OOC

[rredmond]

Oh snap, don't leave us hangin like that, Ron!!

max_vale?

If so, good addition! Welcome, max!

Oops, yes it's max!

[Argennian]

Well in that case, welcome max_vale!!

[max_vale]

Thanks for the welcome amigos; I'm happy to be here; thanks again for inviting me Redmond! Hopefully; I'll make a good "basher of skulls" type!

-Max

[max_vale]

My apologies for my late reply....it's been a bit of a crazy week; the Mrs. and I found a place that we'd love to move too (we've been looking for a couple of years now)....and put in a contract on it and at the same time are doing a lot of work/moving stuff in our current house; so I haven't had much time to spend on-line these past few days...sorry!

[dmw71]

My apologies for my late reply....it's been a bit of a crazy week; the Mrs. and I found a place that we'd love to move too (we've been looking for a couple of years now)....and put in a contract on it and at the same time are doing a lot of work/moving stuff in our current house; so I haven't had much time to spend on-line these past few days...sorry!

No worries. Congratulations on finding the house!

[Alethan]

No worries! Finding the right house can take a long time, but it's well worth it, Max.

My wife and I looked at 152 houses over most of a year (our realtor had the count a little lower, but we looked at several open houses without him) before we found and bought the one we wanted. It has great character, is in a quiet neighborhood with no HOA, and it's a good size if we stay a family of three and it would be a good size if we ever decided to have another baby (doesn't look like that will happen... we just had friends over for the weekend who have a little boy 10 months older than our 2 year old and a 3 month old baby; I think we're fine with just the one, thank you very much!).

It is a house we'll be able to grow in for many, many years.

Plus, we're in the middle of refinancing it for a lower rate and just today we locked in a rate of 2.75% for 15 years with our credit union. For an extra $200/month, we'll shave 10 years and $148,000 off the total cost of our loan.

More importantly, that means we'll have the house paid off before our son is out of high school.

THAT is a good feeling.

[dmw71]

Plus, we're in the middle of refinancing it for a lower rate and just today we locked in a rate of 2.75% for 15 years with our credit union. For an extra $200/month, we'll shave 10 years and $148,000 off the total cost of our loan.

More importantly, that means we'll have the house paid off before our son is out of high school.

THAT is a good feeling.

That is awesome, man!

[rredmond]

Congrats Max!

[saalaria]

Good Stuff Mr Vale
Ethan - what is HOA?

[dmw71]

Ethan - what is HOA?

HOA = Homeowners Association

[saalaria]

thanks Dave - whats that? Some kind of housing help/free housing thing?
Assume it means less desirable neighbours?!

[dmw71]

thanks Dave - whats that? Some kind of housing help/free housing thing?
Assume it means less desirable neighbours?!

It varies. And, no, it doesn't mean a less desirable neighborhood.

***

I started to type out my experiences with HOA's, but thought it'd be better to find a more authoritative source:
FAQ: Your Homeowners Association Questions Answered

***

Stuff I said, before finding the above link:

At a high level, the HOA is an organization that creates a set of rules that homes (or condominiums, townhomes, etc...) that fall under it's "jurisdiction" must abide by (some are crazier than others). They typically provide certain services (e.g. snow removal, lawn services, exterior maintenance, etc...), in exchange for a (monthly) fee.

Previous homes I've lived in were "governed" by a HOA and I never really had any issue with it (aside from the never-ending rate increases), but it was nice to not have to worry about shoveling my driveway or mowing the grass.

My current home does not have a HOA. I don't have that extra expense, but everything pertaining to my home and property is solely my responsibility.

[tkrexx]

Good stuff, Max. We just paid our home off this year (In 10 years!) and in a few years we'll be looking to sell it. Hopefully by then the market will be better...

[dmw71]

Good stuff, Max. We just paid our home off this year (In 10 years!)

That's awesome, tkrexx, congratulations!

[max_vale]

Thanks folks, I really appreciate it! It's not a done deal yet....but hopefully, soon; so keep your fingers crossed for us!

tkrexx and alethan; congrats on your situations!

It's funny; maybe's it's an East Coast (or Maryland/VA) thing; but I've always paid HOAs; the type of neighborhood didn't matter....it's what pays for lawn cutting services on neighborhood property that's not someone's yard; and local trash and recycling servies; that kind of thing. I guess it's different elsewhere; which is always good to know in case of moves and that kind of thing.

[Alethan]

In the Midwest, HOAs just soak money from the residents to maintain some common ground grass and a (usually) crappy sign. Ours was disbanded about three years after the small subdivision was established.

I live in a small cluster of three little cul de sacs, all with custom homes from the early 1980's. Our home is passive solar in design, which means much lower electric bills (e.g. Last month, the hottest recorded month in Missouri state history, our utility bill for a 2400 square foot house was $154.00.)

I can go into detail on what passive solar means and what we've done to make our house as efficient as it can be, if anyone is interested in hearing about it. Most of it is stuff anyone can do, and doesn't always cost a lot of money.

[rredmond]

Hey, email me that passive solar stuff. I'm interested.

But I live in South Jersey now, and up until 7 or 8 years ago lived in NY. I've never paid HOA fees. I've only ever seen them in Town House or Condo type set ups. Until watching those home improvement and home selling shows on HGTV I never realized how prevalent they were!

[Vargr1105]

Assume it means less desirable neighbours?!

"Less desirable neighbours", Lol. I love these euphemisms.

I have never heard of HOAs over here. I was wondering, do HOAs have any legal-binding powers to prevent undesirables from moving into the neighborhood? Or is it just a plow snow and grasskeep affair?

Since we are talking of good news concerning realstate, I just got news that a studio apartment I own in another town has been rented, so I can expect a stream of rent coming this way for the period of one year, at least. And later I will be going to meet another renter here to collect this month's rent.

Life ain't all bad.

[dmw71]

I have never heard of HOAs over here. I was wondering, do HOAs have any legal-binding powers to prevent undesirables from moving into the neighborhood? Or is it just a plow snow and grasskeep affair?

I feel pretty confident the HOA has no say in who can or cannot move into the neighborhood, but there are plenty of cases of abuse. People have actually been evicted from their homes over minor violations.

Check out this story: Evicted for flying the American flag

Insane.

[Alethan]

Hey, email me that passive solar stuff. I'm interested.

But I live in South Jersey now, and up until 7 or 8 years ago lived in NY. I've never paid HOA fees. I've only ever seen them in Town House or Condo type set ups. Until watching those home improvement and home selling shows on HGTV I never realized how prevalent they were!

Will do. I'll keep it off the forum, so anyone else interested in hearing about it (I really should just write a few blog entries about the things we've done so I can link to them), just send me a PM and let me know. I'll include you in the e-mail.