By Jillian Pretzel
You’re looking through homes online and spot one you love. It looks great, it’s the perfect size, and the price is right. You scroll down to see it has a homeowners association with dues that total $150 a month. Do you click away as fast as you can? Or are you impressed?
Many buyers wonder if they should avoid, or seek out, real estate with an HOA. On one hand, HOAs can be expensive and buyers who’ve been scrimping and saving to afford a home probably won’t look kindly on the extra monthly fee. On the other hand, HOAs can do a lot of good, like taking the stress off of home and yard maintenance.
Pro: HOAs provide amenities homeowners might not be able to afford otherwise
HOAs are designed to help your community look its best and function efficiently, often providing gardening services and repairs for common areas and parts of the residents’ homes (such as roof and exterior siding).
They also often provide community amenities such as swimming pools, security gates, snow and trash removal, and parking garages.
These amenities can be especially valuable for certain buyers. A family with kids, for example, might be glad to pay HOA dues in exchange for community playgrounds and a (gated) community pool they don’t need to maintain. Safety-conscious buyers might love the idea of a security gate and community security patrol.
Con: HOAs may provide amenities you don’t need—and set rules you don’t want to follow
On the flip side, some buyers simply don’t need, or want, the amenities offered by an HOA. In this case, experts ask: Why pay more for what you’re not going to use?
Ryan Bullock, strategic real estate adviser at Real Estate Bees, says that many people simply don’t need, or won’t enjoy, the amenities and services a certain HOA offers.
“If you don’t like shoveling snow, an HOA is handy,” he says. “If you don’t live somewhere it snows, paying an HOA is unnecessary.”
Plus, HOAs often enforce rules some people might not want to follow, like exterior paint colors that are allowed, permissible home renovations, and even how many pets a resident can have.
“Some homeowners will end up paying for services they don’t use just to give up some freedoms related to how they maintain their own property,” says Berner.
Still, he says, in some metros (e.g., Myrtle Beach, SC; Las Vegas; Orlando, FL; and Boise, ID), 75% of for-sale listings have HOAs, so an association is difficult to avoid.
In this case, he advises buyers to look for the HOAs that provide the most services and amenities that they’ll use.
Pro: HOAs provide support for less-handy homeowners
Maintaining a home can be difficult. Pipes break, roofs leak, and driveways crack.
Ideally, a homeowner would be able to do some home maintenance themselves, but many people don’t have the time or physical ability to mow the lawn or clean out the gutters, let alone climb on the roof and patch a hole. Plus, homeowners need a professional when it comes to the more complicated jobs, like those that involve plumbing or mold.
Con: Some HOAs are less efficient than others
That being said, not all HOAs are equal. Some are cheap, some pricey. Some are helpful and efficient, while others are mismanaged—and it’s hard to know what kind of HOA you’re getting when you buy a house.
Real estate agent Brown explains: “HOAs have very little governmental regulation and certain ‘Karens’ may get into positions of authority within the HOA board and overstep their boundary to create and enforce rules. They can sometimes turn into a policing authority, causing some homeowners to be fined for things as stupid as letting their grass grow a half-inch too long.”
So, HOA or no?
When it comes down to it, Guss says, it can make financial sense to go with an HOA house—as long as the fees are reasonable and the HOA is well-managed.
“It’s an investment in preserving your home’s curb appeal and market value,” she says. She advises buyers to review the CC&Rs, budgets, history of the fees increasing, and potential assessments before committing to a home with an HOA.
