Home Owners Associations
Is it just me or are “Home Owners Associations” (HOA) pointless for the most part, at least in “middle class” neighborhoods?
I think my biggest peeve with our HOA is the fact that our neighborhood is actually three neighborhoods AND the “covenants” all differ to some extent (according to a friend of mine who used to be on the HOA Board, that’s supposed to be resolved sometime) AND I have not seen a place that is easy to find the updated versions of the covenants (how about a PDF on a web site?). That’s not very helpful at all.
My question is, what can the HOA actually do to a home owner that refuses to abide by the covenants? Sure they can constantly bug the home owner, put their name in some sort of report and threaten some sort of legal action, but do I really want my HOA fees going toward that instead of snow removal in the winter?
Does anyone have a HOA that actually works AND has the backing of the home owners? It would seem to me that you’d really need the home owners to care about home values and such for covenants to be effective. For example, you’re not seriously going to sue the numerous home owners in the neighborhood that do not have the correct mail boxes installed. Sure, it may look tacky for “Vinylville” to be so nonuniform, but how do you make people understand that AND make them want to conform to the covenants?
I seriously don’t know what would work, especially in what would be considered a “starter” neighborhood where people move in and move out like there’s no tomorrow. Ideas?
