In my subdivision (and in all my experiences) the fees for each homeowner are the same every year, regardless of home value.WestTexasCrude wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2019 7:59 pm Thanks for the info, I have 2 points/ questions to make/ ask. 1/ So Homeowners pay fees to the HOA (higher valued homes- higher fees, I assume). HOA board members are voluntary. May I assume they are elected? say 1-2-3 year terms? If that's the case, treat it like a city council, and publish their weekly/ monthly meetings to all homeowners in detail. That way the HO's can see the AHole who has a stick up his butt on some issue and vote him/ her out in the next cycle. 2/ Sounds like the HOA's perform a pretty important function vis a vis- ensuring Homeowners investments are secured. That said, I see some major problems which I assume are what the controversy's are all about. Make sure your yard is mowed/ trees pruned. No junk cars/ trash laying about, almost long list of things. My dinky city demands the same thing. Probably more tolerant about the time to fix. Everything is about the outward appearance of your property, what everybody sees, which is fine. But if the HOA's have a policy about parking in your own driveway, out measuring the length of your grass, etc. That's total BS. That's outward appearance. Unless you are installing huge butane tanks inside your house (out of view of everyone), They can FO. None of their business and overstepping what are supposed to be doing.
HOA members (in my experiences) are elected, not paid anything, Mine publish minutes from all meetings they have. You can go to the meetings if you want (and are not on the board). once a year they have a big meeting that everyone is invited to where elections are held for vacant seats.
The main purpose of most HOA's is to collect enough funds to operate the "common areas". Landscaping, maintenance (on ponds, fountains, etc), painting street lights, putting in flowers at entrances, etc. It is their job to manage the funds appropriately and to be a place for people in the neighborhood to call and report things (unleashed animals, sprinklers not working in common areas, suspicious behavior, etc.) Its also their job to collect the dues and to enforce any violations of the restrictions (cars parked wrong, fences not conforming, architectural modifications, etc.)
At least all of the HOA's I have been exposed to are started by the developer that built the subdivision and then handed over to elected homeowners after a couple of years. The members of the HOA (usually 5 or 6 people) are elected each year and are not paid anything. If most of the people in the community are civil every thing works fine. There are always a select few that get some bur up their ass and try to cause problems for everyone, but I hear it more in stories from other people than in my experience.
