Friday, January 24, 2014

The pros and cons of homeowners associations - MSN Real Estate

The pros and cons of homeowners associations - MSN Real Estate

Including a brief quote from yours truly.

1 comment:

IC_deLight said...

What were the pros?

With respect, the comment that "Most associations work reasonably well most of the time..." is unsupported by fact and simply catering to a vicious industry that needs no help in promoting a dystopian totalitarian environment as a place to live.

The "bads" mentioned were almost soft and ridiculed.
Who is the "you" in the anti-purple-house crowd anti-RV crowd? Certainly not the homeowner that wants a purple house or RV.

The comment by the industry attorney at the end was worthless pablum. Telling people to "read the CCRs" and avoid if there is a ridiculous restriction is a useless proposition.

First, housing is a fundamental need. What choice do people have when virtually all housing is burdened with involuntary membership HOAs in many parts of the country? Their choice is WHICH absurdly restricted property to call home.

Second, reviewing the documents is no protection against a restriction being implemented without your consent and to your great detriment AFTER you purchase. Not only is this something that a prospective purchaser cannot protect against, but it is also a problem for the current owners. It does no good to say that future owners are on "notice" because the existing owners lost a very important property right without any compensation whatsoever under the completely unsubstantiated "good for the community" claim.

The day that people are given options, the HOA industry will be in deep trouble as will most existing HOA housing stock.