HOA Public IRS 990 returns

Non-profit corporations file IRS 990 tax returns. 990s are available to the public, but that doesn't mean they are easily obtained. Several organizations publish the returns for non-profits online, but there aren't very many HOAs in the lists. Anyone know how we can get places like Charity Navigator or 990 Foundation or ProPublica to publish HOAs too? This should be an important part of choosing a neighborhood to live in and measuring your neighborhood against others.

Adding to what RoyalP said, a charity serves the public, or some segment of it, so it is reasonable to make information about their finances public. HOAs, on the other hand, serve only the members of the association, and thus are considered "private". You would not expect to find information about private citizens' finances to be publicly available.

Also keep in mind that a tax return won't tell you much about an association's finances. It's a piece of the puzzle, but without the other pieces, you won't really know what it means.

Fortunately there are other ways to tease out some idea of the financial strength of a community. Drive through the community and look at how well it's being maintained. Get onto the county recorder's web site and search for the community's records - there you will find the governing documents and any other legal agreements that the community must abide by. You'll also find information about liens. If there are none, and it's a good-sized community, it may suggest that the board is not pursuing delinquencies and that their finances may have a hole in them. Also look on web sites that publish info about home listings *including foreclosures*. How many are there? Does your state have a "super lien" for HOAs, which means that the association will be paid first for any delinquent assessments. Or is the mortgage holder always the senior lien, which means there is a good chance that the association will not be made whole.

Check your county's property records. Does any one entity own multiple units? Owner occupancy rates can affect your ability to obtain a mortgage.

None of the information above will give you a definite answers, but taken as a whole, it should allow you to steer clear of communities that are more likely to be in trouble.

We certainly file 1120-H, this thread is the first suggestion I've ever seen that any associations might file anything other than some 1120 version.