Trouble in Paradise – Active Adult Communities Home Owners Associations

July 3 — Buying into a retirement or active adult community is a complex decision involving where you want to live, what lifestyle and activities you want, costs, and what kind of neighbors you want. Your new Home Owners Association (HOA), which typically runs most active adult communities and condo associations, is another issue requiring careful thought. Now HOA’s are in the news for another problem – caused by owner delinquencies and foreclosures.

Home Owners Associations typically set the rules for a community as well as pay the bills and hire the people that run the place. When the Association is well run and the community is strong, all is well. But when a community starts to see too many delinquencies on the fees it charges residents, and when too many owners are foreclosed upon, trouble hits. A new article in seeking alpha chronicles some of the problems Homeowners Associations are having across the country, as the remaining owners are hit with extra fees to make up for the people not paying their bills.

In Florida Gov. Crist just vetoed a bill offering new protections and rights to HOAs – the bill would have allowed them to lien and foreclose on properties in arrears. Apparently the law is needed (about 1.4 million Floridians live under HOA’s) but the governor was not happy with some terms in the bill.