HOA: What It Means

HOA — What is it and what does it mean?

HOA is the common abbreviation for “Homeowners' Association.”

Simply put, the Association exists to enforce the community's governing documents. This means that an HOA can provide services, regulate activities, and may impose fines — if state law and CC&Rs allow — based on the Governing Documents that are set in place.

An Association does not strictly or solely apply to communities in which single-family houses are the only offering to call home. Townhouse and Condominium communities may also have Associations.

Anyone that buys property in a community with an HOA also buys a stake in the HOA and has a say in the decisions an HOA makes.

How does an HOA benefit the community?

There are two ways in which an HOA will benefit your community. Conveniently, both work toward the same overall goal: increasing property value.

1) HOAs create communal amenities that individuals may not necessarily be able to afford or have the space available for on their own property.

These amenities can be tennis and basketball courts, a fitness center, dog parks, a swimming pool, and many many more. These community perks ultimately become selling points and work favorably for the residents. Also, no resident has to worry about the maintenance or upkeep of the community amenities and spaces.

2) The HOA creates, maintains, and enforces rules.

The rules are in place so that the community can exist in harmony. If everyone were to do whatever they wanted to their property, it would infringe upon other community members. This makes the development less desirable. Imagine trying to sell a house next door to a flamingo-pink property with a bowling alley in the front yard. While it may sound cool, it’s going to be quite the eyesore and a hard-sell to potential homeowners.

How does an HOA afford and maintain amenities?

Shared amenities and community upkeep are matters the HOA will pay for and maintain. This means ensuring grass does not become overgrown, structures are not falling apart, playgrounds are safe for children to use, pools are being kept clean, and basketball hoops have nets on them. These things can only be properly maintained if the finances of the HOA are also properly maintained. This is done through collecting monthly or annual HOA fees from all members of the community.

As stated earlier, each member of the community buys into the HOA at the same time they purchase their property. This gives them the right to use the communal amenities, but at a cost. Each month the members of the community must pay the agreed upon amount of money in the Governing Documents to help finance the maintenance and upkeep. It's the HOA's job to manage this money properly to ensure that the finances are available.

This is done through finding the proper balance in fees. If fees are set as low as possible, it will be very difficult to ensure there is proper funding for maintenance and upkeep. At the same time, if fees are set too high, community members will look to leave and it will also be hard to lure in new members to the community.

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It might seem like a daunting or difficult road ahead, but rest assured these are all things we can help you handle to make your life as an HOA board member easy and stress free.