My whole adult life I’ve lived in an HOA community. I’m now on my fourth, though my third as a participating and paying adult (my first was as a high school and then college person with her family). The longer I’m in an HOA the more I wish HOAs were managed by the city with 1 (maybe 2, based on size) reps elected by the community to represent the community in the city board. Why? The main reason: Consistency.
Our first HOA as an adult was as a couple - one of seven units in the building. It landed on us to manage and we had to hunt down dues at times, try to get lawyers involved, and as a 26yo, why were we in the position doing that? We also realized while we’re incredibly responsible, not everyone is, and I didn’t trust my money with any other neighbor, and we were tired of fighting the neighbors for basic HOA compliance. So we agreed to go big! Big community where we didn’t have to be involved.
After 5 years in a 6-building and hundreds-of-people complex, we weren’t opposed to HOAs but each building had such different dilemmas hearing people complain at meetings was exhausting. They never saw the community as a whole and only looked at their individual, myopic view. And we found that odd. Home value is based on the whole area not just one home, so why wouldn’t you want to consider everyone?
So when we moved states we thought maybe we’d get away from them, but we ended in another one as they’re incredibly common in our current city. We’ve looked at some homes over the years in this area and some have private roads for only 4 people, or retaining ponds or walls for under 10. And when we ask the realtors they’re like , “oh, you’ll just manage it with your neighbors” like it’s no big deal. My husband and I flash back to those 7-unit days, shudder and exit as quickly as possible.
But even in my community people still argue over the big and small, some thinking about the whole and some only about their small portion where their home is. Some talk about how we’re better than other communities and others how were worse. Some about how maintenance things should be picked up by the city and others about how we’re not keeping up enough with the city.
And that’s when I started wondering why HOAs aren’t managed by the city. Cities already have rules about behavior and what is and isn’t allowed. And if you like an area / town it probably has something to do with those overall rules. But if HOAs were managed by the town, there would be a potential for more consistency - a 20-30 year plan and schedule for when roofs and siding would get replaced, which codes have to be followed, and if something were out of code it’s not a debate between neighbors about “if” because the city would dictate “when”. And by having a rep from the community the city could think about the nuance of the project and needs - if your balconies are crumbling maybe part of the debate could be allowing your neighbors to elect which payment plan they prefer; which color they prefer for the paint, etc. if you dislike something, go to your city rep or write or call the actual city board. It would stop putting neighbors against one another, and it would put maintaining a standard at the city level. It might even reduce the number of HOAs because cities would already oversee enough that new communities wouldn’t be incentivised to privatise the group of homes.
All that said, I see all the arguments for having an HOA for the community and have it separate from the city - tighter consistency, possibly more potential in your voice being heard if there’s a problem…but I also challenge you to look at listings on Zillow in HOA rich communities and see how many say “No HOA!!!” …with often more than 1 exclamation point.
It’s just interesting. The give and take and the perspective changes that occur as you live and grow in different locations. We all hope for the best.
