NOTE: This post is a first, the first not written by me. John Gutknecht wrote this on my comment section on yesterdays post, he is the first commenter to ever reach the limit to how much text could be commented on not once but three times! John and I have not been on the same page on some issues (I was right) over the years and we have agreed on others, but I can tell you that he is one of the most organized people I know and the Valley Lakes HOA runs very smoothly becuase of him. John serves the village as a board member on the Round Lake Management Commission for our lake. Our community is that much better becuase people like John live here!
Why all this hostility to HOA's?
Like it or not, mandatory homeowners associations are the result of responsible development and are the result of the evolution of residential property development and ownership. Associations are the only way to deal with the realities of commonly held property which is the result of communities demanding more "open space" and "less density" in their developments.
By purchasing into a community association, the homeowner agrees to abide by the community's pre-established guidelines. In our modern developments, homeowners live very close to each other (often on less than 1/6th of an acre) and share common facilities and property and this requires that they sacrifice certain freedoms for the cause of protecting communal property values and reducing nuisances. Reasonable restrictions, consistently enforced over time, will preserve the net value of the community and maintain a high quality of life for residents. The purpose and functions of an HOA are outside of those for municipal government which is in place to serve the ENTIRE municipality.
Even if a municipal government were to take over an HOA, they would still be required to enforce the declaration. In some cases (Valley Lakes) even if the HOA is abolished, the restrictions in the declaration "shall continue only until the expiration of twenty (20) years after the death of the last surviving child born in Lake County, Illinois, in the year 1998." which in most estimates is sometime in the year 2100!
So even if you abolish your HOA, most of the "issues" that people have with HOA's would still exist, but instead of local homeowners calling the shots, a bunch of elected politicians would be deciding the fate of your neighborhood. And who's to say that the money you pay in taxes (instead of assessments) isn't put into some general fund with only a small portion of that money actually being spent to maintain the value of your community. Do you want some guy who's more interested in being re-elected so he can protect his "good old boy" buddies deciding how much money is being spent on the upkeep of your community, or would you rather have one of your neighbors calling the shots?
Each community has a distinct and unique character that was present from the beginning. It's the HOA's responsibility to maintain that character which includes such things as architectural control and common area maintenance. Some communities are more burdened than others.
For example, Lakewood has the added amenity of having a swimming pool for it's members to use. I think it's a safe bet to say that less than half of the people buying a home there actually gave any thought as to who was going to pay for the upkeep of that pool. If you knew you were going to end up paying $300-$400 a year for the upkeep of a community pool, would you have bought a home there?? Maybe, maybe not, but just because you didn't take the time to find out you were responsible for that expense before you moved in, doesn't give you the right to abandon that responsibility.
Instead of b!~@&!%# about the your HOA, why not get involved and make a difference. I think you'll find that like most people who get involved in HOA's they quickly realize that they are bound by what the declaration allows them to do. Most HOA's are not as "all powerful" as most people think they are. But if you get involved in a constructive manner, you'll have a chance to actually have a hand in the direction of your community. You have a much better chance of affecting the direction of your community through your HOA than you do through the Village Board. But I think what's really going on here is the same problem we have in general in this country - apathy. People whine and complain about stuff - especially on the internet - but when it comes time to actually DO anything about it or voice their opinion in person, they just stay locked up in their nice suburban homes peering out through closed windows and spewing hate on the keyboard. I witnessed this first hand last year when the Valley Lakes Board increased assessments by 15% (after not having an increase for 7 years) With all of the comments and complaints we received, we were prepared for the worst. With 1172 homeowners, we expected 10-15% would show up to voice their concerns. So we were prepared for 200 or more people. When 5 (yes FIVE) people showed up, I knew we had reached a new level in apathy.
I completely disagree with the argument that HOA's are another layer of government and an additional tax on the homeowner. This is simply not true. HOA's are limited by their charter as written in the declaration. So you ALWAYS know what you're getting yourself into. A municipal government on the other hand, can write law after law anytime they want all in the interest of "public health and welfare". Your assessment money goes directly to support your community and YOUR property (you hold title in common to your community property, so it IS your property) Your tax money on the other hand goes to support the welfare of your entire community which can grown and expand at anytime. Your tax burden can increase at anytime to accommodate the growing needs of your larger community, your assessments on the other hand can only be spent for your association and that's not likely to grow once the development is finished.
If you want to live in a community that has open common space and one that maintains the architectural integrity of the community, then live in an HOA and sacrifice some of your freedoms for the assurance that you'll live in a community where everyone in the community has a stake in protecting your common property value and share in the high quality of life that comes as a result.
If you don't want those things or you just can't bear to give up your God given right as a citizen of the United States of America to paint your house purple and cover your lawn with miniature replicas of icons from around the world and silhouette cutouts of kids in cute poses then DON'T buy a home in an association, there are plenty of those homes in the area.
Nobody's forcing you to live in an HOA, you did READ the declaration before you bought your home - didn't you?
FINAL NOTE: The picture is of Valley Lakes looking South. This was about a year and a half ago.
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