Hi guys,
My family is moving to Louisiana this summer, and some of the houses we're considering have a HOA. What has been your experiences with them?
Hi guys,
My family is moving to Louisiana this summer, and some of the houses we're considering have a HOA. What has been your experiences with them?
<--- I wish I had one. I'll definitely consider one next time, or closer into the city where ordinances have more of an effect.
Kill them with fire...
I'm currently a part of one HOA. I' building a new home that will be a part of x2 HOA. I hate them. They are intrusive and petty, but the wife likes a nice clean white picket fence neighborhood.
I guess it all depends where your values are and if you want the ability to do things that may be bothersome to your neighbors. Like park on the street.
/end rant
ProDarwin said:<--- I wish I had one. I'll definitely consider one next time, or closer into the city where ordinances have more of an effect.
I predict this will be the single pro-HOA comment in this entire thread.
You're not going to get many positive experiences with HOAs on a forum for an outdoor hobby...I don't have any. The way I see it, HOAs only make sense for people who:
1. care A LOT about property values
2. don't mind putting an almost literal backyard Napoleon in charge of how their own property can look, and
3. don't have any outdoor hobbies (unless they can be fully hidden inside the house at practically all times).
Duke said:ProDarwin said:<--- I wish I had one. I'll definitely consider one next time, or closer into the city where ordinances have more of an effect.
I predict this will be the single pro-HOA comment in this entire thread.
Possibly.
Let me point out that I'm not talking about extreme HOA. But the $25/month hoa that tells people not to park on the lawn, not to paint their house bright purple, maintains the neighborhood entrance sign, and just generally keeps people from being douchebags? Would love one.
Used to live in one. Do not recommend.
the HOA "president for life" was a weasily little guy who had favorites and enemies. He was petty beyond belief and owned the companies that provided services to the neighborhood. It meant he got paid in at least 4 different ways.
I have tolerated one for the past two years. In my opinion, having moved from three miles away without an HOA, I see no benefit and only mild annoyance.
Lets see, I can park this in the driveway and no one says a word? Yep no HOA for me. My neighbors are great though.
Is it the sort of thing that you really should look into the bylaws before settling on a HOA-encumbered house?
Are they gonna get pissy if I change my oil or shoot archery in my backyard?
It depends entirely on the HOA and how it's run and how restrictive they are.
I live in an HOA neighborhood and it's enforced quite reasonably and the limitations are understandable. I didn't go out of my way to find one, but the general curb appeal of the neighborhood is great, and I'm perfectly fine with the restrictions that you can't have fences/sheds. No storage of trailers/RV's/boats on your driveway or yard is allowed as well in mine. That said, plenty of people grab their trailers/RV's from storage to load up and leave overnight to use the next morning and nobody complains. It keeps Uncle Eddie from setting up shop for months at a time in your neighbors driveway.
That said, I would hate to live in the kind of place that has people patrolling for discrepancies at all hours and reporting anything/everything where all the houses/yards look the same. Luckily my neighbors are all pretty groovy, and I keep my ugly project cars in the garage so nobody seems to care.
I've lived in HOA 'hoods almost exclusively since becoming a home owner, mine works out well. It's $35/year and keeps the neighborhood nice. We live in a part of the country where there are $500k plus homes and next door some jack wagon can park a single wide and then proceed to junk up their property, so having one keeps that from happening, it also keeps a lot of investor types out because the homes can't have siding, and therefore are more expensive to build. It also keeps the rentals to a minimum. We haven't had any issues, people's biggest complaint was boats parked in the driveway, but since I don't have one, it didn't bother me. Trailers and fences are potential problems for some folks, so before you buy review the rules and be sure you can live with them. I have heard of folks having a lein filed on their houses by an over-zealous HOA board.
SlimShady218 said:before you buy review the rules and be sure you can live with them.
I think this is my main takeaway at this point.
Although... now that I'm thinking about it, if the rules list isn't particularly onerous, but if there's a long list of apparently not-so-onerous rules, that might be a red flag?
You guys are lucky for those cheap HOA cost. Mine is $485 a year and the cost has been climbing every frickin year. If I ever move, I will avoid an HOA neighborhood at ALL cost.
No.
ProDarwin said:<--- I wish I had one. I'll definitely consider one next time, or closer into the city where ordinances have more of an effect.
This.
I live in a county the size of Rhode Island. It does not have a property maintenance ordinance. My neighbors are slobs, but my taxes are super cheap. I'd gladly pay increased taxes to have a cleaner neighborhood. It'd be nice if "communities" had a property maintenance ordinance, even if homes out in the middle of no-where did not.
