I received the electronic copy of the disclosure from our HOA and I have been reading about things that we can and mostly CAN'T do in our house. We are limited to only certain types of fences (they discourage putting up a fence in the first place), mailboxes and other structures. There are very strict rules in any modifications that we plan to do in our house and would have to go through a rigourous application process with the Architectural Committee. Good thing we opted for the 3-car garage so we don't need to build a shed right away. However, we plan to build our own deck so I am not looking forward to that.
We currently live in a neighborhood that has minimal fee ($60 per year or $5 monthly), while the neighborhood for our new build collects an HOA fee of $850 per year or $70 per month. Wow! I knew it was going to be around that amount when we signed the contract, but still I feel like it's too much (still ranting). The only amenities are a small playground, pool and the clubhouse that you can rent. The reason I feel annoyed is because I know of a nice golf course community here in our current area that has so many more amenities like pool and clubhouse, walking and biking trails, tennis and basketball courts, baseball field, commercial area/stores, elementary school, security cameras in the neighborhood and roads and very impressive landscaping and maintenance (maintenance people are picking up trash literally every time I drive in that area), etc and homeowners are only paying $50 per month.
Please join us in our adventure as we travel the road to building our Ryan home in Virginia.
That's about the going rate for a Pool, Playground and Clubhouse. At my old neighborhood we had the same and our HOA fees were $80 month. Our new neighborhood has nothing LOL and it's only $12 month.
ReplyDeleteOur neighborhood also has NOTHING and is currently $130 a year, for someone to tell us what we can and cant do. We should be getting a monmument, but not sure when that will ever be :
ReplyDeleteOur HOA fees are 35/mo and we get a "common area" so serenely located by the storm water management basin (please take note of underlying sarcasm!). The townhouse community we were initially looking at had HOA fees of 125/mo and that had a pool and clubhouse. Sure it all depends on location. And congrats on your new home!
ReplyDeleteThank you. I am now a follower of your blog. Congrats on yours too!
DeleteThank you all for your input. I guess our HOA fees are not that bad. I should just get used to paying them once we move into our new neighborhood. I would also make it a point to utilize the pool as often as we can. Surely, my son would enjoy that.
ReplyDeleteWe pay $350 a year for someone to tell us what we can and can't do. Our cul-de-sacs have no landscaping (and barely any grass), and there are no amenities. RH told different people different things, so no one really knows what we are supposed to have. The HOA won't be turned over to the community until the neighborhood is close to complete. Until then, a management company is in charge. It wouldn't be so painful to pay the HOA fees if we actually saw something in return.
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