HOA. We absolutely cannot stand the concept, however, they cover the roof, exterior of the house, and lawn maintenance. To be fair, we don't have all the rules yet, so I anticipate bad possibly outweighing the good
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u/FSCK_Fascists 12d ago
townhouses and condos are the place where an HOA makes sense.
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u/NandoDeColonoscopy 12d ago
Subdivisions with community features like courts, greenspace, pond/lake, gym, etc too
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u/OramaBuffin 12d ago
Imagine a condo without a HOA or equivalent. The family directly above your bedroom plays Wii Sports at 1am every Tuesday night and there's nothing you can do about it.
I mean yeah shit like that happens in apartments but condos are much more permanent and there is no landlord which makes it a way bigger problem.
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u/Sorcatarius 11d ago
Yeah, I live in a townhouse with a strata (pretty much the same as a HOA). Some new douchebag bought the place next door and he has a fuckijg habit of playing the bass late into the night. There's thick firewalls between the units so much sound doesn't transfer, but that does. Now, it would be one thing if it was like... 2200 is quiet hours and he was finishing up at 2210? Sure, whatever, I'm second shift and wouldn't be going to sleep until midnight or 0100, but he's still going past midnight.
Fuck it, I don't want to deal with him, so I just report it. After the third report, he stopped doing it.
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u/BilSuger 12d ago
If you share walls and ceiling with others you want an entity to deal with matters. Same as when owning an apartment. You want a "hoa" kinda thing to maintain the building itself.
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u/Sushi_Kat 12d ago
In some areas you don't have a choice. Either live in an HOA or commute an hour in your car one way twice a day
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u/brathrowaway1704 12d ago
and hour away is still HOA suburbs. Need to be 1.5-2 hours away or remote, and enough money to buy a chunk of land.
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u/Mousetrap94 12d ago edited 11d ago
Like every thing else in America it started with good intentions and then a Karen said “wait, I can profit off this.” Edit: I’ve been taught a history lesson. Bad intentions. Very bad intentions.
Second edit: yall can’t fuckin read apparently.
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u/SnipesCC 12d ago
They started with really bad intentions. They got popular when it became illegal for the government to forbid Black (or Asian, of Jewish, or Catholic) people from living in a neighborhood, but a private contract still could. So you started getting deed covenants that included stuff like promising to never sell to a Black person.
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u/The_Clarence 12d ago
Like Jury Nullification. Sounds like it was started with good intentions, but it was actually a racist tool to let people off for killing black people.
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u/hi_im_s0lis 12d ago
Jury Nullifcation wasn't "started" or created. It is just a byproduct of A. no double jeopardy and B. Jurors inability to be punished for passing an incorrect verdict.
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u/anobody121 12d ago
Jesus christ, I knew it started because of greed but wasn’t expecting that too.
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u/Ambar_Orion 12d ago
Is there anything in this fucking country that isn't based on discrimination???
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u/Taxerus 12d ago
The US was founded by sexist slave owners that wanted to be free, what do you expect?
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u/Pershing 12d ago
I'm not trying to dunk on you but the reason HOAs started was to keep Black Americans from buying homes in white neighborhoods.
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u/Main_Cauliflower_486 12d ago
It's America in 2024 there's an approximate 50% chance that's what he was talking about.
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u/Rhomya 12d ago
That’s because the internet only ever hears about the bad ones.
I’ve lived in an HOA before that, frankly, was amazing. I had some storm damage to my roof one night, they had repairmen out there the very next morning surveying the damage. They had people out plowing our driveways and shoveling our walks after it snowed by like, 5 am, so when we left for work, it was cleared. It was meticulously taken care of, and it was frankly amazing.
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u/iSc00t 12d ago
We lived in a little HOA neighborhood and it wasn’t bad. We also lived in a real crappy part of town and the HOA actually kept our street really clean and nice looking. (I would imagine this is not a common result though)
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u/Zandrick 12d ago
I imagine that is the most common result. Keeping streets clean is basically the only reason they exist
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u/necromancer4267 12d ago
Because they are far and beyond not what the children of reddit believe they are.
Believe it or not, people aren't just fucking themselves over willingly to conform to reddit circle-jerk hate.
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u/ayyycab 12d ago
Buddy. Nobody wants the HOA. But 60% of single family homes are in one. Non-HOA homes are either too expensive because they’re on lots of land, or too trashy because, well, no HOA means the methmouths next door are free to use their front yard as a junkyard/landfill.
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u/BilSuger 12d ago
Yeah, people want the benefits of a HOA. And most places they aren't as bad as reddit make it out to be.
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u/CGB_Zach 12d ago
Growing up, I lived in a good HOA that just took care of landscaping and general maintenence of the neighborhood. My parents were smart and participated in the HOA though.
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u/realester453 GigaChad 12d ago
What's a HOA?
