The HOA effect on the housing market is growing

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Millions of Americans are getting squeezed by growing fees from their homeowners association — and it’s likely only going to get worse.

Newly available research from online loan platform LendingTree indicates that 17.5 million homeowners in America, or about one in three, paid HOA or condo fees in 2024. For 2.6 million of those homeowners, the dues ran at least $500 a month, adding up to more than $6,000 a year on top of their mortgage payments, property taxes and insurance.

Additionally, 82% of the homeowners with HOA fees said their fees have gone up in the past three years, with 44% saying the increase was “significant."

“When you’re paying $500 or more a month, that’s a really big deal, especially when you consider how tight many Americans’ budgets are,” said Matt Schulz, LendingTree chief consumer finance analyst, in a statement with the findings. “That’s money that can’t go to other financial priorities, such as building an emergency fund, paying down high-interest debt or saving for retirement.”

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2026/04/02/hoa-fees-growing-housing-cost.html

[SheltieLover]

1. Never happen here!

[drray23]

2. and on top of it you get harassed by power hungry HOA dictators.nt.

I will never ever buy in an HOA area.

[OldBaldy1701E]

6. And, there is just no escaping it.

I don't care how wonderful your current HOA is, such a situation is always temporary until the next petty dictator arrives and manipulates people until they get control.

And, they always arrive and schmooze their way into things. Always.

They are just never worth it in my opinion.

If I spend hundreds of thousands on a property, I am certainly not going to have some entity that has nothing to do with me trying to 'fine' me or 'foreclose on my property' just because I won't paint my backyard fence the same shade of brown as everyone else, or buy the same expensive, gaudy mailbox.

Just no.

[KT2000]

8. We have a great HOA

It is $15 a year and getting anyone to serve on the board is a huge task. When people get in, new residents have all kinds of ideas but don't want to do any of the work so everything, good and bad, dies.

[Coventina]

3. I will NEVER AGAIN live with an HOA.

[DBoon]

4. HOA fees are essentially a tax paid to an unaacountable entity

The fees provide services that in many cases local government should have provided, if it were not for Reagan era "taxes bad - no taxes" restrictions.

As private entities, HOAs are not bound to the same restrictions and standards of accountability as local governments.

[ms liberty]

5. Life in the BFE! You can laugh at all the HOA stories, and about 3 people will hear you

If you're outside at your fence and all your neighbors are, too

[hunter]

7. California limited HOA authority last year.

For example, the maximum fine for a single violation of HOA rules was limited to $100.

This means no more huge fines for petty issues used to harass people until they conformed or moved away, sometimes under threat of foreclosure.

There's no way I could live in an HOA. I am a non-conformist.

One of the first things my wife and I did when we moved into our current home was to remove the lawn and replace it with plants adapted to the local climate. We painted our front door a bright color, we don't park our cars in the garage, we put up a basketball hoop for our children and their friends (for anyone who wanted to use it, actually), etc.

All our neighbors do their own thing too, especially regarding house colors. We have multi-generational families living under one roof. We have people decorating their gardens with gnomes, fairies, and mushrooms. People come by with hand carts selling ice cream, tamales, and fruit. It's pretty obvious we are a "multi-ethnic" neighborhood.

These seem to be the sorts of things many people living in HOA neighborhoods are trying to avoid.

I like living in neighborhoods that are messy, noisy, and exuberantly alive, not in neighborhoods that my favorite botanist calls "graveyards for the still living."

[karynnj]

9. People buying units in condos need to assume the fees will go up

at least as much as inflation. When this article mentions the fees in addition to the mortgage, they should point out that the fees include the condo insurance policy and reserves for major things like replacing the roofing. In addition, it pays for services, snow shoveling and grass mowing that you don't have to do.