One of the perks of living in NJ is that there are very few HOAs. Your municipality hands out the code violations instead (and that rarely) and doesn’t care how high your grass is.

Be very careful about your resale value if you buy here. HOAs have a bad rap in NJ because of the “micromanagement” that can sometimes happen from bored boomers being elected to the HOA board.

$500 per month in HOA fees from your entire development is a huge chunk of change. Forget to pay or lose your job and they can put a lien on your house. I’m not sure if they could try to repossess it, NJ law probably wouldn’t let them do that, but you really don’t want to give someone that kind of power over you. I’d read the HOA bylaws and see what all of that entails.

The only reason to have an HOA is if you have a community pool, clubhouse or if your roof might be common (some townhouses) and need repairs eventually that should be accrued.

I find a $500 monthly HOA fee to be insane with the high property taxes that we already pay here. You should be looking at that number. For my detached, tiny, four bedroom two bath with minuscule kitchen in Morris County, I pay $8.5k in property taxes annually. I have like a .25 property. Half of Essex county and most of Montclair would consider that a good deal…

Also, since we no longer have the SALT deduction (thanks GOP), you can only deduct up to $10k annually. I’m still bitter about this.

In my municipality, trash and snow removal are included in the property taxes and my kid goes to a decent school system, which is why they’re high. I’m not sure about your resale value, honestly, I lack the skill set to make that determination. You’d need a real estate professional to make that determination, or an appraiser.

It depends on your town. You are probably in the more southern part of the state? Some retirement communities might have HOAs. Those usually have good resale value and you can apply for senior citizen rebates on your property taxes through the state, if your income is low enough.