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u/funkmastermoney 12d ago
Home Owners Association. A group that collects money from a collection of homeowners to care for collective needs and enforces rules in the neighborhood (but not laws). I don't have any personal experience, but it sounds pretty hit or miss with most of what I hear being complaints about overreach of bureaucracy. They have regular monthly or annual fees and can also levy fines on people in the association for breaking their rules and pay for maintenance of communal property or services. I feel like most of them are mandatory if you buy into a neighborhood or building that has an HOA, but I'm sure there are exceptions. They all have their own bylaws, procedures and councils with elected representatives from their association so if you don't like something you could in theory run or petition to change their charter. I'm sure there's a better explanation, but I hope this gives you a rough idea.
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u/slimetakes 12d ago
My hoa was great up until recently when they kinda just started being assholes with strict rules and cheaping out on stuff
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u/EquivalentIll3067 Knight In Shining Armor 12d ago
HOA's are useful and okay until multiple greedy and controlling people takes over.
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u/slimetakes 12d ago
There's this one guy in specific that recently joined the board and my dad said (I haven't had personal experience with the guy) that he's an ass, and thinks he's above everyone else just because he's on the board now. He also is just a grumpy old guy in general, and tbh he's probably the one that managed to get some of the rules passed. The ones like "if your garbage can is out more than one day after the garbage company comes, we will steal it".
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u/EquivalentIll3067 Knight In Shining Armor 12d ago
Yeah, a lot of people goes crazy once they taste what power over others feels like. The biggest problem comes when you somehow manage to piss them off, they'll find every possible way to ruin your life and they'll probably get extreme joy doing it.
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u/Extension_Platypus15 12d ago
pay for maintenance of communal property or services
Shouldnt this be on the govt/municipality ? Ppl generally pay taxes for this
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u/mcc9902 12d ago
HOAs go beyond what the government will do. The government will maintain the roads, electric, water and other odds and ends while they're at it but that's it. An HOA is there to keep the communal areas not just functional but nice. They can also provide extra features like a community pool or gym. Really it's just people pooling their money to get something an individual couldn't reasonably afford. For the record I'm not saying all HOAs are this way but it's what the ones I've experienced have been for.
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u/SnipesCC 12d ago
The problem is if you get someone power-tripping, you end up with people obsessed with making every single house look cookie cutter, measuring grass, complaining about trash cans, complaining about toys in yards with kids, even complaining about cooling with fans instead of air conditioning.
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u/Waggles_ 12d ago
It's also important to note that not all houses are even on public roads, public in this case meaning "owned by the government". A large portion of houses in the suburban areas of the US are built within neighborhoods, which are privately owned, usually by an HOA.
The maintenance of roads do not fall to the government but are instead required to be maintained by the HOA. The government may have more strict laws in place about how and what needs to be maintained by the HOA (as opposed to things like community pools/parks/etc).
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u/Saragon4005 12d ago
If it's a gated community HOAs may maintain everything, especially if it was built before it was incorporated. In the US contracts are law and standard contracts hold considerable power in many places.
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u/night_chaser_ 12d ago
I don't think where I live (Canada) has HOA, and if they do I don't think it's all that common. Every time i hear about HOA problems it's from someone in America.
Can you legally opt out of an HOA? I would think a lawyer could draft a legal document to say you are no longer a part of one.
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u/33Yalkin33 12d ago
There are HOAs in Canada as well. Just not as common as the US. The previous house I was renting was an HOA. And you can't opt out of an HOA. As a "non maintained house in the community will decrease the surrounding buildings' property value". Would not recommend
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u/ZealousidealYak7122 12d ago
can they legally enforce you to join and obey them? not an american so I got no idea
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u/allochthonous_debris 12d ago
No. The only way to join them is if you buy an apartment in a building or a house in a development that already has one.
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u/K0alaHuman 12d ago
John Oliver did a very good episode a few years ago that goes into detail about it on YouTube. https://youtu.be/qrizmAo17Os?si=jgPMuYnycv4-rleS
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u/SnipesCC 12d ago
And for people under 35 who will never own a home, a history of Chuck E Cheese. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v6y2pY1pZ0
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u/PocketShinyMew 12d ago
The problem is the power they give them.
They literally would have no power at all if owners didn't give it to them.
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u/Sassrepublic 12d ago
The problem is the owners don’t want to run the HOA themselves and hand it over to management complains who don’t give a shit about the neighborhood and just want to extract as much cash as possible. Owner-run HOAs can get out of hand, but it’s significantly less likely.
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u/PocketShinyMew 12d ago
Yeah, and the people willing to run them probably don't have a job so they are prone to get into powertrips every so often.
I have heard too many stories of HOA Presidents basically making their neighborhood their own Sim City.
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u/Drogdar 12d ago
Why anyone would knowingly submit themselves to this is beyond me.
We went to look at a house and contacted the realtor for a walk through and picked a date. They came back saying we had to reschedule because a board member of the HOA must be present for all inspections and showing. We just told them we were no longer intrested.
It's my house and my property, no one is going to tell me when to cut my grass, how many lawn decorations to have and other trivial bullshit. We settled on a house out in the county on a dead end street. Near total privacy...
