Jeremy Richardson

Dr. Sallie Griffin

UWRT 1102
4/1/2015

Homeowners Association
Does the Homeowners Association own more of your house than you do? Is it worth
moving into a development that is under the jurisdiction of an HOA? Are all HOAs equally
strict, or are some more lenient, or even virtually nonexistent? These are questions that some of
the 50 million people in the United States living in such developments asked themselves before
purchasing their homes. Well touch on certain subjects regarding each of these questions and
others throughout the duration of this paper. The most important question of all would be, Does
your homeowners association work for you, or do you work for it?
It is essential to remember that a homeowner association is a business operation, but one
without a profit motive. Urban Land Institute/Community Associations Institute, Managing a
Successful Community Association (McKenzie 122). Ill be honest with you, before moving into
my house I didnt know what a Homeowners Association was. But reading that quote you have
to question the accuracy of such an oxymoron. The main goal of a business is to earn money, and
HOAs definitely do that. How can you accumulate so much money and not generate a profit? I
could understand the initial costs of building the tennis courts, pool, and a possible playground.
Other than that, where is all of this income being distributed? I had no clue of the
responsibilities tied to an HOA and their responsibilities obligated toward the community in
which they manage. If you are like I was a few years ago, and think that it is crazy to pay

someone to tell you how you should keep your lawn, or what color to paint your house, or fine
you for not closing your garage door on Sunday, allow me to give you a brief history of this
organization that became known as the Homeowners Association.
The first homeowners association in the United States was established on July 8, 1844 in
the Louisburg Square in Boston (Dilger 43, 44). The committee consisted of three people, voted
for by the majority of the twenty-eight homeowners within the development (Dilger 44). Their
responsibilities included improving and maintaining the park. Keep in mind that Homeowner
Associations then are far less complex from what theyve evolved into today.
The Homeowners Association is that type of organization you either hate it, or are never
bothered by them. Granted the association owns and manages common property within the
neighborhood such as the pool house, tennis courts, and playground (Dilger 16). This is a nice
amenity and helps draw potential buyers to the neighborhood. Keep in mind that obligations
differ whether you purchase a townhouse, condo, or single-family home. This gets into different
types of RCAs (residential community associations) and should be researched thoroughly before
agreeing to purchase the house within the development.
For instance, when you purchase a townhouse in a RCA community you do not own the
outside of that townhouse and will not be held responsible for the cleanliness of it. The HOA is
responsible for hiring someone to power wash the exterior and should do so at least once a year
depending on the location. It sounds good that you will not have to spend a Saturday power
washing your house. But, remember if you want to have a television company that must have a
satellite or dish to provide service you will have to get permission to mount that device on the
outside of your house. As crazy as that seems, once you sign the dotted line confirming the
purchase of that townhome, you fall under that Homeowner Associations jurisdiction

There are certain criteria that a HOA must meet such as: 1. Be formed by a commercial
land developer 2. Have compulsory membership 3. Have membership open only to the developer
or builder and the lot purchaser 4. Provide direct private benefits to the members with any
benefits to the general public at best a secondary concern of the association because of the
associations organizational format and operational plan 5. Involve the existence of an
association and a membership that is derived directly from, and is inextricably tied to, contracts
for the sale and purchase of private property.
Once you purchase a house within an HOA community you are obligated to pay the
designated amount per month or year. By doing so, you are welcome to use the amenities the
community has to offer such as a pool, tennis courts, and playground. Remember that different
communities have different amenities, and some communities may not have any but still charge
an HOA fee for maintaining the common grounds. Keep in mind that all HOAs are different, and
have different rules. Some are way stricter that others and some are just downright lazy. This
leads me to my Homeowners Association for the community of Wellington in Charlotte, North
Carolina.
I have never had an issue, been fined, or had to contact them in my three years of living
in the community. It might be because Im getting older, but certain things I just dont
understand. For instance, there are probably five hundred houses in the neighborhood paying
$440 a year in Homeowners fees. Just doing some quick math that is around two-hundred and
twenty thousand dollars they are getting paid at the beginning of every year to budget. Would it
kill them to plant some pansies in the entrance near the Wellington sign instead of having dirt
there? Pansies cost next to nothing and it would make the entrance look so much more
welcoming. There is a gentleman that lives in the neighborhood who owns a lawn and yard

