HOAs

Guard Dad

Guard Dad

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Any of you live in one?

I lived in one subdivision that had a neighborhood covenant, though it wasn't enforceable because the structure of the HOA was never completed. But even that was bad enough, had several busybody neighbors who complained about everything and tried to use the law to fix anything they didn't like.

Not sure why, but my google news feed often has stories of HOA horror stories where a bunch of snoots in the association tries to tell everyone what to do and even levies large fines on homeowners for sometimes ridiculous stuff. I read these and just shake my head.

I will never live in a HOA if I can help it. I like doing what I want to on my property.
 
My first house in Powder Springs was in one. It wasn't too bad. I did get dinged a couple times for landscaping issues but they weren't too annoying.

Picture of first house with the tiny yard.
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We were with Seven Hills. They were not bad to us but we never did anything to rattle the cage. But not being able to do things we wanted to do to the house (install permanent holiday lights as one example) was one of the factors for us to move. Having the freedom to do what you want is great. No one to get approval from, I can just do it if I have the money.

We are scheduled to get a fence to enclose our back yard soon (maybe 2-3 weeks out) and I am also having gutter guards installed tomorrow. There are enough trees around us where I do not want to worry about cleaning out these gutters.
 
I lived in Silvergrass Estates on Due West Rd. The HOA wasn't much of a problem because everyone kept their yards up. It is now a state law that all new subdivisions built have to have an HOA.
 
Boss 302 said:
I lived in Silvergrass Estates on Due West Rd. The HOA wasn't much of a problem because everyone kept their yards up. It is now a state law that all new subdivisions built have to have an HOA.
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I am trying to find that law but having a hard time locating it. Luckily we had 5 homes built on our private road here which is not considered a subdivision.
 
rolltidega said:
I am trying to find that law but having a hard time locating it. Luckily we had 5 homes built on our private road here which is not considered a subdivision.
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The subdivision builder had to have a company run the HOA until it was turned over to us. We didn't want to have an HOA, but a consultation with a lawyer told us we had no choice, as it was the law for all newly built subdivisions to have one. This was back in 2003. We were lucky, though. Our subdivision was small and had no amenities, which kept our dues very low.
 
Boss 302 said:
The subdivision builder had to have a company run the HOA until it was turned over to us. We didn't want to have an HOA, but a consultation with a lawyer told us we had no choice, as it was the law for all newly built subdivisions to have one. This was back in 2003. We were lucky, though. Our subdivision was small and had no amenities, which kept our dues very low.
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Sounds like the builder had an HOA and your lawyer said you and the homeowners could not disband the HOA. I did searches looking for a law that said HOAs are mandatory for new subdivisions and cannot find one. I wonder if the wording of the HOA covenants made the lawyer believe that it would be impossible to get rid of it.

Again I am just trying to find some proof of a law in Georgia forcing new subdivisions to have an HOA. There are def laws that govern what HOAs are and can do, but for the state to force a subdivision to have one seems like overreach.
 
rolltidega said:
Sounds like the builder had an HOA and your lawyer said you and the homeowners could not disband the HOA. I did searches looking for a law that said HOAs are mandatory for new subdivisions and cannot find one. I wonder if the wording of the HOA covenants made the lawyer believe that it would be impossible to get rid of it.

Again I am just trying to find some proof of a law in Georgia forcing new subdivisions to have an HOA. There are def laws that govern what HOAs are and can do, but for the state to force a subdivision to have one seems like overreach.
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It was a real estate attorney who told us it was a state law. One of the reasons for the law was to help keep property values up. Another was to keep the neighborhoods environmentally safe.
 
rolltidega said:
Sounds like the builder had an HOA and your lawyer said you and the homeowners could not disband the HOA. I did searches looking for a law that said HOAs are mandatory for new subdivisions and cannot find one. I wonder if the wording of the HOA covenants made the lawyer believe that it would be impossible to get rid of it.

Again I am just trying to find some proof of a law in Georgia forcing new subdivisions to have an HOA. There are def laws that govern what HOAs are and can do, but for the state to force a subdivision to have one seems like overreach.
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I'm just telling you what I was told in 2003. For all I know, because HOAs had a bad reputation and most homeowners would rather not be in one, the state assembly could have changed the law. I know everyone in my neighborhood was against having one.
 
I got tired of my yearly “paint your mailbox” letter when we lived in a subdivision. Our dues were cheap though, I think $150 per year. One letter was about our son’s basketball goal needing a new net. I responded that I can drain those 3 pointers from outside the lane which tears the netting.
 
HOAs for subdivisions can be bad but they are nothing compared to HOA for condos at least in my experience. The HOA for the high-rise condo I had was crazy. Not much as far as having to follow rules because you couldn't do that much to the outside of your condo anyway. There was constant fighting between different HOA members and condo owners that weren't happy with how much dues kept going up. It was a decent condo and very close to work at the time but I don't miss very much about it. Fortunately, I made a nice chunk of change when I sold it.
 
I believe it may be mandatory for an HOA if there is community property involved, which there is in most subdivisions built under the PRD zoning. To get that zoning with smaller lots, the developer has to set aside some of the land a "not to be developed" and it has to have an owner, so they create the HOA to be responsible for it.

Our "subdivision" had a single sheet of rules, but they expired after 20 years and mainly concerned what size homes could be built.

We had one set of busybodies that tried to get a HOA started just before they expired, but enough of us said "Heck No!" that it never got off the ground.

There is a small association that consists of the owners that have property around the lake. It gives them responsibility for the Dam and other features.
 
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