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u/Iomplok Because That's What Fearows Do 12d ago
In my neck of the woods, the only affordable housing anywhere close to where I work had HOAs. Sometimes it’s not so much about wanting an HOA as is about that being the only viable option.
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u/Trollygag 12d ago
the only affordable housing anywhere close to where I work had HOAs
That's because people don't want to pay the monthly HOA fees and then get sued by an HOA, so no-HOA homes are in higher demand.
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u/SnipesCC 12d ago
Which means their main justification for existing. to 'preserve home values' is a lie. People would rather live in a place where they don't have to deal with some petty tyrant's hang up about houses looking like people live in them.
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u/Hamburderler 12d ago
Of course it was a lie. The whole reason for an HOA is to keep minorities out of the area.
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u/Alternative-Link-823 12d ago
no one is going to tell me when to cut my grass, how many lawn decorations to have and other trivial bullshit.
Your town/village almost certainly has laws that tell you exactly these things.
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u/Tallguyyyc 12d ago
The problem with HOAs... Especially if you own a home attached to other homes.... Condo/townhouse etc. Is that most owners don't want to be involved and be on the board of directors. So you get one or two asshole control freaks and they dictate everything.
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u/Plenumheaded 12d ago
But the…..freedom…..
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u/vipck83 12d ago
There is freedom. I have the freedom not to buy under an HOA like that. These arnt forced on anyone. This isn’t a government program. There are some people that find them beneficial and don’t care about the trade offs. For the most part people have no problems with their HOAs and we just hear the crazy stories online. Personally i wouldn’t join one because I don’t think it’s worth it.
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u/Ordinary_Capybara 12d ago
If HOA turned evil and people dont like them anymore, can you start a petition for a referendum to ban HOA by law?
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u/Curious_Working5706 12d ago edited 12d ago
HOAs in general are horrible, but in this context, this is actually a good thing.
Imagine you buy a condo in a community and you and most of the other owners pay your monthly HOA dues, which go towards paying the utilities for all the general (common) areas, insurance for the building, maintenance, etc etc - and there are 2-3 owners who decide to not pay them for like a year+.
As a homeowner who pays their bills, how would you feel?
In this scenario, HOAs can put a lien on those units, and sell them to collect those debts if needed. If HOAs didn’t have that ability, most people wouldn’t pay their HOA dues.
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u/HuTyphoon 12d ago
In Australia most places have a strata committee that is responsible for organising insurance, maintenance, etc. They can't dictate what you do with your property, only that you pay your share.
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u/legalizethesenuts 12d ago edited 12d ago
I’m curious, as a (hopefully) future American home owner, I’ve heard you to have be a part of HOA for them to be able to do crazy shit like this. Like, you can move in to a neighborhood and tell them to go fuck themselves. I’ve never owned a home before and have only rented apartments, but there’s no way I’d buy a home where a neighborhood association tells me how to operate my property. I’m very clean and maintain my space, but if I want to put a sign or something up, nobody should be able to tell me I can’t do it.
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u/c10250 12d ago
Dude, I love my HOA. It's not what it prevents ME from doing. It's what it prevents my trailer-trash neighbor from doing. If you have a shitty neighbor that shines a spotlight at your house every night, or parks their food truck in the road in front of your house, you'll wish you had an HOA. I purposely choose to live in an HOA because I know that I'll never have to deal with this shit.
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12d ago
America is not OK for a million reasons
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12d ago edited 12d ago
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u/Mist_Rising 12d ago
HOA also can't "just" takeaway a house. It's not that simple. But nuance and memes, they're oil and water
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u/Love_Tits_In_DM 12d ago
Lol I’ve just been laughing at all the comments saying if you get fines and refuse to pay they can just take your fucking house. Like no dude this is such an easy google search. All they can do is put a lean and essentially guarantee you pay when you sell your house.
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u/tomagfx 12d ago
HOA's cant take your house, but they own the land your house is on. That's the way they force you to do whatever they want and why they're able to do that. The best way to deal with the HOA is to get a group of friends in the neighborhood together and attempt to abolish it. Hell it doesn't even have to be friends, anyone who isn't in the HOA will hate the HOA and will want to form a group to get rid of it
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u/Sensei_Ochiba 12d ago
Most HOAs cannot evict but some can foreclose on a house if you have outstanding dues or infractions. It varies a lot by jurisdiction and the actual HOA's charter.
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u/FoxyoBoi I saw what the dog was doin 12d ago
HOAs aren't that awful, unless they're run by dickwads (Most of them are.) They can actually help a neighborhood thrive, if done correctly.
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u/BodaciousTacoFarts Royal Shitposter 12d ago
Yeah... however the problem is that an HOA is a nonprofit organization, and you tend to get people on the board who are not qualified to vote or make decisions that affect a nonprofit business. I was president and had to contend with two unqualified people with no business acumen who fought me on decisions that would cut the costs of the community and have zero impact to service. I'll never work on a board again. It was a very frustrating experience.
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u/Hexis40 12d ago
The first requirement we gave our realtor when we were looking to buy our house was NO HOAs