We’ve all seen the Geico commercial with Homeowner Association (HOA) president Cynthia being “very involved”, aka wreaking havoc and fear on the new neighbors. It’s hilarious and just a teeny bit realistic, right? HOAs can get a bad rap, but in all reality, they can offer many benefits to homeowners. Let’s check out a few of those benefits.
HOA Benefits
- Help Maintain Property Values – As much as we love a neighborhood pool, this benefit may be the most important for a homeowner. With the rules and guidelines HOAs help maintain, homeowners are held accountable to standards that all neighbors appreciate. This means homes, yards and common areas are taken care of so that when it’s time to sell, your property value has held strong!
- Amenities – Playgrounds, walking trails, golf courses, pools, dumpster days, picnic shelters, ball fields, sport courts, dog parks, barbeque pits…need we go on? Depending on the size of your neighborhood or amount of HOA dues, you most likely will have one or more of these offerings. The other perk to amenities? Your dues help maintain and upkeep them! No need to clean your own pool (unless you’ve been looking forward to that pool boy coming each morning!); your dues cover that.
- Sense of Community – Being part of a neighborhood that offers an HOA will most likely provide you ample opportunities to meet your neighbors and make friends. From 4th of July parades, to food truck nights, to block parties and neighborhood races, there will be many chances to know who you’re in community with.
Many HOAs also provide digital spaces to connect with your neighbors like private Facebook groups. They can be a wonderful resource when you’re looking for a vendor to fix your fence or want to share photos of your beautiful garden. It can also be a place for Karens, if you know what we mean, so just prepare yourselves. 🙂 - Architectural Controls – With no HOA, you see neighborhoods with some pretty gnarly yards, dilapidated fences, interesting choices of house paint colors and more messes. Although this part of the HOA can sometimes be viewed as controlling and strict, it’s truly what keeps a neighborhood looking nice. And just remember, you agree to these terms when you buy your home!
We’re all in support of HOAs, and at Dani Beyer Real Estate, we help families buy homes in some of the top neighborhoods in Kansas City with the best HOAs. Or if you’re ready to sell your home to one of these families, we can definitely help you with that too! Give us a call at 816-716-5172 to get started.