I would probably avoid an HOA if at all possible, but mostly because of prices. If an HOA can operate annually for less than .033% of the average mortgage in its community, then it might make sense. That's roughly $100 a month on a $300,000 house. Unfortunately, most HOA charge more than that, and even more disappointing is those fees don't include property maintenance. You might get snow removal in that fee, and that's about it. Too often these fees are "paying for prison", where you pay a fee, get nothing in return, and have people complain that your fence needs painted. Or the hue on your deck is the wrong color. These are the reason I advocate avoiding most HOAs.
I hope to complete my life without ever finding out the answer to this question. So I guess I have MY answer!
Pete
scardeal said:Is it the sort of thing that you really should look into the bylaws before settling on a HOA-encumbered house?
Are they gonna get pissy if I change my oil or shoot archery in my backyard?
How can you know the latter, if you don't do the former?
I am pretty neutral on my HOA.
Its necessary to pay for snow removal and upkeep of the entryway.
Restrictions that affect me? None that are really enforced. No parts cars parked outside? (I have a big shop). Mow your yard before it goes to seed?
Theres something about trailers and RVs, but its not enforced. Theres one guy with a big RV. Keep it tidy and sensible and they dont care. Asked the board about a trailer, and as long as I park it behind the leading edgo of my shop they dont care. I need to put down some pavers or gravel pad or something. (its a while off).
Things they have done that I approved of? Told someone they couldnt store a half dozen snow plows in their driveway (was there over 6 months when enforced). Made someone get rid of a rooster. (I wanted to shoot the damn thing!)
In reply to scardeal :
Where in Louisiana? We lived in the New Orleans area for 4-years from 2012-2016 and there are definitely some sketchy areas - depending on where you are moving you may or may not need/want and HOA.
Also, the HOAs that I’ve lived in in the South - Mandeville, La and Kingwood, Texas, also provided for a neighborhood swimming pool, park, play area and common area landscaping and upkeep. In my experience if you buy in a neighborhood that has an HOA you should already be educated on what is expected and what the negatives are (no RV or boat parking for more than a day or two, example). For an expensive house the property value protection of an HOA is a big benefit. And if you can afford the house presumably you can store your boat and car trailer and rv somewhere else.
i worked on cars at my house (in the garage with the door open) and shot my bow on the backyard (we lived up against a wetlands area). No one cared. They cared about political signs in the yards, and boats and rvs parked in driveways too long.
I need more info to help answer your question.
smokindav said:In reply to scardeal :
Where in Louisiana?
We're looking at the Northshore, but we just need to be within an hour or so drive from Metairie. So, we're trying to strike a balance of distance, larger lots/country feel, flood zone, and internet access (I work from home). We're mostly looking at north Mandeville, Covington, Abita Springs, maybe Madisonville. Don't really want Pontchatoula or Slidell, though.
My most recent move was into a community with an HOA, and I've been pleased so far. I did my research on the rules, and approached it as a consumer, looking at it from a "what am I getting for my money?" perspective. If I bought everything the HOA provides individually, I'd spend quite a bit more than my HOA fee.
It should also be noted that before I did this move, I had already committed to tackling the home for living and the garage for vehicle/tool storage and noisy GRM projects as two separate questions, so my home is pleasant, and my garage space is 15 minutes away, surrounded by motorcycle repair, steel fabricators, blacksmiths, and glass blowers. Best of all worlds for me, ymmv.
In reply to scardeal :
Madisonville traffic is awful during rush hour and the draw bridge over the Tchefuncte River is a pain. Covington traffic during rush hour is also bad. You want to live close to the causeway bridge - our house was in Fountainebleau subdivision off West Causeway approach - great location and the people were also great. One of the best things about Louisiana is the local culture and the people. I really miss it! Good luck!
I will never live in another HOA. We were paying $300 per year for them to not mow the two "common areas" and to tell us we couldn't have a small shed for the gardening things and working on a car in the driveway. F that noise.
ProDarwin said:Let me point out that I'm not talking about extreme HOA. But the $25/month hoa that tells people not to park on the lawn, not to paint their house bright purple, maintains the neighborhood entrance sign, and just generally keeps people from being douchebags? Would love one.
The neighborhood I lived in before did have that sort of HOA, so they do exist sometimes. But minus maintaining the neighborhood entrance sign and dictating what color to paint houses, a competent county code enforcement office can do the rest. Current neighborhood does not have an HOA, and yes, we do have a couple people who got rather Florida Beach House on their choice of color pallet. But I find that - and the guy who tried to make a ranch house look like a Roman villa - more amusing than annoying.
The main problems I've seen:
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