Rising homeowners association fees are forcing a woman and her family to leave their home.
The woman says her HOA fees rose from $400 to a whopping $750.
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“My husband and I and our two children are feeling forced out of our home because of a legal situation with our HOA,” wife Meagan told the hosts of the investing podcast The Ramsey Show.
The increase in HOA fees comes after a legal battle between your HOA and a construction company.
Some of the homes in her neighborhood suffered extensive damage, causing the HOA to sue a construction company asking them to clean up the damage, according to Meagan.
The HOA lost the lawsuit and is now responsible for financing repairs to damaged homes.
In response to the loss of the lawsuit, the HOA is nearly doubling its fees.
The HOA hasn’t officially doubled fees yet, but Meagan says it seems likely.
In response to rising rates, Meagan and her family are now considering selling their condominium in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The hosts of The Ramsey Show were shocked and advised her to sell as quickly as possible.
What is an HOA?
One in five Americans lives in an area with a Home Owners Association – or HOA. But what exactly do they do?
- An HOA is a homeowners association – an organization that aims to maintain a clean, cohesive place for its residents to live.
- Entire neighborhoods, subdivisions, condominiums, single-family homes or townhouses within “a planned development” will often constitute an HOA.
- They also serve as a regulatory body for the tenants, who manage and finance the HOA through monthly fees.
- Its main goals are to keep the community functional and visually appealing and maintain property values.
- They focus primarily on a neighborhood’s common areas, like roads, parks, and pools — but they can also stipulate what residents can do with their property, like yards and sidewalks.
- These restrictions often impose uniformity on properties, for example, ensuring that most houses look the same and that all sidewalks are free of weeds.
- An HOA Rule Book of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&R) is distributed to all residents, and an elected volunteer board of directors enforces these regulations.
- Violating these rules can result in penalties such as fines and even litigation – as most HOAs are incorporated and subject to state law.
- HOAs are often the subject of controversy, with some members feeling that the rules are too punitive and restrictive, or that the leadership has too much power.
- But other HOAs like this give communities the power of self-government and can ensure a degree of harmony among residents.
Commenters on the podcast’s music video were just as outraged as Meagan and the show’s hosts.
Many commenters said they would refuse to buy any home that involved an HOA.
“The minute the realtor mentioned HOA when trying to show us a house, we opened both doors and jumped out,” one commenter wrote.
“HOA is a non-starter. I’ve lived in my house for 37 years and I still haven’t met most of my neighbors. I like it that way.”
“I would NEVER live in a community or home with an HOA,” wrote another.
Other commenters mourned Meagan, sharing their own HOA horror stories.
“I’ve lived in a condo for over 20 years and I’ve come to hate the whole HOA thing,” wrote one sympathetic viewer.
“And I say that as someone who is on the board and has been on the executive board for a number of years,” he continued. “The problem is that when you have people in charge of something like this, they feel like they have to ‘do something’ all the time.
“What tends to happen is that the real infrastructure problems, like roads, water mains and sidewalks, tend to be ignored while they focus on petty things.”
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