maintenance business; I dont see an issue of hiring him to spruce up the common area known
as the entrance. Its written in the budget, but seems to get overlooked every spring. It is clearly
stated in the contract that the association is responsible for that area. I feel if we as homeowners
are held to a higher standard with our lawn care, the community should be held to that same
standard with common areas.
A couple years ago my neighbors took a trip to Connecticut and left on a Wednesday.
Well, it just so happens that our trash is picked up on Fridays. So, they take their trash can and
put it at the end of the driveway Wednesday night before they leave. Keep in mind that we live in
a cul-de-sac with maybe eight houses on that road. The following week they get a letter in the
mail fining them twenty-five dollars for having their trash can down by the road on an
unauthorized day. Within the letter it stated that a neighbor had made the complaint. We all know
one another, and none of us even thought about the trash cans being out one day early, much less
wrote to the Homeowners Association about it. We came to the conclusion that that was their
way of keeping them from looking like the bad guy and still squeezing twenty five bucks out
of someone.
Whats funny is our Homeowners Association is not even local! It is in Georgia,
approximately three hours away. Even on the website, if you were to have a complaint you have
to submit a complaint form and wait for a reply. There are currently seven people that live in the
community who volunteer for the Homeowners Association Board, but there are no emails or
phone numbers given on the website in case something came up. Again, you would have to write
a general message to the association in Georgia and wait for a response. In the three years weve
lived there I have seen the HOA inspector car one time. They were apparently driving around
checking to make sure the lawns were properly manicured, because my other neighbor got a

letter stating if the leaves were not picked up and bagged in his common area (not even
technically his yard) he would be fined $25 a day. Needless to say, I went out and helped him
because we are both responsible for that area although its considered a common area.
Thats the thing with HOAs, sometimes they can be complete jerks, and then other times
when a car has been broken down sitting on blocks in the main entrance for a month you never
see them. Every community has that one house that is always for rent. It will be rented out for
two months, and those tenants will get kicked out, and the next tenants come in for two months,
and so on and so forth. Well, we have that same situation happening. It seems to be getting better,
the owners finally had the house painted (a neutral brown color so to not be fined), and a new
roof put on. It actually looks really nice! The issue is renters do not care about the appearance of
a house. They are not going to spend money on mulch or drainage rock to spruce up the outside,
and will only mow the lawn when its absolutely necessary. I get the not spending money stuff,
because its not your house. However, you still have to follow the guidelines of the Homeowners
association. If Im paying the HOA four hundred forty dollars a year, I would like them to hold
everyone equally accountable of the appearance of their homes. And if my neighbor gets fined
for putting his trash can out one day early, I would hope the people that left the trash can out for
three weeks also received a letter. It seems like a huge issue to not have your Homeowners
Association nearby. Not that you can run to them every five seconds with minute discrepancies,
but you can talk with them over issues that could potentially devalue your house to a potential
buyer. If someone drives into the neighborhood to do a walk-through of your home and they see
this house with the trash can out overflowing and ruts in the yard, its going to be a major
eyesore.

Homeowner Association horror stories have made national news from the condominium
manager in Fort Lauderdale, Florida ordering a couple to stop entering and leaving their unit
through their back door. He claimed that they were wearing an unsightly path in the lawn by
taking a short cut to the parking lot (McKenzie 16). The couple retained an attorney who filed a
lawsuit seeking a courts permission for the couple to use their own backdoor. Another example
comes from Ashland, Massachusetts when a Vietnam War veteran was told he could not fly the
American flag on Flag Day (McKenzie 15). Once the resident called the press and the story
appeared on the front page of the paper, the board quickly backed down (McKenzie 15).
I give you these examples not to deter you from ever living in a community governed by
a homeowners association, but to urge you to research, or possibly ask people that currently live
in the development how the HOA typically acts.
Im still very new to the idea of having a Homeowners Association and for the most part
have not ever had to deal with them. I grew up on one-hundred and twenty acres in a very, very
rural town in Arkansas (population of sixty-three people) and never even knew HOAs existed.
But, now having lived in a couple of HOA developments (rented a townhome in Belmont before
purchasing in Wellington) I know that it is vital to have your Homeowners Association at least in
the same county in order to bring up issues within the community, or have a meeting over the
budget, and future plans for the community. It is very difficult to achieve any of these when you
never see your HOA, or its board members.

Work Cited
McKenzie, Evan. "Homeowner Associations as Private Governments."Privatopia: Homeowner
Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government. New Haven: Yale UP, 1994. 122.
Print.
Dilger, Robert Jay. "RCA's Historical Development." Neighborhood Politics Residential
Community Associations in American Governance. New York: New York UP, 1992. 43,44. Print.