Tampa Bay Area Flooded with Homeowners Associations

I have been slowly acclimating myself to the idea of leaving Florida. What once existed either is no longer here and/or what I once considered valuable is no longer so. What ruined it for me? My Homeowners Association—The Vista Palms Community Association located in Wimauma, Florida which borders the senior citizen area of Sun City Center, all located in Hillsborough County outside of the greater city of Tampa.

The stress of living within a terrorizing HOA community is so great that it is difficult for me to write about it continuously. This is why there are large gaps in the dates of these posts. I feel like I am on edge awaiting the HOA to find something else to send over to their attorneys in the scam that they are running. And I feel like this because my situation is ongoing. It isn’t over. It might be time to walk away and let whoever is trying to get this house win. I’m tired and in search of greener pastures.

Living in the Tampa Bay area is no longer affordable on a single income under $100k. Twenty years ago during my first round in the city, I lived in a just under 1200 square feet 2/2 apartment for about $800. I remember finally making a little over $30k back then. And although gas prices had gotten high and restricted some of my movement, I loved going to the beach weekly to de-stress. I loved visiting family and friends in- and out-of-state. I had gotten off of all forms of welfare and was so proud of myself for graduating from college and continuing to move forward.

Fast forward to the present. That apartment in Tampa is now around $1800 and surely it is no better than it was back then. And although with more education and experience in my field I was able to more than double my income in those 20 years, I was never stable. Actually, my life has never been stable. I have had periods of stability. But moving out to the fake suburbs (the former “country” areas of Hillsborough County) and owning a home in an HOA community seems to have made my life worse than if I had continued apartment life in the city. Owning a home makes me feel…stuck.

Your home only has value if you:

  1. believe it does, and

  2. you plan on selling it and you actually make a profit from it.

This is why Homeowners Associations have to constantly convince the public that living in an HOA increases home values when there isn’t much evidence that this is true outside of them saying it is so. You cannot even get a new home in the Tampa Bay Area without buying in an HOA-governed community (Check out Youtuber @FLORIDAHOODVLOGS on his channel Southern Life as he tours and describes what is going on in the Tampa Bay Area.)

Maybe it is time to go back to the basics: no HOA, no property managers and no HOA attorneys and fake arbitration; no CDD; no clubhouse ran by the CDD requiring ID; no stucco cracking from poor builder craftsmanship and terrible warranties; no frozen, outdated a/c coils; no new a/c system in a 5 year old house; no new water heater; no exterior yard sinking after a couple of years; no hurricanes and wind damage and water intrusion and mold and roof replacements. No fees, fees, and more fees!