HOA questions in CA

My wife and I are currently looking at newer homes, and im curious as to the HOA laws in CA, and have a few questions regarding HOA's. If i move into a community that has a HOA, would i be able to customize my home? paint, do lawn work, Alter the landscapeing? Or would that be out of the question? What is the average HOA fee, i know that is probably a broad question, but any help would be apperiated.

Quick tip - often you won't get to see the documents until you put an offer in. By then you've already made an emtional decision to live in that house. If the documents are then too restrictive, you end up starting all over again. Ask if you can contact the board or management company. Have your list of questions ready and fire off an e-mail or give them a call. Many of the answers will come back "Maybe, it will depend on what you want to do". Taking care of your landscaping may be allowed (or even required), but there may be limitations on what and where you can plant, as well as "standards to maintain" that you will have to accept also.

Its hard not to fall in love with the home first, but as you can see from this forum, that can often lead to issues with the association. Find out everything you can about the association because they're probably going to become a part of your life, and that works better if you know what's going on before getting into it.

Joe

Bill - If you are serious about buying in an HOA community, look at the ones still being built. If you want changes or have special outside requirements, you will most likely get them from the builder than you might from an owner controlled board. Before you do anything tho, request a copy of the CC&Rs. Take them home and study, study, study. Be aware, even if you do find a set of rules you can probably live with, they can be changed at any time by the builder after you buy, and later when the homeowners control the HOA, they can be changed with the designated percent of your neighbors approval. So the existing rules might be fine, but could change drastically later.
If you buy into an existing HOA, demand a copy of the bylaws, rules, and declaration. Ask what is the current assessment as well as any special assessment. Inspect conditions of any community buildings or amenities, then ask to see the total reserves (to avoid a potential huge special assessment down the road.) The seller should disclose any improvements or alterations to his property that violate the covenants because they can require you to correct them. Ask for a current budget, financial statement, and reserve study (reserve study is different from the actual reserves - compare the study with the actual.) Be certain to find out if there is any pending special assessment or pending litigation that could cost you a lot of money and which the seller is trying to get out from under. If you can get them, ask for one or two years of BOD minutes - that can give you an idea of how the current board operates. Find out if there is a "transaction" fee (called many different names) requiring the buyer to pay sometimes thousands of dollars to the association for the privilege of buying the home - in today's market you should be able to make the seller pick that up. (Buying a new home will bypass this expense.)
Buying into an HOA requires very judicious study. Good luck. Harold

I hesitate about getting the minutes and financial records of the HOA. You may NOT have the right to access those items except for the filed CC&R's. The Convenants and Restrictions are considered PUBLIC documents and go with the deed of the property. You can find them at the County Courthouse Records department.
You are NOT a member of the HOA until you sign across that dotted line. So why would a HOA freely hand over such documents such as meeting notes, financial statements or collections information? I wouldn't and I hope no one else on the board would do it either. That information is PROPRIETORY to the HOA. You as a complete stranger walking by a HOA can't simply walk into one and start demanding they hand over records.
The information you can gather is whatever the seller legally has to reveal. That will be hammered out during the selling process. A smart buyer will hire a home inspector to review home condition. That won't include HOA conditions. Your realtor may be able to obtain some information if you ask them to ask questions to the seller's realtor.
HOA stands for HOMEOWNER's Association. So once your a homeowner, you should have the right to vote and participate in the community. Only the homeowner's make or break the rules in a HOA. You may like the benefits of the HOA. I loved our lawncare the most. I hate mowing the yard and in our HOA we didn't have to mow! It was much cheaper living in the HOA than living outside of one for me. The amenities are split up amongst all the homeowners which does help. Find out the benefits of your HOA instead of looking for all the problems. Believe me, problems will find you and NOT the other way around!

Melissa - most of the suggestions I mentioned to check out buying into an existing HOA are REQUIRED to be furnished in Arizona by the association if over 50 units or the seller if under 50 units. Where did I say to demand this information from the HOA? You are always rejoining to stuff I never said. For instance, I said IF IF IF IF you can get the minutes from one or two years it would give an idea as to how this board operates. That would be important information a diligent buyer would want to know - a lot more important than knowing if they mow the lawn. Why wouldn't a buyer want to know if there is impending litigation or a special assessment coming up that could certainly impact his wallet big time after buying?
And what is this proprietary financial horse stuff? If your HOA is incorporated they should be furnishing a yearly financial statement to the state which is available to anyone who wants it. Not very proprietary! But it certainly creates an illusion of: what are they hiding? And there you go again: I absolutely never mentioned anything about requesting collections information. Where do you dream up these interpretations of what I've said?
Actually your refusal to give me any information about your HOA would send me walking as fast as I could go. Do you actually expect a buyer to buy into your association on blind faith? Oh I forgot, it's proprietary. LOL. Harold

I think it is perfectly reasonable for a buyer to request those documents, minutes, newsletters, etc. The board can deny the request, however, as a seller you want the home to move so if they buyer wants this information I am getting it for them. The HOA has to give it to the owner.

I think the buyer should work through the seller and their agent to retrieve these documents. Good advice, nothing to be sorry about. Buying a home is a huge investment that some take to lightly.

"Investigate before you invest" Take some time to speak with current owners. What do they think? Do they have the answers that you need? The CC&R's are certainly not easy to comprehend at first glance. You need practical experiences. Some people hate HOA'S, some love them.

BillW4:
You have recd many replies to your questions. However, I still feel strongly that to enjoy living in a covenant-controlled community, you need to be a person who is OK with certain aesthetic rules you must live by. That is to say if you are one who needs/likes to control his own environment (outside), HOA living may not be right for you.

I also want to address Roger's post in that he stated--if one needs to make a choice on whether to live in a covenant restricted community vs. a non-restricted area, then he would opt for the covenant restricted since it would ensure his home's value would increase. Home values will almost always increase whether you are in a community or not--real estate is always a good investment. However, communities with very strict rules/covenants are not to everyone's liking, and this can be a detriment as well. Its OK to have rules, but the rules must not be so overbearing that your life within a 'community environment' is stifled.

Bill, if you are seriously considering community living, I would suggest NOT buying into a 'new' community, but one which has been 'seasoned', has gone through the serious growing pains and...
- has a strong Board in place
- has good resident attendance at regularly scheduled Board meetings
- maintains the integrity of its surroundings with careful maintenance
- has very low % to no % of rental units
- few to no amenities (pool, clubhouse, tennis courts resulting in high
monthly fee for maintenance/repair)

The very best thing you can do to assist you in making a decision is to speak to community residents themselves, ask what they like about living there, what they don't like, what problems they have had in the past, what the turnover is for new owners, how are architectural requests handled, have they had any cases go to court...ask for a copy of the latest rules/regs and procedures for initiating an architectural request. Drive around your area and compare communities one to another vs. homes in surrounding areas.

One additional note: when buying in a community, especially new, the realtor/developer will always lowball the current assessment fee to entice buyers, so plan on paying a significantly higher assessment fee once the homeowners' association is up and running.

Good Luck to you.