Homeowners Assoc. Sells Woman's House Over $420 Fee

Maybe I've just had a bad experience with them. But I will say that I've lived in neighborhoods that didn't have HOAs, and they did fine policing themselves.

 

There sure is a lot of missing information in this story.

The house was sold seven months earlier? How come no one took possession? Had she not been there in seven months? Nor one of her agents? It all seems kind of strange.

What I'm wondering though is if they house was sold clandestinely seven months prior, and then the new owner just stayed away until the 180 days had passed. If so, that would be a neat way to circumvent the legislated 180 day waiting period rule.

 

The Homeowner Association for my parent's neighborhood is stupid.

At one point in time, my dad was ON the freaking board and he had to argue with everyone else there to put up a fence on our property. Our house is the only house in the entire neighborhood with our backyard along the main road (not like corner houses) and at the time, we didn't have a fence at all, so it was completely open to anybody who felt like walking through our yard.

The association said, you could only build a 4 foot fence for your backyard, but you could build an 8 foot fence for your front yard if you felt like it (which there's some exception for corner houses who got to have 8 feet fences too). But since a 4 foot fence isn't sh*t for privacy or security anymore than no fence at all and we were the only f-ing house in the entire neighborhood not allowed to build a decent fence, my dad argued with them for 3 months until they gave in and let us build a taller fence and then left the board. My dad loathes those sunumabitches.

 

I just received a notice in my mail box that I owe $200 to the HOA. It was my understanding that the HOA fees were to be pulled from the escrow acct in which we pay the mortgage. Now, I'm sitting here w/ a letter that says "$200 in two weeks or it goes to an attorney." If I'm in default, I'll pay, but I want to know how I built up a balance lke that without ever being given notice that I had not paid, especially after going on two years living at my home...

 

I'm one of the few that don't mind HOA's I guess. HOA's serve a good purpose in that if you're living in something like a master planned community or one that's not "low end" you don't want some knucklehead moving in and parking 6 cars on his front lawn or having his gutters dangling from the house. This tends to drive property values down in the area.

That being said, there are HOA's that overstep their bounds. I don't mind. I knew what I was getting into when I moved into an HOA-town.

Regarding this story, I'd like to find out if this person really did get those certified letters or not. If they didn't pay, then that's their fault. What's even more odd is this person is a realtor, so they should know about HOA's and any fees associated with them in that particular community.

 

The real question is 1.) Does this person live in a gated community called Western Estates? and 2.) Is her HOA President's name Bobby Dooley?

 

Our HOA keeps our property values up, and our neighborhood looking good.

No problem here, we all pay our bills.

 

I'll give you $500 for the house....


$1,000 if you include the mustang

 

I just don't understand why, if you own a house, it's not really yours. That is just stupid. I agree that city ordinances, etc., should be sufficient for making sure that no noise or smells cross over into other people's property. As for things that just look ugly... I guess I don't understand why everybody is so hung up on them.

If I ever buy a house, I will attempt to go where there is no HOA and as little regulation as possible... I don't think there's anything like that in my neighborhood. I rent my house, but I haven't heard of any weird rules and no one enforces grass length. And we don't have any problems.

 

Falcon, I'm in the same boat as you (for $120). I thought they were being pulled out of escrow, but apparently not. I had been receiving statements but the statements looked like they were informational and not actual receipts. Very annoying and not clear until I called. Call them up and work with them.

 

Yeah, but I've never received one single notice...I guess the first step is to call them up and find out whats up.

 

Cool! That is where I used to live, on West Belfort between Hillcroft and Chimney Rock. We didn't have a HOA either.

Now, however, I moved a new house and we do have a HOA

 

I wonder if the former owner actually lived in the house that was sold, or was it a rental property, but $240,000 for a rental is high, but then again there's stuff like that out there. So either the mail never came, or she never lived there, or she knew and just didn't want to pay, or something else.

 

I built a house in the neighborhood I did (3rd Ward), in part, because they had no deed restrictions at all. Now, there's a HOA that's been revived and they are trying to get some deed restrictions passed.

I can appreciate their motivations. We've watched 4th Ward turn into Midtown, houses knocked down there to make way for blocks upon blocks of apartments, townhomes and condos. And, it is starting to spread into 3rd Ward. Perry Homes has started building here and so have Urban Lofts. So, the main thrust of the proposed deed restrictions is to stop the shift where it is currently at. Single-family properties won't be able to be converted to multi-family housing.

But, there are other things to come along like restrictions on businesses. And, what enforcement power would we be giving them? Third Ward isn't exactly the sort of place where everyone keeps their lawn at 3 inches. So I feel rather conflicted about the whole business.

My mother is president of her civic association (no HOA there, thank god). Neighbors are always asking her to get on people about the stupidest stuff. They don't like that the neighbor parks in the street, or lets the cat run loose. She's a level-headed person though and doesn't harrass people about the minor stuff.

 

Jeff, I'd have to file this under the "lies, damn lies, and statistics" category. The link doesn't work fo rme, but most HOA communities exist outside of the 610 loop. Comparing their appreciation rates to those inside the loop seems grossly unfair to me. In the 'burbs where I live, the cost of entry is cheap. You can get twice the house for half the money. It's just too easy for every Tom, Dick and Harry to afford a house out here, and consequently, people are sometimes less prone to taking proper care of their house. Where you live, it's much different--you get half the house for twice the money. The type of people who will spend that much are most often savvy enough to understand the value of improving their real property to realize as much appreciation as possible. It seems to me that the HOA's still have something to offer out here.

Obviously, these truths aren't universal because I water my lawn out in the burbs and you keep a hundred cats in your yuppy neighborhood home, but you get the idea

Seriously though, I'm not here to support HOA's, and a lot of evidence points to the need for tighter controls on them, but I'm not ready to dismiss them completely yet. And I don't put much value in that Harvord professor's paper either.

 

Boy, I'm sure ready to dismiss them and hold them culpable. They are discriminatory associations along similar roots with the ole 50's neighborhoods that tried to keep "them kinds" out of the area.

Most of the most influential areas in Houston have no such thing. I'm reminded of when I lived in Kingwood vs. When I lived in Bellaire. No contest.

Suburbia needs to wisen up. Your home isn't going to appreciate for decades. Live with it, or move. HOA's won't do a lick to change it.

 

I fully agree with your second paragraph, but I don't agree with the first. My argument is that HOA's usually only have value (and I'm not saying it's a great value)....but that they usually only have value out in the 'burbs--new developments on cheap land. Ten years from now, places like where JuanValdez lives may appreciate ten fold, but it will probably be 50 years before Harris County developments outside of the Beltway are considered "close in" enough to show any serious gains. Until then, HOA's (by design, at least) are there to make sure they don't take any steps backwards.

Anyway, I hate to argue in their favor because I feel changes need to be made with regards to what HOA's can and cannot get away with........but I'm not ready for their wholesale dismissal either.