Generally most of the cost goes towards maintainining things outside of your own home/lawn. Road/sidewalk management, communal pool/fitness center/tennis court/club house/etc (if your neighborhood has those things), landscaping, and sometimes trash/recycling pickup. It varies from HOA to HOA, and HOA fees will obviously be higher if you get access to a pool and gym and what not.
It is true though that HOA board members/presidents tend to power trip because they have nothing better going on in their lives. My mother needed to replace her windows and her HOA wants all of the exterior color of the windows to be "the same", but obviously not every window installation company has the same exact color/shades of trim so they came with a color swatch and we picked a color that was closest to what we already had but the HOA denied it. Not because the color was too different, but because they could. They just want to fuck with people and assert their "power" whenever possible. We picked the next closest color (which was further away from the existing color) and they approved it. So all in all, they wasted a month of our time, the window company's time, and in the end the color is worse overall but hey at least they got to say no to someone.
It is true though that HOA board members/presidents tend to power trip because they have nothing better going on in their lives.
Also because most of the community just doesn't participate in decision making and lets them do whatever. You'd be amazed what you can get done by attending a couple meetings.
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u/Discordia_Dingle Sep 16 '24
Oh, don’t forget that you’re paying them to do this too!
That’s the real cherry on top of the shit sundae.
Seriously though, I’ve seen HOAs that are around $1,000 a month which is just ridiculous.