HOA Pros and Cons #1: Upfront Cost vs Paying Per Repair

Sometimes people can feel like they’re getting slapped with feed for nothing with HOA dues. They can seem so expensive, sometimes for benefits you don’t see right away. This upfront cost can feel like a pain to people who would rather pay out of pocket per repair, rather than paying an additional fee for something they may not need. On the other hand, paying every month can ease your mind when something is broken, because you know that you will not have any additional fees to pay.

HOA Pros and Cons #2: Self Managed vs Off Your Plate

Next, one major benefit to HOAs is that they will coordinate the repairs for you, kind of like a landlord if you are renting. They will hire the people to garden, landscape, or complete repairs, and you don't have to worry about it. However, if you prefer to hire your own people that you have researched and vetted, this might not feel like a benefit to you. Some people like to manage their own repairs and to know exactly what is going on. In this case, not having an HOA might be the way to go. 

HOA Pros and Cons #3: Restrictive Rules vs Maintained Communities

Some people can get very annoyed with not being able to make the changes they wish to make for a house they own. Some HOAs care deeply about the color of the home, the styling, landscaping, and other things that a person chooses to do with their home. These can feel very restrictive to people who own a home. Some HOAs also have noise ordinances, community rules, and more. People might feel like since they own a home, they should be able to do whatever they want within the confines of the law. However, others enjoy this enforcement of a maintained community. 

HOA Pros and Cons #5: Pooling Money vs Managing Your Own

For our last pro and con, we will cover polling money for repairs versus managing your own. For HOA dues every month, part of your fees go toward the monthly maintenance and part gets pooled for repairs down the line. If you are great at managing your money, you might prefer to save for just your repairs and decide how much you need to save yourself every month. You might get frustrated with seemingly having to pay for others’ repairs if your home in the community is in good condition. Sometimes, if the HOA has not saved enough, people even need to pay more later on. However, this is a good way to not have to think about saving and budgeting as it is a built in bill.