My real estate agent doesn't really understand why I turn away homes she picks out that have HOAs. She used to work for a builder and sold new homes, and so for the better part of the last decade, she's seen firsthand how basically every builder couples construction to an association. Some of her arguments may be valid, but not at the cost.
Some of the HOAs include a $150-250/month fee. This pays for localized amenities like pools, playgrounds and exercise facilities, but I'm already paying tax money to support these same facilities through city facilities, so I don't feel that it's value added to pay the privilege of having one right outside my door. I understand the HOA trying to help keep home values up, but that's a weak argument given the current housing debacle. Sometimes there's landscaping to keep up or regulations to enforce, and I understand those costs. The agent reminded me I could run for association president and dictate the rules, but I'm disinclined to that. Here's why.
I briefly caught mention yesterday on the KXNT AM840 Casey Hendrickson show a story about a local HOA. Although I didn't catch the locale or many of the details, the basic premise of the article dealth with how the HOA was now enforcing behavior inside the homes of residents. Whereas most HOAs confine their activity to the visible facade and yard, this one is now, like the federal government, reaching into our homes and telling us how to live.
A HOA constitutes one more level of government interferance in my life that I don't need. I don't consider it worth the cost to have someone interfering in my life. The government is in our bathrooms with flush toilets, and now our neighbors are dictating decor. Read Atlas Shrugged or the Giver or 1984. They forshadow coming attractions.
I claim the privilege of living within the confines of my own home according to the dictates of my own conscience and allow all men the same privilege. Let them live where, how, and as long as they wish.
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