Florida Homeowners Association Terror

When you thought of your American Dream, did it involve Homeowners Associations? Mine didn’t. While I knew what an HOA was, I did not consider how it could impact my life positively or negatively. But I know me; and I am a freedom-loving, creative person. That information is enough to know that I should have been anti-HOA.

If you are a first time home buyer that is already aware of HOAs, what you may look for is what amenities the community is offering. I have learned that this is truly some superficial shit. You can get access to a pool and a gym and so much more at the local YMCA—You can even get a poor person’s discount! (In my neighborhood, the HOA doesn’t even “own” the clubhouse anymore. The CDD does. And the CDD hired a company to manage it so that residents must have a “profile” on file in order to utilize it.)

If I could go back in time and knew my best option was to move into an HOA community, I would want to know:

• Who are the members of the HOA and what are their backgrounds?
• How long have the current HOA board members been on the board?
• Is there a property management company? What is their background? How many other properties are being managed?
• What are the current fees and how do they compare to the history of fees?
• What types of HOA violations are most common in the community? What are the fines for those violations?
• What happens when fines are not paid? With what law firm does the HOA contract? How often are they utilized and for what reasons?
• On how many homes has the HOA placed a lien and for what reasons?
• On how many homes has the HOA foreclosed and for what reasons?

Unfortunately for homeowners, you probably cannot get many of these questions answered without talking to the long-term residents in the community. But how do you find them? How do you find the homeowners bold enough to tell you the truth? Those people probably no longer live in the neighborhood! And there doesn’t appear to be a database for bad HOAs. Thus you are stuck with internet searches. And if you want to take it up a notch, you can search courthouse records.

Unless you expect your life to be the same…your circumstances to be the same… and everything to always be stable, then don’t choose an HOA community. The pros of HOA living in one do not outweigh the cons.