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There's a tremendous amount of new constructions/neighborhoods where there's pretty much no choice. D.R. Horton, for example, buys up thousands of acres way faster and cheaper than any single owners could. Then they develop/drop a house on every .25-.3 acres across 200 neighborhoods.
Beyond just that, its way more predatory. The devopler never turn over the HOA to the residents. So just to get into a house in the metro area, you buy a house they built and then pay royalties just to live there to the organization. Even after every one of the homes has been bought. There's no way for the neighborhood to get out of the HOA.
I’ll probably get downvoted to hell for saying this, but I am happy that my HOA has a rule capping the percentage of homes that can be leased at any given time. It has kept outside investors out of my neighborhood. I previously lived in a neighborhood that was at least 50% leased at any given time. I am happy with my decision.
Real answer?
When done well, they improve quality of life and provide community safety, as well as help property values.
Yes, there are rules and regulations that can be fussy. And yes, sometimes they attract overzealous jerks with no sense of purpose outside of controlling residents.
But they also can provide a community center and pool, like mine (I gave up my gym membership and started using the fitness center in the clubhouse). They can provide maintenance on the lawn (judging from this picture, I’d argue this HOA is fucking that up). They can hire support staff to help with community issues (we have a lovely woman who keeps solid referrals for all kinds of necessary property improvements). They can build a bike path connected to the neighborhood.
Mine also fixes the rooftops for the townhomes in the property, and provides general lawn services.
For about $250 a month, that’s a pretty solid deal.
More importantly for me: Bylaws and guidance help prevent shit neighbors. Jerks who don’t maintain their property or make terrible design choices that become an eyesore, or who just want to be assholes to their neighbors. In the same way some people want absolute freedom to do whatever shitty idea pops in their head, there are other homeowners that want some rules and guidelines in their community.
Personally I would never move to an HOA neighborhood, but in their (very limited) defense (or at least the defense of the people that choose to live there) there’s a bunch near me where the HOA comes with access to a pool, gym, dog park, and some childcare. For some people those benefits are worth it, if you were actually curious as to why.
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