Are your neighbors paying their HOA fees
Homeowner Associations are responsible for maintaining common areas of most neighborhoods and providing the amenities that many people enjoy. But not everyone is paying the HOA fee and that can cause problems. Since annual budgets are set up and fees are generally billed yearly or semi annually, if enough people fail to make their payment, services might have to be cut back.
Now, during these difficult economic times, it's certainly understandable that some people have to prioritize where their funds can be allocated. Mortgage payments, car payments, food or credit card bills are likely more important than a homeowner association fee.
Of course, if you don't pay, the HOA does have the right to place a lien on your property. That might not matter to you today but it will have to be paid when you eventually sell your home. I'm actually not sure what happens if a home goes into foreclosure or is sold as a short sale with 3rd party lender approval but my best guess is that junior lien holders probably get less to nothing.
But I was talking with one of my neighbors the other day and he mentioned that one person in our neighborhood owed $2000 in past due HOA fees which is pretty close to 5 years of fees. So we can probably assume that this neighbor has never bothered to pay but I wouldn't think that the previously mentioned difficult economic times would be the problem in this case.
So while the HOA has a lien on this person's home, shouldn't the good paying neighbors be able to apply some kind of stiffer punishment like hanging this deadbeat in the town square or something equally humiliating.
And is this the kind of neighbor more likely to not bother to pick up after his dog. Don't you hate that.
By the way, I live in a pretty nice neighborhood, but apparently all the neighbors are not so nice.